“Be aggressive, B-E AGGRESSIVE” - Middle school football cheer.
When I was first taught how to shoot a rifle by my dad, the instruction went something like this: “put the reticle on the target, hold your breath, and slowly squeeze the trigger until the shot surprises you.” Of course, this was a rifle rested on a bench or some other prop (usually a deer stand in my case) shooting at a stationary target. While this method led to lots of dead animals, it is mostly useless in offhand shooting. Holding a rifle on a target and slowly squeezing the trigger will usually result in the shot going off long after the sight has left the spot you’re trying to hit. In offhand shooting, we need an aggressive approach at two points during the shot process: acquiring the target and breaking the shot.
AGGRESSIVELY ACQUIRING THE TARGET
In order to hit a target, we must aim the rifle at the target. (Groundbreaking info here!) As simple as that seems, it’s often easier said than done. Ever heard of target panic? It’s that weird phenomenon wherein our bodies simply refuse to allow the sights to enter into the target; or once we’re in the target, the reticle jets out of the target so fast that we can’t even think about firing the shot. My theory is that target panic is a symptom of “trying not to miss.” The opposite of trying not to miss is shooting to hit the target. This sounds like an obvious thing, but it represents two vastly different shooting philosophies. One is passive (trying not to miss) and one is aggressive (shooting to hit.) Let’s quickly break down what these two shooting philosophies look like.
a. Passive Shooting - Trying Not to Miss
When we shoot passively we are scared to miss a target. In a silhouette match, we are trying not to miss a chicken, pig, turkey, or ram. In a 3P match, we are trying not to miss the 10-ring. This often happens in the biggest matches; it is what is usually going on when we hear that someone is “trying too hard.” When the clock starts ticking and the shots count, we become scared of missing. So our brains start playing a dirty game. Our brains subconsciously know that if we don’t take the shot, we won’t miss the shot. They also know that if the sight is not on the target, we wont take the shot; so our brains simply take the sight off the target and won’t let it get back on there. No shot, no miss; everyone is happy and content. We are shooting passively so we are letting this happen and all of a sudden we’re missing shots and feeling like we’re choking. We’re not choking, we’re just passively letting our brains try not to miss.
b. Aggressive Shooting - Shooting To Hit
Aggressive shooting is what we’re doing during the warmup or during practice when we’re hitting everything we shoot at. We’re not scared to miss because there is no consequence to a miss. We are putting the sight on the spot we’re aiming at and immediately breaking the shot. We are being aggressive. We are going in and taking the target instead of being afraid of letting the target get away. We are shooting to hit the target. This method/philosophy generally cures “trying too hard” because the mentality of the aggressive shooter is to knock the target down (or bury the bullet in the 10-ring), NOT to avoid missing the target. It puts the shooter in control of the shot rather than passively watching the shot happen. It’s being the driver of the car hitting the accelerator rather than the passenger hanging on for dear life. This is a mentality and shooting method that we need to train physically and mentally.
How To Acquire The Target Aggressively
As we discussed above, the first part of aggressively taking a shot is aggressively acquiring the target. That means putting the sight on the target. An important part of shooting at a silhouette target is not to shoot at the target itself, but a particular spot on the target (read more about that here). We want to get the sight to the spot as soon as possible in the shot process. Often you’ll have to force it onto the spot, but get used to doing it. Train for it. Practice moving your reticle directly onto the spot where you’re aiming IMMEDIATELY. We’re not waiting around for an invitation here. We are aggressively putting a bullet on that target. Imagine that target not wanting you to hit it and being ready to break and run at any time. There is no playing around here. Get the reticle/sight on the target now and by any means necessary!
On certain days, or even every day, this may require you to mentally remind yourself to get on target. Just last weekend in Tulsa, during the high power matches on Sunday, I had to give myself a pep-talk about aggressively getting the reticle inside the target. I started subconsciously chanting that middle school cheer quoted above over and over as I was shooting. It helped force me to immediately get to the spot where I was aiming. That was exactly what I needed to shoot solid scores and win the championship. Who knew that living with two middle school cheerleaders would be so helpful?!?
