Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 35

Thread: “ROTD” method of shooting a PMO

  1. #1

    “ROTD” method of shooting a PMO

    Lately I have been pondering why some times I shoot fast and accurately, and other times shoot slower and less accurately. Since that variation can be during the same match or practice session, it is not like I magically got better or worse. The explanation that seems most probable to me, is it is how I interact with the rhythm of the gun moving through the recoil cycle. For short, I am referring to this as “ROTD” or rhythm of the dot.

    Before discussing ROTD, I want to discuss variation in how the dot moves through recoil. Depending upon the caliber and ammo we are shooting, our strength and our technique, there will be variation in how the dot moves. If you want to get an easy visual on this, shoot doubles with a laser, and watch how the laser dot moves through your recoil cycle. Obviously you want to have the gun move the least possible through the recoil cycle, but perhaps more importantly is you want the gun to move in a consistent motion.

    Now, back to ROTD. Rob Leatham says the key to shooting faster is to move the trigger faster. TPC says the key to shooting faster is to be earlier. My objective is a combination of earlier and faster by “getting ahead of the dot.” The technique that I associate with my best shooting, is to see the dot reach the apex of its arc of travel, watch it head back down, visualize its path and speed of return, and then prep the trigger so the shot goes off just as the dot reaches the target zone. Besides being earlier with this method, I find it leads to better trigger control because I am prepping the trigger when the dot is in motion, camouflaging the wiggle of prepping, and the shot breaks naturally as the dot settles, rather than trying to “make it go off right now!”

    I drew with a Sharpie on a USPSA target to illustrate where I might see the dot start to come back down, and the steps to making the shot happen.

    Name:  38EBBD70-F925-41E6-8435-EA31CE8D8781.jpg
Views: 995
Size:  39.2 KB

    If you prefer watching to reading, here is a short video describing the method, and demonstrating it, by shooting a 3x5 at 10 and 15 yards.



    Next, I took the method to a B8 at 15 yards. It really is low stress, because I am letting the shots break naturally as the dot settles.



    At some point, you will need to stop and stabilize the pistol to make a good shot, but I am not sure what that distance is. I tried it on a B8 at 25 yards, and was pleasantly surprised.



    As you should be able to see on each of these videos, the shot breaks as the dot reaches the target area. For me, at least with my ability today and a Glock trigger, this method allows me to do some of my best shooting. This might just be a trick of the day, or it might be something that helps you get in sync with the rhythm of a red dot.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  2. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    Southern AZ
    This is one of the huge advantages of a PMO for a shooter who has a solid grasp on the fundamentals...no more time taken to verify sight alignment / sight picture. It’s single visual plane shooting, dots there...(or on its way there) break the shot as soon as it arrives.
    Last edited by TCB; 01-24-2020 at 07:53 PM.

  3. #3
    I thought ROTD meant "Rules Of The Day" which applied to certain pistol matches we used to attend. Seems like the rules changed from week to week. LOL

  4. #4
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Gotham Adjacent
    Awesome, awesome, stuff. I appreciate the vids and the visual on the target.

    Now - thoughts on the drawstroke/index to find the dot and break the first shot?

    I found the optic was working for me when already within the shot string, but I was consistently slower on the first shot and/or I dropped them from As to Cs by trying to force the shot.
    Last edited by RevolverRob; 01-24-2020 at 10:02 PM.

  5. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Western Ohio
    Quote Originally Posted by RevolverRob View Post
    Now - thoughts on the drawstroke/index to find the dot and break the first shot?
    You will have trouble finding it if you can't look at a target, close your eyes, draw to it, and find the sights in alignment on that target when you open your eyes at the end of the draw.

  6. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Louisiana
    Yes, this is such great stuff.

    I had a breakthrough in my shooting several years back while I was renting an M&P with almost zero force to the reset. It forced me to very consciously adopt a “back-and-forth-and-back-and-forth” motion to my trigger finger, and being able to marry up the cadence of the recoil to the cadence of prepping and breaking the shot gave me a further step in my shooting.

    I really, really like the description of prep in recoil as camouflaging motion in the sights prior to breaking the shot.
    Last edited by Bergeron; 01-25-2020 at 01:10 PM.
    Per the PF Code of Conduct, I have a commercial interest in the StreakTM product as sold by Ammo, Inc.

  7. #7
    Site Supporter
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Fort Worth, TX
    I found myself employing this technique while shooting a RDS pistol for the first time this past weekend. I had a nagging feeling that I was staging the trigger or doing something else in poor technique. I also struggled a bit to shoot the dot and ignore the cowitnessed Ameriglos. I purposely avoided reading any dot-technique before my first outing, just to see how I felt about it with a blank slate. Now trying to catch up on advice/technique from the more experienced.

    Apologies for reopening an old thread, but, I thought this was valuable insight for me and wanted to say thanks.

    If this has been superseded by other/better technique/thinking/practice, I'd appreciate a pointer to that thread. Still getting off the ground here.
    "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

  8. #8
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Holy moly, what a useful thread top. Thanks @GJM and thanks @RoyGBiv. This is excellent stuff.

    Turns out as most know, I am still in the crawl stage of crawl/walk/run on dots. On this topic, I was at the range yesterday, trying to focus on shooting small things better, and had constructed a target consisting of 5 2" circles and 5 1" squares, since most of my errors on my favorite "Find Your Level" target are on these shapes.

    I ran it out to 5 yards and used my Glock 34+HS 507c and shot it at a comfortable pace with AE 115 ammo. I was quite honestly very surprised to see small holes start to appear in the center of these targets, 9 out of 10, then somehow I lost the bubble and shanked the last one low and away.

    (target is to right in this pic)

    Name:  IMG_9535.jpg
Views: 584
Size:  54.7 KB

  9. #9
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Quote Originally Posted by RoyGBiv View Post
    I found myself employing this technique while shooting a RDS pistol for the first time this past weekend. I had a nagging feeling that I was staging the trigger or doing something else in poor technique. I also struggled a bit to shoot the dot and ignore the cowitnessed Ameriglos. I purposely avoided reading any dot-technique before my first outing, just to see how I felt about it with a blank slate. Now trying to catch up on advice/technique from the more experienced.

    Apologies for reopening an old thread, but, I thought this was valuable insight for me and wanted to say thanks.

    If this has been superseded by other/better technique/thinking/practice, I'd appreciate a pointer to that thread. Still getting off the ground here.
    Speaking purely for me, as a pretty ordinary shooter, I just waited till the dot settled onto the shape, then pressed the trigger back. I don't recall thinking about anything in particular (to be honest, I was probably focusing on my grip at the time, as in, making sure that I wasn't slacking off grip pressure.) The shooting part was kind of a secondary aspect of that string, and it was only about half way through, that I started to realize that the bullet holes were appearing in the center of the shape, as if by some kind of Elvish magic.

  10. #10
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Missouri
    Good stuff man, I'm going to play with this at the range some. ROTD seems like a more precise version of the "line/stripe of death" (semi-gag) concept some use where so long as the "line" created by the dot during the cycling of the gun stays within an acceptable area of the target, just keep pressing the trigger. If you can make that line 1" long, incredible, if if is 18" you probably have more issues to work out.

    In my shooting quest, something I have struggled with is "What do I NEED to see?" Irons or dot. Again, good stuff as always.

User Tag List

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •