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Sight Picture
The single most important thing about shooting of any kind is sight
picture. I say it over and over and over again to my students; I really
don’t think you can say it too many times. The sight picture is where all
good shooting begins. What you have to learn to do is focus on your front
sight. The rear sight is a blur; the target is a blur.
FRONT sight!
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? It took me about three years to focus on the
front sight, and still, when I miss, it’s because I stopped focusing on
the front sight. The combination of sight picture and trigger control are
the very foundations shooting is founded on. It doesn’t matter whether
it’s IPSC PPC, or NRA bullseye. The basic principle is unchanged.
The problem is that watching your front sight is not fun, especially when
you’re shooting a moving target or metal plates. Your mind wants your eyes
to follow that moving target. Your mind wants to know whether those metal
plates fell when you hit them. Sometimes the urge to look at your target
is overwhelming. It’s so easy to look over that front sight and see what’s
going on out there. Then you miss. In a match, you lose points, in the
real world, you lose your life. One way to test yourself is to go
out plinking at tin cans on the ground. If you can see where your bullet
hits, you’re not watching your front sights. Plinking is loads of fun,
but if you’re not watch-ing that front sight, then plinking is going to
do more harm than good. Everybody wants to raise up to look at what he’s
shooting at. There’s plenty of time for looking after you’ve finished
shooting. If you must watch, go early and watch all the other com-petitors’
metal plates fall down! The way I finally taught myself to watch
the front sight was by missing a bunch of targets. I kept thinking I had
it all down, but the plates just didn’t fall. I knew they weren’t falling,
because I was watching them. When I finally tried not watching them, they
started falling. You’ve got to watch your front sight. The target
needs to be a blur in the background; the front post has to be centered
in the rear notch—the same amount of light on either side. I recommend
a flat, wide blade on the rear, black with no white line. I’ve found the
white line distracts me. So have other top shooters. I also recom-mend
a sharply undercut front sight, because a ramp sight is bad about reflecting
sunlight. I pick up a black front sight as fast as a colored one. The width
of the notch and front sight is a very personal thing, and after you’ve
been shooting for a while you’ll be in a better position to make your own
decision. The more I shoot, the less light I like between the front post
and the rear blades. I’d say that 90 percent of the shooting game is the
front sight. It’s that important. Whatever it takes to make you look
at the front sight is good; do it. Paint it purple, put a little checkerboard
on it, stick a white dot up there. Maybe even a picture of a semi-dressed
member of the opposite sex—just remember that it’s there to make you watch
the front sight! To see just how important this is, go to a match
or even your local range and just watch the shooters. It’s easy to see
who’s wat-ching the front sight and who’s watching the targets. Then compare
scores. Bad sight picture is the single biggest and most common mistake
any shooter, new or old, makes. Not watching my front sight sank me in
the Bianchi Cup in 1981. My concentration slip-ped, and all of a sudden
I was looking at the plates. With six plates in six seconds, things are
over pretty quickly. By the time I remembered my front sight, it was too
late. Concentrate! Black everything out in your mind except FRONT
SIGHT! (Some shooters tell me that while they’re standing on the line,
waiting to shoot, they just lower their heads and mum-ble, “Front sight,
front sight,” over and over, sort of like a chant. (They claim it works.)
This is the most important single lesson you’ll learn about shooting.
Trigger Control
Once you’re able to see your front sight, you don’t want to jerk the
sight off the target when you’re pulling the trigger. The se-cond basic
skill, then, is trigger control. You’ve got to be smooth on the trigger
or you’re going to jar off that carefully held sight pic-ture. You’ve
probably heard “squeeze the trigger” more than any other piece of advice
about gun-handling, and it still holds true. For the practical pistol shooter,
there are a couple of tough wrinkles. For a start, when you’re shooting
up close, like the quick two-plate matches at the Steel Challenge, you
can’t squeeze the trigger. There just isn’t time. You’ve got to “slap”
it. Then in the next match, when you back up to 50 yards to do some accurate
shooting, you slap that trigger and you miss the target altogether.
