Slow Fire ....I gotta ask

Being that we HAve 10 mins for the slow fire section ....do you guys use that 10 mins ????or do you shoot it in 2-3 shoot groups ???? The reason I ask is I think I'm beating myself on the slow fire by trying to get the perfect hold or sight picture.....I have often thought about shooting it faster to help combat the shakes and such...I have shot some very nice groups during the timed section which would almost be like shooting all 9's on a slow fire target ...but then I shoot the slow fire and try to hard and wind up shooting in the 75-80ish range ....hope I'm makein sense with this.....Keith

I think we have all been down that road Keith! You need to work on a 2 second drill for your slow fire stage. Allow yourself only 2 seconds from when the targets face to get that shot off.

Every shot of slow fire should be exactly like your first shot of sustained fire. Develop a shot process (series of things you do every time you prepare for a shot) and go thru those motions every time and get your time such that when the targets turn you are completing that process with the hammer dropping.

Read the fundamentals on Gunny Zins site and that may help you understand this more.

Brians site

That does make sense Joe.....I'll give it a try...cant hurt....

I agree with getting the slow fire shot off like the first shot of sustained fire. It worked for me in the past. Now what do we do on windy days?

In most matches ive shot in almost every shooter finish's before the 10 mi. expires.

Most shooters get their shots off in 5 or 6 minutes unless there are conditions that prevent it. When it's windy, many shooters wait for lulls in the wind and may fire more than one shot before bringing the handgun down.

The longer a shooter holds the gun up without shooting, the more the support system fatigues (especially the eyes). This can result in the brain sending a message to shoot it!...shoot it!...shoot it! A result is many times a lack of trigger control. Bill Blankenship addresses his attempts to speed up his trigger squeeze in the book, "The Pistol Shooter's Treasury".

Before I started my new techniques from The Zins/Moody Clinic I was taking about 6min to do slow fire. I haven't been using my timer since but it is less, because my shot process doesn't include a long hold time trying to stop the wobble.

I take around 7 minutes, and abort maybe once or twice in a 10shot sequence. I typically only hold the gun on target for at most ~4 seconds. After ~4 seconds, I feel antsy/rushed and wobble may increase. That's when I would abort.

Most of the time is spent resetting the shot sequence (check grip, balance, stance, take two deep breaths, etc...); I look through the scope maybe the first and second shot of the 10shot sequence, then don't look through it again.

It seems to work for me thus far...averaging 90.7 in slowfire with the 45.

well my ? has been answered....I can get the slow done in 6-7 mins ...but Ive been holding to long and need to learn to abort if my hold gets longer than 5-7 secs............should make it to the range tommorow.......or some air pistol tonight......K

So, how did you make out with your slow fire?

I know your question was already answered, but I'll throw in my .02 anyway.
I will generally take from 9:15 to 9:45 to shoot my slow fire. I spend my time between shots working on getting my breathing & heart-rate under control. It also give my muscles a bit of recovery time between shots.

well I spend to much time tryin for the perfect sight alingment and or dot placement .......and then of course what happens my trigger squeeze turns into a controlled yank.......I know what to do in my head but it just doent turn out that way.......I have been workin on it and am getting better........dont think I'll be mastering BE anytime soon.....I have shot expert level scores but low level at best......Most of the time I shoot right around 85%

When you get that automatic trigger control that Bill Blankenship talks about in "The Pistol Shooter's Treasury" your scores will take a big jump. It takes some work.

Keith 85% is not what I would consider low and I am certain many people on here would be perfectly happy with 85%.

It's not about the scores, it's about the challenge and journey reaching your goals and the great people you meet along the way.

85% is only 10% from Master! The glass is half full grasshopper

Joe,

you are correct.....This is a game I hope to be addicted to for avery long time....its probably the most challenging shooting I ever done......the mechanics of it are crazy...theres alot going on all at once to get the perfect shot to hit the 10 ring......I would just like to have some purdie targets to hang at my loading bench like the one that I shot with my Air Pistol ......10 shots ate out the 10 ring and some of the 9 ...everything just felt right ..my wobble circle was almost no even there ....trigger control and follow thru where as good as it gets ........But If I could do that every time it wouldnt be any fun.....at this point I'd be happy to hold the 8 ring on slow fire