My slow fire scores tanked. Please help me.

I shot a 2700 yesterday and they let me use my .22 Nelson conversion for the whole thing. But my slow fire scores were very poor. They were as bad as when I first started shooting bullseye. Some of my slow fire scores were a 44, 50, 57, etcetera. Lots of misses in slow fire and my targets looked like a shotgun pattern. No telling where the shot would go. I could call my shots once per string and that's it. No real grouping. I got one X per string and the rest were spread out evenly in the 5,6,7 ring or outside the target, or even hitting the wood target frame. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. 

I didn't have any caffeine and I felt good. I got eight hours of sleep and ate a normal breakfast. No physiological or psychological problems and I felt no match pressure.


Normally I score in the 80s in slow fire. So my scores fell to half that. I was using Aguila standard velocity ammo. I just practiced a week ago with CCI ammo and my last slow fire target was a 98 score (at 25 yards though). I think maybe my pistol was too dirty. I ran a bore snake through before the final slow fire stage and then my slow fire score rose to 77.

All my timed and rapid fire scores were in the 80s or low 90s yesterday so I don't know why my slow fire was so bad. Any advice
Would be appreciated.

Personally, I would have "practiced" with the Aguila and competed with the CCI.

First guess??
Match jitters. Been shooting BE for 20 years now & still get them for the first & sometimes second slow fire. It helps a bit to dry fire during the prep time & the first couple minutes of slow fire (it's 10 min, so I don't need that much time & may as well use it constructively).

Work on your follow through. When you come back from recoil, hold the dot in the black for at least 3-5 seconds before putting it down & setting up for your next shot. John Zurek gave me that hint a couple years ago. When I can get it through my thick skull to actually do it, it works. Gee who'd a thunkit.

Nothing wrong with your ammo. I've shot several cases of Aguila Se & it holds 1-2" out of every target 22 pistol I own, over a dozen. In my Nelson it holds 1 9/16" @ 50 yds. I don't choose to use it at matches as it's on the lower end of the velocity range that is reliable for me. I use CCI SV at all matches because it never gives me a problem. It alway's goes off and every case I've shot groups x-ring @ 50 yds.


Last, I've seen this done and tried it, but it doesn't work for me. Shoot your slow fire in about your timed fire cadence. You're most likely trying to dress up and make the perfect shot and not allowing yourself to concentrate on moving the trigger smoothly to the rear. Your eye see's the dot in the center & it tells your finger to "quick get that shot off before the dot leaves the 10", it's already too late. Let that dot float around in your wobble area & put pressure on the trigger until the shot breaks.

Sometimes you have a nine ring wobble, sometimes it's every scoring ring on the target face. Every day is different. Enjoy the day no matter what you shot. You're shooting with some of the nicest people out there. I've shot some good scores and some bad scores. But I always enjoy the folks I shoot with and don't get worried about the total number at the end. Even with a low score, I'm still gonna eat tomorrow, my family still loves me, and I'll be back to shoot another one.

Enjoy the journey.
Allen

If it was me shooting some sixes, and sometimes it is, I would say I was snatching the trigger when the dot was in the center.

Al is right about jitters, I still get a little excited on my first slow fire stage. Dry fire during your prep time helps out a lot, gripping so to have sights pointed right at bull, then to get the feel of that trigger again.
  I find 1-shot drills help a lot (dry and live), not only for the first shot of sustained but also for slow. This helped me stop from overthinking and getting that trigger moving so as not to be late on hammer release and shooting in the white. I have this course of fire on my phone Bullseye Timer app, it also has the 2-shot drill great for sustained stages. 
  Al also mentioned follow through and that is where your sight or dot should end up, if your grip and stance were correct when you lined up before your first shot in that string.
 I'd also like to mention that a Nelson or any 1911 conversion will be a bit different than any other .22 that you shoot. I personally shoot a HD Victor better than my .45 1911. They have different triggers and feel. I can't wait to get my Nelson back, my scores might dip some, but when they come back I have a feeling my .45 scores will improve also.
 These are my opinons only, but I gotten them from most of the expert and high master shooters on this forum and in person.
 Stan

Where did you call the shots?

If they were on call, then work on grip, holding, trigger drills.

If they were not on call, then work on seeing the THE RISE OF THE DOT OR FRONT SIGHT in recoil.  The target should be in the background and just a fuzzy reference point.  You know your focus is good if you see the movement of front sight / dot as the recoil begins to move it upwards from your aiming area. 

In other words, quit looking at where the dot / sights are (trying to see the location on the target) and just see the wobble of dot / front sight over the aiming area.  More positively - See your sight alignment / dot and accept the wobble in your aiming area.  The trigger should not change or induce any additional movement.  Or to put the trigger another way, it should enhance the wobble toward the center of your aiming area, not JERK it somewhere else.  So - DRYFIRE.

You mentioned using the Nelson. I shoot a Nelson. Did you just switch to it and you used to shoot something else?

Check your Red Dot to see if it is tight....

The answer is dry fire, dry fire, dry fire. Use a dry fire plug and put a miniature BE target against a white wall and practice for about 15 minutes a night. Focus on trigger pull and uniform grip, especially pulling straight back into grip with middle, ring, and little finger. Also, learn to pull pistol down when your hold is not right. If you pull down, rest shoulder for 15-20 seconds. You will find your slow fire scores will get much better.

I do this regularly. Haven't shot a 100 at 50 yards yet but have shot a 96-6X with 22 and a 97-7x with 45. The whole 'secret' to slow fire is focus, focus, focus, and trigger pull, trigger pull, trigger pull, and lastly, don't FU.   dipnet.

Thanks for all the helpful information. I'll definitely dry fire more.

I shot 78 in slow fire in yesterday's match. That's a big jump from 50. My timed and rapid scores improved also. I think the problem was my pistol was dirty. I cleaned it thoroughly and it started performing a lot better. I remember having the same problem with a rifle once, now that I think about it. I had not cleaned the barrel for a few hundred rounds and it was fouled up. I ran a few patches through it and it must have taken something out of the barrel that was messing with the accuracy. Yeah yeah, amateur mistake

If you were shooting irons, how is your vision?  Are you using a lens to help focus?  Usually people in their early 40's start having issues seeing up close, and this can give inconsistent focus on the sight.

I'm knocking on the door of 69 and have 20/30 left eye and 20/25 right eye. I was blessed for many years great vision but age spares no one. I use reading glasses and use 1.0 diopter reading glasses as my shooting glasses (my old script was 0.5 diopter). Eye doc told me I could pay $300 for them or buy them cheaply from readers.com or local dollar store; I went latter route.

When aiming irons, focus is on front sight blade; the target is blurry whether you aim center use a 6-o'clock hold. Once I center front sight within rear sight notch, all my focus is on keeping front sight centered on target and on trigger squeeze. Reduction of wobble area comes from consistent application of your shot plan, again and again... Best, dipnet