Often athletes find themselves with a perfect
sight picture and fire the shot only to find it is nowhere near they thought it
would be and were certain they had all the sights aligned and in the “right
spot” to shoot a ten!
What may happen, is the mind say’s everything
is ok, so press the trigger NOW!
To overcome this, one must combine trigger
press and sighting at the same time.
As the sights are aligned and is ready for
that perfect shot, the conscious mind takes over and makes the trigger finger
move and the time delay in all this happening can cause the trigger press to be
a violent movement, rather than a smooth, consistent pressure applied, until
the shot breaks.
Setting
up a precision shot.
Raise the pistol above the target, have the sights roughly aligned so that you
are seeing the back of the hand, the sights, your shirt sleeve etc. At this
stage you are not really focusing on any one particular “thing”, but seeing
everything in a picture like frame.
The first stage or trigger slack can be taken
up at the bench or at the top of the lift. This is entirely up to the
individual.
Lower the pistol through
the centre of the target into your area of aim, maintaining that initial trigger
take up.
As the sights are
coming through the centre of the target, increase “focus” of attention to the
sights and their alignment. This will actually slow the pistol’s movement
through the black. Trigger pressure may be increased slightly during this stage.
When the sights are
in “your” area, be sure you are ready to fire the shot. This is the stage I
like to call ”settling”.
Here the athlete is
striving for maximum stability and control of sight alignment and trigger
press. It may only take a second or two but at this point you have a choice to
continue the shot or cancel the shot. If something looks or feels wrong, then
cancel the shot and start over. The setting up of the shot is most important.
At this stage all focus should be upon the
front sight and its alignment. During this “intense” focus, attention to the smoothness
of the trigger being pressed, whilst endeavouring to align the sights. This is
the most critical part of any shot, that the sighting and trigger press is
being combined.
This can be practiced with dry fire or live
fire onto the back of a target (blank card) or even just shots into the target
butts. The most difficult aspect is to gain enough self confidence in your
ability to hold the sights aligned whilst pressing the trigger. Achieve this
and you will be surprised at the results.
