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Originally Posted by bamaranger
Down that path, it has been my observation that those who have developed the skills to manage sights and trigger properly, and shoot well on paper, transfer that ability when under stress, be it competition, force on force training or "shooting for the record" as I have seen it described. Conversely, shooters performing poorly on paper, do not fair as well under stress. That does not mean a "good shot" cannot fair poorly in an threat situation, or a "poor shot" cannot emerge successfully from same. But I am suggesting that a very solid foundation of "sights and trigger" will serve one well in situations much beyond contact distance. It is my belief that though one may not recall the effort, a passable execution of trigger control and sight picture will occur.
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I do and don't agree. If you don't have the skill on a square range to repeatedly have good sight alignment and trigger control, then your chances of having that under duress are, in my experience, low. I have done a few full days of force on force in a group setting and watching probably two dozen people go through the same scenarios as myself. I never saw someone "rise to the occasion" as it were. The people that had poorer fundamentals did poorer than those that didn't, at least in terms of making hits (decision making was sometimes a different story).
That said, both I and many of those I watched missed shots that even the day before on a square range were laughably easy for us. The targets (assailants) were moving, we were moving though an environment with obstacles and other people, and most of us had some degree of adrenaline going. Now many were able to correct for this and realize that their shots weren't hitting, and then get back to good sight alignment and trigger control. There was at least once that this happened to me, where I was missing, realized my sight alignment was poor/non-existent, and got a good sight picture in order to make a needed headshot. The people that were able to correct for their lack of sight alignment and trigger control seemed to keep that lesson in my mind for the rest of the scenarios during that event.
I think all of this to some extent will depend on the level of stress of the event. Competition, even informal, can add stress that makes people "rush their shots", and even training by yourself with a timer can see this. Scenarios where there are a number of factors (location, multiple assailants, bystanders moving in the scenario, etc.), can present your brain with more to track and sometimes what you take for granted, like good sight alignment and trigger control, can fall by the wayside.