How many times have you heard (or said) that? It usually follows a stage where a shooter missed a whole bunch of shots. "Slow down" you say? Every time you do, you're doing the shooter a disservice.
"Slow Down" is a negative thought. As a shooter, when that notion gets in your head, you do everything you were doing before, only slower. That means the shooting part, the transitions, moving between positions, everything. Your entire stage run gets slower. The reason is that your subconscious gloms onto that negative thought and won't let go. Once that happens, everything just slows down.
What is really meant by "slow down" is "front sight!" The reminder that the shooter needs a proper sight picture in order to hit the target.
Point of clarification: I expect that we all know what it looks like when the sights are lined up - front sight centered in the rear sight notch, top of the front sight level with the top of the rear sight, sights centered on the target, front sight clearly in focus with both the rear sight and target blurry. I'm going to add one more thing in to the definition of "sight picture"- the sight picture must remain until the bullet has left the barrel. If you pull the sights off the target before then, you won't hit your target.
Ok, now that that's cleared up. What do you tell a shooter? You don't want them to really slow down (well, maybe you do?). What you want them to do is to hit the targets as fast as they can shoot accurately. Most of us want to do the best that we can. The thought "slow down" interferes with that.
My thought is not a simple phrase, which makes it difficult for the subconscious to deal with. This thought really needs to be pondered and practiced to be fully understood. Once it's understood, it will go a long way toward reducing misses. Here it is:
There is no faster or slower, only the speed at which sight picture is acquired.
Now I didn't come up with it. I think I read it in Brain Enos' book "Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals." But what does it mean?
It means that you can't shoot any faster than you can get your sights lined up, and kept there until the bullet has left your gun. The pace at which that happens is entirely dependant on the target size, distance, lock time, and shooter ability. Here's an example.
Say you're looking at an 18x24 inch target at 4 yards. How much of a sight picture do you honestly need to see in order to hit that? For some, they may need a clear sight picture. I don't need a sight picture at all, and I expect that many don't. Heck, my 6 year old son hit a target smaller than that the first time he shot a pistol! I know he didn't have a sight picture.
Now maybe you're looking at that same target, but it's 15 yards away. Do you need a clear sight picture (this is called sight focus)? Or can you be looking at the target and just aware of the sights peripherally (target focus)? For me, that's still target focus, though it took a lot of practice to get there.
Now, take a clay bird. They're what, about a 4 inch circle? Put that up at 10 yards as a bonus shot. Most shooters will now need sight focus, me included. There are some elite shooters that are still on target focus.
The meaning of the statement "there is no faster or slower, just the speed at which sight picture is acquired" means just that. Take the time you need, to see the sight picture you need, in order to make that shot that you are taking. Don't take longer, don't take less time, take the time that's needed. Do that and you'll hit every target in the least possible time - at least for your ability level.
Pretty simple concept, isn't it? |
