Pt 6. Building Speed

[Doc Shapiro]

This is the last one for tonight!

There are many out there that will tell you to just keep practicing accuracy and the speed will come.  Where do they think it will come from?  You can't build speed by shooting slow!  To shoot fast, you have to practice shooting fast.

That means shooting outside your envelope.  Yup, you're gonna miss.  There ain't no 2 ways about it.  Here's why....

When you are shooting in your comfort zone, you are shooting at the current pace that your eyes can track target and sights. In order to shoot faster, you have to speed up your eyes.

Pick up the pace. Now you are shooting faster than your eyes can keep up with.  That's ok.  Your eyes are getting practice now. They will catch up. When they do, you'll be shooting faster, and just as accurately before you started speeding up. So now, do it again!

This is the natural progression.  In order to shoot fast and accurate, you have to learn to see fast.  No better way to do it than to shoot faster than you can see and really work on speeding up your eyes to catch up.

Remember, to shoot fast, you have to practice shooting fast.

Doc

[john boy]

Doc ... good point about the eyes.
The eyes must work in conjunction with all 3 types of firearms: revolvers - rifle and shotgun
There is a small percentage of shooters that have the luxury and time to put the eyes & firearms to the practice test at the range.  This is no excuse for them though...

Place 5 round stickers on a wall (2-3" size).  Strap on your irons and shotshell holder.  One can even build a gun rack to place their rifle and shotgun in. Then dry fire practice with each firearm using the stickers as the targets.  Go like hell doing it.

Then when opportunity presents itself, go to the range, put up a big cardboard target, staple 5 paper pie plates on the target ... to determine if your wall practice has really made an improvement in your eye coordination-transitioning, etc with each of your firearm types.

...and I still have to cut 10 seconds off my times 

[Doc Workday]

Thanks Guys I had not thought of the stickers on the wall and practice fast 

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[Irish Red O'Toole]

I've been doing it since I read it on Doc's website before EOT this year.  It's really improved my speed, especially with my pistols.  I had a VERY fast shooter compliment me on my pistol speed just this past weekend.  Talk about walking 3 feet off the ground for the rest of the day!!  When a bonafide World Champion, Black Badge-wearing shooter says your pistol work was great, well, you take notice.  So all I can say is, "Thanks Doc S.," for providing the means for my improvment.  I can vouch that it works.

[john boy]

Hey Pards ... it really does work!. 
Now, I ain't in the class of Doc and the other Top Shooters but ...
Last week ... Traditional Top Gun at Quinton
This week ... Top Overall Gun at Thumbusters
Could it be a fluke?  Who knows ...