by Chris Cerino
By now, most of you who read my training columns are familiar with my style. I’m very demanding and have many mantras or sayings that help keep specific learning or performance points in mind. I demand performance from those I train, as well as from myself. Over the years, I have successfully improved many shooters. If you listen to me, and do what I say, your performance will skyrocket. I’ve seen it. The sayings and mantras are constant in my classes. They are meant to keep in mind whatever fundamental or principle a shooter needs to perform. I am constantly yelling in the background (mostly because it’s loud on the range) to remind people what they should be focusing on. I yell because I care. Once you leave my class you won’t have me yelling at or reminding you what to do. Hopefully you will either hear my voice, or will have found your own to remind you of what you need to hear, to get the hits you want.
When training, I change targets often. Target size can vary from very small, 1½-inch circles, to man-sized humanoid shapes with a variety of sizes in between. No matter the size, I try to set the firing distance so hits are attainable. Shots should be centered with an 80% plus hit rate.
You think an 80% hit rate is too much to ask for? Here’s where the next mantra comes into play. Remember that we are shooting at a piece of paper, glued to cardboard, stapled to a stick. It’s not moving and it’s not shooting back. Get your hits!
Hand in hand with this knowledge is the fact we run the gun. The gun does not run us. If you are shooting a one-inch circle at 5 feet and your hits are centered, but low, change something! There is no reason you can’t place those shots in the center of that circle. Contrary to what you might think, there is no magical forcefield around the center keeping your bullets out. If you are shooting at a silhouette target of human shape, I do not expect hits to be all over the target. Your hits had better be high, center chest hits. YOU RUN THE GUN! Don’t be satisfied with the result if it is not what is intended.
Certainly there are those out there who have heard an instructor tell a student to, “Spread your shots out.” Maybe the student was shooting slowly, and putting rounds through a ragged hole. Even I would tell the student to speed up their practice to the point of enlarging their grouping. But spreading out your shots? Intentionally? That same instructor steps back and fires several shots at a target, hitting it from head to toe and proudly proclaims, “Look at all these hits, and I didn’t even use my sights!”
“Great,” I say, but what happens when that paper target goes dynamic, moving and shooting back? Do you have the skills it takes to get hits then?
After all, we are shooting at a piece of paper, glued to cardboard, stapled to a stick. It’s not moving or shooting back. Why not shoot as tight a group as fast as you can? When that target starts moving and going dynamic, your shots will most likely spread out just fine.
Be confident that the gun will do its job, so long as you do yours. Apply the fundamentals of marksmanship as excellently as possible. Utilize solid motor programs and economy of movement when handling your guns and gear. You can’t shoot a group, rather a group happens if you do the same thing over and over, shot after shot. Maintain the same presentation, sight picture and trigger press. That’s how you shoot a group. Be sure you are doing it as fast as you accurately can. If your group is anywhere but centered, you need to start diagnosing yourself.
Low left hits don’t mean you should hold high right. You have to think about what you feel and/ or see when the shots break. For right-handed shooters, this is usually trigger jerk, coupled with a loss of focus on sights and sight picture, at the instant the shot breaks. Low hits or high hits mean you need to reevaluate your sight alignment and/or sight picture. Don’t worry about bullet holes. They will be there when you’re done shooting. It’s paper. Remember?
Next time you attend a class, or are just practicing on your own, keep a couple new sayings in mind, “Who runs the gun? You do!” And “It’s only a piece of paper.” It’s not moving or shooting back so make the best shots possible. You have to demand performance from yourself. When I’m around, don’t fret, I’ll demand it for you!
Until next time. It’s all about the fundamentals!