There’s also the problem of the crunch, where you start pulling the trigger
with your finger, then just before let off you crunch the gun with your
whole hand, just like you’re trying to crush an egg. The bullet will hit
the target, but not where it’s supposed to hit it. Imagine your trigger
finger is disconnected from the rest of your hand. It moves freely, not
affecting or being affected by the other fingers of the hand. Those other
fingers are maintaining a constant tension—the same tension all the time—on
the gun. The only finger to move is the trigger finger. I pull the
trigger with the outside of the first joint, and that’s what I teach my
students. Other excellent shooters use the tip of their finger. There are
two reasons I use the first joint: First, I’ve found that using the tip
of your finger tends to slow you down in up-close shooting, especially
with full-house combat loads. I hate to have two positions for my finger—that
just adds too many variables. The second reason is that when I pull with
the tip of my finger, it tends to loosen my grip on the gun. I’ve found
that using the first joint gives me a natural feel on the gun, and as a
rule, the things that feel the most natural work the best. That is the
very heart of my system, and it works! I use the same trigger pull
on both automatics and revolvers, and I recommend endless amounts of dry
firing. In fact, dry firing—sighting the gun at a point on the wall or
a target and squeez-ing the trigger—is perhaps the most important exercise
you can do to get your shooting in shape. What you are doing, in essence,
is “educating” you mind and your finger about how things are sup-posed
to work. If you do enough dry firing, when you get to the range a good
trigger squeeze will come naturally. If you can lay your hands on a good
air pistol and a metal bullet trap, you can also practice your trigger
squeeze (and your sight picture) at home. Since the key to good practical
shooting is practice, anything you can do to get that practice time in
is going to pay off. We’ll be going into trigger pulls more in our
section on modifying the handgun, but there are a couple of general suggestions
that apply here. For a match gun, I’d suggest a trigger stop. A trig-ger
stop simply prohibits the trigger from going any further after the sear
disengages, and it’s an aid to good trigger control. The stop usually takes
the form of a set screw in the trigger or in the rear of the trigger guard.
For a self-defense gun or, especially, a police gun, I do not recommend
a trigger stop of any kind. There is the remote possibility that some piece
of dirt or material could get between the trigger and the stop, or the
screw might loosen, keeping the gun from firing.
Trigger pull is one of those subjects of endless arguments, like which
is better, an automatic or a revolver? It’s also an area where it is vitally
important to distinguish between a match gun and a self-defense or street
gun. A match gun needs to have the trigger as light as possible, because
the lighter the trigger, the less your tendency to slap it. The harder
a trigger is, the more you want to jerk it to get it to fire—go out and
try to squeeeeezzze an out-of-the-box double action automatic, for example.
My first three years I used guns with a trigger pull of between 4.5 and
five pounds. Now I’m shooting two or 2.5 pounds. But it takes a very good
gunsmith to get a trigger that light in a .45 and make it safe. There’s
just not that much engagement between the hammer and sear, and no matter
who does the trigger job, if the slide is dropped without a round in the
magazine, the hammer is going to “follow,” most of the time, that is, fall
from full cock to half cock. A street gun must not follow! You’re
in that much-dreaded confrontation; you’ve shot your gun dry and you ram
in another magazine, drop the slide and pull the trigger and nothing happens!
Half-cock! That’s why we always have to make the distinction between a
purely match gun and a street gun. If your gun does double duty, always
err in favor of the street! There are no exceptions to this rule. A self-defense
or police gun should NOT have a light trigger pull—never less than 3.5
to four pounds. Pulling the trigger had better be a deliberate act, not
the function of a muscle twitch. My two regular match guns, a Clark Bowling
Pin Gun and a Wilson Accu-Comp, are two of the finest, most accurate .45s
made. They’ll feed anything and shoot much better than I can. But when
I have the occasion to go armed, I never carry them, nor do I keep them
loaded around the house. Before I get off triggers, there’s just
one more point. Once you get a good trigger pull DO NOT drop the slide
without a loaded magazine in place. Remember I said there wasn’t all that
much trigger-sear engagement anyway? Dropping the slide is a good way to
get even less. Finally, just a few words on the flinch, anticipating
the blast/recoil and actually jerking the gun barrel down. I wish I could
offer you a miracle cure—I wish I could offer me a miracle cure! There
isn’t one. Just practice, both live and dry firing. The only way to have
a good trigger squeeze is to be surprised every time that gun goes off.
