Lower into aiming area, abandon if below?

[toddinjax]

Hi all,
I was reading some older posts and came across this
" It's a hell of a lot easier to bring the pistol down when aiming then moving it back up if your aim shifts too low. In the past I would slowly try to move the aim back up and then let the shot off, resulting in a lot of flyers in the 10 - 2 o'clock positions. I've since learnt that if I have mistakenly brought the gun down to far, the best course of action is to just abort and start again."

I understand the benefit lowering down into position but given that we all have our arc of movement, just how literally is this to be taken? Obviously if one drops off the target you'd start over, otherwise, are we talking millimeters or inches here? For myself, my arc of movement appears to me as more vertical than horizontal, hence my concern. From the ISSF videos I've watched, I'd have to say that I don't lower my pistol as slowly as those guys, (perhaps I'll hear from you about that )but I definitely release that shot faster than them or I abandon.
The thread that got this started was http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... ne&start=0

Thanks for any thoughts offered, todd.

[SamEEE]

What exactly is your question? Is it more of a case of asking how big is an acceptable arc of movement?

If you hand is plummeting it could be a case of a bad habit formed by insufficient follow through.

I would suggest you do some holding exercises - build strength and endurance.

1) 30s hold x 6-10 reps. 3 sets twice a day. No dry fire.

And a follow through exercise:

2) Dry fire at a blank wall - concentrate on front sight. Focus on steady sight picture before, during, and after the shot. 10-15m at a time keeps things interesting. Probably 5 minutes to start off with.

[Bone Idle]

why bother...

[shaky hands]

I would suggest you do some holding exercises - build strength and endurance.

1) 30s hold x 6-10 reps. 3 sets twice a day. No dry fire.

Zins claims holding drills without moving your trigger finger build wrong habits.

[SamEEE]

Zins claims holding drills without moving your trigger finger build wrong habits.

Challenging this:
In the first instance I was implying the need for OP to perhaps develop strength through isotonic exercises. Not shooting drills.

Both Antal¹ and Standl² clearly separate specialist strength training from technical training. I have adopted the same approach - I don't put my shooting hat on at all when I am building specialist strength.

You could do it with a brick, disgruntled cat, or a milk jug if you wanted. Around the same weight of the pistol, is the idea.

The second part of my advice was technical training.³ ⁴
_________________________________

1) Antal, L. (1983). Training Methods in Competitive Pistol Shooting: 137-158
2) Standl, H. (1973). Physical Training in Pistol Shooting as a Sport. Kaye and Ward, London. 11-15
3) Antal, L. (1983). Air Pistol in Competitive Pistol Shooting: 75-84
4) Standl, H. (1973). Technical Training in Pistol Shooting as a Sport. Kaye and Ward, London. 17-34

[shaky hands]

I agree that Zins' view is not undisputed.

Some people combine strength training with dry firing. They first dry fire and then do the 30-second hold while maintaining trigger pressure.

[jabberwo]

They first dry fire and then do the 30-second hold while maintaining trigger pressure.

That's what I'v started to do, though for a minute. 10 reps after a practice session. My hold has gotten better for it.

-= Jab

[jabberwo]

They first dry fire and then do the 30-second hold while maintaining trigger pressure.

That's what I'v started to do, though for a minute. 10 reps after a practice session. My hold has gotten better for it.

-= Jab

[toddinjax]

Thanks, I'll try holding for 30 sec after a dry fire, that sounds like a good exercise. My original question was, just how low is "too low" before abandoning? My "perfect" sight picture has fairly small bands of white on either side of the front post and a similar size gap below the black. If I release the shot smoothly "right there" it's 10.9 Given an acceptable arc of movement, I can dip down "a little lower" and if the shot is released at the bottom of that arc of movement, it is still in the 10 ring or high 9. So my question is, should one abandon if you let your sight dip at all below that acceptable arc of movement? Is that the point where you say "my chances are better if I start over now" because I have to raise up into my zone? I hope this clarifies my question. Thanks.

[RobStubbs]

Thanks, I'll try holding for 30 sec after a dry fire, that sounds like a good exercise. My original question was, just how low is "too low" before abandoning? My "perfect" sight picture has fairly small bands of white on either side of the front post and a similar size gap below the black. If I release the shot smoothly "right there" it's 10.9 Given an acceptable arc of movement, I can dip down "a little lower" and if the shot is released at the bottom of that arc of movement, it is still in the 10 ring or high 9. So my question is, should one abandon if you let your sight dip at all below that acceptable arc of movement? Is that the point where you say "my chances are better if I start over now" because I have to raise up into my zone? I hope this clarifies my question. Thanks.

I think you need to decide for yourself what is too low. What you want to avoid though is to change your method of approach. So if you've dropped low and to correct it you need to 'muscle' it back up then you went too low and should abort. Remember we are training to do everything exactly the same and if you have done something different you've defeated that objective. At that point abort and start again.

Rob.