I suspect I'm reading to much into the way you are wording this, but I'm going to jump on the opportunity to emphasis that in no way should you be "transitioning to your dot".
A red dot should overlay the target in your focus. As in, target is clear in your sight picture, a red dot or even just the smear of it is where you want on the target. I think you are describing an effective (and new to me, good post btw) method of making sure you have consistent index and a way to guide yourself onto having the dot on target by using that front sight post as an index point.
I will also say that its probably not the end game for dot use. As in, I don't see the best shooters doing this in any setting, be it operators, larpers, or competition shooters, they all use a tall riser and dot in order to get optimal posture shooting. Lower 1/3 like you mention at least, or more often a 1.93" and micro dot or EXPS-3.
As such, I personally don't recommend not having at least a lower 1/3 co-witnessed iron sights on your pistol but if you can make it work with no co-witness and are proficient at drawing then stick with it since swapping irons can be an pain.
Getting a proper index is everything. If you are using methods where you’re switching focal planes between sites and target, it defeats the whole purpose of using a red dot, and even with irons you should be target focused.
Absolute co-witnessed sights removes one of the advantages of having a dot in the first place - the ability to see under where you're aiming.
You should be training to be right on target as soon as your gun is up but there's no denying irons will help you line everything up. You just don't want it to be a crutch.
Speaking of irons, another fun exercise I learned in that same PMO class were alternative aiming methods - using the side of the slide, the front sight and the top of the frame of the PMO (yes even if you aren't using a RMR), the backplate, and so on.
The actual usefulness of this stuff was a bit dubious since if you're really close you can just point shoot and you aren't really able to shoot much farther than 15yds with these techniques. Its worth thinking about at least - your PMO is an obvious point of failure and also guns getting shot in a gunfight (threat fixation) is a thing that happens too.
A red dot should overlay the target in your focus. As in, target is clear in your sight picture, a red dot or even just the smear of it is where you want on the target. I think you are describing an effective (and new to me, good post btw) method of making sure you have consistent index and a way to guide yourself onto having the dot on target by using that front sight post as an index point.
Did some structured drills today. Criss cross, bill, and modified accelerator (only had two Target stands so the head box of the third Target simulated further distance.
I’m out of practice and it shows. I need to put in more work.
Looks smooth man. Your target transistions, grip, stance, all locked in. Loved the controlled rythmic strings of fire. Very difficult to tell from footage but I think you might be fighting the recoil. Just let it happen and let it return to the target.
Maybe slowdown a bit until you are getting nice saucer sized groups. It's okay to be slow if you are getting good hits. The speed will come with reps.
That being said the splits truly are good, you look tight and the fact you've got a buddy out there with you is phenomenal.
Looks smooth man. Your target transistions, grip, stance, all locked in. Loved the controlled rythmic strings of fire. Very difficult to tell from footage but I think you might be fighting the recoil. Just let it happen and let it return to the target.
Maybe slowdown a bit until you are getting nice saucer sized groups. It's okay to be slow if you are getting good hits. The speed will come with reps.
That being said the splits truly are good, you look tight and the fact you've got a buddy out there with you is phenomenal.
There were definitely strings where I was fighting recoil. There were also points where I was intentionally pushing speed to see where the wheels fall off. I’m pretty happy with the consistency and splits, but I still have a lot of room for improvement.
Did some long range pistol shooting today for the first time. It was a major skill check on all the fundamentals (trigger, grip, sights).
I don't know what's considered long range officially but it was long range for me. 25m walking back to 50m shooting on a 12-inch wide steel silhouette. It was neat to experience the weirdness of being in-between your near/far zero. Having to shoot low in order to hit center of mass was cool. Things like jerking the trigger and anticipating recoil were brutal on you, there's really no room for any of that at 50m.
I had a friend with me and it was interesting to see the differences in our shooting. He had maybe a 50% hit rate, but his group was surprisingly good. Maybe a 7 or 8 inch group, all upper chest. I had like a 85% hit rate but my grouping was all over the place, I had shots all over the entire target.
Yeah that's a great thing to practice. A drill I heard about recently (haven't tried it yet) is the paper plate drill. The point is to find the cadence where you're shooting as fast as possible but everything lands inside the plate somewhere.