Surprised! If you anticipate and flinch, you can’t win. The old “traditional”
solution still works well—load three cylinders of your revolver with live
rounds, three with fired rounds, then spin the cylinder. You never know
when it’s a live round coming up. You can tell quickly if you’re flinching,
and you can tell when you’re cured. The same goes for automatics. Get a
couple of magazines and cut the slide stop off, so the slide won’t stay
back after the final shot (some cheap magazines do this anyway). Load each
of them with a different number of rounds. Mix them up and choose one.
You won’t be able to tell when the last round was fired, which gives the
same effect as the revolver practice. Believe me, it will help.
Moving Targets
The basic technique with a moving target is identical to the technique
with a stationary target—concentrate on keeping your target a blur and
your front sight on the same spot on the target. The reason a moving target
seems harder to some shooters is that the eye wants to follow a moving
target much worse than a still target. It is harder to concentrate on your
front sight when your eye is being drawn to something moving in the background.
Once you’re able to concentrate on that front sight, however, you will
find that the moving target is a snap. One of the first things you
want to do is line your stance up in such a way that you’re pointed at
roughly the mid-point of the target’s run. If you’re lined up for the beginning
of the target’s run, you’ll have to break your stance to continue shooting
as the target heads for the end of its run. If you’re aligned toward the
middle, however, you can twist from the waist in either direction, and
you don’t have to worry about putting a strain on your shooting stance
and grip. Obviously, you’re going to have to lead a moving target.
Lead simply means that because of the motion of the target, you’re going
to have to shot in front of where you want the bullets to go. With a target
moving at 10 feet per second, which is a standard speed for many moving
targets, you’ll have to aim one foot in front of where you’d like your
bullets to impact if you are using .45 hardball from 25 yards. That’s probably
far more than you thought you’d need. From 10 yards, you’d have to lead
four or five inches; from 15 yards, seven or eight inches. Lead is
a function of velocity, obviously. The faster a bullet is going, the sooner
it’s going to get to the target. A 200-grain hard-ball equivalent load,
which is moving at a higher velocity than 230-grain hardball, only requires
about nine inches of lead. A standard velocity .38 Special, the police
issue ammunition, also requires almost a full foot’s lead at 25 yards,
which is one of the reasons even some good police officers who are watching
their front sights miss. The best way to learn how to shoot a moving
target is to set one up and practice. While that sounds a little scary
at first, we’ve included in our chapter on “Practice” plans for an excellent
mov-ing target for under $300! The target is so good that several police
departments in my area have adopted it, some after having much trouble
with their multi-thousand dollar movers that stayed broken down. Our moving
target is the essence of simplicity — a reversible electric motor, nylon
rope, and a steel cable. There’s nothing to get shot to pieces except replaceable
wood slats, the speed can be varied through the use of different pulleys
on the motor, and the whole thing can be put together in a single afternoon.
There’s really no excuse for not having one.
Learning to shoot moving targets is one of the most useful skills you’ll
learn from practical pistol shooting, especially if you’re involved in
handgun hunting. A moving deer in a dense wood is one of the toughest shots
a handgunner can make, but steady practice on the range with the mover
can make all the difference in the world. You’ll be shocked to see just
how much lead you have to give a deer who’s really in a hurry (about two
feet at 25 yards with a moderate load). When the target comes out
from the right-side barricade, you want to immediately begin tracking the
target with your gun. Most shooters, myself included, don’t open fire on
the target until it’s nearing the midpoint of its run, then we quickly
shoot the specific number of shots. With practice, shooting a moving target
is very similar to rapid-fire shooting of a stationary target. The
two main points are 1) force yourself to concentrate on that front sight
regardless of the distraction a moving target offers, and 2) strive for
a smooth, steady tracking motion with your gun, remembering to turn your
body from the waist. Do not alter your stance during the firing sequence.
