I want to be sure that I understand the definition.
Is it seeing where the shot hit the target, or at worse didn't hit. Or, is it to the best of your ability saying where you believe the shot went according to the sight picture you had when the shot broke?
Thanks!
Calling your shots is your ability to tell where the shot went based on what you saw the sights do during your actuation of the trigger. It’s not the easiest thing to do, but it can be done.
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Volume alert! Explanation around the 50 second mark.
If you have access to one, shoot an RDS equipped pistol beyond 20 yards. I found that to be a excellent tool to understand shot calling if you have trouble doing it with irons.
Last edited by Artemas2; 08-31-2018 at 07:34 AM.
Shot calling to me is when I am extremely focused on the front sight and my wobble zone and when my deliberate trigger press finally breaks the shot, my mind takes a mental snapshot of where that front sight was in relation to the B8 repair center black zone when the explosion occurs.
I can just about always tell where that round impacted if it is grossly outside of the black zone. When a range buddy is spotting for me, I will call it out in relation to a clock face.
"Threw that one.....should be 7 o'clock in the white"
And so forth and so on.
My best targets are when the shot is a total surprise and the last thing I saw before recoil was the front sight directly below the all black zone on the B8. A very crisp front sight picture, for me, is vital when calling the shots.
Regards.
If you have your sights in focus when the shot breaks and you can see where the sights were positioned on your target you have all the information you need to know exactly where the round impacted. Do not look to your target for confirmation too soon. Doing so will cause you to look over your sights and blow the shot! The key is trusting & reading the sights, they contain all the information you need.
If you are not seeing your sights when the shot breaks there is a strong possibility you are doing something wrong. Most likely anticipation is causing you to close your eye/s. If anticipating the shot your timing may be out of whack. Think of shooting like other sports. Follow through is important. You must maintain follow through, in the case of shooting continue the trigger press with no other input on the gun. Your active recovery, returning the gun to proper sight alignment, comes after follow through. What many call a flinch or anticipation is the shooter going into active recovery before the shot breaks. Hence a timing issue.
If you are not seeing your sights when the shot breaks dry fire will help. Watch your sights with great purpose while dry firing. Make sure you are seeing every detail of the sights. Then the next time you go live work on a surprise break. Point in, align the sights to the target, then establish a hard focus on the sights. Slowly increase the pressure on your trigger and let the gun fire itself. The shot should break as a surprise. You should have been able to see the sights when the shot broke, observed the front sight lift and perhaps some muzzle flash. Where those sighs were relative to the target should have been noted and that would tell you where the round impacted.
Second thing you said, not first. Shot calling is just knowing where the shot went depending on what the sights were doing, it doesn't involve physically seeing hits at all.
Example: I rip off shots on an array and notice my sights were definitely angled funny on the 10th shot. If I'm on the ball I would automatically take an extra proper shot at that target because I believe I have a D or bad C hit on it.
It's something you can practice in dry fire as well. If you take a shot dry firing and you damn well know it wouldn't have been an A, make it up.
Semper Gumby, Always Flexible
The latter.Originally Posted by SC_Dave
There’s going to be a lot of different responses, based on how we approach shooting.
Calling your shots is an advanced technique. Reading the Brian Enos book will help you understand how it fits into the big picture. For me, it means observing and feeling the gun fire, and evaluating subconsciously whether the shot was acceptable. Sometimes this means what I saw when the sight lifted. Other times it means what I didn’t see when the sight lifted. Or it could be how my trigger press or grip felt.
Don’t look at the target and try to see your hits.
I do not like surprise trigger breaks, and do not find them helpful in shooting at the level of calling your shots. That’s just my take, of course.
Last edited by Clusterfrack; 08-31-2018 at 09:42 AM.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
Higher-level shooters are likely able to call most if not all shots, mainly because they are relying fully on sights as they press the trigger---and they are not allowing their focus to sprint back & forth from sights to target (as many less-skilled shooters often do).
This is the definition that I’ve always understood as well; it means that when I see the front sight dip during a trigger break I know that the round went lower than my intended point of impact.
The best way to develop that good old shot calling skill is dry fire, and a lot of it. Aim the gun at the target, press the trigger and watch what the front sight does at the point of break.
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