Trigger Control and Bicycle Riding Redux

From Email to a shooter asking several questions including why some of his shots hit up and right of center.

 

Concerning jerk, anticipation, thumbing and the search for a smooth trigger squeeze, all I can tell you is that you are right in there with every other Bullseye shooter.

Let me say that again: The #1 desire, the "Holy Grail" of pistol shooting is "Trigger Control" and that means releasing a shot without disturbing the alignment on the correct area of the target.

I screw up almost every shot.

On the few that I don't, I can call them and see, in the scope, that I got it right. Those are starting to happen more often (but my current state of progress would be more accurately described as "less infrequently bad"). Trigger Control is exceedingly hard and is the one thing that some say will take a decade or more to become "good" and, for most of us, more than a lifetime to truly master.

Note that even the top, top, top shooters often hit outside the "X" ring with guns that are well capable of 1/2" groups. Even the top, top, top shooters screw up Trigger Control. This is not an easy thing to master!

In the weeks, months and years to come, you'll have to do what I think we are all resigned to do: shoot a few shots, try to figure out what isn't right and then try to fix it. Sometimes you will think that the gun's sights are a little bit off. Temperature, wear and tear, ammunition, wind and other issues are all important factors in adjusting the sights and, yes, the sights do sometimes need adjusting.

Sometimes it will be you that needs to be fixed. Just this past Tuesday evening, Coach Pat at our league pointed out that I was "thumbing" the pistol and pushing the tip of the barrel right as the shot was being released. So, I "floated" my thumb out into the air and, voila, the shots moved 2" to the left. Why couldn't I see that? Well, maybe sometimes we need others to see what we don't want to see. I really thought I had grip worked out but, no, Coach Pat showed me otherwise. Three steps forward, and then two back.

My guess would be that your "high and right" shots are a slight push with your palm in anticipation of the shot. I sure do exactly that sometimes. Anticipation pushes the shot up and right (for right-handed shooters).

But the fix is not in learning to avoid anticipation. Although that seems like the obvious solution, it's not the one you want. There's a better fix!

The best fix is to figure out how to make the gun going off be a surprise to you each time. Stated differently, if you don't know when the gun is going to go off, then you cannot anticipate it. Ergo, no anticipation (shots go up and right) and no jerk (shots go down and left). [Reverse the left-right directions for left-handed shooters.]

So, how do you make the gun go off without knowing it is going to go off?

Ah, now that's the real magic!

I like to think of learning to shoot as being a lot like it was when I learned to ride a bicycle. At first, I had to concentrate on keeping my balance and, until I could do that, Mom or Dad would have to hang on to the seat and run awkwardly down the sidewalk to keep me upright. But at some point, after many attempts, I 'Got It" or rather, some part of my brain "got it" but not my consciousness. On that day, and even now, I couldn't tell you what to do other than "keep your balance." But, nonetheless, my body/brain knew how to do it. Oh sure, I was very wobbly for a while but, with more and more practice, I rode better and better and, before too long (and when Mom wasn't looking), I could ride with my hands off the handlebars.

Ta-daa!

Everything had become automatic. I was riding the bike! Er, well, "I" wasn't but somewhere inside, some part of me was doing it, but it wasn't my conscious brain.

My brain would say, "Let's ride over to Howard's" and off I'd go on the bike.

My brain would say, "Let's jump the curb!" and I would consciously yank up on the handlebars as the front tire rolled off the curb, but who was keeping us balanced?

My brain would say, "The street is slick with rainwater -- slow down for the curve," but who was keeping me upright?

Balance had become automatic and unconscious.

The conscious brain handles the exceptions, the unusual conditions, the special desires of the moment, but something else in the head keeps the bike upright and steady.

I'm convinced that shooting is the same way. Ultimately, everything has to become automatic, unconscious and you just "do it", like riding a bike.

