Gun-lifting technique - please help.

Brought to you by Zero Bullet Company Inc.

Moderators: pilkguns, m1963, Isabel1130

Post Reply
johny_r
Posts: 31
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:36 am

Gun-lifting technique - please help.

Post by johny_r »

Hi,
I'd like your opinion on the gun-lifting technique in the slow parts of sport or standard pistol. Do you lift the gun above the target and than go slowly down to the desired position or do you just lift the gun where it should be pointing. And if above - how much and why.
Why am I asking?
I used to lift the gun above the target but recently, I tried just lifting the gun to the horizontal position (aiming position) and my results went up greatly - probably because the arm does not fatigue as much as it does when it has to slowly lower the pistol. I would just go with what works fine for me but I wonder whether I will come across a problem sometime in the future because of this (wrong?) technique when I would like to improve even more.

Thanks a lot.
keith
Posts: 74
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:26 pm

Post by keith »

Johny-
I no expert but I do manage to shoot right at expert level with my scores . when I shoot I tend to raise above the target with a full breath of air and I lower the gun and exhale at the same time and touch the rd off as the sight picture is right.....when I do this my wobble circles tends to stay smaller.......my feelings are the gun is going to move no matter what I do so if I'm lowering the gun I dont seem to fight as hard keeping the left & right lined up......I do this same technique with open sights & dots.....Now haveing said that hopefully a more experienced shooter will chime in and blow holes in my theory and we can both learn something......Keith
Chris_D
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2011 3:55 pm

Post by Chris_D »

This is more of a personal thing than a specific technique. More so today than in years past and the reason is, some clubs do not allow you to raise the gun above the berm behind the targets for safety reasons.

Myself, I raise above the target and then let the sights come down to it. The muscles in my shoulder settle more quickly when lowering than when raising. At clubs where you can't raise the gun too high, I try to limit the amount above.

If you are not habitual yet, try some things and see what seems to be the most stable and natural to you. It is hard to fit the natural tendancies and you will want to save as much fight as you can to fight the bad natural tendancies of your trigger finger.

Just my 2 cents worth
Chris
User avatar
jackh
Posts: 802
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2004 8:51 pm
Location: Oregon USA

Post by jackh »

My usually flawed logic tells me that raising to the bull and stopping is not the same muscle use as reversing the muscle load from lowering to holding. Raising and stopping is always in the up mode. Relevance? I don't know.
Either way, I feel my last second move is to project "to" the target.
philip_T
Posts: 83
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:55 pm
Location: Hickory, NC

Raise/Lower

Post by philip_T »

I agree with jackh. I raise above the target on a inhale then lower on a
exhale, then inhale a small amount to settle the chest and ensure
enough air in lungs as I start the trigger pull. The Older way for most
shooting was a deep breath with a exhale and squeeze. But for pistol I
do the chest inhale for steadiness. Probably whatever works for you
after some experimenting.
USMC0802
Posts: 243
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:56 am
Location: DFW Texas

Post by USMC0802 »

Earlier this year I was doing some air pistol training with the pistol coach from MIT. He taught me to raise above the target. Along with the breathing, this seamed to work good.
Later in the year I was doing some sport pistol training with the AMU coach (who is also an olympian) and he corrected me and had me bring the pistol up to the aim point and stop. Anything else would be a wasted movement. Even tho in the slow fire portion of sport pistol, time is not an issue. However, it took me a little practice to break the "over raise" habit and it may of been an issue in the dueling/rapid fire stage of pistol.

What is best and what are all the pros and cons? I don't know but trust both of these coaches and see most air pistol shooter raising above the sight picture to start.
I haven't been shooting AP lately but in sport pistol continue the raise as I was taught by Ray and it is working well for me.
User avatar
RandomShotz
Posts: 553
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 5:24 pm
Location: Lexington, KY

Post by RandomShotz »

I"m still a relatively new shooter, just AP and FP so far, but I have a question about the motion as described by Keith.

I have read repeatedly and know from my own experience that a good way to shot badly is to wait for the right picture and "touch it off." Someone wrote that you should hold the gun where you want it and wait for it to go off, and that seems to work well when I do it. If I shoot the gun, a hole usually appears out in 7-land, or worse.

When I'm "on" (which is not as often as I'd like) I raise the gun to where I want it and wait for the wobbles to settle a bit. The most frequent problem I have with that method is that the gun sometimes seems to hit a ceiling just below where I want it to be and I have to struggle to get it to go up just a little bit more and no further. Of course, then I'm holding too long and getting off a good one becomes unlikely.

