Project Appleseed

Attached is a picture from a recent training session using my SCATT dry fire system.

This is the 600 yard slow prone target and the software knows it....it makes it realistic.

Bottom Line Up Front: The SLIGHTEST Errors in Follow Thru will cause Errant shots

How to interpret the picture (I am color blind so bear with me)

The Green Yellow trace is my hold on the target prior to the trigger squeeze. You will see windage NPA is decent in the X ring, however I am a bit high in the X ring, could come down say 1/4 minute or so, and maybe left 1/4.

Then the color turns red at .5 seconds before the trigger squeeze.

The WHITE is the actual trigger squeeze, notice all that stuff is in the X ring.

Then the Blue/Purple after the squeeze is FOLLOW Thru.

Notice how it moves to the right? Just into the 9 ring at 3 o clock?

Now look for the shot impact....8 ring at 3 o clock.

I tried to bring it back in, but it was too late.

Not sure what I did....maybe I blinked, maybe I breathed too soon, maybe I got off the trigger too soon, maybe I jerked the rifle during follow thru.

The MAIN POINT here is not that my sights should have been adjusted a bit, or that my NPA was good or bad.....it was FOLLOW THRU!

Now tell me how a coach could ever see that with you live or dry firing? Pretty much near to impossible.

Dime Drill maybe...but look at that shot feedback. That is the VALUE one can gain from an Electronic Trainer such as SCATT.

OK, now imagine this was live fire. What would I/You have done? Shot comes up as a WIDE 8 at 3 o clock?

I know what I used to do....and it was what I like to refer as the beginning of the snowball disaster effect! I would add 2 MOA left and shoot again likely...blaming it on the wind. Each scoring ring is about 1 MOA.

What would the next shot be? HMMM...assuming a perfect shot execution and follow thru....likely an 8 at 9 o clock?

Now what....2 MOA right again? Maybe poor follow thru due to frustration and now really add in a wind change.....now we are maybe 6 or 7 at 3 o clock! LOL

Figured I would share....cause even if you are a good shot (I am a decent prone shooter), follow thru can get the best of shooters.

I called that shot a center punched X! That is the issue.....but a flaw in follow thru caused it to go into the 8 ring.

Interesting stuff, thought I would share.

R/
Chris

I have a Stevens 416 .22LR trainer, which is great for inexpensive slow fire practice with iron sights; it's heavy and very accurate. I was about halfway through a dismal offhand string a month or two ago at 100 yards on an SR-1 target, getting frustrated that all of my shots were off-call (high) 8s and even 7s, until I realized that I was beginning to dismount the rifle too early…in other words, my follow-through wasn't a long enough time for that bullet to exit the barrel.

I fixed that and shot a more respectable 94-0X (attached) in my second string. More importantly, my shots were on-call, so the 8 at 2 o'clock was no surprise! Shooting .223 as I normally do, I can usually get away with a shorter follow-through period, so it was great to see this in practice.

Very respectable group!

Yes, offhand/standing is its own beast for sure.

I also find that follow thru in that position is imperative.  What I am working more on for standing, is not accepting a bad shot (taking a bad shot).

My daughter is handling that a lot better than me as of late, and that is because she does not have the experience engrained into her brain of what a lot of poorly executed shots look like.  Me on the other hand, I've had quite the journey with accepting less than a 10.

For standing....I find that is more discipline at this point than anything else.  Disciplining myself to not take anything outside the 10 ring.  Or the 5 ring in the case of Appleseed.

My shot process as of late, is to take the first 10 I see and if it is not there....disciplining myself to not take that shot, to either breathe and start over from there...or in most cases, to take the rifle out of my shoulder and start the process over.

There is a guy on youtube (Konrad) Konrad Powers, who has an awesome drill for standing.  Not sure the name of the video (I can look later), but it goes sort of like this:

He goes to the range, builds his position and dry fires two perfect shots.  It may take more than one attempt to get there....but after dry firing two, he actually steps off the firing line, takes a couple minute break, and then comes back, builds his NPA and executes a live fire shot.

Then he comes off the line again (breaks his position), takes a break, and comes back to the line and executes two more perfect dry fires.  Then comes off the line again, returns for one more live fire.

He repeats this for 10 shots.

He is also plotting his calls for the live fire shots, and they are spot on!

That is the discipline it takes.  Often I find myself not wanting to "put that time in", and my scores reflect it.

If I practice/dry fire on a regular basis, especially the day prior to a match.....99% of the time my standing scores will reflect that (typically low to mid 90s).  If I do not, if I trust the devil on my shoulder telling me "You got this, no need to dry fire" (LOL), my scores are in the mid 80s.  Why the mid 80s?  Well...cause it typically will take me 3-5 shots to warm up.

Good stuff there Maxwell.  My personal best standing was on the CMP mobile E targets, and I shot a 97-4X.  At shot 8, I called a friend to the line to check out my awesome progress (EGO), and then shot an 8! LOL

Every single shot must be executed as if it is its own match.  Easier said than done.

Check Konrad's stuff out (Maxwell I am sure you already have), but for others....that man is a wealth of knowledge and has put together some really awesome videos.  High Power centric, but it surely does also apply to Appleseed.

R/
Chris

Here is the video link by Konrad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbA_3992TAI

Konrad has a website as well:
http://www.sw-hearing.com/index.html

Hey USNAVYCHIEF(Ret), thanks for all the informative posts. Also congrats on the name change! 

I love all the Konrad videos. I also used two others with some great info for standing position .  .  .

The first is SFC Brandon Green. "NRA High Power Off hand tutorial SFC Brandon Green". He spend a LOT of time getting a good NPOA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXCRIFMy0QM

The other one is Ken Roxburgh - "Sitting and Standing Highpower"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPVVeKY_puY

Between those three videos and practice, I've made some solid progress on standing in my first year of shooting.

Quote from: Super Trooper on September 05, 2019, 04:08:37 PM
Konrad has a website as well:
http://www.sw-hearing.com/index.html

That is an awesome website thank you for sharing

Just ignore Ken Roxburgh's rant about don't cant the rifle.  That held me back for months in standing espectially, and once I looked around all the military service rifle teams, Konrad, and the top shooters around my parts, they all cant the rifle.  In a week or two of canted dryfire my offhand improved dramatically.

I feel fortunate that I found Konrad's site and channel before I had even received my upper in the mail back in January.

Discipline is what separates decent performance from a stellar one. I recently went 3 weeks without shooting due to work and travel. What I found suffered the most was my discipline (which for me manifests most distinctly in standing).

For a newbie, I would say that I do very well calling my shots, especially in standing but boy it just blows my mind when I correctly call a midring 8 at 2 o'clock then have to ask myself, "ok, so you actually SAW that sight picture and you STILL decided to squeeze the trigger?!?!?

Some family and friends that don't shoot much ask me if there's stiff competition in service rifle...

I always tell 'em, heck yeah, my brain is both the hardest opponent AND the best teammate I've ever had LOL.