AIMING IS USELESS! Tips from TGO

[NETim]

Just watched the video. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

It does now. At least to me. I'm a little slow though. I thought that attempting to refine my nice, slow and easy trigger press in the basement against a blank wall would help get me up to speed so to speak.

Now that I see someone with the creds of TGO telling me different, I see I've been doing it wrong.

[JustOneGun]

Robbie laying down the truth. Awesome, awesome stuff. It's taken years to unlearn the marksmanship dogma my LE academy shoved down our thoughts. Aiming was always the priority. "Front sight, press! Front sight, press!" "You're hitting low. Stop jerking the trigger and focus on your front sight!"

If you've been through some formal training, you've probably been indoctrinated with the importance of sight alignment and sight picture ahead of all else, and then admonished with some version of the "Front sight, press!" mantra during live fire. In that same class, you were probably also shown the irrelevance of aiming with a drill where you purposefully misaligned the sights, pressed the trigger smoothly, and got acceptable hits.

So what were you supposed to learn from that combination of information? No wonder we are confused as new shooters.

Aiming is important, and it's both simple and easy. Improving trigger control will solve far more of your problems.

When I or a fellow shooter starts missing low left (for right handed shooter), it's time to remember what it feels like to "let the gun fire" instead of trying to "make it fire". Instead of yelling "front sight, press", just stop aiming. Point the gun at the berm, fire a few rounds, and observe the gun firing. Watch the casings and smoke come out. Watch the front sight move. Don't worry about where the rounds are landing. Just remember what it feels like to let the gun fire. If you're really struggling with anticipation, mix in some dummy rounds so you get a few surprise clicks.

Only after you remember how to let the gun go off should you go back to what you were working on before. Pressing the trigger without disturbing the sights has to come first. Nothing else matters if you can't do that.

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IMO what you quoted from your formal training is saying the same thing as TGO, just paraphrased. The only difference is that he does not use a target at first. This is also a very well known technique. Having more than one way to explain the same thing is great. Some people get one and or the other.

Your concern seems to be similar to the old pull the whole trigger or take up the slack and then pull the trigger. I've taught people both ways. I've also had people taught each way come back and say it finally clicked when they tried it the other way. Go figure. Different things work with different people... but

I tell people the same thing when it comes to isolating the trigger, that "ah-hah" moment when everything clicks often comes when the grip gets locked in. The actual "ah-hah" is that trigger control at competition speed has more to do with grip than what method you learned to press the trigger. Fix or perfect the grip and the trigger control is easy to master.

[JustOneGun]

It does now. At least to me. I'm a little slow though. I thought that attempting to refine my nice, slow and easy trigger press in the basement against a blank wall would help get me up to speed so to speak.

Now that I see someone with the creds of TGO telling me different, I see I've been doing it wrong.

I don't think starting with 25 yard bullseye translates well when learning to shoot. You are correct. But I have found what you describe is fantastic in small doses as a good shooter. Also, I will mix up my live fire from close in to far away.

To me, just firing fast is like when first learning to shoot faster. The speed often gets faster and faster as the string goes on. When starting to miss I would then just keep firing and missing. There was no regulation ability. Now that I can shoot fast I mix it up and it seems to work well for my trigger control.

[GJM]

I have done six days with Robbie in the last two years.

Until you can press the trigger back without disturbing the sights, many of the things we focus on like what sights to use, target vs front sight focus, and shot calling don't mean much. Once you can press the trigger without disturbing the sights, all those visual things become very important.

[Clobbersaurus]

I'm getting real sick of the clickbait titles from people online.

This. Video content was great, typical Funker Tactical click bait title..... not so much.

But I guess if it gets new shooters to consider the content then......[swallows bile].........okay.

[98z28]

IMO what you quoted from your formal training is saying the same thing as TGO, just paraphrased. The only difference is that he does not use a target at first. This is also a very well known technique. Having more than one way to explain the same thing is great. Some people get one and or the other.

Your concern seems to be similar to the old pull the whole trigger or take up the slack and then pull the trigger. I've taught people both ways. I've also had people taught each way come back and say it finally clicked when they tried it the other way. Go figure. Different things work with different people... but

I tell people the same thing when it comes to isolating the trigger, that "ah-hah" moment when everything clicks often comes when the grip gets locked in. The actual "ah-hah" is that trigger control at competition speed has more to do with grip than what method you learned to press the trigger. Fix or perfect the grip and the trigger control is easy to master.

I think we're in agreement and I just didn't express it well. We were admonished to aim harder, while only paying lip service to trigger control. All the right words were there, but the emphasis was in the wrong place for a bunch of rookies. GJM just summarized it well. You have to learn to press the trigger first. Aiming doesn't matter until you can fire the shot without disturbing the the gun. Once you can do that, all the visual stuff becomes important.

[Wayne Dobbs]

I have done six days with Robbie in the last two years.

Until you can press the trigger back without disturbing the sights, many of the things we focus on like what sights to use, target vs front sight focus, and shot calling don't mean much. Once you can press the trigger without disturbing the sights, all those visual things become very important.

Everybody except GJM and I can eat your hearts out, because I'm spending three days with Rob next week. Really looking forward to what I can learn from him!

[GJM]

Everybody except GJM and I can eat your hearts out, because I'm spending three days with Rob next week. Really looking forward to what I can learn from him!

If it is anything like my experience, you will be awed by his technical shooting diagnostic ability. No lesson plan typically, just has you stand and shoot some rounds, and starts making adjustments as necessary. Say hi from Charlie, Astro and me!

[Mr_White]

Awesome video.

Until you can press the trigger back without disturbing the sights, many of the things we focus on like what sights to use, target vs front sight focus, and shot calling don't mean much. Once you can press the trigger without disturbing the sights, all those visual things become very important.

Great summary!

[Wotan]

Precisely. Almost exactly how Chris Sajnog teaches his 'New Rules of Marksmanship' as well:

1. Shooting platform
2. Grip
3. Sight picture
4. Sight refinement
5. Focused breathing
5. Trigger control
7. Follow-through

Sajnog, Chris (2015-09-10). Navy SEAL Shooting (Kindle Locations 1538-1542). Center Mass Group, LLC. (http://amzn.to/2ekTmkR)

Dry firing is a huge tool in the shooter's arsenal! I practice dry weapon manipulation daily, and 'exercise' my hands for grip strength (http://amzn.to/2ejjzPr and http://amzn.to/2dYq3sG) - I even sometimes just 'exercise my trigger finger to make sure when I squeeze the trigger, only the first two segments move...