Sight picture plan on stage walk through?

[Grelber]

I think your question is more along the lines of do you pre-plan or want to program in targets that are going to require a different sight picture
i.e. A close open target that you are going to get a “flash sight” picture and transition into a longer shot that you need to “pre-plan” or remember to “aim” a little harder on.

It could be going from a close open target into a hard cover or no shoot target, or a wide transition into an open target that is going from 3yards to 30 yards.

Yes, I do, same as I try to plan targets that I will take on the move or coming into or out of a position.

That.

I'm wondering if a side benefit might be to get away from some nasty things that happen when you look at things sort of overall - i.e. - I'm shooting bad need to aim smaller - I'm shooting really slow and getting occasional one paster alphas need to speed up - damn I forgot to shot at the center of the steel again.

 

[Coach]

Preplanning 'what you need to see' is what I was thinking about when I started this thread.
Seems like if I sort of just shoot I can: Miss steel because I am aiming at the white thing instead of the center of the white thing, do the same with paper, go into bullseye mode on the whole stage and waste a whole lot of time on close and easy targets.

Apreciate all responses. Need to think more about stability. Am going to play with trying to add a sight picture plan and see what happens.

This summer season when I have had mikes I did not see the front sight. I relaxed too soon on the target or I pulled off and was not patient enough to see the front sight lift because I had a speed focus. Last weeks practice session I just tried to call every shot and worked at various distances within the drill and I feel like I took a step forward. The runs that I saw the sights the best were the fastest runs and the best hits. In the zone on those runs and the front sight and calling shots was the focus and I could see a lot of stuff happening as I was shooting and I paid attention to it.

My goal Sunday at WVPPS is to shoot each stage with that mindset.

 

[rhino]

Preplanning 'what you need to see' is what I was thinking about when I started this thread.
Seems like if I sort of just shoot I can: Miss steel because I am aiming at the white thing instead of the center of the white thing, do the same with paper, go into bullseye mode on the whole stage and waste a whole lot of time on close and easy targets.

Apreciate all responses. Need to think more about stability. Am going to play with trying to add a sight picture plan and see what happens.

It's unlikely that the real problem when you miss is how you were aiming when you started to press the trigger. The mostly likely culprit is that you allowed the gun to point somewhere else before the bullet left the barrel. Most missing at USPSA distance and targets sizes is because of trigger control issues or pulling off of the target too soon (which I suppose is also related to trigger control).

It's possible that aim small/miss small allows a little more margin for error on the maintaining alignment of the gun until the shot breaks, but rhino thinks it's better to address what is the more likely issue.

 

[Fuzz]

It's unlikely that the real problem when you miss is how you were aiming when you started to press the trigger. The mostly likely culprit is that you allowed the gun to point somewhere else before the bullet left the barrel. Most missing at USPSA distance and targets sizes is because of trigger control issues or pulling off of the target too soon .

I know I have this issue, Fight it usually every match. Any Ideas how to stop this?

 

[JCSR]

I know I have this issue, Fight it usually every match. Any Ideas how to stop this?

I'm very new to shooting and competition but I have noticed a strong offhand grip will allow me to wail on the trigger with very little sight movement. My problem is I seem to relax my grip during a stage and start shooting wide C's and D's. I would have to say that 99% of my mikes are from leaving the position too early. Taking that extra 10th of a second to assure a good hit eludes me. How do I train myself to keep a strong grip the whole stage?










5

 

[rvb]

Pulling off is cured through shot calling.
trigger control is cured through dry fire.
-rvb

 

[Good on paper]

I know I have this issue, Fight it usually every match. Any Ideas how to stop this?

JCSR and RVB are both right I think.
A very firm weak hand grip and lots of observed dry fire
One thing I’ve been playing with in dry fire lately is a metronome app on my phone. Set a fast pace - 160 to 180 beats and pull the trigger to each beat. A lot of people warn not to pick up the cadence as a shooting tempo and that makes sense but only use it as a physical exercise. When I first started in like 15 to 20 seconds my hands were burning and my sights were all over the place, I literally had to set my gun down! After doing it a couple sessions I can maintain a better sight alignment for much longer.
YMMV but it’s worth a try

 

[rvb]

Yea, grip strength/endurance is very important, primarily for recoil control. But more than strength you need to be able to wiggle that trigger finger w.o causing the sights to move off target... either through bad trigger presses or milking the grip if you can’t isolate the trigger finger movement... dry fire and shooting groups.....

 

[Fuzz]

My issue with this is more specialized I believe. It usually happens on the last or last couple targets or when something goes wrong. I think this is more of a mindset issue for me than anything. I believe I get to the end and rush the finish for some reason. I know that if something goes wrong I try to make up and rush everything which is a huge mistake.

 

[longbeard]

I'm very new to shooting and competition but I have noticed a strong offhand grip will allow me to wail on the trigger with very little sight movement. My problem is I seem to relax my grip during a stage and start shooting wide C's and D's. I would have to say that 99% of my mikes are from leaving the position too early. Taking that extra 10th of a second to assure a good hit eludes me. How do I train myself to keep a strong grip the whole stage?

Welcome to competitive shooting. You are hitting right at the crux of the challenge of this. "I know if I do this particular thing it produces a better result, but every time the timer goes off I forget to do the thing."

Build muscle memory through repetition is the basic answer. Specifics on how vary by the person I think. After a lot of time you will have moment where you actually can think a thought while running a stage and *maybe* remember to do the one thing. These moments are farther apart than I would like, but I have them now and again. Other times it's complete auto-pilot.

 

[longbeard]

I know I have this issue, Fight it usually every match. Any Ideas how to stop this?

Ben Stoeger's public website has some good live fire drills. Shooting the dots is a great trigger mechanics drill. Accelerator is a good one as well.

I think any regular USPSA competitor has good trigger control. The real skill is calling that skill up quickly when it's required. Changing gears under pressure is hard.

 

[Fuzz]

Ben Stoeger's public website has some good live fire drills. Shooting the dots is a great trigger mechanics drill. Accelerator is a good one as well.

I think any regular USPSA competitor has good trigger control. The real skill is calling that skill up quickly when it's required. Changing gears under pressure is hard.

I would agree with this totally. which is the accelerator drills advantage. Shifting gears from 3 yds to 25 yds is developed over time and practice.

I practice these things here and it never happens. Put the match pressures on me and I will break off between my mind pulling the trigger and my finger actually pulling the trigger.

I believe this for me is not so much a shooting issue as it is a movement and stance issue.

 

[masterdekoy]

I’ve been listening to Steve Anderson’s podcast “That Shooting Show” and these are a lot of the topics he covers. Basically for him it boils down to practice and repetition. Practice in dry fire, break it down and focus on one thing at a time. Push the boundaries of speed in practice. Then when you get to a match, see the sights for every shot. I think it’s interesting stuff, if you can put up with lots of Van Halen.

 

[Coach]

I’ve been listening to Steve Anderson’s podcast “That Shooting Show” and these are a lot of the topics he covers. Basically for him it boils down to practice and repetition. Practice in dry fire, break it down and focus on one thing at a time. Push the boundaries of speed in practice. Then when you get to a match, see the sights for every shot. I think it’s interesting stuff, if you can put up with lots of Van Halen.

The skills needed to call shots and snap eyes and transition quickly can be done with dry fire in repetition as Steve Anderson says. However there different types of sight pictures needed throughout a USPSA stage and that's not simply a matter of habit and repetition. Skunk Targets and full targets can't be shot in the same speed and usually have good results. Targets at 7 and targets at 25 yards need different levels of sight picture. That's partially why Steve Anderson's never won a major match