P.E. Kelly's offhand rifle technique applied to pistols

[GJM]

I have always struggled with my offhand rifle shooting, compared to other field positions. I think the issue is I am relatively tall, thin and flexible, and those factors combine to give me a greater wobble zone than someone with more dense proportions. Watching P.E. Kelley's video was very interesting, and while I haven't vetted it live fire, dry fire it shows much promise. For those that haven't seen the video, his method is to get the carbine moving in a path, and break the shot as it crosses onto the target, avoiding the time, concentration and anticipation that comes with the traditional wobble zone method.

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....-Shooting-Info

For some time, I have been using a compressed, "mini-press out" when making hard, low prob shots from the draw, in an effort to get a fast, surprised break, trigger press. Last night, I started wondering about Patrick's technique being applied to handgun shooting.

This morning, it was raining (again), but I wanted to go shoot my P2000 LEM .40. I decided to try to apply the rifle path shooting technique to the handgun. My interpretation of this with the handgun, is to start with the muzzle depressed and move the gun up onto target, breaking the shot as the gun moved over the target. First, I fired one shot at the one inch square at 7 yards, and hit. Repeated four more times, with all five shots hitting the one inch square. Then I went to 25 yards, and shot ten single shots at the 3x5, breaking the shot as the sights came over the 3x5. This was the result.



What was neat about this, was all the stress/concentration that normally comes with shooting the 3x5 at 25 was gone. Later, I want to go try it on 8 inch plates at 50 yards, and see how it works. Not sure exactly what it means, but I am intrigued.


Sent from my iPad

[Paul Sharp]

Frank Garcia had a drill similar to this. We started with the pistol to the left of the target, on line with the A zone, bring the pistol across the target and fire the round when we saw an acceptable sight picture in the A zone, without stopping the movement of the pistol. We practiced going both directions, I thought it was a very effective drill. Thanks for the reminder!

[RJ]

Well, I am like the last person to comment on this, but:

At my last range session, I had my M&P FS9 with my TLR-1. One of the last things I did was shoot a 3x5 at three yards from the low ready, with the light.

I imagined a 'beep', then as quick as I could I raised the pistol and broke the shot. I sure wish I'd snapped a picture, because 4 of 5 shots were almost in the same hole, center of target.

Which for me is, you know, pretty unusual. I filed it away as something of note. When I read this thread, though, It came back to me.

Following with interest.

[PD Sgt.]

Frank Garcia had a drill similar to this. We started with the pistol to the left of the target, on line with the A zone, bring the pistol across the target and fire the round when we saw an acceptable sight picture in the A zone, without stopping the movement of the pistol. We practiced going both directions, I thought it was a very effective drill. Thanks for the reminder!

IIRC we did pretty much the same thing in a Proctor class last year.

I have also noticed recently that during failure to stop drills at 10 yards I was keeping a much tighter group in the head if I was breaking the shot while still in motion traversing up the target.

[Paul Sharp]

IIRC we did pretty much the same thing in a Proctor class last year.

I have also noticed recently that during failure to stop drills at 10 yards I was keeping a much tighter group in the head if I was breaking the shot while still in motion traversing up the target.

That's interesting, I'll have to try that. The Garcia class is a source of frustration for me because it was in the early 2000s and there were so many drills and lessons shared. I wish I could take it now because it would actually make sense to me now, and I'd learn a lot more. At the time it was like drinking from a firehose. Talk about a wealth of knowledge. Just talking about trigger control, I was taking notes and couldn't keep up, I had to stop and just listen.

[Mr_White]

Comfort in shooting with the sights/gun in motion, is huge - rather than grasping fruitlessly for stillness.

[P.E. Kelley]

Thank you for mentioning me GJM!. I am a student of the gun and have collected and used, imbedded and tossed aside
many different shooting techniques over my 40+ years of shooting.

[Paul Sharp]

Thank you for mentioning me GJM!. I am a student of the gun and have collected and used, imbedded and tossed aside
many different shooting techniques over my 40+ years of shooting.

I'm glad you're sharing them via your YouTube channel. The box to match series is superb.


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[JHC]

Comfort in shooting with the sights/gun in motion, is huge - rather than grasping fruitlessly for stillness.

Hmmmmmm grist for a DoW somehow.

[GJM]

I really believe in Robbie Leatham's "stop, aim, jerk the trigger" method of shooting, and overall believe more shots are missed because people don't stop the gun and aim. However, another reason people miss is they really jerk the trigger, regardless of how much stopping and aiming they do. Patrick's method, that he demonstrates shooting ten inch plates at 175 yards offhand, uses movement to "trick" the shooter to avoid crushing the trigger. Guess it is good to have a bunch of tricks up your sleeve depending on what you are trying to accomplish.