TargetTalk

I am mired in the USAShooting ranking of 50's (2009), average 0.91. I am bottle-necked with quite a few of others in this ranking.

I thought I was shooting 10's. But in reality, I am just spreading pellets all over 9. The 10's that come by are just law of average in spraying over 9 zone. Those 10's are nothing to boast about.

How do I really shoot 10's?

AP? I can relate. I have noticed that when I don't shoot 10's, it's because I'm not staying focused on the front sight and my trigger control is lacking. Or worse yet, I'm thinking too much about how to shoot the 10. Digressing for a moment to back up my previous statement; I've heard others talk about donut-ing around the 10 ring and shooting 9's. A former national team member also insists that this is caused by loosing focus on the front sight just before the pellet is released.

Now moving forward; the more interesting issue could be the mental part of 'trying' to shoot a 10. When I'm consciously thinking about shooting a 10, I won't. When I can let my subconscious control the trigger and just be 'in the moment' rather than control the moment, I'm in good shape. Right now, when I can do that, 50-60% of my shots are 10's. So if the basic techniques are sound, you must stop thinking about it and let all that training take over and control the shot process.

Oz

Oz wrote: donut-ing around the 10 ring and shooting 9's

Oz

I often get this effect ;0(

Also quite often get minigroups of 2 or 3 shot touching clusters at different areas within the 8 circle - just today had 4, 2 shot clusters scattered around out of a 10 shot card.

fkw wrote:I am mired in the USAShooting ranking of 50's (2009), average 0.91. I am bottle-necked with quite a few of others in this ranking.

I thought I was shooting 10's. But in reality, I am just spreading pellets all over 9. The 10's that come by are just law of average in spraying over 9 zone. Those 10's are nothing to boast about.

How do I really shoot 10's?

You shouldn't try to shoot 10's or 9's or any other value, just try to execute the prefect process in your shot. When the process is perfect, it will be a 10.

Those 9's are as much the law of averages too.

What do you do to actually work on the skills that are required to shoot well? Do you do like the majority go out and shoot 60 + shots a couple a few times a week and then call it a day?

Without knowing how you are training it's hard for anyone to give you any advice as to how to improve.

I suggest if you can seek out a coach, and spend a few session with them.

But for starters if you're not working on the fundamentals during training/practice and doing what I said above you're just learning to shoot the same as you shoot.

I've never been involved in a sport where so many go out and do the same thing every session (basically shoot a match) and expect to improve. I've played many different sports, and not one of them did every practice consist of playing a match, you always work on individual skills then have fewer sessions where you put them together.

Football (american) worked on tackling, blocking, running plays and then even broke those down smaller.

Baseball, work on hitting, fielding, ect

Cycling work on hills, sprints, build base miles, drafting, riding in head winds, side winds, time trialling, bridging gaps ect.

AP? I can relate. I have noticed that when I don't shoot 10's, it's because I'm not staying focused on the front sight and my trigger control is lacking. Or worse yet, I'm thinking too much about how to shoot the 10. Digressing for a moment to back up my previous statement; I've heard others talk about donut-ing around the 10 ring and shooting 9's. A former national team member also insists that this is caused by loosing focus on the front sight just before the pellet is released.

Now moving forward; the more interesting issue could be the mental part of 'trying' to shoot a 10. When I'm consciously thinking about shooting a 10, I won't. When I can let my subconscious control the trigger and just be 'in the moment' rather than control the moment, I'm in good shape. Right now, when I can do that, 50-60% of my shots are 10's. So if the basic techniques are sound, you must stop thinking about it and let all that training take over and control the shot process.



Oz

+1

I've never been involved in a sport where so many go out and do the same thing every session (basically shoot a match) and expect to improve. I've played many different sports, and not one of them did every practice consist of playing a match, you always work on individual skills then have fewer sessions where you put them together

+1

I've found that, when I'm not shooting enough 10's, it's just because I'm not concentrating enough. This sport is something like 90% mental; it's in your mind were you shoot the 10's before you do it in your target.

Concentrate on the perfect process, the perfect execution of a shot. 10's will follow.

PD: Do A LOT of dry-fire!

Assuming the mechanics of your shooting are correct, grips, glasses, accurate pistol, ect.

You must develop a consistent sight picture and hammer this sight picture into your mind with many thousands of rounds. Train your subconscious to look for this image each time you hold the gun up. The coordination between your subconscious and trigger control is amazing when in the zone. Learn what a 10 looks and feels like. When shooting in the zone, it is like an out of body experience...you are looking over someone elses sights, no feelings of excitement or expectation...only looking for that 10 alignment. Shoot strings without scoring and see if your groups become more consistent. If you cannot discipline yourself to not look at your individual shots, then you are not determined or disciplined enough to shoot good scores consistently. Not being cruel or a know it all. Good shooters are very disciplined mentally. Don't hang out with negitive thinkers.

