Practicing Missing!

I was working with my 6 year old shooter getting him ready for a local shoot (finished 13th out of 40.)  After we finished he said, "Watch Grandpa, I can go fast".  He then dry fires 10 rounds in about 5 seconds.  He was quick, but every shot was about 10 feet high.  He was flailing the gun. What did he learn? Nothing, but a bad habit.

Rodeo Romeo would say you got to learn to go fast before you learn to be accurate.  He says that because that is how he learned and was told that by his mentor.  I don't think it is true.  I think this fallacy comes from the flailers, those that get their speed from swinging the gun upward rapidly.  If you flail, it is a matter of chance  whether you will hit.  The faster you flail, the faster your times will be and the less accurate you will be.  Most of the top guns do not flail. Rodeo does not flail. There are some that flail, but it is extremely hard to be accurate doing that.

Another fallacy is that you have to slow down to be accurate.  This also comes for those that learned by flailing.  It makes sense for the flailer.  If you flail, the slower you flail the longer the muzzle will be in the hit zone, hence the better chance you will have to hit. For those that do not flail, those that shoot from a solid stable shooting position, their fastest and quickest shot is also their most accurate.  This fallacy, that you have to slow down to be accurate, is why slower shooters give us so much trouble.  We come against a slower shooter and we change our draw trying to slow down, hence we miss.

It is frustrating to see new shooters in our club, routinely shoot into the 3s and 4s, and then go to competitions and hit 30% or less.  If you are practicing enough to shoot into the 3s or 4s, you are practicing enough to be shooting 80%.  If not, you are either a flailer or you have been practicing missing.

If you are practicing and hitting 30% and not paying attention to that 70% that miss, then you are wasting that 70%.  YOU ARE PRACTICING MISSING.  Why do it?  Takes no more effort to learn from that 70%.

What you need is a target medium that allows you to see every shot.  And I don't mean in a general way but a very specific way, 2 inches high, 3 inches high, 4 inches low and so forth.  If you see every miss and exactly how far off, your body and mind will automatic adjust to hit the target.  You don't even have to think or try. With the proper target medium, you may start out hitting 30% but by the time you have shot a 50 shot practice round you will be hitting more consistently.  The body and mind will move the hits into the target zone.  The last 15 or 20 rounds of a 50 round practice session are what are important.  That is where you progress into being a gunfighter, not just someone that happens to hit the target every once and awhile.

It is also beneficial to get off of the clock.  If you are always chasing the clock you will never finalize your draw.  Your draw needs to be automatic, instinctive, done without thought or effort when you compete.  If you are always changing your draw trying to get that last millisecond, you will never be done with your draw and will be always in the draw developer stage.  Those developing their draw are slowed by the process.  To reach your potential, the draw must be like breathing.  That is why our fastest times come not when we are trying to go fast, but come as a complete surprise, when we are relaxed and just letting our body do what it done a thousand times before.

Fair warning to those who compete in the Valley of the Sun.  There are a few youths that shoot with me in Jack's Canyon and,

"We don't practice missing in Jack's Canyon!"