My current Bill Drill splits are .28-.30 on average and are pretty consistent across the string (within .05). I just need to move faster.Originally Posted by txdpd
My current Bill Drill splits are .28-.30 on average and are pretty consistent across the string (within .05). I just need to move faster.
Food Court Apprentice
Semper Paratus certified AR15 armorer
Sounds a lot like me...I listened to Hwansik Kim on Stoeger's podcast mention that relaxing the shooting hand is key to faster splits. Is your right hand relaxed when shooting fast? (Assuming you are right handed). That seemed to help me a little...on a good day my splits hang around .20 and on a really good day around .18
Before that I'd try to really aggressively shoot the gun fast and could never get below .25
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Robbie Leatham says this same thing almost word for word.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
I tried to put the suggestions in this thread to work today and I'm pleased with where I'm getting to. It still needs refinement, but is a good launching point.
I began with 2 mags worth of draws to the lower "A" @ 7yds. I taped the first "C" after the first mag, so the 2 seen below are from the second mag. About halfway through the second mag I decided to try prepping the trigger meaning that I began applying pressure/travel to the trigger as my hands met and I extended/elevated the gun to the target. My average of the 22 shots before "prepping" was 1.30. My average of the 8 shots involving the "prepping" was 1.13, BUT there were 2 "C's." It seems like a way to gain speed, but something I'll need to work on a little more to figure out that sweet spot.
Next was working on split speed starting with pairs fired SA from the ready. This was frustrating because I couldn't seem to get myself to go below .20 with an average across the 14 splits of .24. I had an .18 that was a "C", but all the rest were "A's."
On to strings of 3 from the draw to try and start to put it together. Draws were there on raw time, though a lot of first shots were "C's". Not bad though, barely out kind of stuff(Pic below shows "C's" from the second mag). If I drop the bad grab on #7, the average draw across the remaining 9 runs is 1.20. Splits still lagging though:
Finally I tried to put it all together with a few full-on Bill Drills. The draws stayed pretty good and magically the splits got faster. Maybe I was just getting warmed up or maybe my body decided to learn something. Still some "C's", but overall not bad. This seems to me more like that "push just past the point of failure" rather than "wheels totally off" like what I was doing before; especially considering the speed increase.
Last run:
Then, to make sure I hadn't completely short-circuited my trigger control, I fired 10 at the headbox @ 25yds to finish the session. Good work today, happy to see the dryfire = improvement.
Last edited by ASH556; 03-11-2019 at 01:23 PM.
Food Court Apprentice
Semper Paratus certified AR15 armorer
"I just need to move faster"
Here are a few thoughts about trying to get faster and maintain acceptable accuracy:
I see a lot of C and B class shooters chasing GM par times, and getting discouraged. It takes a lot of work, patience, and time to improve--especially at the high end of the curve. Years of hard work are ahead of you, and there are no easy solutions. However, there are some ways to make things harder for yourself. Trying to shoot super fast Bill drills or clean the Garcia Dots isn't helpful, IMO. If you can shoot around 0.20s pairs and keep them within 3" at 7 yds, that's good. If you can do that, it's time to work on other stuff. Getting "faster" than that isn't necessarily helpful. That will come as a side effect of working on more important aspects of your shooting.
Think about shooting as an integrated system:
Aiming: seeing the alignment and trajectory of the gun and the target
Stability: stabilizing the gun--grip, arms, body posture
Trigger press: rapidly firing the gun without disturbing the alignment
Timing: pressing the trigger at the right time in the recoil cycle
Recoil management: adjusting the recoil of the gun and orbit of the sights
Transitions: movement of the gun to the next target
Movement of the whole body
In training, I isolate parts of the system to identify my weaknesses and address them. I don't expect much--if any--progress on the days to weeks timeframe. For me, there's about a 3 month lag in working on something and seeing results under pressure.
There are a ton of good drills in books like Skills & Drills, or the Anderson books that train much more than the rather limited FAST and Gabe W drills. And for fuck sake, take a break from Bill drills :-)
I've posted this elsewhere before:
There are at least five reasons you miss:
1. Trigger mechanics: trigger pull moves sights off target
2. Recoil control: arms move sights off target in an attempt to control recoil
3. Timing: you attempt to time the recoil cycle of the gun, but press the trigger at the wrong time.
4. Transitions: you pull off the target before the gun is finished shooting it, or shoot before the gun has arrived on target.
5. Sights: your aim was off
Last edited by Clusterfrack; 03-11-2019 at 02:28 PM.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
*like
Just went on Amazon to look at Stoeger books. Will add them to the wish list. My wife's a book nut. I can get away with books better than ammo, lol.
Food Court Apprentice
Semper Paratus certified AR15 armorer
Skills and Drills Reloaded
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1985644657/
Last edited by Clusterfrack; 03-11-2019 at 02:38 PM.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
I can’t offer any additional advice on the technical side, but to help you avoid frustration, look at Chuck Pressburg’s target in this video. He’s currently working on getting his speed back up to par and has a lot of c’s taped up.
I often tape the non-Alphas too, but be careful about always doing that. There's a lot of useful information in where the hits are going inside the A-zone. Bullets and practice time are more valuable than tape or targets.
Last edited by Clusterfrack; 03-11-2019 at 07:50 PM.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
@ASH556
Remember not to mix accuracy work with speed work. I should have mentioned that in my first post. If you have never shot an .18 split, you won’t be able to do it when trying to hold the A zone. Get the .18 split first, and then try to bring in the accuracy. Same with draws. Work the speed in isolation, accuracy comes later.
PS. Your Bill drill times are not slow.
Good work!
"Next time somebody says USPSA or IPSC is all hosing, junk punch them." - Les Pepperoni
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