A little training advice from someone who knows a few things about shooting

[StevenC.]

http://www.policeone.com/police-tra...e-drills-that-will-make-you-a-better-shooter/

You may recognize the process of acclimation at work. For students with a severe fear of the firearm, shooting the firearm, the recoil/report, one may need start the student off with a .22 and shooting with eyes closed. You can actually see when they relax and the fear tension runs out of their body.

Then proceed with the steps Mr. Avery proposed.

The 50/50 drills 1 and 2 are all meant to show the student that they are allowing recoil to matter. That they are NOT shooting a real shot the way they dry fire. In dry-fire they aim, and press trigger and nothing more. But, if they aim, press trigger, and do something more... it shows on this drill.

One way to help a student transition from dry-fire to live-fire is illustrated in this video. While I am not big on the overly stylized motions (it's slow, almost painful to watch), the transition is solid.

 

[txinvestigator]

Training advice. One gives advice, and one can advise another.

 

[StevenC.]

DP

 

[StevenC.]

Training advice. One gives advice, and one can advise another.

I'm not certain of your point is writing this.

 

[Blind Sniper]

He's pointing out a rather glaring typo in the thread title - you meant to type advice (what you posted), but you actually typed "advise" (what you started this thread to do).

That said, the only thing I don't see the logic in is having the student close their eyes. To me it just seems stupid, frankly.

 

[Vec]

"he was blind the whole time"

 

[scap99]

Cleaned thread title.... For the ocd members.

 

[shortround]

Anyone who would advise a student to shoot with their eyes closed ought to be shot!

Be well.

 

[Charlie]

Lots of "gimmicks" in gun training.

 

[Army 1911]

Anyone who would advise a student to shoot with their eyes closed ought to be shot!

Be well.

It is called the Stevie Wonder method.

 

[StevenC.]

He's pointing out a rather glaring typo in the thread title - you meant to type advice (what you posted), but you actually typed "advise" (what you started this thread to do).

That said, the only thing I don't see the logic in is having the student close their eyes. To me it just seems stupid, frankly.

Ah, thank you. Looks like an admin took care of that.

As far as closing eyes. Ron didn't clearly state it, but I understood it as a stepping or acclimation technique for true beginners (and a few not true beginners) who have a fear of the gun-shot.

I've done it with really fearful students, mostly with those firing their first shot ever. It tends to work.

They close their eyes, point the gun into the berm, press the trigger. They repeat it until you as the instructor observe them relax.

It's not so much a gimmick as using cognitive behavioral therapy to overcome fear of the firing gun.

http://www.psychologistworld.com/treatments/cognitive-behavioral-therapy.php

"Suppose that you were afraid of spiders. Even if you knew rationally that a spider wasn't poisonous and posed no threat to you, you would still feel anxious when a spider came near you, and have feelings close to panic if one touched you. For the cognitive psychology, what is going on here? You hold false beliefs about spiders on some level, such that when you're exposed to them, your experience is affected adversely by your irrational cognition. The anxiety and fear you feel as a result reinforces those irrational feelings, making things worse.


With exposure therapy, you would be gradually exposed to your stressor (spiders), while at the same time having your typical response (anxiety and fear) suppressed. For instance, a therapist might place a spider near you and help you maintain a sense of calm through talking and becoming slowly and gradually acclimated to the idea of having a spider near you. In time, you might even be able to touch the spider. Eventually, your fears should diminish entirely. How does this work? It's simply that, if you're exposed to a spider without allowing your anxiety to be triggered, the stimulus of the spider gradually becomes disassociated from the response of anxiety, and the phobia is conquered."

When dealing with a fearful student I have started out with a blue model simply on the table during instruction and move the student into handling it. Then the real gun simply there, followed with handling. Learning to load and unload with snap-caps, and dry fire. Out to the range is next. Might back down to blue model, then live model. Now we are up to loading live ammo. Eyes closed shooting into the berm as I soothingly reinforce the doing a good job, pointing out they are not being harmed or experiencing pain. Repeat with eye open after tension releases but not truly aimed, then a sight alignment shooting.

It works quite well.

 

[StevenC.]

You can use a version of this for "experienced" shooters who are giving pre-ignition pushes. They start with dry fire and eyes closed and are taught to focus on the feel of a still gun, a gun allowed to go bang instead of made to go bang. Lots of visualization.

 

[txinvestigator]

You can use a version of this for "experienced" shooters who are giving pre-ignition pushes. They start with dry fire and eyes closed and are taught to focus on the feel of a still gun, a gun allowed to go bang instead of made to go bang. Lots of visualization.

There are better methods for having a student overcome anticipating recoil. Having them intentionally close their eyes is nothing but a gimmick.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

Having them intentionally close their eyes is nothing but a gimmick.

I disagree. There can be a perfectly legitimate use for it, in very specific circumstances. Though, I do agree, I can see this having significant potential for abuse by instructors that don't have a clue.

The circumstance I'm speaking of is for the specific purpose of separating/reducing a person's individual senses from the equation. Often, a minor change like that, in the right circumstance, has the potential to have a profound effect on the student, possibly allowing them to perceive and experience things differently than they otherwise would have. For example, a lot of people talk about the various things a person should be feeling when using certain techniques, tension in their grip, how tight they squeeze with each hand, how much tension to actively resist recoil, etc. Sometimes, with all the other stimulus going on, there's a lot that can get in the way of a person more effectively being able to connect those dots, versus simply having that "curtain" pulled over one of their senses, and a high degree of their mental focus and awareness being better focused in one area.

I would warrant a guess that a significant number of instructors would misuse/abuse that, and/or fail to understand the purpose.

The same concept applies to other senses as well. For example, having a newer shooter "double plug" with earplugs and earmuffs, to try and remove as much of the sound from the equation of them being nervous.

 

[RetArmySgt]

Sometimes one sense can severely overpower the others and cause major issues. We had two cases while I was in the Army; 1 was a visual overload and the other was audio. The one with the audio issue would almost drop the rifle everything it, or any other rifle, was fired. For a week that person was followed around by people with rifles filled with blanks and would fire randomly at the ground around them until they were able to keep their cool and not drop what they were carrying. The one with the visual overload issues would close their eyes and tense up with every shot and couldn't even hit a target 15 yards in front of them because of it. We had that person firing blanks (because they were available) with their eyes closed then had them slowly open them and continue to fire until they were comfortable. For them it was the flash and the powder/pressure coming back at them that was the problem.

 

[StevenC.]

There are better methods for having a student overcome anticipating recoil. Having them intentionally close their eyes is nothing but a gimmick.

I'm not certain behavioral psychology agrees, but think what you want.