Does anyone else find this "ceiling"? What do you do about it?

Roger
Levergun59
Posts: 251
Joined: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:37 am
Location: Silver Lake WI

Post by Levergun59 »

Jonny,
I raise over the target and allow my exhalation and muscle relaxation to bring my POA to the breaking of the shot. I do this because in rapid fire, my first shot is done the same way and I keep that same amount of air in my lungs as I acquire my sight picture and start breaking the shot as I fall through the darkened bull background. I do know shooters who approach the target from the bottom. In rapid fire they let the sight picture fall below the bull and raise up while breaking the shot. It works for them as you can't argue with 100"s. I guess I just like my 100's a little more.
Chris
USMC0802
Posts: 243
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:56 am
Location: DFW Texas

Post by USMC0802 »

Looks like Chris made some excellent points and found something that works for him.
I guess everyone has given you most of the techniques used and the reasons why so now you should just try them and see what is comfortable and works for you.
johny_r
Posts: 31
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:36 am

Post by johny_r »

Thanks all of you. One more question for those who raise above. How far above do you raise the gun? Thanks a lot.
philip_T
Posts: 83
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:55 pm
Location: Hickory, NC

Pistol raising

Post by philip_T »

I have some old habits I guess from powder burner days. I roll my entire arm out,
not hard, and raise the pistol with my palm up to just above the
black bullseye. Then I roll my wrist only back to vertical. I am then just at
the top of the bullseye. I breath twice and let the front sight settle from
the top of the bull to the bottom. A medium inhale brings the front sight to
my 6 o'clock hold. Then squeeze off. Just an opinion. Good enough for
my personal best of 544. A few more 522's plus to go.
I have found that once you have a consistant routine, whatever that is,
it still goes back to a good sight picture and the preservation of it
through the shot release.
Chris_D
Posts: 38
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2011 3:55 pm

Post by Chris_D »

johny_r wrote:Thanks all of you. One more question for those who raise above. How far above do you raise the gun? Thanks a lot.
Some guys raise their arm so high, you would think they are pointing towards God for help. If you really want to do it, just pick a point slightly above the target. If you end up at a club where you can't raise your gun above the berm, you won't have to alter your shot process to shoot there.

Don't over think this stuff, the more you do, the more problems you will think you have. If you are driven to dig into it as deep as you can to find your way, be prepared to spend a lot of time working through a lot of problems. Also be prepared to fix a lot of problems you develop along the way.

Chris
johny_r
Posts: 31
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:36 am

Post by johny_r »

Thank you all. I'll try to figure out my style that enables correct breathing without getting too much fatigue in the arm. Probably raising just slightly above the black bullseye will be somewhere around what works for me. We'll see.
stardust tommy
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:17 pm

Post by stardust tommy »

the way I do, I'm only 29 and use another technique...

start at 45°, concentrate on the front sight. when you move up inhale and still focus on the FS, when moving up the front sight "shifts" in the rear sight to a full sightpicture. while moving up you can take your pretravel off and start up building triggerpressure. when on target keep your focus on the front sight while building up trigger pressure till the shot breaks. keep aiming for at least 2 full seconds after the shot breaks and tell youself where the shot went...

builing up triggerpressure should be lineair or progressive, no ups and dawns when you look in time. while aiming don't forget building up pressure! or you end up aiming forever. don't aim to long! if you aim to long you start wobling. aim for max 4 -6 seconds...

the hardest ting about shooting is knowing when not to shoot!

I hoop you guys understand my writhing... English is only the 4th language in Belgium

gr T
kankn
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2011 9:02 pm
Contact:

Post by kankn »

Jorge Torre Ria?o
TechSupport Department, Panda Security

Follow Us On:
coach factory outlet| coach outlet | Coach handBags | Coach Bags|cheap coach purses

I don't reply to private messages unless I have already requested them.
Please review the Forum rules before posting.
rstriano
Posts: 72
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:09 am
Location: new york

Post by rstriano »

Does your sight picture actually stop? Or do you release the shot as you're moving through your aim mark?

Thanks, seems the more I fry to have a still hold the more it wobbles. I'm brand new but want to create repetitive shot routines.
rstriano
Posts: 72
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:09 am
Location: new york

Post by rstriano »

Does your sight picture actually stop? Or do you release the shot as you're moving through your aim mark?

Thanks, seems the more I fry to have a still hold the more it wobbles. I'm brand new but want to create repetitive shot routines.
Post Reply