What should you think on the firing line

[sillymike]

My old coach used to say

- Don't forget to breath
- Concentrate on that front sight
- Don't forget to breath

[David M]

For slow fire I take a second breath in the hold area.
-Inhale on lift to above the target.
-Part exhale (3/4) on drop to just above the black, sights now aligned.
-Slight inhale (small pant) and as part exhale to aiming area, lungs part full.
-Pause, steady, shoot and exhale after follow through.
If hold is too long during pause, abort and relax.

[Judith Arifandi]

"I've done triggering thousand times, no matter how I pull it as long its going backward, its not going to jerk. Same with sights and follow through, I've done it thousand times. pellet go straight. the only reason it not ten is because the gun not pointing at it."

I respectfully question whether this can really be true. I only have 1 year of experience with AP but I know when I hit the 6 or 7 ring, (as happened to you under pressure) it's because of poor triggering rather than my aim being off THAT much. It often happens that I'll feel my hold drifted just as I released the shot, but with a nice smooth trigger pull, it will still score a 10 or high 9. If I don't release the trigger properly, I know without looking at the target that it'll be a low scoring shot.

i'm not talking about sights only, the pellet goes straight. take the most simple principle of shooting. the pellet goes straight. as long the gun 'face' the x ring before, during, and after the shot release. it goes there

if you ask about 6 and 7, its not only under pressure its also under timed. I didn't even aim properly, I don't know how the sight was. (few seconds left man)

probably there's a misunderstanding due to my bad english. I try to encourage myself under pressure, I'm not talking about 'how to' technique. if the magic phrase doesn't work for you, don't use it. its just that simple :)

btw if you shot 100 pellet a day for 6 days, you'll get 1000 in less than 2 weeks. if you at least shot 60 a day, you'll get 1000 in less than 3 weeks. "thousand times" is not exaggerating.

Happy shooting! (I just learn positive thought will create differences)

[ISSFFP]

You have exactly stated your own problem. From your description you should be quite a good and talented shooter but not too experienced.

An usual situation for this type of shooters is the scores are quite unstable, and unstable in 2 ways. 1. one series may be 95 and then drop to below 90 and 2. You shoot over 365 one day and then below 350 in another.

The situation you mentioned is expectation and the pressure resulted. You broke the national record in the last match and tried to duplicate. You spent too much time thinking the past and lost concentration on what is before you.

The difficulty and challenge on the shooting sport, especially the timed events, e.g. AP, AR, FP, rifle events. is the importance to concentrate and maintain a stable performance. Top shooters are separated from others not by their score, but on how they can handle stress and the thrill of the competition.

I can remember a very typical incidence that took place in one World Cup competition, one merging shooter knew that even if he could shoot a 7 for the last shot, he could be qualified to the final. His performance that day was an average 94 - 95 with a fina lscore which would fell in the range of 566 - 570. He raised his pistol 3 times but the trigger pull seemed to weight more than 100 Kgs. Finally he manged to shoot and it was a 6. He ranked 9 overall and missed the final.

Forget you last shot, no matter it is a 10.9 or 6.9, but concentrate on the next shot.

[RobStubbs]

<snip>
Forget you last shot, no matter it is a 10.9 or 6.9, but concentrate on the next shot.

That's not quite what you want to do. If the shot was poor then yes move on and think about the (perfect) execution of the next shot. A good shot should be self praised to give positive affirmation and boost the mental attitude. Then yes move on to preparing for the next shot.

Rob.