Ask The Instructor: Dead Lost?

Question: I have been taking pictures of my scorecard as you have suggested and I see a pattern in my misses. I definitely miss more second targets than the first target of a pair. Can you help?

Answer: Great job on capturing images of your scorecards. I usually attribute this phenomenon to either lack of a good target engagement plan or improper gun handling. Here is how you might fix it. 1) Plan and rehearse. Lack of a pre-shot plan and a failure to test your plan with a rehearsal can easily cause a lack of “intentionality” when moving from the first target to the second. This is particularly true when the holdpoint of the second target is lower than the breakpoint of the first. Carefully selecting and landmarking your hold points and breakpoints before you step into the station, and rehearsing your plan, will fix this. When a pair presents you with a challenging transition, try mounting to your second hold point first, then move the gun to your first hold point before calling for the targets. This serves as a reminder to the subconscious of where you need to move after breaking the first target. 2) Dismount with both hands. If you are dismounting between targets of a given pair for better visibility, there may be an issue with your dismount. Your gun mount is a critical aspect of your shooting performance as you already know: work both hands together to execute the mount, keep the head still, lead with the front hand and move at a comfortable pace. If both hands don’t work together, and you use too much back hand to dismount the gun between targets, your muzzle will rise as the back of the gun is lowered, and possibly occlude the line of the second target. You then must use an excessive amount of back hand to re-mount the gun, which can cause the muzzle to dip below the target line, causing an upward correction with the front hand. This “see-saw” movement can cause a miss over the top of the target. Either of the above two “faults” will also cause excessive or inefficient gun movement, which will likely result in a less-than-optimal visual connection with the target.