Recoil Anticipation

June 10, 2019

John Buol ConventionalShooter, MarksmanshipQualification, MilitaryMarksman, SensibleShooter , , , 2 Comments

I’d argue that recoil anticipation (also known as flinch, pre-ignition push, trigger jerk, and a variety of cuss words…) is the single biggest detriment to novice shooters. Novice here also includes gun owners, law enforcement, and military personnel with years and decades of “experience” that never developed shooting ability beyond passing routine qualification.

Learning how to overcome (or at least greatly reduce) the very natural tendency to react to recoil, noise, flash, and movement of a discharging firearm while attempting to maintain alignment on target is the most single most important thing a firearm user can do to improve proficiency. This also increases the ability to followthrough and call shots, critical to refining a shot process.

The lack of attention paid to this critical element of successful shooting is the biggest reason why many gun owners, law enforcement, and military personnel never progress beyond the elementary, initial, basic skill levels used during initial entry , basic, academy training. Far too many personnel are not even aware of this being an issue and most of them completely fail to actively address it.

For intermediate shooters, DRY FIRE DOES NOT FIX RECOIL ANTICIPATION BECAUSE KNOWLEDGE CHANGES EXECUTION . Here’s the proof right here and this is extremely common. Slight disruption to the gun sufficient to cause a miss as distance increases. At close range, people often chalk this off to sight picture when actuality it’s a slight case of recoil anticipation. Take this back to 15 or 25 yards, it’s a miss. This drill works great with a partner but if you’re working alone, try mixing in some dummy rounds. Facts not opinions is what I am after. Hold yourself accountable and fix your deficiencies.

Note, this doesn’t mean that dry practice isn’t useful and won’t help at all. Continued dry practice will continue to enhance (or at least maintain) the ability to more rapidly obtain sufficient alignment on target and manipulate the trigger without causing disruption. The point is that after a certain point of development, dry practice alone won’t magically fix recoil anticipation because it’s purposely done dry/empty (obviously) and knowledge of that removes that tendency. Only intelligent exposure to live fire, preferably done with dummy rounds (skip loading and other approaches) and perhaps additional feedback from sensors (MantisX, SCATT, etc.), can do this.

If you want to get stronger, you need to subject yourself to the stress of lifting heavier weight, preferably done with intelligently-programmed increases. If you want to eliminate recoil anticipation, you need to subject yourself to recoil, preferably done with intelligently-programmed intermittent exposures (training partner loads as demonstrated below, dummy rounds, intermix shooting with lower recoiling firearm/cartridge, etc.)

https://www.facebook.com/114008039194217/videos/vb.114008039194217/435200330372416/

More on this:

https://firearmusernetwork.com/grooving-bad-habits/

https://firearmusernetwork.com/training-and-habits/

https://firearmusernetwork.com/misplaced-tactical-training/

https://firearmusernetwork.com/pistol-shooting-questions/

https://firearmusernetwork.com/head-shots-are-still-misses/

https://firearmusernetwork.com/shooting-basics-uspsa-idpa-ipsc/

https://firearmusernetwork.com/dummies-steal-dummy-rounds-smart-shooters-use-them/

I’m a Responsible Gun Owner? Seriously?

September 20, 2017

John Buol MarksmanshipQualification, Shooting , , , , 4 Comments

The description given in the article below is not uncommon and it often applies to military, law enforcement, and hunters as well.

While living in San Antonio, I was a TCOLE (formerly TCLEOSE) certified instructor and worked part-time at the Alamo Area Regional Law Enforcement Academy. As a Texas resident, I took the TxDPS – License to Carry course described below. While living in Wisconsin, I was certified by the state Department of Natural Resources as a Wisconsin Hunter Education instructor and taught classes. I’ve been in the U.S. Army in various capacities for a quarter century and with the US Army Reserve Marksmanship Training and Competitive Program since 2004.

I’ve been fortunate to have been involved with many skilled people in all of these experiences but that was largely due to my seeking them out and knowing what to look for. I already had higher-level shooting experience via organized competition and held Classifications from national-level organizations before doing any of this. The then-director of the DNR Hunter’s Ed program attended HunterShooter events I held. I applied for that Academy after having a fellow Shooting Team member speak well of the training director and his program. My Texas LTC course was taught by a fellow instructor and USAR Shooting Team member. I specifically took the class from him to avoid the clown show described below.

Gun owners are often their own worst enemy. The level of incompetence described here is not uncommon. Military, law enforcement, hunters, and concealed carry people are often at novice levels. Mandatory qualification levels are only useful if they’re difficult enough to assess useful skill. That means people incapable of displaying minimal useful skill must be failed. The other approach is for the program to intend to pass everyone. This means standards are adjusted down until everyone can. This article describes the results of that.
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Rifle Marksmanship: Competition Shooter vs. Military

November 20, 2016

John Buol MarksmanshipQualification , , Leave a comment

A very good bit of instruction from Patrick E. Kelley

Offhand Rifle Shooting Tips

A 10-inch steel plate at 170 yards is about 5.8 MoA. As you can see in the video, the Burris XTR II reticle used has an interior dimension of 1.75 mils (about 6 MoA) which appears just slightly larger than the target.

