white_ræbbit
08-10-2012, 04:15 AM
Hi guys!
Let me introduce myself quickly. I'm from South Africa, and have been following pistol-training/forum avidly for quite some time. I've been a pistol-owner for the last 10 years, but have only started taking my training and pistol skills seriously for the last 3 or 4 months. I also joined an IDPA club about the same time, and qualified as Marksman. Since then I've started doing daily dry firing, and started going to the range once a week with about 200 rounds per session.
Now on to my post... I have an annoying problem that I just haven't been able to fix up to now. I keep looking at the target for my hits while shooting. I know it's slowing me down, and I also suspect it's meddling with my accuracy as I'm sure that I either do not focus on the front sight properly, or constantly shift between the sight and the target after each shot. I also still blink when a fire most of the time, am unable to track my sights properly because of that, and can't call my shots yet.
As far as I see it, my priorities and goals to fix this will be, in order : 1) Learn to keep my eyes open, 2) Practice tracking my sights during recoil, 3) Learn to call my shots, and 4) Learn to not look for my hits on target(which should happen automatically because of 1 - 3 above).
That is the "problem". The solution came to me this morning after talking to a buddy on the train about tomorrow's IDPA club shoot. Tomorrow's club shoot will only be my second. The first club shoot I did quite well, BUT I shot heashots exclusively, because I felt WAY too uncomfortable shooting COM shots where I couldn't see my hits(The targets all had cloth/t-shirts draped over them). In total I only had something like 2 headshots down, but it was still a problem.
So, while discussing this issue this morning, I thought to myself suddenly "Hey, why not practice with cloth-draped targets?!". That way I won't be able to see where my shots hit, and hopefully will be able to train that habit out of me! So I'll go get some cloth and a permanent marker, A4 sized circle targets, and then draw the same-sized circle on the cloth. Then drape the cloth over the target, superimposing the two circles over each other... to do this I want to be able to see where I have to shoot, but just not where I end up hitting. Then I'll shoot about 3 rounds from 3 to 5 meters, trying to call each and every shot, and go check the hits under the cloth when I'm done, comparing the hits to my calls.
I'll probably start off a session like this by emptying 2 or 3 mags at the berm, focussing on keeping my eyes open and tracking the front sight.
I'm pretty sure the above strategy could help me achieve all four goals listed above... what do you guys think?
Let me introduce myself quickly. I'm from South Africa, and have been following pistol-training/forum avidly for quite some time. I've been a pistol-owner for the last 10 years, but have only started taking my training and pistol skills seriously for the last 3 or 4 months. I also joined an IDPA club about the same time, and qualified as Marksman. Since then I've started doing daily dry firing, and started going to the range once a week with about 200 rounds per session.
Now on to my post... I have an annoying problem that I just haven't been able to fix up to now. I keep looking at the target for my hits while shooting. I know it's slowing me down, and I also suspect it's meddling with my accuracy as I'm sure that I either do not focus on the front sight properly, or constantly shift between the sight and the target after each shot. I also still blink when a fire most of the time, am unable to track my sights properly because of that, and can't call my shots yet.
As far as I see it, my priorities and goals to fix this will be, in order : 1) Learn to keep my eyes open, 2) Practice tracking my sights during recoil, 3) Learn to call my shots, and 4) Learn to not look for my hits on target(which should happen automatically because of 1 - 3 above).
That is the "problem". The solution came to me this morning after talking to a buddy on the train about tomorrow's IDPA club shoot. Tomorrow's club shoot will only be my second. The first club shoot I did quite well, BUT I shot heashots exclusively, because I felt WAY too uncomfortable shooting COM shots where I couldn't see my hits(The targets all had cloth/t-shirts draped over them). In total I only had something like 2 headshots down, but it was still a problem.
So, while discussing this issue this morning, I thought to myself suddenly "Hey, why not practice with cloth-draped targets?!". That way I won't be able to see where my shots hit, and hopefully will be able to train that habit out of me! So I'll go get some cloth and a permanent marker, A4 sized circle targets, and then draw the same-sized circle on the cloth. Then drape the cloth over the target, superimposing the two circles over each other... to do this I want to be able to see where I have to shoot, but just not where I end up hitting. Then I'll shoot about 3 rounds from 3 to 5 meters, trying to call each and every shot, and go check the hits under the cloth when I'm done, comparing the hits to my calls.
I'll probably start off a session like this by emptying 2 or 3 mags at the berm, focussing on keeping my eyes open and tracking the front sight.
I'm pretty sure the above strategy could help me achieve all four goals listed above... what do you guys think?