12-09-2011, 02:38 PM
LR & Co,
I am thoroughly enjoying the read -- and am slowly coming to an understanding of why I had difficulty with precise rapid fire in competitive shooting, even though I could do reasonably well in slow-fire precision shooting with the pistol. I did OK with the NRA "Rapid Fire" where we had ten seconds to do five shots at the same bullseye. My hiccup was doing the International Style competition where we had five seconds to shoot five different targets. I tended to lose the squeeze and to jerk the trigger in this faster-paced competition.
It seems that there is something of a chicken and egg situation with positioning. The good news is that the proper sight picture can be illustrated in several different ways, and can be practiced to a limited extent using rests so the shooter can develop comfort that that is indeed a sight picture that works. Then a coach can help the shooter find a good position. After that it is learning to smoothly go into position under appropriate instruction, coaching and lots of repetition.
In my view, the smoothly getting into the position is the first place where what we popularly call muscle memory comes into play.
The slow-careful trigger squeeze has remained a conscious act in my shooting.
The truly new idea for me is that the smooth trigger pull needs to be practiced so it becomes a subconscious act! Knowing that might have made a difference for me many years ago.
I am thoroughly enjoying the read -- and am slowly coming to an understanding of why I had difficulty with precise rapid fire in competitive shooting, even though I could do reasonably well in slow-fire precision shooting with the pistol. I did OK with the NRA "Rapid Fire" where we had ten seconds to do five shots at the same bullseye. My hiccup was doing the International Style competition where we had five seconds to shoot five different targets. I tended to lose the squeeze and to jerk the trigger in this faster-paced competition.
It seems that there is something of a chicken and egg situation with positioning. The good news is that the proper sight picture can be illustrated in several different ways, and can be practiced to a limited extent using rests so the shooter can develop comfort that that is indeed a sight picture that works. Then a coach can help the shooter find a good position. After that it is learning to smoothly go into position under appropriate instruction, coaching and lots of repetition.
In my view, the smoothly getting into the position is the first place where what we popularly call muscle memory comes into play.
The slow-careful trigger squeeze has remained a conscious act in my shooting.
The truly new idea for me is that the smooth trigger pull needs to be practiced so it becomes a subconscious act! Knowing that might have made a difference for me many years ago.