Practice - It's not enough to talk about it

So, the dry fire thing was a good idea. I dry fired for a few days, then I went to visit my brother. He's a police officer and the highest rated pistol shooter in his agency. We went to their range and used a dueling tree (one of those towers with 6 steel spinner targets, and if you get them all spun to the other shooter's side, you win). He was on his Gen 3 Glock G22 and I was on my Beretta PX4, both drawing from holsters. We shot at 15, 20, and 25 yards. Of the 20-25 matches I won in the neighborhood of 10. I think a few days dry firing helped immensely.

I should also mention that on a long day of shooting, about 500 rounds each (we shot other targets too) the Glock and Beretta were both flawless. Later on at the rifle range I put another 500 or so from the prone position through my Daniel Defense, lying it in the dirt a few times. Also flawless. It was a boiling hot, windy, dirty day at the range so that's always nice to see your equipment run well when pushed a little.
 
Erikbal said:
I must admit I haven't been able to practice much lately at all. My problem is not having anywhere to shoot most of the time. I need to just join the local gun club so I can go whenever I want, I just haven't had the spare money. I should start dry practicing more.
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Well I finally went and did some shooting yesterday. A friend of mine is a member at the local gun club and took me as a guest. I took my 2 guns, Ruger SR9c and S&W Bodyguard .380. I must say, the more I shoot that Ruger, the more I love it! It is a VERY nice shooting gun and I shoot pretty well with it. I am shooting the best I ever have. I also put some rounds through my carry gun which is the .380, and shot well with that as well. That's not as accurate as far as the Ruger, but still a nice shooter. I shot off the HP's I've been carrying in it for a while now, and put some fresh ones in it. I was pleased to know that if I had ever needed it, it shot all 7 perfectly fine. I have yet to have a failure of any kind with either gun. Man it felt good to get out and shoot!
 
50 pushups or some windsprints immediately followed by shooting gives a good idea of how much an accelerated heart rate can affect shooting (and also how it can be overcome with practice)

I might also add that I too belong to the dry fire club.
 
I get a lot of shooting tips from golf color commentator's, because the shooting sports is similar to golf.

But back to breathing...with a few tips.

If you're shooting --- and your vision becomes blurry --- One possible reason...is that you're not breathing enough. That is...you're not getting enough oxygen to your eyes, which is due to a lack of oxygen in the blood.

Another...in certain instances, you can breathe to much --- which is hyperventilation. You can hyperventilate, buy having so much oxygen in your blood...and follow by holding your breath while shooting --- can actually make you pass out on the firing line. Some shooters...breath in a paper bag in order to store more carbon dioxide in the blood. {I'm not a medical expert on this, so I'd appreciate if anybody can verify this medical condition, or google: hyperventilation}.

In a relaxed state while shooting...you can inhale thru your nose and exhale thru your mouth --- with three deep breaths --- exhale on the last breath, and take the shot within 6 seconds.

In rapid fire...sometimes you'll have to hold/inhale your breath in spurts.
 
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Since we're back on the subject of breathing,
Paying attention to how we breath depends on what kind of shooting we're doing, doesn't it?
For range work, bullseye or Olympic competition, breathing is important and something to practice.
For the kinds of shooting where there's something far more important going on, and rapidly, is how we're breathing going to be even a consideration?
 
For the kinds of shooting where there's something far more important going on, and rapidly, is how we're breathing going to be even a consideration?
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I was taught...

Breathe deliberately. When it's time to squeeze, stop breathing deliberately.

In other words, don't wait till the end of a breath cycle. Interrupt the cycle you're currently in with a stop, squeeze, start breathing again. Interestingly enough, START breathing again after a critical shot is something a lot of people don't do well.


Sgt Lumpy
 
I was taught...

Breathe deliberately. When it's time to squeeze, stop breathing deliberately.

In other words, don't wait till the end of a breath cycle. Interrupt the cycle you're currently in with a stop, squeeze, start breathing again. Interestingly enough, START breathing again after a critical shot is something a lot of people don't do well.
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That's old school, too much to think about, where as you naturally stop breathing at the end of the breathing cycle.

When I was really heavy into High Power, while coaching the AK NG Rifle team, I shot rapid fire fairly fast, We had 60 seconds to get into position, fire two rounds, reload and fire 8 (200 yard setting). I'd shoot it in about 45 seconds. Even then I'd check the spotting scope after the first to rounds to see if I needed an adjustment, sometimes I did and would make the sight change.

I was at the Wilson Matches (National Guard Championship) and after firing a string the guy scoring for me asked how I breathed while shooting so fast.

I didn't know. So the next string I tried to think about my breathing so I could relate how I breathed. Worse Setting Rapid Fire string I ever shot.

The next day he ask his coach to watch me regarding my breathing. His state coach said I breathed in, out, fired, breathed in, out and fired. I had no idea, it just came natural. If I tried to think about it, I'd screw up.

The more natural an act is, the more constant you'll be, the less you think about something, the less chance you have of screwing up.
 
Kraig, it's almost as if you didn't read my post. The previous poster asked "where there's something more important going on". I presume that to mean when someone's shooting at you.

So again, don't wait till the end of the breathing cycle. STOP breathing whenever and wherever necessary to take the shot. Then START breathing again.

Deliberately stopping and starting is the point. Not waiting till the breath tells you to shoot. Controlling the stop and perhaps more importantly the re-start when the SHOT tells you to.

Martial artists, tennis players, all ball players use the conscious kee-up, grunt or whatever their particular sport calls it. They are deliberately controlling their breathing to "make the shot" when the shot needs to be made, ball needs to be hit or whatever the sport requires.

Being deliberate about breath does not mean losing focus on target or anything else. It's not "thinking about" anything. It's just the opposite, to me at least. It means staying IN focus. Trigger squeeze is not a "think about" process. Neither is breathing.

Like everything else in shooting, that's simply the method the I was taught. Others may have different approaches. It's probably important to have SOME approach. And it's probably important that that approach works for each individual shooter.


Sgt Lumpy
 
Knowing the LCP its likely that long hard trigger that is the culprit here. The solution of course is the recommended dry fire practice. I have a secret weapon now........I purchased a laser ammo laser bullet. Now I can see exactly where I would have hit had a real bullet been used. I used my laser ammo laser bullet to dry fire my way to hand gun hits single handed with both strong and weak hand at 50 yards standing.
 
Skills degrade quickly but come back quickly I've found. 2012 I was getting pretty good with my pistols. Then I didn't shoot for about 6 months and I thought my sights were off!

Shot again and was better. Third time out I started getting good again.

Good not great mind you. I do think I need to dry fire more and I might buy one of those laser targets.
 
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