Following Thru:
What is that? When one is following thru and maintaining sight alignment and not breathing....the magic happens!
In order to call the shot, which is simply a mental snapshot of where the sights were on the target when the shot went off, one must have implemented the fundamental steps of firing the shot.
The shot call is the "payoff" of a solid position and fundamentally executed shot.
I'll never forget my first match in my NRA High Power Rifle journey (of which I am still on). I was squadded up with 2 High Master shooters, both of which have very colorful personalities.
It was a team match, where 2 teammates pair fire at the same yard line. One takes a shot, target goes down and comes up with the score, and then the next team member shoots. They are allowed to coach eachother with wind calls and stuff.
One of the team members looked back at me, and said...."This is really your first match"? It was, and it was a pretty big match. The CMP Eastern Games Creedmoor Cup team match. A practice match (obtain zeros match) prior to the commencement of the Cup match which spans 3-4 days.
I replied "yes" and he laughed and said..."Pay attention, you will learn a LOT today".
I am still reflecting back on what I learned that day. I will never forget at 600 yards when he took his first shot. Before the target went down in the pits to be scored, he looked at me and his teammate and said "That is a 10 at 6 o clock". Sure enough, the target came up, I looked inside my spotting scope, and it was a 10 at exactly 6 o clock!
I had attended and instructed NUMEROUS Appleseed events prior to that day and truly never really saw someone call their shots with such accuracy.
His next shot, he jokingly looked back and said "Can't make em no finer than that....that is a center punched X"! In a heavy southern drawl.
Yup....center punched X.
My point here is that thru LOTS and LOTS of practice that shooter perfected the fundamental steps to firing a shot. Was every shot a 10 or an X? Nope. Were his 9 ring shots ON CALL?? A resounding yes.
Proper follow thru, is simply executing the Appleseed 6 steps and the reward will be a properly called shot.
If you are not able to call your shots, then something in steps 1-5 is wrong. Maybe your sling is loose, maybe your NPA is off, maybe you didn't hold the trigger back, maybe you breathed during recoil?
*Maybe your equipment is not properly setup for 3 position shooting/~see post on rifle fitment~*
It could be a myriad of reasons. Learning how to diagnose those reasons is a large step to perfecting the fundamentals of marksmanship.
What is the benefit of calling a shot?
Well...here is one.....what if you call that shot a center punched X or V and it winds up as a 3 o clock 8 or 4?
That could be the wind, but doubtful at 100 yards and in. ADJUST the sights!
Calling the shots, brings with it the CONFIDENCE that only EXPERIENCE will breed, and your scores will rise!
I recall when I started my daughter Shannon with Appleseed and High Power Rifle. By the way, she is now an Expert (across the course, and is placing Master scores regularly.....even beat Daddy a few times).....she learned to do this from the start, call her shots. She would not be where she is now, had she not learned to execute the fundamentals. Everything I post in here, is what I have used on her....and a 10 year old girl went from never shooting a rifle, to earning her Appleseed Rifleman patch, and NRA and CMP Expert classification in less than 9 months! It simply works, and I ask you the reader to consider the above about my daughter if you think what I am writing holds no value.
Bottom Line: If you cannot call your shots, you have not executed a fundamental shot.
Every step prior to the 6th step of follow thru/call the shot is in vain, "even if the shot is a perfect bullseye".
In the beginning, what I did...with my coaches/ to include AS instructors was "I Lied", LOL...truly I did. They would ask, "where was that"? I would respond, "Center", or make something up, just to get them off my back. The reason I could not call my shots, was because something else was lacking in the fundamentals/steady hold factors, or....in my 6 steps of firing the shot. "MY" 6 steps...not the AS 6 steps. LOL
But....in time I truly did start to call them properly.
My daughter was an excellent test subject. In the beginning, because it really is awkward, she would only be able to say, "Center", "High", "Low", "Low Right" etc. Now...that is perfectly acceptable, if they are on call. In the general vicinity. In time...for her it was 2-3 months, the calls started to become more accurate, she would call the clock position and the scoring ring!
Ever watch an AMU shooter? They call the shot inside of the X ring, with great accuracy! It is amazing to watch that. I am not there yet. But am close.
Give it a shot! And, if you are honest with yourself and like I was (not really calling the shots), find out why.
The attached pic is of my daughter and I at the New England Games awards, 5 medals each, simply a result of executing the steady hold factors/fundamentals, and the 6 steps of firing the shot!
R/
Chris
Yeah true.
It took me a long time to be able to do that right. And before getting used to calling a shot I never knew if a flyer was me or the ammo. At least now if a round is way off I can confidently say 'that wasnt me.'
Quote from: scuzzy on October 01, 2019, 02:51:19 PM
Yeah true.
It took me a long time to be able to do that right. And before getting used to calling a shot I never knew if a flyer was me or the ammo. At least now if a round is way off I can confidently say 'that wasnt me.'
That is an absolute benefit from a fundamentally executed shot!
R/
Chris
QuoteUntil a man can call his shots he is a very poor marksman, and indeed he cannot be coached into a better one.
A recruit should never, if it can be avoided, be allowed to take up range practice until he has learned to call his shots; otherwise it is simply a waste of ammunition.
Source:
Suggestions to Military Riflemen
By Lieutenant Townsend Whelen
Franklin Hudson Publishing Co, 1909
Available via Google Books for download at no cost.
