TargetTalk

Last evening I was watching television when I remembered that I could do with some trigger time. And so I kept doing a straight back squeeze and it felt light and good. Then I switched the idiot box off and stood up and began to dry fire while pointing at a white wall. Hand is steady, a little stiffening of the forearm muscle after 40 dry fires but I push on and I can still squeeze the trigger as correctly as I can without any hassle. I do this 60 times and then tuck the pistol away for the night.
Now my question is that while shooting pellets down range, I always experience a strange phenomenon of the trigger suddenly feeling very heavy. This will normally happen after some thirty pellets. How come I don't experience this while dry firing? Another Sith mind trick? What cures do you phenomenal shooters suggest?

Regards,

Dev

Dryfire is a process oriented drill without results. You have probably become aware of results when live firing and the mind develops a reluctance to squeezing the shot off. Worst cases are often described as "chicken finger". Cut out the center of the target,or shoot on one target without reeling back or spotting and shoot whole sessions in this way. Detach yourself from the results and become a process shooter. The shot is fired at the firing line and the target is only a point of reference that distracts from the process.

Brooks

Tension in the muscles that is felt as a heavy trigger pull. For me, it usually comes from trying to make a perfect shot and a lack of confidence. Relax the muscles and shoot with a confident (but focused) attitude and the trigger pull is much, much lighter.

hello pb and ed,

thank you for sharing your tips. i have been able to shoot my first 360/400 yesterday at home. i agree the game is now getting more and more mental.

regards,

Dev

Here's a thought:
I seldom hear talk about "antagonist" muscles among shooters.
These are the ones doing the "opposite" action to what we are trying to do. I.e. you try to bend your trigger finger to fire the shot. The antagonist muscle(s) are the ones that work to straighten the finger.

When we feel insecure, we use these muscles to stop the action, and things get hard to do. Sometimes the use of opposing muscles may have a stabilizing effect, but often it is just a waste og energy and prevents a good performance. Swedish archery coach Leif Janson has studied this in different sports and written a very interesting book about "relaxed technique" where he compares measurements of muscle tension in average and top performers.

luftskytter- wrote:Here's a thought:
I seldom hear talk about "antagonist" muscles among shooters.
These are the ones doing the "opposite" action to what we are trying to do. I.e. you try to bend your trigger finger to fire the shot. The antagonist muscle(s) are the ones that work to straighten the finger.

When we feel insecure, we use these muscles to stop the action, and things get hard to do. Sometimes the use of opposing muscles may have a stabilizing effect, but often it is just a waste og energy and prevents a good performance. Swedish archery coach Leif Janson has studied this in different sports and written a very interesting book about "relaxed technique" where he compares measurements of muscle tension in average and top performers.

Hi Luft,

I will really have to read up about what you have written. None of the shooters that I know have talked about what you have written.

Thank you

Dev