But to get there you have to shoot many thousands of rounds, watch yourself to see what you're doing wrong, guess at the fix, try it, see what that screws up and then work at fixing that. And when you find a solution and a big part of your overall technique works, then you have to do it over and over so it becomes an unconscious habit.

"Look, Ma, no hands!"

"Look, guys, I cleaned a target!"

In the Bullseye list, watch for phrases such as "unconscious shot" and "being on automatic" and "let it happen" -- I'm pretty sure this is what the top shooters are talking about.

Try this: stand at the line, get your grip right, assume your stance, find your natural point of aim and adjust your stance as needed so the sights are dead-on. I put my arm down, close my eyes, raise my arm and then open my eyes to see where my aim is and then I adjust my left [rear] foot to try and bring the sights dead-on the target.

And now here's the hard part of this exercise -- think of nothing, nothing at all until the shot goes.

Just stand there with the gun out, clear your mind and wait.

I know you're supposed to hold the sights in alignment during that "think nothing" period but try it with and without aligning the sights -- what's important is that the gun will eventually go off if you've trained enough, if you've activated your arm and trigger finger often enough, if you've gotten to the point where, when everything is set, you shoot. It will happen and it'll surprise the hell out of you!

Sometimes as I'm ready to clear my mind I tell myself, "Let the monkey shoot now." And it always scares the bloody hell out of me that the gun I am holding suddenly goes off. But that's what you want because, if you don't know when it's going to go "Bang", there's no way you can anticipate it!

And you want that to happen on every single shot.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Dry-firing is a great way to practice the skills you will need to "ride the bicycle". It ingrains the movements into that unconscious part of the brain that needs to be in charge when you shoot.

The "dead alibi" rounds -- some call this the "Ball and Dummy" drill -- may also be helpful but remember this technique is useful only as a test of your ability to release a shot without moving the sights.

Let me ask a question: When you studied a subject in school, how often do you take a test?

Using the "dead alibi" rounds is a good test and it will tell you if you need to study some more, but then put the technique away while you do the study (the practice). "Coach Pat" in Phoenix tells me I should "Ball and Dummy" each Slow Fire target but, to me, that just generates frustration. I know I'm jerking the trigger. What I didn't know is how not to do it.

And the answer is, literally, don't think about it. Just do it. No thinking. Just ride.

Later, when I think I'm holding the sights on target as I release the shot, then I can test myself with "ball and dummy" to see if I can pass that test. And I'll use that technique occasionally to help me figure out what I am doing wrong, but then I'll go and work on the solution a while before re-testing.

I'm just amazed how difficult this sport is to do well. It seems so simple -- just align the sights on the proper part of the target and then release the shot without disturbing the alignment.

Hah!

Final word: When you find that the practice and training for Bullseye is really frustrating, go and do something fun with your 41. I love to "plink" and my favorite targets are MacDonald's ketchup packets taped to white paper plates on sticks [splat!], new cans of shaving cream [gush!], and old milk cartons filled with water [foom!]. With your 41, you can probably hit each of these at a greater distance than most other "plinking" shooters. I enjoy shooting at the junk and especially when someone else shows up and I see myself doing better (sometimes a lot better), I immediately feel recharged. I'm ready to go back and work on my precision shooting technique.

10s and Xs (and splats, gushes and fooms)!

Cleanliness Is Next To ...

Well, I thought that gun was clean but, brother, did I miss a spot -- at least that's what I think is causing so much trouble.

Over the past couple of range sessions, the Model 41 (Smith & Wesson 22 caliber target pistol) has been having more and more extraction problems. At first, I thought it was the ammunition I had been feeding it. You see, we did some accuracy tests a while back and, since then, I've been shooting up the leftovers to find out how reliable is each of the brands as well as how accurate is it.

Last night I was shooting the red boxed Eley Tenex in the regular league -- we shot the International format of three 10-round Precision Fire targets followed by three 10-round Duelling Fire targets. Before the competition started, I "fouled" the barrel with about 25 shots of this ammunition without a problem. And the Precision Fire targets seemed to go well with only a single stove-pipe.