The wind was pretty mild for our leg match a few weeks ago, but a letoff on shot #16 got me. Since I was certain it was off-call, I went back to looking at mirage and wind flags for a minute, and reset my windage for what I thought current conditions were. Obviously I overcorrected a bit, but shot a PR of 198-7X on that stage. Just six months ago I'd have fired another shot with the same settings to make sure it was really a wind change, since I didn't trust my calls in slow prone, and then I'd have chased the spotter around the target in frustration. Even with my weak offhand that day (91-0X), a 486-13X was good for another six EIC points (fortunately the High Master junior who won it with 493-16X is already Distinguished).
Another fun thing on follow through, which I've maybe posted before here: I have a Stevens 416 bolt action .22LR, with a long barrel. I was shooting that for offhand practice at 100 yards, and my shots were coming up off-call. Not just off-call, but consistently off-call, high and right. I finally realized that I was taking the rifle out of my shoulder too early, and while I can get away with that shooting a 2700 fps bullet, I can't get away with it on .22LR! Focusing on follow-through, my shot calls returned to being correct.
WOW! That is some hard holding!
For those unaware, the 486 Maxwell shot was out of a possible 500 on circle targets! This is a no sighter match, with transitions for rapid fire (start from standing).
That is 97.2% shooting overall. Dude, you have come a LONG way, I've never shot over a 478 in an EIC!
486 would win at most EIC matches, it would easily be a HARD leg!
I am burned for EIC's this season, I had a deplorable standing stage at the New England games, and my 475 was "First Leather", or in other words...the first loser! LOL.... At least I get a new Eric Hollis sling out of the deal.
Shannon, my daughter was sitting on a 486 at 600 yards...., and her relay (4) had some significant wind...., it was "Switchy" and she did not fare well (does not know how to read wind yet). She is going to be a force to be reckoned with next season for sure!
Outstanding shooting Maxwell! And....spot on with training with a .22LR. I have found that my SCATT trainer has a tone feature for the vision impaired (cannot imagine shooting blind)....but I can set tone to sound for my hold in the 10 ring....if I am in the 10 ring, it will sound...when I move out, the sound stops.
An Olympic small bore coach turned me on to this feature recently, and the goal is to use the tone for follow thru. After the shot breaks I am working on holding it in the 10 ring with the tone for as long as I can. An exaggeratedly long follow thru, or....at least one that I am not used to doing, but it is seeming to help me some.
EagleScouter's Townsend Whelen quote is outstanding and I agree!
R/
Chris
Quote from: maxwell on October 01, 2019, 04:38:10 PM
The wind was pretty mild for our leg match a few weeks ago, but a letoff on shot #16 got me. Since I was certain it was off-call, I went back to looking at mirage and wind flags for a minute, and reset my windage for what I thought current conditions were. Obviously I overcorrected a bit, but shot a PR of 198-7X on that stage. Just six months ago I'd have fired another shot with the same settings to make sure it was really a wind change, since I didn't trust my calls in slow prone, and then I'd have chased the spotter around the target in frustration. Even with my weak offhand that day (91-0X), a 486-13X was good for another six EIC points (fortunately the High Master junior who won it with 493-16X is already Distinguished).
Another fun thing on follow through, which I've maybe posted before here: I have a Stevens 416 bolt action .22LR, with a long barrel. I was shooting that for offhand practice at 100 yards, and my shots were coming up off-call. Not just off-call, but consistently off-call, high and right. I finally realized that I was taking the rifle out of my shoulder too early, and while I can get away with that shooting a 2700 fps bullet, I can't get away with it on .22LR! Focusing on follow-through, my shot calls returned to being correct.
For me follow through on the .22's and especially airguns is absolutely critical.
I like to define follow through as this:
Mentally capturing all the visual and kinesthetic feedback from firing the shot from the initial sight alignment and sight picture at the trigger break, felt and seen recoil as the shot is breaking, movement of the rifle during re-aquisition of sight alignment and sight picture post shot and then rifle movement at the resumption of normal respiratory cycle.
I see follow through as the feedback loop that informs the shooter of their physical state through the shot process. This feedback loop is key to both consciously and subconsciously training oneself to break the perfect shot repeatably.
Bob
Carl Bernosky is widely accepted to be one of the best (if not the best) offhand/standing shooters in HP rifle.
He says "Pay absolutely zero attention to the sights when they are not within your hold"
I've been working on that, and it seems to help. Prior to incorporating that into my process, I would focus on the front sight, or the center of the reticle as the rifle was coming down into the target, wasted energy.
What that wasted energy also fostered, was for me to take the first 10 I see, immediately, likely forcing a jerk, and then follow thru suffers.
Amanda Elsenboss (AMU shooter), told me a few months ago, "Let the rifle settle in the 10 ring" (or in your best hold/wobble), then start the squeeze and follow thru.
It is a TOUGH mental habit to break, allowing the rifle to actually settle.
Then the follow thru piece (this topic), with the SCATT system giving me tone feedback now, I am forcing a longer follow thru, and that really does help, as alluded to above a few times with the .22 and air rifles. I hold in the 10 ring after the shot and keep that tone going.
What that does for me in live fire, in all 3 positions but especially for the slow fire stages....is I imagine mentally a tone before and after the shot as I do in dry fire. Sounds weird....but it seems to work and seems to help me with prolonging my hold during follow thru.
R/
Chris
Mr. Bernosky is right on as far as focus goes. I don't want to use the best few seconds of vision that I have watching the reticle approach center(or the v-ring.) I have had success with focusing on the aiming black until the center of the reticle comes to the edge from above, then focus on the reticle as you get the best part of your hold. I have also found that taking up the first stage as the reticle approaches is helping to keep me from jerking the trigger. While I am far from a 10 ring hold, Konrad Powers' holding drills are helping. They also reinforce the value of good follow through, which I think is of utmost importance to making good shot calls.