HYPNOSIS
By 1978 I had been an active PPC competitor for several years, but
I was discouraged. My competitive scores fluctuated wildly. One week I’d
be on, the next week I’d be terrible. I was ready to quit. I mentioned
my disappointment to my brother, and he suggested hypnosis. I knew very
little about it and I was skeptical, but I was so desperate I was ready
to try anything. All that week I focused on the taillights of the
car in front of me and concentrated on the upcoming matches, repeating
to myself, “Be relaxed, be relaxed, be relaxed.” That Saturday I
shot the highest score of my life in one match, a 599, then went to another
match that same day and shot another 599. All based on secondhand information
from my brother! At the matches that day I hadn’t been nervous at
all. I told my heart to slow down and it slowed down; I told my hands to
stop shaking and they stopped shaking; I told my body to relax and it relaxed.
A few months later I enrolled in a hypnosis class given by Captain Mike
Nielsen, who was then the L.A.P.D. Investigative Hypnosis Coordinator.
His unit worked with crime victims and witnesses to help them unlock valuable
information stored in their subconscious. During the intensive six
week course, I began to understand what was happening to me when I came
apart in a match, and why I reacted the way I did in the shoot-out. I wrote
down all the positive suggestions that Mike presented in the class and
worked with them regularly. My competitive performance improved further
and it has remained at a high level ever since. At first, my use
of hypnosis prompted amusement from other shooters. But as I won match
after march, the laughter subsided and many fellow competitors asked me
how I kept from getting nervous. Since then I’ve used hypnosis successfully
in my shooting sports, in teaching shooting and helping others to overcome
stress in competition or to simply learn to motivate themselves.
Many people are skeptical about (and even afraid of) hypnosis. As a
result of portrayals in movies and on television, it has an unsavory, sinister
connotation: A celluloid Svengali waves a pocket watch in front of an unsuspecting
victim and commands, “Look into my eyes--you are getting verrrrry sleepy.’
After placing the subject in a zombie-like trance, he plants a post-hypnotic
suggestion which causes the poor dupe to do the villain’s evil bidding.
Or there’s the theatrical cliché in which members of the audience
come on stage and make complete asses of themselves after being “hypnotized”.
Contrary to these show biz stereotypes, hypnosis is a valued therapy used
by increasing numbers of psychologists and physicians to help their patients
quit smoking, lose weight, or control compulsive eating. And “sports psychologists”
are now using hypnosis and relaxation techniques to help a growing number
of professional and Olympic athletes to improve physical abilities from
the inside out. Soviet and East German shooters use hypnosis to prepare
for matches. They take readings of their brain waves on the morning of
the match to determine which shooters are best suited to compete on that
particular day. They even travel with a psychologist who helps them prepare
mentally to shoot well.
Hypnosis is simply a technique which allows you to get in touch with
yourself so you can maximize your abilities, you’re not asleep--your awareness
is heightened. you’re not unconscious you are in a state of super consciousness,
you’re not under the control of someone else, you can induce the hypnotic
state yourself while sitting in your favorite easy chair. There are
no side effects or dangers involved because hypnosis is a completely natural
process. It’s merely a suggestive state of mind, a programming state, you’re
usually in that state naturally just before you fall asleep at night and
when you first wake up in the morning. Some people are better “subjects’
than others, but most people can benefit from self—programming. And
under hypnosis you won’t do anything against your morals or your beliefs.
In fact, hypnosis is really self-hypnosis in which you’re totally focused
into your own mind and totally in control of the experience. The
subconscious mind has a tremendous amount of control over the body. It
runs the physiological machinery -- the heart, blood pressure, breathing,
and nervous system. It’s like a big computer in which millions of bits
of data are stored. We’re all programmed from the day we’re born.
We receive input on just about everything. Unfortunately, we’re on the
receiving end of a great deal of negative programming which the subconscious
accepts as truth. The conscious mind can be thought of as the software.