But once we reached the Duelling Fire segment of the competition, it was "jam city." I could not get through a 5-round magazine without at least one stove-pipe, sometimes more.

My suspicion had been that either the brands of ammunition I was shooting just did not perform in the manner the 41 preferred, or that the chamber, which I have not made any special effort to clean, had accumulated so much crud that, no matter what ammunition I fired, extraction was becoming more and more difficult.

Thank goodness there were only three other shooters there last night. They were patient -- very patient -- with my alibis and I certainly had more of those than the rules would normally allow. One of the shooters volunteered a brush to try and clean the chamber and surrounding area but I think it was just too dirty for the cursory brushing. He also donated a couple of dozen rounds of a different ammunition noting that he too had found jamming to be a problem in warm climates with Eley Tenex (it feels stickier as the temperature increases) but the offered ammunition jammed just as badly.

The bottom line is that until I've thoroughly cleaned the chamber area using a .25 caliber brush, Hoppes #9 and lots of elbow grease, the gun's reliability is overshadowing any reliability issues it might have with different brands of ammunition.

P.S. Jams aside, I shot fairly well. My aggregate was 515 out of 600 points or 85.8% which places my 22 shooting in the Sharpshooter category. (If I could just do that with the 45!)

Young Bucks

(Posted in http://forum.m1911.org/ by "edski")

I often practice at an indoor range in Scottsdale AZ. It's a very nice place and draws a wide range of clients including many LEOs as well as airline pilots practicing for their qualifications. And while I enjoy observing and talking with these shooters, I must confess there is another moment I enjoy even more.

Here's the scene. As I enter the range and walk to my assigned firing point, I notice that on my left is a 22 year old man (?) standing at the line and pumping magazine after magazine of 9mm ammunition through his Glock into the man-target at 7 yards. There are a lot of holes in the target's torso, concentrated toward the center but ranging out to the edge of the paper as well.

Six feet back and directly behind the shooter is the girlfriend he is trying to impress with this flood of death and destruction. She is dutifully watching, she smiles when he looks back at her, but the smile drops as he reloads and resumes shooting. Instead of lead flying downrange, she sees coins, lots of coins, flying away to be absorbed by the shooting range.

So, I methodically set up my box, open it, take out my 45 and its ammunition, tape up a target and send it all the way out to the far end of the range 75 feet away. I unfold the telescope support arms, align it on the target, and then spend a couple of minutes getting my NPA dead set on the target. I dry fire a couple of rounds and then decide I'm ready.

I load my two magazines with five rounds each and then stop and read through the shot plan taped to the inside of my shooting box one last time. Finally, I re-assume my position, check the NPA one last time, raise my arm, hold my breath and then stand there as my trigger finger slowly rolls off a shot. (Well, at least I wish it worked that nicely.) Looking in the scope, I confirm where the round landed versus where I thought it went.

Nine rounds and about that many minutes later, I put the gun down and recall the target with 10 nicely placed holes.

Over my shoulder I notice she is looking.

I wait and, yes, as often as not, she leans forward to her boyfriend, taps him on the shoulder, says something in his ear and points over at my target.

The shooting point to my left is almost always empty shortly after my first target.

Oh YES!

Please pardon my wallowing in the exquisite pleasure I get from tormenting that poor young man but it is oh so true that "old age and bullseye-precision will always beat youth and testosterone."

First 2700

I competed in my first "2700" this past Sunday at 7:30AM along with seven other shooters. This was an NRA Approved competition so my scores would contribute to my initial ranking by the NRA.

Each "gun" in the three gun competition took about two hours to shoot the nine (9) targets of ten (10) rounds each for a total of 270 rounds of 10 points each, hence the name, "2700," for the competition.

I shot my Smith & Wesson Model 41 in the 22-caliber segment and then, like many others, I used the same gun in both the "CF" (CenterFire) and the "45" (45 ACP) portions. I used my Springfield Armory 1911 Mil-Spec (the Parkerized version) in those two portions of the competition.

