new one for me, severe heeling of a pistol

[Slavex]

One of my students has been struggling a lot with his shooting, right from the start. He already has some nerve damage from solvents used in his workplace (won't wear gloves), and he over grips to the point of shaking a lot of the time. For some reason I never noticed it when he was shooting his POS M&P, but as soon as he got his stainless Shadow, I saw his big problem, Heeling. as he shoots, his head ducks down, and looks up the sights as he drives the but of the gun down and forward, elevating the muzzle. the slower he shoots the worse it is. At speed drills tonight at 7yds he'd keep them all in the A on a Classic IPSC target (turtle) no problem. Hell often in 3 inches. But slow down and suddenly the head drops and the muzzle angles up. I stand there and direct him and it's like it has a mind of its' own. I need help with this, I want to see him succeed and do well, it bothers me that I couldn't notice it with his M&P, I should have. His hands do have some shake from the solvents as well, but that doesn't explain what he's doing. The shots always being high on the target to over them, is now explained though. Help people, help.

[Surf]

To stress the point of keeping a relaxed upper body and head position have him establish a correct grip with the weapon and let it hang down at arms length in front of him. Place him in a correct stance and have him relax but keeping a correct grip and stance. Reminding him to remain relaxed while you lift his arms into his line of sight. If he starts to lift his arms as you raise them, tell him to remain relaxed and to let you do it. Tell him not to make any movements or corrections in his stance or body position as the pistol raises. Take key note of his head, neck and shoulders ensuring that he is not adjusting them to get a sight alignment / sight picture. When the pistol begins to reach line of sight is where most shooters will start tensing up and adjusting their body position to their own personal default. If he does this, stop, lower his arms and make him relax again and repeat this process until he gets a sight picture / alignment without tensing up. Once he accomplishes this phase repeat the process dry several times. You are starting the reprogramming at this point and it will take reps.

Now progress into dry fire. Raise his arms for him at first and dry fire. Watch his body movement to ensure he does not revert to his negative habit. Repeat this process of dry fire several times. If he is getting it allow him to lift his arms on his own. When he lifts his own arms is where he may revert so watch closely. If he reverts, go back to lifting his arms for him.

If he accomplishes the dry fire portion correctly move on to live fire. Again this is another hurdle where he might revert as the ignition of the weapon often forces people back into their bad habit. If this is the case you can intermix ball and dummy or you can load or unload the weapon yourself. Sometimes for hard cases even ball and dummy will not be effective because they understand at some point the gun is going to go bang. In these hard cases I will remove the weapon from the persons hand and distract them while racking it a few times and finally inserting a loaded magazine without chambering a round. I will tell them we are going to do dry fire with a loaded mag to get the correct feel of the weight of the weapon with a loaded mag but empty chamber. I will do this dry a few times while always popping the mag and racking the slide. I keep doing this dry until they are getting it correct 100%. When they are getting it I will continue the drill and without telling them anything different I will actually load a round without their knowledge. They are expecting an empty chamber as normal for the drill they have been running so when the gun goes actually goes bang the results usually speak for themselves and it is often a valuable learning lesson for them.

I will also use video. It speaks volumes to show someone what they are actually doing right or more so wrong. At this point I will get into a correct stance. I will draw and present my weapon and return it to the holster very slow. I repeat this 3 or 4 times. I then ask the student what changed in my stance or body position from start to finish. They say nothing except for arm movement. I ask if my head, shoulders or neck moved, which it does not. I finish this with telling them to start and finish in the same body and head position / alignment as they started in. Of course start this slow with NO movement of the feet. Giving them a video visual of themselves and then having them watch you do the movement can impart a lot to them.

These are a few good techniques to try out. There are others methods also, but these are often successful even for the hard learners. I do also use a SIRT pistol for dry corrections also.