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Thinking a bit more about the irons->dot discussion, difficulty transitioning from irons to a dot indicates inefficiency in prior use of irons. For example, bringing the gun to eye level and not seeing the dot indicates relying on the sights to align the pistol vs. developing a subconscious index. Looking at the dot instead of the target comes from looking at the front sight instead of the target. Waiting for a stable dot on mid-range targets instead of shooting a streak likely comes from over-confirming with irons. Etc.
Shooting drills with an aggressive par time will help break over-confirmation. There's no time to over-confirm when shooting a two-second Blake drill. I'll do similar things with other skills like position entry. Let's say that moving three yards and shooting an Alpha with a stable dot takes 2.5 s. Your time for that drill is now 2 s. Make it happen! Then try cutting the time farther
There's a maximum points value for a drill but no minimum time.
I want each shot to be an individual, conscious decision, and that just can't be done much faster than .35 splits.
That's roughly the number in my head for the limit of reactive shooting. It shows up on something like a 15-yard head box when my grip is dialed in. Transition onto the head box, break the first shot, and if the sights return so that I don't need to clean them up but I'm still verifying that they're good before breaking the second shot, then the split will be roughly 0.35 s.
In another interview, Karl Rehn discussed Stoeger's writings and the notion of making multiple shots off of one sight picture. I haven't read it first hand and won't attempt to relate the thoughts here.
Multiple shots off one sight picture are a given on closer targets. You know from experience how much the sights will move in recoil and roughly where they’ll return. On close targets, I know that the sight will not leave the A-zone at any point in the recoil cycle, so the strategy on them is to see a flash of green fiber in the A-zone then pull the trigger twice as fast as possible. I’m not aiming the second shot on top of what was done for the first, but I am calling it. Splits are going to be around .20 s. Farther out, the sight may leave the A-zone briefly before coming back, so I’ll give the gun a tenth of a second to settle before firing the second shot. There’s no time to clean up the sight picture, as I’ve already committed to pulling the trigger, but again I’m calling the shot. Splits are going to be around .30. These are both forms of predictive shooting using Ben’s terminology. JJ has similar concepts in mind when he talks about attack targets.
You can see this kind of shooting in first video here, it’s from a match on Sunday: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ6sKLhLPVa/
The first array is full send: look at a spot on the four targets in turn and smash the trigger twice when the green flash of the front sight gets there. The second, I’m moving and giving the sights a little time to settle. Third array, there’s not much A-zone above the no-shoot, and the gun is jumping up to the neck in recoil, so I’m giving it a little time to come back down. Better grip would let me shoot faster here.
Feeling in control shooting like this is a matter of acclimation.