Here are my scores:

2700 Scores

	22	CF	45
Slow Fire #1	76-0	53-0	61-1
Slow Fire #2	84-1	75-0	66-0
NMC Slow Fire	83-2	74-0	51-0
NMC Timed Fire	94-1	87-2	68-0
NMC Rapid Fire	92-1	86-1	76-1
Timed Fire #1	92-2	78-1	87-0
Timed Fire #2	95-0	87-1	85-2
Rapid Fire #1	91-1	63-2	68-0
Rapid Fire #2	92-1	78-2	90-2
Aggregates	799-9 88.8%	681-9 75.7%	652-6 72.4%
Grand Aggregate			2132-24 79.0%

As you can see from the scores, my 22 is much better than my 45. This is true for most shooters although not as dramatic for most as my scores would suggest: I'm still a novice with that gun and have a lot to learn.

I've been following a very specific strategy for the past year. My goal for the next several years is to achieve, one step at a time, an official ranking from the NRA at each level of achievement. Those rankings begin with the "Marksman" level.

But new shooters are not automatically awarded with a ranking of that level, nor do they have to earn it, per se. Instead, new shooters simply have to shoot a total of 360 shots that are recorded with the NRA and, overall, achieve a score of less than 85% of the maximum.

I had previously shot in an NRA Approved (and recorded) "900" (90 shots) with the 22. Those shots averaged right at 80%.

So my goal since then has been to learn the 45 well enough that I wouldn't be embarassed by my scores -- and, trust me, some of my early scores were extremely embarassing -- and to time my next "recorded" event so that I would not be likely to exceed the 85% mark.

My wish is to progress through the ranks, one step at a time, and stand on each step before moving up to the next. What is important to me is not the achievement of a high ranking, but more so in being within the flow and movement up through the ranks. Belonging is more important to me than achieving. I shoot for the camraderie that comes with the long haul up through the ranks.

Some might call this sandbagging and, if strategizing when to compete and when to wait makes me a sandbagger, then I am guilty as charged.

But I can also honestly say that as I raised the gun and followed my shot plan for each of those 270 shots recorded above, I was sincerely trying to do the very best that I could. Every single shot was the best I could do at that moment.

And some of them were pretty bad. Luckily, I think I learned some things in the competition that can be fixed next time around.

One thing to fix is lunch. If you look at the scores and think about when we started (7:30AM) and how long each "gun" took (about two hours), it's pretty easy to see that the "45" competition took place immediately after lunch. And just look at those awful Slow Fire scores: 61-1, 66-0 and then that miserable 51-0! Boy, did I want to pack up and go home.

But, "No," I said to myself, "I came to shoot a complete 2700 and I'm not leaving until I've done so no matter what the scores."

So I stopped, re-read my shot plan, tried to think (and see) myself going through each step and, yes, my scores improved, but only after I also drank and gave my body time to absorb a good 8-12 ounces of water: I think I was also dehydrated and, once the water had been absorbed, my scores picked up again.

I need to plan "lunch" better and drink more water. Sunday I ate a KFC lunch of three chicken strips, a small tub of cole slaw and a small tub of green beans and washed it down with water, but only as much as I needed to swallow the food. I noticed some of the other shooters eating relatively small sandwiches and a piece of fruit, and nothing more. Nobody, I mean nobody, had a sugared soft drink (and neither did I). (I'm not sure how much water they were drinking, however.)

Clearly, the ammunition I put in my stomach is just as important as the ammunition I put in my guns. And clearly, keeping my body adequately hydrated was also a key factor in executing the shot plan over and over again.

A final note on the "2700" scores. Notice the score on the very last target? It is 90-2 on the final Rapid Fire with the 45. That is my single best score ever with that gun in competition. (Standing and shooting on the line with half a dozen world-class shooters is real different than practice. Competition-scores are different than practice scores.) That target is now on the bulletin board behind my desk to say, "You can do this, and you can do better just by getting a surprise release instead of the jerks you see on this target in the 8 ring and the 7 ring."