Avoid playing around with your reticle outside of the target during the shot process. Get on the spot and get on with the shot!
AGGRESSIVELY BREAKING THE TRIGGER
Immediately getting to the spot won’t do you any good if you don’t pull the trigger, so when the shot is there, go ahead and fire!
Easy, right? Yet, how many times have you had the perfect shot sitting right there and you just didn’t pull the trigger? It happens to me ALL THE TIME!
The problem? Lack of aggression on the trigger. We must be ready to fire the shot before we get to the aiming point, and we must fire the shot when it gets there. Doing this correctly is sometimes called being active on the trigger.
Being active on the trigger is a three-step process: a. Being physically ready to fire; b. Being mentally ready to fire, and c. Firing the shot the first time through.
a. Physically Ready to Fire
The first step is getting ready to fire physically. This simply means get your finger on the trigger and exert force on the trigger to the point that the next movement of the trigger finger fires the rifle. On a two-stage trigger, that generally means taking up the first stage. On a single-stage trigger, that means pulling the trigger right to the point that it’s about to fire (knowing this exact point comes from training with the rifle).
Being physically ready to fire is also a feeling. You should be ITCHING to pull the trigger. This bleeds over into the second step.
b. Mentally Ready to Fire
Most passed-up good shots are the result of a shooter not being mentally ready to fire the shot. This is another example of passive shooting. If we are shooting to hit the target, we are excited to fire the shot. We are ITCHING to pull the trigger because we are aggressively going after the target.
The opposite of that, trying not to miss (passive shooting), makes us “not ready” to fire and causes us to pass up good shots because we are scared to miss. We can’t miss if we don’t fire, and since we are scared to miss, our brains tell us not to take the shot. However, the opposite of that is also true, we cant HIT the target unless we take the shot; and taking the shot NOW, when it’s there, drastically increases the chances of hitting the target.
We must be mentally tough and overcome any passive tendency. We must train to be both physically and mentally ready to take the shot when the shot presents itself. We must enter the target READY TO FIRE!
c. Firing The Shot The First Time Through
When we are aggressively acquiring the target; we are physically ready to fire before we enter the target; and we are mentally ready to fire as we enter the target, we might as well fire the shot the first time it’s there. There is no good reason to wait. We’ve done everything right, the reticle has come to the spot, all that’s left to do is fire. JUST DO IT!
Now it’s important to understand that it’s not the end of the world if you don’t take the shot the first time it presents itself. Often the reticle passes by the spot then almost immediately comes back. Take the shot then, it’s okay. What we don’t want to do is pass up good shots over and over to the point that the shot falls apart. If you don’t take the shot the first time, and you don’t get a quick, solid follow-up opportunity, abandon that shot and start over. The mark of a great shooter is the shots he/she DOESN’T take.
We want to develop the habit of taking that first good shot that presents itself. The best way to create this habit is to train for it by focusing on taking the first shot when practicing. Do it over and over and get used to taking that first shot. Make it a habit. If it doesn’t happen for some reason, don’t keep struggling to get back to the spot. Abandon the shot and start over with an aggressive shot process.
Erich Mietenkorte made a great video explaining how to be active on the trigger and showing what it looks like. I highly recommend everyone checking it out.
What type of shooter are you? Are you a passive shooter that is just trying not to miss; or are you an aggressive shooter shooting to hit? Train yourself to be an aggressive shooter. Learn how to aggressively and immediately acquire the target then aggressively break the trigger every single time. Don’t be scared to knock that target off the rail or hit that 10 ring! Aggressive shooting is the way to go.
I hope this has been helpful to you. The purpose of this newsletter is to help solve your shooting problems. I need to know what those problems are. Please email your questions to dustinflint@yahoo.com and I promise to (eventually) answer them. Until next time, keep shooting (aggressively)!
Dustin
SDG