I finally got out to the range today. First time in a long time. I moved recently and can't shoot out my back door anymore, so I had to find a proper range. I shot a month ago for my LTC but other than that this was my first time shooting in several month and more importantly since rehab-ing my wrist (strong hand) after surgery several months ago as well.

I went to Best of the West by Liberty Hill. They have "tactical bays" where you can shoot by yourself away from people and practice drawing, holstering and other drills.

I did dot torture with my Glock 23 (my truck console pistol) and my Glock 43 (my CC pistol) that I have only shot a time or 2 so far. I shot at 3 yards. Overall, I was very disappointed in myself. I blame the wind, the unfamiliar surroundings, my diminished wrist strength, the alignment of the planets and a host of other factors. I guess I have a new baseline now from which I can build. My goal is to get out and shoot every other week and practice drills at home at least weekly.

I can tell that a lot of my misses are mental. I lose focus and pull shots. I also seem to be missing low (almost every miss was low). I'm not sure if there is a specific cause for this.

I'll post my shame and hope for some constructive feedback. My shooting was so loose I had to mark my hits after each exercise to keep track of my misses that hit other circles.

agingcowboy said:

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I can tell that a lot of my misses are mental. I lose focus and pull shots. I also seem to be missing low (almost every miss was low). I'm not sure if there is a specific cause for this.

I'll post my shame and hope for some constructive feedback. My shooting was so loose I had to mark my hits after each exercise to keep track of my misses that hit other circles.

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Anyone that wants to shame you better post up a pic of them running dot torture better first.

Consistently missing low could be a function of anticipation. People sometimes try to anticipate recoil and counteract it by pushing the pistol forward. When they do this before the gun fires, it can cause the nose to dip and the shot to land low. One thing that might help with that is to concentrate almost solely on keeping your sight alignment completely stable through a trigger pull. Dry fire at home is good for this, and you can use the same dot torture targets (and even move up another foot or two if you want to) at the range. Ignore the dot drill instructions and just concentrate on lining up your sights, and keeping them lined up with the target all the way through your trigger press.

Dot torture is supposed to be hard and humbling, so don't feel bad at all. Any error in the fundamentals of sight alignment and trigger press and you're going to have issues with dot torture, which is exactly what it is designed for: to expose our weaknesses when it comes to basic fundamentals and force us to improve them.

See what a little dry fire and concentrating solely on keeping your sights stable through a trigger press does for your shots hitting low. I think you'll be pleased at the result next time you try the drill.

Cowboy,

Looking at your target what you are doing is easy to ID and easy to fix.

Dots 5 and 8 clearly show you have the hardest part of shooting a handgun down...looking at the front sight. You cant shoot strong and support hand only and make hits like that without the front sight, and a good trigger press.

The other targets tell two stories, the main one is vertical stringing. The other is pushing the gun left and low on multiple shot engagements. Both of these are the result of the same problem...improper grip tension.

You just need to hold on to the gun tighter. With both hands.

Proper grip is a completely autonomous brain function while shooting, but it has to be learned and ingrained into muscle memory. Even folks that know they need to correct it, and do initially, will allow it to fade as they get immersed in focusing on trigger manipulation, front sight focus and just generally being stressed from working the shooting problem.

I teach a method of grip initially that works very well and allows the shooter to easily recognize when it's gone. As skill level increases the focus shifts to a less aggressive grip, but a solid grip structure must be maintained. It's pretty simple...grip the pistol with a proper master grip and apply enough pressure to make the gun begin to shake, then back off just a hair. Position your support hand and apply the same grip pressure. Basically you are just "pre-flinching". If you are already gripping as tight as you can, you can't create movement with a flinch. Or by mashing the trigger during the firing stroke, which is the low left orientation you see.

I have a pretty good record with this technique with both complete amateurs and very experienced military shooters. Give it a try. Based on your target, it's really the only fix you need.

Great tips. I really appreciate the expertise here. I'll focus on these grip techniques my next go round and report back.

Just in case anyone didn't see my Steel Challenge thread, here's some go pro footage of our Thursday night match.

Shooting my 22/45 with VQ trigger parts.

Fastest time last summer was a 2.64, didn't break into the 2s until the end of the summer (first summer shooting steel challenge). Shot a 2.87 last night, hoping to hit some 2.5s this year.

BR, are you required to shoot in a certain order, or just hit all five targets.

AggieGunslinger said:

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BR, are you required to shoot in a certain order, or just hit all five targets.

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The one with the red post is the stop plate. It must be shot last, the rest can be shot in any order.

This is a holdover from back in the day when the timer stopped because of the impact on the plate. These days the timers are all based on sound and pick up all the shots.

Okay, that makes sense.

Thank you PP, I'll think about that as I practice and shoot this month.

Steel challenge is that fun mix of "how confident are you in your sight picture/shot" and "how fast can you go". As the video showed, there are times I think I've got a good sight picture and start moving on to the next target...only to have to backtrack and try again...which is why I have 3 second and 7 second runs on the same stage.

I'll keep your advice in mind and see if I can cut down on misses by following through. As one of my friends likes to say "you cant miss fast enough to win!"

AggieGunslinger said:

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Okay, that makes sense.

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Lex nailed it. I should have shot stage 2 in a different order, I think. I've had success on that one last year by starting on the farthest two targets, then swinging over to the nearest target and shooting in third instead of first like in the video to finish the run with three targets in a row. Going to try it that way whenever we shoot that stage again. Rushed my shots on the close/but targets and gave myself a lot of trouble this time. 1st place in rimfire irons only beat me by two seconds...if I'd run cleaner on that stage I might have won.

What is two seconds divided by the number of scored runs you fired? That's what you lost by.

Even with misses and bad runs you can make that up by working on reaction to the timer alone. Every miss adds at least 3/4 of a second for the make up shot (or up to double that), lots of ways to cover that ground.

The bottom line is don't miss, do that with a little speed added in and you win. A lot.

Puryear Playboy said:

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What is two seconds divided by the number of scored runs you fired? That's what you lost by.

Even with misses and bad runs you can make that up by working on reaction to the timer alone. Every miss adds at least 3/4 of a second for the make up shot (or up to double that), lots of ways to cover that ground.

The bottom line is don't miss, do that with a little speed added in and you win. A lot.

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.17 seconds. When put that way....ouch. I'm close, but not there yet.

I have a timer, need to do some drills working on my reaction time to it. I also need to run the video by a timer to see my splits. I bet improving reaction time from timer to first shot would improve my runs significantly.

Shot the Dot Torture again this past weekend.
46/50, 3yd Distance, CZ 75 9mm. Pulled my last shot on circle 1, missed one on weak hand, and missed 2 on the transition. Forgot to take a picture, but I did keep the target for future reference.

I'm getting closer and closer to being able to call my shot, there were a couple times where I thought I was shooting low, then looked at the paper after and sure enough I was.