TargetTalk

If you are a recreational shooter practicing .22lr 50 ft rapid fire events without benefit of a turning target, how do you time your series in training?

P.

Hi, P.,
As an old (long time) rapid fire shooter, I may be able to give you a few ideas.
1) You must learn, firstly, your horizontal line, and be able to stop on each target.
2) You must have a stop watch, and a friend to sit behind you, operating the stop watch. The old analogue type watches were the best. You should get the first shot off in about 2 seconds, on the 8 second series.
3) In the 6 second series you should get the first shot off in 1.6 to 1.7seconds.
4) In the 4 second series, your first shot should take 1.4 to 1.5 seconds.
5) You should finish each sequence simulating a 6th shot on a non-existing target. In other words - follow through, don't stop on the last target. At the end of the sequence, after the follow through, move back to the first target in the horizontal line, to reinforce that line in your brain.
6) Your stop watch should be able to measure your first shot, and the last shot, so you know how your timing sequence is co-ordinated.
Before a competition, I used to sit in the shed, watching the targets, and, using the stop watch, I would time the sequences to get my brain in gear.

When training - shoot only one shot on the first target, which should be a 10, in the time specified - ie 2 seconds for an 8second run, 1.6 for 6 sec run, and 1.4 for the 4 sec run. Until you can get this first shot correct there is no point on going further.
When this is OK, try 2 shots (on the first 2 targets), then gradually progress through 3 shots, 4 shots to firing all 5 shots. This should get you going correctly. If you cannot score 50 in the 8 second series, you must discipline yourself to stay on 8 seconds until you get it right.
I hope this helps. Get back to me if you need more help. Alex L

Forget the stop watch...that's old school.

Get one of these:

http://shootersconnection.com/store/pro ... cts_id=444

It'll give you a start and stop audible signal, and it'll record each individual shot. It even has an auxillary jack if you want to rig up a visual signal or some turning targets.

There are probably some other shot timers available that are cheaper, but this one's pretty good. I like the earphone plug idea for dryfiring.

All good advise for sure. First shot times are important. There are many different timers on the market
that will give your split times etc. Dillon sells a couple of them. Pact is another brand. These timers run
from about $100.00 and up. A cheaper alternative is to use a TargetTimer
http://www.targettimers.com/timers.html
I use both a TargetTimer and a more sophisticated timer (can't remember the brand name, but Dillon
used to sell them). Depending on how serious I'm getting, and what I'm working on.
The TargetTimers are more versatile as far as timing different matches and are cheaper, but they have fixed
times built in, depends on what you what. The more expensive models are more difficult to program, and
you might not be able to program all you want, but they do have the ability to detect a late shot also.

Hope all this rambling helps.
R.M.

P wrote:If you are a recreational shooter practicing .22lr 50 ft rapid fire events without benefit of a turning target, how do you time your series in training?

P.

I have a Rapid Fire Video that I purchased many years ago. I can't find the producer of it anymore and I was thinking of reproducing it for sale again. I use this video, which shows real turning targets for timing, it has the timing with or without the audible/ visual shots. You stand closer or further depending on the size of your telivision. Of course this if for dry fire only and you need a rapid fire dry fire trigger for best results.

I made up an audiotape with the timing sequence from this video and we use it for practice at the range on stationary targets, indoors or outdoors (we no longer have turning targets, need to get some one day).

In the 4-second stage, it is hard to hear my command to stop; so many times we know we are late. I had an idea of hooking up lights to one of our old adjustable timers that have an ac outlet on them. I think these digital timers were used for photo lab purposes. The audiotape comes in handy if there are only two shooters in practice. The timer with lights would go well if there were a few shooters and they take turns as range officers and call the match.