It usually makes use of the data in a purposeful manner, but sometimes
it abdicates control to the subconscious. The subconscious has no critical
ability, no judgment; it’s incapable of discriminating among the thousands
of bits of data it receives every day, so it has the nasty habit of using
the wrong programming at the wrong time. The function of hypnosis
is to feed in the programming that you want instead of random and often
negative input from a variety of sources. If you repeatedly give the subconscious
positive suggestions, positive ideas and positive images designed to help
you accomplish your goals, those suggestions will operate at the appropriate
time. In other words, you can reprogram the subconscious to work for you
rather than against you. Reprogramming will help you stop fighting
yourself by eliminating negative programming from the past and replacing
it with positive programming, you’ll get the most out of your abilities
because your mind and body will be working together. Your performance will
improve and you’ll be more confident and relaxed during a match. And that
will lead to further improvement. The more you accomplish, the more confident
you’ll become. While hypnosis can’t improve your natural ability,
it can help you get the most out of what you have and make you the best
shooter you can possibly be. Your performance may not improve overnight,
but you’ll be amazed that in a short period of time things will begin to
change for the better. Don’t question it, accept it. Remember, thought
processes can change feelings. If you control the processes, you control
the feelings. If you still need convincing, let me tell you about
one of the most remarkable experiences of my life. It happened at the 1983
Bianchi Cup. On the last day of the competition, I came to the line at
the falling plate event thinking that all I had to do was knock down all
48 plates to win the championship. I thought, “This is what I’ve
trained for, waited for, and there’s an audience to watch me perform!’
I felt confident and comfortable, almost in a euphoric state. When I came
to the line, I sensed a level of mental control I had never experienced
before. I literally got goose bumps when I walked up to the line because
I knew I was going to do it. I proceeded to gleefully shoot down all 48
plates and 263 more to boot. I lost first place by one point to Brian Enos,
who shot a mind-boggling 505 plates, but I still walked away with $10,000.
The night before the match I visualized the plates as big as beach-balls,
and it worked! If you’ve ever shot them, you know that the eight-inch metal
plates can look like aspirin tablets when you’re nervous. But did you know
that they look like beach-balls when you’re confident? Later, when
I watched the video tape of the match, I realized that I used all the allotted
time on every string. I did everything exactly the way I had planned it.
It was all automatic. It was one of the greatest sensations I had ever
experienced, and it never would have happened without self-hypnosis and
visualization.
Seeing is Achieving
During the Vietnam war an American pilot shot down over Hanoi is confined
in a prison camp for five years, locked up in a tiny cubicle hardly large
enough to hunch over in. He keeps his sanity by mentally going out each
day and playing three rounds of golf. When he finally makes it home, he
plays in a pro—am golf tournament and, formerly a four handicap golfer,
he shoots under par! In a fascinating experiment, chronically depressed
prison inmates serving life sentences are taught to create a mental space
around themselves, cut depression up into little pieces, and let it blow
away in the wind. The majority of the participants report substantial improvement
in their mental well being. Many successful sports figures picture
the actual game being played in their minds, seeing themselves execute
the movements of their position flawlessly. Call it “visualization,”
“guided imagery,” “mental practice,” “instant preplay,” or whatever you
like, visualization is simply the act of creating pictures in your mind.
I’ve been using it for years now and it’s helped my shooting as much as
any other single technique. It’s very easy to do: you simply imagine things
the way you want them to be in reality. The best times for visualizing
are at night before you go to sleep and in the morning just after you wake
up, when your mind and body are calm and relaxed. You can practice while
lying in bed, but if you tend to get drowsy and drop off, sit in a chair
or on the edge of the bed. Picture yourself at the range and see
yourself very relaxed just before you come to the line. Visualize each
phase of the course of fire and see yourself executing all the shots perfectly.
Tell yourself, “I will be calm, and every shot will be perfect.”
Include everything at the match, not just the course of fire: See the people,
smell the smells: the carbide in the air, the hot-dogs cooking hear the
rocks under the tires as you pull into the parking lot. Feel the texture
of the grips in your hands see a crisp, clear sight picture. Bee the bullet
spin through the barrel, arc through the air, penetrate the target and
knock the cardboard out on the other side. Above all, picture yourself
having a good time. Mickey Fowler imagines the bullets flying through
the air and hitting the cardboard, but you can come up with your own images.
