help transitioning from slow to fast fire

I've been practicing handguns shooting for about 2 yrs, getting my groups down to 5 inches @ 25yd and about 3 or better from 15yd and closer. This is slow-fire, taking my time, front sight, squeeze, suprise shot etc.

But I still can't get a good group when I try to speed it up, catch myself flinching when the adrenaline picks up.

what's some good exercises to do? I have heard of Bill Drill.. any others?

Think of your front sight as your speedometer.

Don't shoot faster than you can see.

See what you need to see to make the shot.

I THINK that this is a Todd Green drill, but I could be wrong:

• Put a piece of run of the mill 8.5x11 paper up.


• Pick a distance (5 yards may be a good start).


• Shoot one string - 1 round/second pace


• Shoot second string - 2 rounds/second pace


• Shoot 3rd string - 4 rounds/second pace


• Take a couple seconds between strings to reload, but don't put the gun down.


• If 80% of your shots are on the paper, move it a little further away and repeat.


• If LESS than 80% of your shots are on the paper, slow your rate of fire down just a little bit.

You will QUICKLY learn that you don't need THAT MUCH sight picture to hit a torso sized target at short range.
You will also learn that the further away the paper gets, the more sight picture you will need.

I used to do this drill a LOT, and it really helps you figure out just how precise you need to be to make a given shot. 25 yards is a LONG way away for a handgun when shooting rapid fire.

shooter

thanks for the 2 suggestions, I've also read about using dummy rounds between live rounds, shoot off a string, and watch the front sight when the dummy round comes up.

I guess it is all mental

The dummy round is helpful for ANY rate of fire. I practice an awful lot with a revolver only loaded with 2 rounds. At the beginning of a given session, you can see the front sight bounce, but I settle in fairly quickly. Shooting a revolver REALLY helps my pistol shooting becuse there are a lot of drills that are just easier to do with a revolver than a pistol...

shooter

Ball & dummy is a great drill. A big issue with shooting fast is seeing your sights in recoil. Draw two dots on a target or use two targets- doesn't matter. Aim at the one on the left & when the shot breaks move the gun to the second dot (target) during recoil. It should be one smooth motion. Go back & forth like that for 6 or so rounds per string.

A while back I was trying to stress test a new gun. At one point I loaded up 6 17 rnd mags & pounded through them as quickly as I could to heat & dirty the gun up. I started off going as fast as I could & as I dumped rounds down range I started playing a little with the speed slowing down so I could see the front sight in recoil & then speeding back up until I couldn't, slowing down a bit, speeding up a bit trying to push myself to see the front sight at a higher rate of fire. This really helped me focus on the front sight & follow it. Burned a lot of ammo doing it but the end result was well worth it.

As for the speed, remember you're still trying to get a smooth press to the rear without disturbing your sights. Snatching or slapping the trigger might make you shoot faster but it'll jack up your sight picture. Keep that smooth press, but speed it up slowly.

Pick up a copy of Andy Stanford's Surgical Speed Shooting & take the class if possible.

You said that you'd been practicing 2 years. That's a great start.

When I started shooting pistol, I got pretty good real quick, then plateaued for a while, then got a lot better, plateaued again for a couple of years. I didn't actually practice very much for several years because I was overseas quite a bit, but I started trying to make weekly range trips again this year, and it had paid off.

So, be patient, keep practicing properly, and you will get better. Have you taken any classes?

The trick to shooting faster is holding the gun with the thumbs forwad grip. That grip reduces the muzzle flip and gets you back on target faster. The next thing to work on is trigger reset. After you fire the gun hold the trigger to the rear and slowly let off the pressure untill it resets then immediatly press the trigger again to fire the next shot.
once you learn how to reset the trigger properly you can speed up; when you get it right you can do 5 shots on 1 8x10 target in 1 sec with a 9mm,don't worrk about the front sight as long as it is somewhere in the rear notch you will hit the target.

Good Shooting
NRA SR Training Counselor

Todd Jarrett at the USPSA 2005 Limited Nationals

Draw and drop 6 steel in less than 3 seconds.

Todd Jarret vs. 6 steel

Pick up a copy of Steve Anderson's dryfire book" Refinement and Repetition".
In all his drills in that book, he has you start with no time limit, then progressivly get faster. So for a one shot draw from holster at a 10 yards this is the drill.

10 reps in slow motion with no timer.
10 reps with no par time.
10 reps at .2 seconds over your baseline time. (If your baseline is 1.70 secs, this will be 1.90 sec."
10 reps at .1 over baseline.
10 reps at baseline.
10 reps at .1 under baseline.

You can apply this same progression to live fire. It allows you to see the speed at you start losing accuracy/control. It allows you to push your speed faster in small increments and make improvements.

Gringop

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