For reference, basic Army and Marine rifle grouping standard is a 6 MoA group (4cm at 25 yards) fired prone supported. Mr. Kelley is performing this demo offhand unsupported. That’s the skill difference between military-trained personnel and a good competition shooter.

Yale Police Protest Over Firearms Test

November 10, 2016

John Buol MarksmanshipQualification , , 2 Comments

Yale Police Protest Over Firearms Test
http://www.wsj.com/articles/yale-police-protest-over-firearms-tests-1478474266
More than 70 police officers at Yale University are protesting a new policy that allows them to be fired if they don’t pass a firearms test in 30 working days after having failed it twice.

How difficult is this test, really? The article doesn’t mention, but it’s almost certainly the rudimentary levels found throughout law enforcement. In one formal study, it was found there is a tiny 13% difference in skill between complete novices that had never fired a handgun and academy-trained police officers. Academy-trained police officers are still novices, and these police officers at Yale University are protesting being held accountable for this 13% improvement because they can’t do it, or the academy that graduated them couldn’t teach them to do so, or both.

“Training” at this level is just an introduction to concepts. Passing such a qualification is merely routine hygiene that introductory concepts have been retained at a level 13% above complete novices, not training.
https://firearmusernetwork.com/fitness-is-hygiene/

Note for all instructors: This is why maintaining reasonable but challenging standards coupled with semi-regular competition is important. It prevents underskilled “instructors” from working with recruits by revealing with numbers how unskilled they actually are. It puts a performance goal that indicates when low performance is happening and identifies those that are doing better and best. Encouraging and hosting competitive events creates a culture that reinforces skill development for recognizing and rewarding those that do well, which identifies potential candidates to help teach the others.

These police officers at Yale University are protesting for the “right” to remain underskilled and to never find better qualified firearms instruction at their academy.

USMC Rifle Qualification History

May 16, 2016

John Buol MarksmanshipQualification, MilitaryMarksman , , , , , 4 Comments

History of USMC Rifle Qualification, 1903-2013
by Marine Gunner C.P. WADE, WTBN, Quantico

Source: History of USMC Rifle Qualification, 1903-2013

More comments here:
https://armyreservemarksman.info/usmc-rifle-qualification-history/

New Army Marksmanship Manual

May 13, 2016

John Buol MarksmanshipQualification, MilitaryMarksman , , , , , Leave a comment

The Army’s newly-released rifle/carbine manual, TC 3-22.9:

Click to access TCx3-22.9.pdf

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited.

Speaking of military marksmanship, the new rifle/carbine FM just dropped last night: https://rdl.train.army.mil/catalog-ws/view/100.ATSC/492701D5-25E9-40A7-9498-74C22831F268-1463059585416/TCx3-22.9.pdf

One thing that stood out right away is that it says in two places that trigger finger placement should be natural, since people have different hand sizes. Now where have I heard that before? Oh right, SARG, Kyle Defoor, Pat Mcnamara… Glad to see it finally make it into the official literature!

Still skimming through it to see what else is changed in there.

– Patrick T.

Cutting edge shooting technique and ideas that will be adopted by top private trainers and special operations a few years from now can be found in competition circles today. Big Army will adopt in a few decades later. Any “new” material in TC 3-22.9 was widely understood and used in the competitive communities decades ago.

This has been the trend since the mid 1800s when the Industrial Revolution made it practical to issue rifled firearms to the masses.

Keep Qualification Scores

March 25, 2016

John Buol MarksmanshipQualification, MilitaryMarksman, SensibleShooter , , 5 Comments

Do police agencies keep numerical range scores or is it just pass/fail? Some agencies are going away from the actual numerical scoring, supposedly because training records fall under the open records act and they are afraid that if an officer with a higher qualification score kills someone in an otherwise legitimate shooting that the prosecuting attorneys will ask the officer didn’t shoot to disarm, etc. How are police agencies handling this?

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I believe many departments only keep pass/no pass records, but not because of the reasons stated.

It is very easy to establish in court that shooting a gun out of someones hand or shoot to disarm, etc., is not only impractical but also nearly impossible under the stress of a violent encounter. These feats are myths. What is more likely is that the departments do not want the scores of those who barely pass to be available.

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For liability purposes, Pass/Fail scoring is becoming the norm. When the use of force is questioned, it is normal for the training records of the officer to come into play, and needless to say, this includes officer involved shootings.

The problem is, on paper, it makes all officers appear to have even ability. When I first started, % scores were common, and I was always PROUD to be able to consistently score 100%. However, there are always those officers who will struggle to meet the minimum (75% in our case). I’ve seen officers with poor firearm skills. Unfortunately, with a pass or fail system, the officer who struggles to pass the qualification with a minimum score (and needs several attempts to pass it), is EQUAL to the officer who passes it consistently with 100%.