You should practice visualizing as often as possible during the day, and
include visualization in your daily mental practice session. All you need
is the desire to improve your shooting and a willingness to try a new technique
in a positive spirit. Remember, what the mind can conceive, the body can
achieve.
Extension
When you’re about to go to the line to shoot you’re highly vulnerable
to outside influences. Your mind is in a receptive state because of the
intensity of the match.
The best way to prevent negative suggestions from ruining your performance
is to refuse to allow them “in” in the first place. Knock them out before
they can reach you by “extending” yourself. That is, push out mentally.
If someone comes at you with negative vibes, project your vibes and cancel
them out. Imagine an aura of confidence around you that extends outward
to infinity which neutralizes any negative influences at the source. This
is one step better than building a wall--it nips bad vibes in the bud.
Diversion
If you’re so nervous you can hardly see the target (which has happened
to me on more than one occasion) think of something or someone that really
ticks you off, or some pain or hurt that you can bring to the surface easily.
This technique diverts the energy that goes to your involuntary physical
functions your heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure, etc. and short-circuits
the nervousness. This is an advanced technique and is not for everyone.
You really have to concentrate. If you try it and get so mad you want to
punch somebody out, it’s going to ruin your performance. You have to know
how to channel the aggression. If you can’t do that, using anger as a diversion
will probably do more harm than good. Another diversion that works
for me is holding my breath for as long as I can. After about a minute
you forget about the nerves and all you can think about is living.
I don’t think diversion is a good technique for precision shooting, which
requires a great deal of finesse, but it’s perfect for IPSC type competition
where you want to be pumped up a little but not so nervous you can’t function.
Affirmation
Affirmation is a powerful programming method in which you make repeated
verbal restatements of your goals: “I can shoot as well as I want,” or
“I’m going to shoot only as fast as I can make all five’s,” or “My mental
control is getting stronger and stronger.” Never berate yourself
with negative statements such as, “Boy, you really blew it, dummy” or “I’m
a bozo.” That’s negative programming and amounts to self—sabotage. When
your mind is working against you, negative thoughts use up energy.
Always think positive thoughts, even when you’re not performing well: “I’m
a little slow getting it together today, but I’ll get better” or “Even
Rob Leatham has bad days.” Write down your affirmations and tape
them to your shooting box. Repeat them to yourself as often as possible,
especially during a match. The constant Positive programming will gradually
make you believe you can do it. And if you believe you can do it, you can
do it.
Have an Attitude
In his classic book, Principles of Personal Defense, Jeff Cooper describes
the attitude you need to survive a gunfight: Be ruthless. Keep striking
until you put the other man down, then be ready for more. My sentiments
exactly. Pick up a chair if you have to, throw your partner at ‘em, scratch,
kick, bite if you have to -- do anything to put your opponent out of action.
Program yourself with the con-viction that even if you take a direct hit
in the heart, you’re going to take your assailant with you. Never give
up. Have that attitude and you’ll be favored in your next gunfight.
The same advice goes for competition. In a match, don’t give up if you
have a bad string or stage. Keep trying and accept the mistakes by understanding
that you’re doing the best you can under the circum-stances. If you have
a jam, clear it as if your life depended on it. Your confidence will return
and you’ll probably do better in the rest of the match. Forget a bad stage
as soon as you walk off the line.
And never shake your head as you walk off the line after a poor performance.
Try to look as confident as you did when you started shooting -- the positive
attitude will recycle itself.
Alter Your Ego
The ego is the part of your psyche in charge of self-esteem. If you’re
a normal human being, your ego will almost certain-ly interfere with your
shooting if you’re not careful. A normal, healthy ego doesn’t like
the prospect of losing, and this fear causes anxiety which in turn impairs
your ability to perform. The fear of failure can keep you from enjoying
competition. The fear of failure can keep you from enjoying success.
You have to overcome the natural oper-ation of the ego by analyzing why
you’re shooting. To improve your self—defense skills? For entertainment?