If your problem is excess movement, do strength training with light weights. Good scores can still be fired with excess movement, but even more discipline is required. Keep a calm head, forget the last shot. If the last shot felt bad (remember, you aren't looking), try to make the next one feel right. Learn to call your shots by recognizing the most miniscule misalignment of your sights.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Just hit the middle of the target ;o)

It's hard to know what is going to produce the best results for you: better focus on the front sight, better coordination of focus on the front sight and trigger squeeze, more purposeful training/practice, shooting when your hold is optimal vs. trying to hold longer in hopes of a better shot, mentally accepting your natural wobble area and just squeezing the shot off, etc., etc.

You have to figure out what you need to improve upon, consciously work on those things in practice until they are subconscious, and bring everything together in training, simulating match conditions as best you can, which will then increase your chances of performing in a match.

There are simple training exercises you can do to simulate match conditions. For instance, you can only leave the range when you shoot three tens in a row. When that's too easy, move that to five 10s in a row and so on.

You can also set a score goal, let's say three 95s in a row, or whatever is challenging, before you can leave the range.

These exercises would presumably be after you've done your training for the day. FYI, top shooters will easily shoot over 100 shots of practice in AP.

Push and compete against yourself once you have mastered some fundamentals and can execute 10s.

If you know how to shoot one 10, you can shoot two. If you can shoot two 10s, you can shoot many. The only thing that will prevent you from shooting 10s is the gray matter between your ears.

Good luck,
Retired

Retired wrote:It's hard to know what is going to produce the best results for you: better focus on the front sight, better coordination of focus on the front sight and trigger squeeze, more purposeful training/practice, shooting when your hold is optimal vs. trying to hold longer in hopes of a better shot, mentally accepting your natural wobble area and just squeezing the shot off, etc., etc.

You have to figure out what you need to improve upon, consciously work on those things in practice until they are subconscious, and bring everything together in training, simulating match conditions as best you can, which will then increase your chances of performing in a match.

There are simple training exercises you can do to simulate match conditions. For instance, you can only leave the range when you shoot three tens in a row. When that's too easy, move that to five 10s in a row and so on.

You can also set a score goal, let's say three 95s in a row, or whatever is challenging, before you can leave the range.

These exercises would presumably be after you've done your training for the day. FYI, top shooters will easily shoot over 100 shots of practice in AP.

Push and compete against yourself once you have mastered some fundamentals and can execute 10s.

If you know how to shoot one 10, you can shoot two. If you can shoot two 10s, you can shoot many. The only thing that will prevent you from shooting 10s is the gray matter between your ears.

Good luck,
Retired

Don't think I could get a bed into our range - door too narrow ;0(

If you're wobbling, the movement is probably sinusoidal or similar.
This means your gun is moving faster across the centre than at the end points of the wobble :-(
Or in other words: it spends very little time in the centre.
So it's not just statistics, but physics: most of your hits will be in "the donut".
Solution: smaller donut!

Sinusoidal wobble. Very interesting insight.

How do I cut down on my wobble in 9's?

fkw wrote:How do I cut down on my wobble in 9's?

I think several people have talked about this. "light weight training" and dry firing will help the most. The frustrating thing about this sport is for some people it takes longer than other to reach the same point but just because it may take a person longer does not mean they could end up on top in the end.

So you do not get bored you need to vary your training. For dry firing it can get very boring. 10 years ago the only time I did it was during prep period or at the start of a training session. Now some days it is 80% of my training. There was a really good article a few months ago in the USA shooting magazine about, I think 5 different ways, to dry fire. I do not remember the details but you do have to come up with ways to have a goal to work on each time to train.

I find if I work on making sure the front site is perfectly sharp looking I shoot more 10's. I do not notice the wobble as much. I can tell this works when using my Rika. The most difficult thing is to repeat this focus for 60 shots.

Hope this helps. You have to remember you need to find what works for you. It is just about different for every one. There are people who have been to the Olympics who have and continue to post on TT and just because they do something does not mean it will work for you. There is no "one way" in this sport.

Sinusoidal wobble. Very interesting insight.

See the linik below for additional interesting sinusoidal definitions


http://www.scottishmini.co.uk/forum/sho ... php?t=5726

fkw wrote:How do I cut down on my wobble in 9's?

I'm curious if you would do this exercise. Walk up to your target and hold your pistol out, just inches away from the center ring. Isn't your wobble inside the 10? It's possible that your wobble is actually within the X ring!?

It's the perception of a larger wobble from 33 feet away that messes with your mind. When I don't worry about wobble and only focus on sight alignment (far more critical than wobble) I shoot 10's (unless I flinch/jerk the trigger which is another conversation altogether).

A small misalignment of sights will create a big change in the angle of attack when you get 33 feet away. It's so easy to put a straight-line projectile "not in the 10 ring" due to *tiny* sight misalignments. Far more critical that wobble.

Just a thought.

Oz