Leg Match

"Yeah, I'll try the Leg Match after the 2700. Sounds like fun!"

Hah, big learning experience!

A Leg Match is shot with a hardball gun. The gun has to have iron sights and, more or less, be something that would be issued in the military or police services and, hence, this is also called a Service pistol.

My Springfield Armory 1911 just happens to qualify, well almost. It is a stock, service pistol except that I've had the trigger adjusted down to 3.5 pounds which is "legal" for Bullseye competitions, but not for the Leg Matches where it has to be a minimum of 4 pounds. I spoke with the meet director about this and he said that since this was a practice Leg Match, they wouldn't be recording the scores so it was up to me if I wanted to shoot or not. Well, I'd brought a box of hardball ammunition (230 grain Full Metal Jacket "ball") for that purpose so, of course, I said, "Yes."

So, I loaded the hardball ammo into the same gun I'd used in the 2700 with the "wad" ammo (from NSK Sales, http://www.nsksales.com/ which worked great), aimed at the same point on the target at 50 yards (at the top of the bullseye) and released my first Slow Fire shot. Then, I leaned over to the spotting scope, looked at the target, and looked and looked and looked for the hole from that first round, but it just wasn't there.

"Rats," I said to myself. But that's certainly not the first time I've jerked or pushed the gun and missed the target so I decided to try again.

Again, no hole in the target.

"What the ...?"

At this point, it was clear to Coach Pat that I was having a problem. Since this was a practice match, he came over and, after I explained my problem, he volunteered to try a couple of shots. I nodded, grateful for his help.

He fired twice and said, "Point of Impact is Point of Aim," and handed the gun back to me.

Between my aiming at the top of the bull, and then probably pushing on the grip in anticipation of the heavier recoil, my two shots had gone right over the top of the target.

Okay, I thought, I have six shots to redeem myself.

Alas, as you can see from the horrific score of 26-0 below, it wasn't to be during Slow Fire.

I've always fired best in Timed Fire and, sure enough, I turned in a respectable (for me) 76-0 next. (Targets move in to 25 yards for Timed and Rapid Fire so the Point of Impact, Point of Aim issue changes, and apparently I guessed well enough where to aim with the hardball ammunition.)

And the Rapid Fire score of 68-1, while not great, was still "in the ballpark" with the scores in that form in the 2700 so, overall, I'd have to say I did "Okay" but only after "getting the hang of it."

And that's exactly what practice competitions are for, to "get the hang of it."

Here are the (embarassing) scores from the hardball competition:

Leg Match Scores

	Hardball Score
NMC Slow Fire	26-0
NMC Timed Fire	76-0
NMC Rapid Fire	68-1
Total	170-1 56.7%

Here are some of the things I learned:

• Lunch matters a whole lot. Plan it just as I plan each shot. A bad lunch will mess up 30 or more shots.
• Stay hydrated. Drink lots of water. If you get dehydrated, the blood doesn't seem to circulate or something because my brain simply doesn't perform to the shot plan like it normally does, nor will you be able to figure out what you are doing wrong -- the brain has to be functioning, too, even if we try to get it to stop during the shot release.
• Know your sight adjustments or, if shooting fixed sights as I was, the compensation to make for not only 25 versus 50 yards, but also for "wad" versus "hardball" ammunition. Sunday I "got the hang" that hardball ammunition flies different from wad ammo. [Doh!]
• My Slow Fire on the 45 needs practice, practice, practice. There's less time to think -- and mess up the shot -- in Timed and Rapid Fire. "Don't Think" is great advice if I can just remember to shut off the brain and just let my body "do it".
• And in the seven (7) hours of competition, lunch and leg match, I sure had fun. Yeah, I'll do that again and again and again.

Bullseye is fun!

Stinkin' Thinkin'

It was "International" at Nighthawks league last night. The turnout was relatively small especially considering that the temperature had backed off from previous weeks.