To win plastic trophies? An “ego-defense” is a psychological mechanism
designed consciously or un-consciously to protect one’s self—esteem. Some
people are automatically blown out before they get to the match because,
in a curious trick of self-deception, their egos won’t allow them to take
the responsibility for trying hard and still failing. So they don’t allow
themselves to expect to do well. Their ego prepares them for a poor performance
by pretending it doesn’t care about the match. Thus the ego gives itself
an instant out by preparing for defeat in advance. Then, when this self-fulfilling
prophecy comes true, there’s a minimum of damage to the ego. You
have to take control of your ego and prevent it from putting up defenses.
When-ever you have problems, ask yourself: “Is it my ego trying to sabotage
me again?” And don’t become inflated by victory. I’ve seen people
burn out after reaching their goal of glory. It isn’t enough you have to
enjoy it. People are the real rewards, strangers who come up to you at
a match and introduce themselves, people you wouldn’t have met otherwise.
Sure, the money and prizes you win are terrific, but the real payoff is
in human terms. There’s another funny thing about ego: other shooters
are always coming up to me at matches and saying, “Sure, you work at the
range, you must practice all the time. If I worked at a range I’d be a
great shot too.” And I tell them, “That’s right, I shoot from eight till
twelve, break for lunch, then shoot from one till five. They give me 20,000
rounds a month and all the targets I want.” This satisfies them and they
go away happy. Their egos need an excuse for the fact that I’m a
better shooter than they are. Rather than attribute it to a lack of dedication
on their part, they chalk it up to mere circumstance: “Sure, if I worked
on a range, I’d be as good as John Pride.”
As you begin to use the techniques in this book, be forewarned that
any change you make will cause some psychological pain. But don’t worry
it’s only your ego being bruised. Set your ego aside. Don’t let it
control you. Set a goal for yourself and progressively strive for it. It’s
OK if it takes a year, two years, a lifetime. Getting there is all the
fun.
Set Your Goals
In any competitive endeavor, it’s important to have goals. I advise
sitting down and deciding what it is you want to accomplish in the shooting
sports. Be realistic, but don’t limit yourself. Then write the goal or
goals down in your log book and refer to it periodically to see how you’re
progressing. But beware of the trap that I see so many shooters falling
into: they get so hung up on the goal that they forget why they started
shooting in the first place. They become obsessed. Nothing satisfies them.
The problem is, you can’t concentrate on more than one thing at a time.
If all you can think about is winning a trophy, you’re not going to be
able to concentrate on the process the actual shooting involved in reaching
the goal. You have to suspend your obsession with the goal long enough
to carry out the means to achieve it. In other words, if you think about
your goal too much, you’re not going to be able to do what’s necessary
to achieve it. One last point on goals: With all due respect to the
late Vince Lombardi, winning really doesn’t matter. This may be the last
thing you’d expect in a book on how to improve your competitive shooting,
but it’s true. Winning doesn’t matter. If you win, OK. If you lose, so
what? The important thing is to have fun.
Make Time For Mental Practice
I do most of my mental practicing while Jogging through the hills of
Elysian Park near the Los Angeles Police Academy. I “shoot” two PPC matches
during a two mile run. That is, I mentally run through the upcoming match
in my mind, shot by shot, movement by movement. I think of it as a ‘dress
rehearsal’ for my match performance. Mental practice is easy;
just Visualize the range, your movements from station to station, reloading
everything exactly the way you want it to be in the match. See it all,
perfect and positive. The toughest part is finding the time to just
be alone and meditate, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results
if you stick with it, so set aside 15 to 30 minutes a day for mental practice.
Spend an additional few minutes a day visualizing a crisp sight picture
and a fuzzy target; it’ll pay big dividends on match day, you can’t benefit
from mental practice unless you’ve built a solid foundation of trigger
control and hand-eye coordination through regular physical practice. But
once you’ve got the fundamentals down, mental practice will give you a
strong competitive edge.
PRE-MATCH CHECKLIST
1. Your gun is in top working condition and you’re using high quality ammunition.
2. You’re in good physical shape and you feel great.
3. You’ve practiced visualizing yourself do everything right in the
match, and you’re ready for any unanticipated events that could throw you
off your game plan.
4. You’re prepared to shoot under any weather conditions.
5. You’re impervious to negative influences.
6. While you are waiting your turn to shoot, you lock on to perfection
by visualizing every shot you make to be a ten or an x.