(Don't) Slow Down and Get Your Hits

[LukeNCMX]

I have been reading a lot of posts in some recent threads on PF where folks are suggesting the classic "slow down and get your hits" when faced with shooting under time pressure.

I am of the camp that is very much against this ideology for the following reasons:

The mind works like a machine. Give it an input, it provides an output (Ben Stoeger). Giving a shooter on the range the input "slow down" usually results in an output of everything slowing down: the draw, transition, reload, movement, not just the careful shooting desired.

Hit factor scoring and defensive shooting are both successfully executed as fast as possible, emphasis on FAST. The answer to these challenges are never to purposely slow down, EVER! Any slowing down is a gift to your opponent/competition.

Human perception of speed is inaccurate. What feels and looks fast can be slow, what feels and looks slow can be fast.

Fast is a relative term. What is fast for some is slow for others.



So what do we replace "slow down and get your hits" with?

Instead of a vague notions of fast and slow, we decide, based on experience and experimentation to shoot using VISUAL cues.

We decide to shoot based on sight confirmation (Hwansik Kim) or seeing what you need to see (I believe @JCN mentioned this in a thread or three).

I understand sight confirmation so I'll put it here (there is a corresponding level of confirmation for irons that I'm too lazy to type out):

Confirmation 0: Body index, outline of slide in front of your face
Confirmation 1: Streak of red dot over the intended target
Confirmation 2: Moving circular dot over intended target
Confirmation 3: Steady circular dot over intended target

For example, a shooter experiments with different confirmation levels at varying target difficulties and learns they can shoot a 3 yard full size USPSA target with Confirmation 0 but needs Confirmation 3 at a 25 yard head box.

What is important here is that never at any point is the word "slow" employed.

Our training efforts should be spent on driving good technique at the limit of human function (Steve Anderson) into our subconscious so that the gun handling is perfect and consistent when called upon. It should be spent on learning the sight confirmation required to get the hit we want and executing the shot(s) as soon as possible. The more we master these elements the more brain power we can bring to bear on the important decisions of when to shoot, the rate of fire, and when we decide to stop shooting.

Hopefully this sparks some ideas and discussion about why we really need to drop the "slow" stuff and point people in the right direction.

[JCN]

@LukeNCMX I like you and I respect you, buddy.

But I don’t agree with the above.

[Clusterfrack]

@LukeNCMX, good thread--and I think your post is a good starting point for the discussion.

I'm no fan of shooting koans, and have trained with Ben and Steve so your ideas resonate with me. In training (and some other cases) there are times where we set a cadence for shooting, but like you--I find the conscious concept of time interferes with shooting. That applies equally well to speed shoots on 'easy' targets and 1000+ yd precision rifle shooting.

"See what you need to see"
"Call your shots"
"Go fast; don't miss"
"Slow down; get your hits"
"Slow is smooth; smooth is fast"

None of these are good for teaching shooting unless accompanied by detailed instruction and technique specific drills. As a professional instructor of highly technical material, my experience is that cliched phrases like this make instructors seem wise and students feel stupid.

Back to "See what you need to see". What do you need to see, exactly? How can you learn that? A good starting point is to distinguish between (1) no sight picture, (2) flash sight picture, (3) stable sight picture. Next, explore what difficulty of target and context requires each type. I know this is not new to anyone here.

Shooting is not complicated, but it's not simple either. What it doesn't need to be is mysterious.

[Clusterfrack]

One more thought on this topic. (Note: we're not just talking about fast splits). There are two ways I've been able to "go faster and get my hits":

1) Train to "go faster", and figure out how to still make good hits. Progress is slow, and I find that it takes weeks to months before results are measurable.

2) Make small adjustments that allow shooting sooner/faster but increase risk. There's a Mason Lane drill called "Find 100" that's all about this.

[JohnO]

There is one undeniably truth. You can't miss fast enough to win a gunfight!

[camel]

You can outrun your headlights. But you also can outrun your brakes.

[LukeNCMX]

I don’t agree with the above.

Dang the whole thing?

the conscious concept of time interferes with shooting

Nice succinct way of putting it.

You can't miss fast enough to win a gunfight!

Another worthy phrase to occupy a button on my fudd soundboard

[Clusterfrack]

There is one undeniably truth. You can't miss fast enough to win a gunfight!

Absolutely. However... like the other Zen Koans of shooting I posted above, there's not enough information.

You can't miss fast enough to win a gunfight.

We also have:
Every gunfight is a competition.


How about: Know your limits and stay within them. (But it's ok to push limits when training)

But, back to the idea that TIME is not what we want to be thinking about...

[Clusterfrack]

Another worthy phrase to occupy a button on my fudd soundboard

I suggest we all try to keep this thread safely in the high rungs of discussion. There's value in a range of opinions, and I think @JohnO is pointing out that "fast" can mean a mag dump spray and prey, and that's not good.

[LukeNCMX]

Train to "go faster", and figure out how to still make good hits. Progress is slow, and I find that it takes weeks to months before results are measurable.

I think it depends on what stage you are on the journey. Early on normalizing fast gunhandling can make some big gains but looking for tenths gets harder and harder.

On a similar note find I find that pushing speed in training in an unbalanced way can harm execution. For me it was always training (daily for years) with aggressive par times even when it was dumb like times I was just exploring different techniques. Now I treat par times like a scalpel and only apply them when they make sense for my training goal.

Make small adjustments that allow shooting sooner/faster but increase risk.

I see this as more of an execution strategy then a training strategy (unless you are training specifically your execution skills, if that makes sense)