I have plateaued. I am not a new shooter by any means but I need some new ideas to improve my pistol shooting skills. My usual range trip is as follows: load 5 rounds and start with a center at 5 yards and fire slowly and accurately. I load another mag and fire a little faster at the 5 yard line concentrating on tracking my front sight through the recoil. I then load about 10 rounds and send the center out to about 12 yards and do the same thing as mentioned before. These exercises go on for about 30 minutes switching between distances. I then go to 25 yards with a full silhouette or Q target and just aim center mass (what else haha) methodically and at a steady pace, concentrating on the front sight and trigger pull. I do ok doing this but am looking for some new ideas/new exercises. What do you guys do to build on skills? Any advice would be great! Thanks.

I have plateaued. I am not a new shooter by any means but I need some new ideas to improve my pistol shooting skills. My usual range trip is as follows: load 5 rounds and start with a center at 5 yards and fire slowly and accurately. I load another mag and fire a little faster at the 5 yard line concentrating on tracking my front sight through the recoil. I then load about 10 rounds and send the center out to about 12 yards and do the same thing as mentioned before. These exercises go on for about 30 minutes switching between distances. I then go to 25 yards with a full silhouette or Q target and just aim center mass (what else haha) methodically and at a steady pace, concentrating on the front sight and trigger pull. I do ok doing this but am looking for some new ideas/new exercises. What do you guys do to build on skills? Any advice would be great! Thanks.

 

Dry fire a lot at home?

Holster draws and magazine changes? Weak hand shooting.

I like weak hand shooting, it is the only time I can beat my son!

Gaming.....IDPA or IPSC (USPSA). You will never view static shooting the same.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

How accurately are you shooting at the distances you mention? I usually vary between 7, 15 and 25 yards, with most time spent at 15 yards. I usually shoot slow fire. When I'm on, I'm doing 5 rounds groups at 15 yards of about 1", but usually float around 2" - 2.5". At 7 yards, I'm capable of 1 ragged hole. At 25 yards, I'm averaging about 4" or so, with my best groups just over 2".

 

One idea for a change up is adding time into the equation. I thinking about going this route as well. Get a Pact timer, or similar, and do timed drills. I've seen people take a "Q" target and put numbered circles on it, with the circles having a roughly 3" - 4" diameter. Have someone call out the #'s in the circles and shoot them as fast as you can. Something like this.....

 

(1)......(2)

.....(3)

(4)......(5)

.....(6)

(disregard the dots, couldn't make this work w/ just using the space bar)

 

In other words, have your shooting buddy call out the various #'s in the circles in nonsequential order, and try to shoot into the circle as fast as you can. I find having my shooting buddy at the range w/ me puts me into competitive mode. We shoot for score on a bullseye target or similar. This helps me focus on tight groups.

 

Lastly, I went to Staples and got a bunch of Avery 3/4" or 1" dot stickers/labels in a dark color. The theory of aim small/miss small comes into play here. If you're shooting at a dot that is 3/4", you're groups are going to shrink.

 

Hope this helps.

Gaming.....IDPA or IPSC (USPSA). You will never view static shooting the same.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

 

This is the next thing I want to get into!!!

I've been shooting the monthly epostal matches organized by a blogger by the handle of Mr. Completely. They're designed and "hosted" by different gunbloggers, and have a variety of targets etc.

 

Here's a link to his archives. The 2009 season is done, waiting to see what's up for 2010.

 

Also a good way to find other gun-related blogs on the internet