Shooting tip, whats your process, secrets?

[RanchRoper]

I’m from the Mr. Magoo school of handgun shooting. Best to stay behind me.

[BrokenolMarine]

I’m from the Mr. Magoo school of handgun shooting. Best to stay behind me.

Maybe so, but you are from the Quigley school of rifle shooting, best not to be in front of you at any distance in that case.

[BrokenolMarine]

Two more practice tips for the handgun.... I taught these in my private classes.

For improving trigger control:

Take a spent case and balance it on the end of the barrel of your semi-auto or revolver.

Aim in
(Yes, Yes, I know you can't really aim in as the case is in the way... do your best.)

Pull the trigger smoothly to the rear until it breaks.
(use snap caps or dummy rounds to protect the hammer or firing pin.)

The spent case should NOT fall off the end of the barrel. It may wobble and dance at first.
But the goal is for it to stay on the end of the barrel. As your trigger control improves, the casing should begin to sit dead still at the end of the barrel, even in double action trigger movement.

Triangulation Practice.

You'll need a piece of cardboard for backing, and an index card or piece of typing paper, and a new unused sharpened #2 pencil to start.
Your UNLOADED handgun of sufficient caliber that the #2 pencil fits in the barrel.

With a marker, draw a series of circles on the index card or typing paper.

Tape the paper to the cardboard or poster board that will be your backing.

Mount this board on a wall, bulletin board, fridge with a magnet, or any location where it will be at shoulder/eye level.

This will work with the Revolver or Semi-Auto handgun both, but only Single Action in the Revolver.

Recheck your handgun of choice to insure that it is unloaded and no ammunition is present in the area.
You stand in your shooting stance in front of the target, and present the handgun. You'll want to be at a distance where the muzzle is about 2" from the target at first. Aim at the target and insure that the muzzle is level or slightly (VERY slightly elevated.) If not, adjusted the level of the target.

Now, cock the hammer on the firearm you are using unless it's a double action semi-auto.
Elevate the muzzle, and drop the sharpened pencil, eraser first, into the muzzle.
Readdress the target and check your distance from the paper. You'll want the pencil to be about an inch from the paper.
Aim in, squeeze the trigger (Which we practiced above) watching the front sight at all times, maintaining your sight alignment and sight picture.
Your trigger break should come as a surprise.

When the trigger breaks, the firing pin/striker will hit the eraser and drive the pencil into the paper. A mark will appear on the paper.
Repeat this drill twice more and lay aside the handgun. Connect your three dots forming a triangle.
Repeat the drill until you begin to tire. You should see the size of the triangles begin to shrink.

AS you improve, make your aiming points smaller, this will also help make your triangles decrease in size...

NOTE: Your dots WON'T be on the DOT you use an an aiming point as the muzzle is well below your aiming point. You are sighting and dry firing for groups. I suggest your aiming point be a 6 0'clock hold for consistency. You'll be surprised what a difference the two drills will make.

The revolver, of course, can only be used in single action mode due to the rotation of the cylinder in double action. Cock the hammer to Single Action, Then insert the sharpened Pencil, and dryfire. Place a snap cap/dummy round in all cylinder chambers to ease the drills.

This drill is harder to explain than it is to do once you get the mechanics down pat. My wife got used to seeing the index card on the fridge, I just left it there.

[GunnyGene]

Here's a short video of how it's done for the real world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo23qjWav0Q

[markiver54]

Here's a short video of how it's done for the real world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo23qjWav0Q

[BrokenolMarine]

Here's a short video of how it's done for the real world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo23qjWav0Q

This is an amazing short period of Instruction Gunny. I copied the link and sent it to my Rabbi from my PD days. He is a retired 30 year veteran of the PD, 82 years old, still shooting competitively and winning. He was a Marine Crew Chief and Door Gunner in Nam, the Range Master for 13 years for a major metro department, and a Patrol Sergeant. He turned down opportunities for promotion into the brass as he wanted to stay on the street. He still teaches private classes at his home in the country.

HE too is known as "The Gunny." I titled the email, "You should add this to your Firearms Class Lesson Plan Immediately."

I can't wait to get his reply.

[GunnyGene]

Here's a short video of how it's done for the real world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo23qjWav0Q

This is an amazing short period of Instruction Gunny. I copied the link and sent it to my Rabbi from my PD days. He is a retired 30 year veteran of the PD, 82 years old, still shooting competitively and winning. He was a Marine Crew Chief and Door Gunner in Nam, the Range Master for 13 years for a major metro department, and a Patrol Sergeant. He turned down opportunities for promotion into the brass as he wanted to stay on the street. He still teaches private classes at his home in the country.

HE too is known as "The Gunny." I titled the email, "You should add this to your Firearms Class Lesson Plan Immediately."