I started well and scored 77 on my first Precision Fire target. Considering that I'm usually in the mid 50s, I was optimistic, but prematurely so as I would soon discover because whatever I was doing right on that target, I forgot or otherwise messed up on the next two scoring 55 and then 56.

Duelling Fire similarly started well. In fact, my 87 on the first target was a significant improvement over anything I had previously shot in that form. But the next target's 71 was a bucket of cold water and was followed by more of the same with the final target of 63.

The pattern of "good first target followed by messing it up" in both forms suggests I shoot better when following an ingrained script rather than trying to analyze and improve upon, or just repeat, what I last did.

Coach Pat looked at my score card and, comparing the Precision (slow) Fire versus the Duelling (timed) Fire, gave an instant analysis: "See? Less thinking works!"

My final score of 409 was a notch better than previous totals in this form of competition. Of course, at this end of the scale, it's relatively easy to have a new "personal best" quite often. Last night was no exception.

But considering that my aggregate score at almost every competition is better than the one before, there are two basic truths: I'm getting better and better, and I'm probably learning to think less and less.

I'm printing two small reminders for my gun box.

• "Don't think. Just shoot." (Don Plante)
• "DFT - Don't F^#$ing Think!" (Coach Pat)

Thanks, guys.

Out, Out, Damn Cross-Eye!

Posted in a thread at http://forum.m1911.org/ as user edski.

Time to reverse myself in this same thread.

In an earlier post I said I shot cross-eyed using my left eye and right hand. That *was* true. But today I went to right eye and right hand and will stay there. So this is "good-bye" to cross-eye land. Here's why.

There seem to be two "good" ways to shoot cross-eyed and still keep everything lined up. By "lined up" I'm primarily talking about the alignment of the pistol with the shooter's arm -- ideally (I'm told), the recoil should run in a line along the inside of the arm and into the body. The goal is to keep that vector (line) "inside" the arm at all points because this (supposedly) lessens recoil lift and/or side motion.

Method #1 is to take a 90 degree or higher stance which rotates the shoulder of the arm holding the gun out into a slightly off-center-of-body position where the "cross" eye will then be in line with the sights.

Method #2 is to use a 45 degree stance but either rotate or tilt the head over far enough that, again, the "cross" eye is then in line with the sights.

In both cases, I get a pain in the neck, literally, after standing that way for a long time. My body feels stretched which feels good at first but, in a long competition, starts to get very tiring. By the time we're finished shooting, my back hurts from the constant twist in #1, or my neck if I'm using #2.

So today, I moved the blinder over and started shooting right eye with right hand. I used a 45 degree stance and spent 5-10 minutes working out my natural point of aim before starting to shoot. The first three targets (10 shots each) were pretty bad but each with recognizable problems, mostly related to grip and finger position. By the fourth target, I had those issues more-or-less worked out and I was starting to hit the target fairly well. And by the end of 100 rounds (10 targets), my scores were about the same as they were before.

More importantly, on the fifth target or so, I got into position, settled the gun on the target ... and realized, "Hey, this is comfortable. I could stand like this all day!" Well, maybe not really, but it was *definately* more comfortable than what I'd had to do before to shoot cross-eyed.

My back was straight, my head was upright, my shoulder felt smoothly on top of the hump (there's a spot as I move my arm back and forth where I feel a slight but smooth hump and I stand so I can keep my arm in the middle of that and have the gun lined up on the target). That's where the NPA (natural point of aim) is in my shoulder.

Today's range time was with the 1911 in 45 ACP. I didn't shoot my Model 41 (22LR caliber) today but don't expect any show-stoppers there.

In figuring out what is best for me, I am admittedly making a compromise between visual acuteness and stability of stance. Shooting cross-eyed, my vision is better but my body is worse. Shooting righty-righty, my body feels good and the vision is "good enough." (I will continue to use a blinder on the non-shooting eye.)