When we picked our competition team, we would take the top shooters in the department and place them on the pistol team. Under a pass/fail system, there are no top shooters, everyone is equal! It used to be that exceptional ability on the range was recognized, but under the pass/fail system, you can’t do that. Pass/Fail works for liability reasons, but other than that, I think it sucks.

http://forums.officer.com/t18207/

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If you score a perfect weapons qual, and you are out on the street, a gun fight errupts, one of your bullets doesnt hit the intended target, huge law suit because of that perfect score on paper. Lawyers love that kind of case.

https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=436486

Some have advanced the notion that public sector firearms courses (for police and private citizens) should not keep scores, allowing pass/fail only, due to issues with liability problems. The problem, we’re told, is that assessing skill numerically could jeopardize the legal defense of an otherwise legit shooting. If the qualification records indicate the person was more skillful, the prosecution may claim the shooter should have tried other shot(s) or shoot to disarm because of their higher skill. If the qualification records indicate the person was less skillful or marginally qualified, it might be shown that the person was reckless due to a lack of skill. Thus, best not keep scores because high or low results could be used against you in court.

Wrong. As with many issues in the firearms world, much of what is taken as “truth” is merely garbage repeated endlessly. Keeping a numerical assessment of skill is necessary if skill is ever to be improved. There is no liability problem with doing this.

By definition, this sort of liability is something whose presence is likely to put one at a legal disadvantage. Such a liability needs to be based on a precedent established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts.

Such a precedent requires a preceding incident to have actually occurred. In this instance, there must be a legal case where a person’s qualification scores were successfully used in court to secure a verdict against them.

If one still believes that keeping qualification scores creates a legal liability provide the docket number of the case where this happened. Case law is based on actual filed court actions from actual events. If such a thing never occurred there is no legal precedent and any “liability” is pure conjecture and unsubstantiated opinion. A nice way of saying, “it’s bullshit.”

The lack of qualification scores will have a negative impact on training success. Avoiding this due to imaginary liability is poor practice.

http://www.policemag.com/blog/training/story/2007/05/keep-your-officers-firearms-scores-1.aspx

http://www.policemag.com/channel/weapons/articles/2010/04/running-up-the-score.aspx

High School Shooting Range: 1950s and today

May 20, 2015

John Buol ConventionalShooter, MarksmanshipQualification, Shooting Leave a comment

Back in 1960, 28.7% of the total NRA membership maintained skill Classifications in competition and there were almost as many Qualification awards recognized as total members (89.5%)

Today, only 2% of the total NRA membership maintained skill Classifications in competition and 0.2% participate in the Qualification program.

Despite a ten-fold increase in membership, less NRA members hold a Classification today than did in the 1960s. Part of the reason for less organized shooting activity in public schools is gun owners are less interested in participating in organized shooting activity.

Some stats:

https://firearmusernetwork.com/nra-classification-fall-off/

https://firearmusernetwork.com/history-of-the-marksmanship-qualification-program/

https://www.scribd.com/doc/192788709/NRA-Competitions-Division-stats-1961

Defoor Proformance – Pistol Test #3

December 25, 2012

John Buol ConventionalShooter, MarksmanshipQualification, MilitaryMarksman, SensibleShooter, Shooting, Video , Leave a comment

Defoor Proformance Shooting

Pistol Test #3

Equipment Needed:
Pistol
Holster
Concealing Garment
IPSC Target
One six round magazine
Marksmanship Skill
Physical Fitness

Course of Fire

Standing touching the target, at the signal run 50 yards to the 50 yard line, draw from concealment and fire two shots at an IPSC target. Without command, run to the 25 yard line and fire two more shots to the body. Run to the 12 yard line and engage the head box with two rounds, run to the 6 yard line and reengage the head box with two more rounds. Time limit is one minute.

Scoring
Score A zone=5 points, B/C zone=3 points, D zone or miss scores 0 points. The body and head must have at least 16 total points each with at least two in the upper A zone (“credit card”.)

For match use, this can be a Conventional Shooter scored for points only (adjust time limit down as needed.) For Sensible Shooter run this as Time Plus or Time Factor scoring (no set time limit.)

Run 50 yds to 50 yd line and fire 2 rds in body
Run to 25 yd line fire 2 rds to body
Run to 12 yd line fire 2 rds to head.
run to 6 yd line fire 2 rds to head.

Video Demonstration:

Defoor Proformance – Pistol Test #2

December 15, 2012

John Buol MarksmanshipQualification, MilitaryMarksman, SensibleShooter, Shooting, Video , Leave a comment

Defoor Proformance Shooting

Pistol Test #2

Equipment Needed:
Pistol
Holster
Concealing Garment
IPSC Target
One six round magazine
Marksmanship Skill
Physical Fitness

Course of Fire

Standing at 25 yards, from concealment draw and fire two shots on an IPSC target in four seconds.

Scoring
For qualification, each string is given a four second time limit. Scoring A zone=5 points, C zone=3 points, D zone, head shot or miss scores 0 points. Pass is 25 total points.

For match use, this is a Sensible Shooter (Time Plus or Time Factor) course with four strings rather than a fixed time.

Video Demonstration:

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