I can't wait to get his reply.

Great! I trust you'll post his reply here?

[Mr. Neutron]

Wow!!! That video was INCREDIBLE instruction!!!

I'm no Rob Leatham or Jerry Miculek, but shot Speed Steel & Action Pistol matches for years. Maybe a "decent local level" pistol shooter???

After seeing that video, I now fully realize I've been shooting pistols so wrong for years! I thought you were supposed to at least maybe LOOK at the sights???

However, I don't see what was wrong with the second shooter's insults?? I know I was intimidated by them......

On a more sorta serious note, I went to my Uncle's house yesterday in central OR. He's got some property, practically no neighbors, some long range (100, 200, & 300 yds.) rifle targets, and some 25 yd. and 50 yd. gongs, spinners, and stuff we whoot with 22s and lower power centerfire rifles and handguns. He has an old Winchester model 94 with a long 24" barrel that we took a few offhand shots with. I was hitting the 50 yd. gongs a bit easier with that 30-30 than with either of my Henry's (22 & 30-30). Seemed to wobble slower, less, and further seemed easier to follow through with. It does have a slightly longer sight radius than my receiver peeped Henry, but has the factory's buckhorn sights.

One thing I noticed was the weight of the front part (barrel) of the Winchester. Is more weight out front somewhat of an aid for offhand shooting?

[BrokenolMarine]

Here's a short video of how it's done for the real world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo23qjWav0Q

This is an amazing short period of Instruction Gunny. I copied the link and sent it to my Rabbi from my PD days. He is a retired 30 year veteran of the PD, 82 years old, still shooting competitively and winning. He was a Marine Crew Chief and Door Gunner in Nam, the Range Master for 13 years for a major metro department, and a Patrol Sergeant. He turned down opportunities for promotion into the brass as he wanted to stay on the street. He still teaches private classes at his home in the country.

HE too is known as "The Gunny." I titled the email, "You should add this to your Firearms Class Lesson Plan Immediately."

I can't wait to get his reply.

Great! I trust you'll post his reply here?

I might have to EDIT his reply. He's a Marine, A Police Sergeant, and retired. Yeah, I'd almost bet...
Let's just say, a young Trooper just out of the academy pulled him over one day and after my "Gunny" finished counseling him on his attitude, he was thanking him and calling him SIR when he let him go...

[BrokenolMarine]

A couple more tips and a touch of humor...

As stated in another post:

Break your focus between shots or sets.

When I was shooting PPC, we shot strings of fire. You were given time between strings to prepare to shoot and then stand ready on the line. Once I was in my proper shooting position and ready to shoot, I looked at the ground in front of me or closed my eyes. I waited for the Match Commands to start before raising my eyes to the targets. "Ready on the Right, Ready on the left..." This rested my eyes and reduced the eye strain. The main match was 150 rounds. The side matches were usually 60 rounds and there were several. It would be a long day. Eye strain can lead to reduced visual acuity and headaches. Every little bit helps.

Match Focus

Prior to being called to the line I certainly visited with other shooters as the social aspect of the PPC circuit was a large part of the reason I shot. I networked with the officers and agents from a wide variety of other departments and agencies. Once we were called for our relays for the various matches, most of us would focus on the task at hand and limited conversation to the match. Scoring of targets and questions related to the match. I didn't look around, I didn't try and figure out my score and where I might be placed so far. I didn't scan the other's targets to see how they were shooting. I focused on the task at hand. My clipboard had notes for each yard line, such as sight settings and aiming points and they do no good if you don't review them EVERY time. You have to have your mind IN the match.

Humor

I had a very nice set of electronic ear muffs I used when teaching, I wore a set and the single student on the shooting line wore a set. That way we could both hear, but the electronic muffs would dampen loud noise like gunshots. The students could hear commands while shooting if it became necessary.

I started to wear these muffs at matches, so I could hear the commands from the line better when I became senior enough in our PPC league to shoot on either end of the line. I usually shot on target 1, which I preferred as then I had no one to my left, meaning no ejected brass down my neck. We were shooting a state level match, and moving back to the 50 yard line, and I had my muffs on, standing at the barricade, waiting for the command to stand to.... I hear this:

"Dude, let's go, we are out of the running and it's HOT out here."
"Yeah, yeah, I just want to watch this next relay."
"Man, HOT, it's freaking Hot."
"Alright, I Just want to watch the Fat guy on target 1 shoot, he's good."


Wait... Target 1, the Fat Guy on Target 1?

vpra cav 14.jpg (176.12 KiB) Viewed 240 times

About that time the tower says,
"Shooters, With Six Rounds, Load. Your next stage of fire will be....."

I never wore the electronic muffs again.