PMO was zeroed at 15 yards. I tried a little casual back and forth between it and my irons but I honestly didn't notice that much of a difference because I'm not that proficient yet.
I had an opportunity to do a pistol course where they shoot 100 yards but I already had something going on that weekend. That would be really interesting to try out sometime.
This is from a little while ago at this point. Had to make up a target, but overall I’m happy with this run. Even though it looks decent, it’s amazing how fast an actual good shooter will do this.
Use whatever setup you want to train with, but keep the ranges close (under 7yds)
How: Simple as that - shoot with your eyes closed . Shoot however many times you want, at least a couple shots. Helps if you have a partner who can watch your target to let you know where you shot. Bonus points for also practicing your reloads as well.
Why: Highlights the weaknesses in your draw stroke. You will not be able to compensate for whatever off-center bias you may have. Also shit happens and your eyes might get taken out of the fight by any number of things - glass dust, pepper spray, debris kicked up from near misses, etc. If you're within point shooting range you're still effective as long as your muscle memory is on point.
Softball drill
Setup
2 mags of 8 rounds with at least 4 loose rounds in your pocket
1 softball or softball sized object
How: You will be taking your softball and sticking it under your armpit, in the crook of your elbow, or holding it in your hand. Use both your dominant and non-dominant side. For each position, you will be doing the following
Fire 3 shots, holster
Fire 3 shots, holster
Fire 4 shots reloading as necessary, holster, put 1 round in your dropped mag and swap magazines (you should have 1 in the chamber and 1 in magazine)
Repeat until your mags are empty
Don't drop the ball. Otherwise you can use your arm in whatever way you think is best.
Why: Offhand shooting is something you practice but I dunno about you but I never practice why I would be shooting offhand. This is supposed to simulate different levels of arm incapacitation. It also will very quickly highlight any shortcomings in how you position your gear on your body. It was a very educational drill that had me doing a lot of stuff I never would normally.
Without spoiling anything, I would say the best advice for this is to not get fixated on shooting how you normally would. You can do better than just 1 hand shooting too.
That day since I was using an OWB holster I was at the 3-o'clock position and turns out that is the fucking worst place if you have to draw with your left hand. First try I tried transferring it properly to my left hand by holding the gun against my body so I could get my hand in the right spot but eventually I just shot the gun upside down which was a first. Lots of weird shooting positions with the armpit and elbow too, John Wick looking shit that was not comfortable at all.
This is from a little while ago at this point. Had to make up a target, but overall I’m happy with this run. Even though it looks decent, it’s amazing how fast an actual good shooter will do this.
It was very eye opening to learn I was a "C" class shooter in USPSA (that's not even bad, the upper skills are just ludicrously good!). Dry fire helps a ton, but humility has no substitute.
Live fire today. Modified MXAD with targets at 10 and 20. Changed round count to 4 and 2. Varied the target order and target area on different reps. Did at least 3 reps for each variation. Also did some Bill drills with the pistol and finished with a single rep of dumping the remaining in my rifle mag and transitioning to pistol.
My pistol index wasn’t great and lots of trigger freeze as well as a few bad grips. I obviously need to dry fire more.
you fellas dry fire practice by holding the pistol between your thumb and middle finger? i do this and keep breaking up and to the right. i'm not sure on how to correct.
you fellas dry fire practice by holding the pistol between your thumb and middle finger? i do this and keep breaking up and to the right. i'm not sure on how to correct.
you fellas dry fire practice by holding the pistol between your thumb and middle finger? i do this and keep breaking up and to the right. i'm not sure on how to correct.
No egg at all. Can you explain the thought process here? Its possible I'm misinterperting your little exercise. Generally though, just grip the gun right.
No egg at all. Can you explain the thought process here? Its possible I'm misinterperting your little exercise. Generally though, just grip the gun right.
the idea i got from this ghost of a video was to try to have the gun move as little as possible from the trigger break while dry firing and holding the pistol one handed without your ring finger and pinky. any jerking or movement from the trigger break is exaggerated. dry firing with a normal grip goes well enough but i wasn't sure if the other way can improve my trigger pull.
