The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Anticipating recoil

dyl · December 24, 2011, 08:28 PM

Everyone loves sharing their favorite tips. So I'll join on!

Just 2 things. I read somewhere that an un natural but key challenge to shooting is to make your trigger finger an independent entity. Everything stays still - the muscles is the other fingers, how hard you're squeezing both sideways and front-to-back, your level of push-pull from the arms and shoulders, the height of the gun, your head neck and even tour breathing. The only thing that moves is your finger And relatively slowly at that. The rest of you is like a machine, a clamp, whose only job is to present a stable platform. It's un-natural. To me at least and I believe there are many concepts that make it UNLIKE martial arts. The danger of associating shooting to other martial arts too closely is that our job is NOT to anticipate anything as far as the actual firing sequence goes. And unlike other sports where trying "harder" usually means more speed more power more effort we are trying to hold steady, consistent in the firing sequence at least. Letting the usual ways of trying "harder" creep into your firing sequence and it will move your shots around. It's not natural to hold steady in the face of an explosion, to suppress flinches and reactions.

The other thing is a tidbit I learned from a beginner's NRA class. I thought it wouldn't have anything to offer but one among a few tips was novel to me. That is: after a shot is made, do not relax or reset the trigger until you reacquire a sight picture on the target again. Then reset the trigger and relax or shoot again. This encourages follow through but also is good training for getting that "ultimate controlled pair" everyone wants so bad.

Merry Christmas, God bless.

December 24, 2011, 08:28 PM	#26
dyl Senior Member Join Date: October 31, 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,310	Everyone loves sharing their favorite tips. So I'll join on! Just 2 things. I read somewhere that an un natural but key challenge to shooting is to make your trigger finger an independent entity. Everything stays still - the muscles is the other fingers, how hard you're squeezing both sideways and front-to-back, your level of push-pull from the arms and shoulders, the height of the gun, your head neck and even tour breathing. The only thing that moves is your finger And relatively slowly at that. The rest of you is like a machine, a clamp, whose only job is to present a stable platform. It's un-natural. To me at least and I believe there are many concepts that make it UNLIKE martial arts. The danger of associating shooting to other martial arts too closely is that our job is NOT to anticipate anything as far as the actual firing sequence goes. And unlike other sports where trying "harder" usually means more speed more power more effort we are trying to hold steady, consistent in the firing sequence at least. Letting the usual ways of trying "harder" creep into your firing sequence and it will move your shots around. It's not natural to hold steady in the face of an explosion, to suppress flinches and reactions. The other thing is a tidbit I learned from a beginner's NRA class. I thought it wouldn't have anything to offer but one among a few tips was novel to me. That is: after a shot is made, do not relax or reset the trigger until you reacquire a sight picture on the target again. Then reset the trigger and relax or shoot again. This encourages follow through but also is good training for getting that "ultimate controlled pair" everyone wants so bad. Merry Christmas, God bless.