3. Patience: Patience is of great importance to the conduct of slow fire, in that without it, the shooter may disrupt an otherwise good performance an instant from successful completion. When the conditions for a controlled, accurate shot are met, the problem facing the shooter is reduced to one of patiently allowing proposed events to follow their normal course. The synchronization of the factors in delivering an accurate shot require a certain time for completion. Any impatience that would cause one control factor to be disrupted will reduce the whole to a shambles. Improvised, desperate measures to reconstitute a lapse cannot possibly succeed. As an example, a shooter is on the firing line, making a concerted effort to maintain conditions that have been set up to control an accurate shot. His sights are aligned, the arc of movement is settling and he is positively pressing straight to the rear on the trigger, and then must momentarily wait. At this point in his technique of employing the fundamentals he will succeed or fail, depending upon his ability to allow the necessary time to pass for the smooth, undisturbed release of the hammer.
4. Over Sighting: A shooter must remember that his scores cannot be improved by sighting for a long time. On the contrary, “over-sighting” sharply reduces accuracy. After about ten or twelve seconds of sighting, vision becomes gradually blunted and the shooter’s eye ceases to observe some minute errors. The result is a deceptive aim, and the shooter without noticing his error in sighting makes an inaccurate shot. In order to achieve the highest accuracy, sighting should be accomplished within six or eight seconds. This system of sighting is good because a shooter who does not over-sight and strain his eyes, permits them to recover rapidly and to keep their sharpness for the duration of the whole match.
5. Establishing a System: A system of operation must be devised by each shooter individually without which he is not capable of attaining a sustained high performance standard. Consult Chapter IV, “Establishing A System”. The shooter’s guide to comprehensive organization of control of a slow fire shot, “The Slow Fire Worksheet” is included in Chapter IV.
Completing the day’s schedule of shooting successfully requires the shooter to go through all the stages of shooting for every shot in exactly the same way. This is possible only if the shooter can conserve sufficient physical energy, sharpness of vision, quickness of reaction, etc. while he is shooting. The ability to repeat everything the same way requires an intelligent and economic use of ones energies.
6. The Tempo of Shooting: Experience has shown that the best way to shoot is to shoot each shot rapidly, within six seconds after settling. The time spent between each shot, preparing and planning, is limited only by the total time allowed for the stage of fire. All shooting should be done at a definite tempo and with a definite rhythm.
a. In order that the shooter not only expend his energies with care, but actually build them up during the course of shooting, adequate breaks should be taken both between shots and between series of shots. It is beat to shoot at regular intervals, using all the time allotted for a particular match. In slow fire, circumstances rarely permit unbroken rhythmical shooting. Therefore, the shooter must take a particular situation and his own daily capabilities into account and shoot, sometimes at an accelerated or reduced rate, thereby operating at a tempo that will permit maximum performance.
b. Before beginning to shoot for record, it is recommended the shooter fire “dry shots”. If he feels that after the first shots that his shooting is going easily, he should proceed to shoot live ammo, making no attempt to slow down, so that the established coordination of his movements will not be upset.
c. When a shooter finds it difficult to shoot, he should not speed up his shooting. He must re-plan, relax, wait a short time until he has the “feel” of his pistol, shoot some “dry shots”, patiently reestablish control of the trigger, aim with care before each shot, and then begin shooting with assurance at a quickened tempo in order to make up for lost time.
d. No matter how well the shooter is doing, a shooter should always be careful to control his movements at all times so as not to cause a performance failure because of negligence. There is no such thing as shooting for a long period of time without some lose of control. However, one must be constantly on guard against becoming nervous and rushing because of a bad shot, as if it is necessary to compensate in a short a time with good shooting for the poor shot. It usually happens that rushing leads to repetition of the same mistakes. Under such circumstances, analyze, correct errors, shoot without haste, and develop the next shot with more care.
e. The regular tempo of shooting applies when a shooter is shooting under favorable conditions in good shooting weather. If, on the other hand, the weather is not favorable, the shooter should use a different tempo and approach, depending on the conditions prevailing.
7. Resting During the Breaks Between Shots: During the rest period between shots, a shooter should see that uniformity in assuming body stance and positions is not destroyed. The angle at which the body is turned from the target and the relative position of the feet should not change. In order that the rest interval be most effective, it is a good idea to assume a posture which will make it possible for the muscles to relax and rebuild their strength. The best way is to put the pistol down on the table and sit down in a chair without moving the feet. You can mark the position of the feet with chalk if you are afraid the exact position of the feet cannot be duplicated. It is necessary, when shooting in gusty winds, to rest while standing, with the pistol in a slightly relaxed grip. The shooter must be prepared to assume the firing position quickly, to shoot between gusts, and during the best periods for firing.
D. COMMON POINTS OF DEFICIENCY IN CONTROL
There are a multitude of causes for bad shots. Listed below are those most frequently found. It is not intended to be a complete list nor is it intended to provide the shooter with a convenient list of bad habits. It is, however, intended to assist the shooter in finding the source of his trouble.
1. Jerk or Heeclass="underline" The abrupt application of pressure either with the trigger finger alone or in the case of heeling, pushing with the heel of the hand at the same time.
2. Vacillation: Lack of know-how and skill causes constant changing of technique. The end result is usually that you hope to get a good shot.
3. Anxiety: You work and work on a shot, meanwhile building up in your mind a doubt about being able to fire the shot while your control is optimum. Impatience sets in. Finally you shoot just to get rid of that particular round so you may work on others.
4. Not Looking At the Sights: This is listed frequently as “looking at the target”. A shooter may be focusing his eye on neither the sights nor the target, but since he does not see the target in clear focus he assumes he is looking at the sights. Concentrate on sight alignment.
5. Loss of Concentration: The concentration will shift between sight alignment and the relative position of the sights to the target if good sight picture is the objective. Concentrate only on attaining perfect sight alignment with minimum movement and the application of positive trigger pressure comes much easier and is almost involuntary.
6. Holding Too Long: Adverse conditions that disturb a shooter’s ability to “hold” will cause him to delay his positive application of trigger pressure while waiting for conditions to become better. The disturbing factor about this is that you will do it sometimes when you have your normal minimum arc of movement, therefore, you must try to freeze all arc of movement momentarily to get off a perfect shot quickly before any movement is resumed.