Suddenly forgot how to shoot . . .

[rvb]

Now I'm really bothered.

Shooting off bags is not magic. You still have to do your part. It's still possible to have a bad day off bags. And it takes some experience to get good at shooting off bags and not everyone knows how to do it right (which is why I asked if you had done it before).

When a gun suddenly "can't shoot" and groups become patterns, 90% of the time it's the shooter. The other 10% it's seriously bad ammo or sights about to fall off, or the very odd circumstance that the gun seriously busted. My first is assumption is always that it's me causing any problems.

Human nature is to blame something else. It's ok to admit to yourself you're having a bad day. If practicing the fundamentals doesn't get you back on the right tracks then it's ok to bag it. Bad practice is worse than no practice at all. I've bagged it after a couple mags when I could tell my head wasn't going to be in it. To do otherwise leads to frustration...

And NOW you are sounding frustrated after the fact because you're realizing you had a bad day.... with that in your head how do you expect your next practice to go? This is not the type of problem that a video will capture. Tonight I will post some reading material on sports pshychology and the mental game. Zen Golf is one. Can't recall the other I've read.

Finally, and most importantly, I'm inferring that you are not calling your shots properly if your groups are opening up 4x and you can't bring it under control. Until you have the ability to know where the bullet went before the bullet even gets there, just by watching the sights, you'll never obtain the consistency you are after.

It was a bad practice. Learn something about your mental game from it. Let it go. Don't talk yourself INTO a rut. Look at it as a sign you are improving. Odds are you've had those days before, only now you're performing to a level you could observe it in the results. The next level is to observe what caused it (and it's not always technical).

-rvb

[Calvin]

It still sounds like your skills are good enough to get the job done, even on your bad days!

[dice dealer]

sounds like a gun problem .

I am not a competitive shooter but i do practice alot .
One thing i have found if i am off my norm , i go to a different gun ,
like if i am shooting a .45 and i am getting way off i switch to a .22 for a few to settle myself down a bit , I also do the oppisite if i am shooting with a .22 and start getting off myt norm i switch to somthing with ALOT of punch .

As i said im not a competitive shooter just a backyard target shooter ,

But it seems to work for me .

[rvb]

Originally Posted by rvb

Tonight I will post some reading material on sports pshychology and the mental game.

Just to follow up with some reading I've done:

in order of my favorites:

1) Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals, Enos. The Bible of practical shooting. You cannot have a "rut" if you treat every shot as it's own event, ignoring all others. Nothing else exists except the shot you are taking right now.

2) With Winning in Mind, Bassham. Mental Management techniques from an Olympic Gold-Medalist shooter.

3) Zen Golf, Parent. Quieting the mind, confidence, visualization.

4) The Mental Edge, Baum. Sports Psychologist. more visualization, preventing self-sabatage, training plans

-rvb

[Bill of Rights]

Granted, you're discussing pistol, not rifle. With that understood, when teaching Appleseed, we teach that targets show group size and group location, and targets never lie. When we see a target with shots all over the paper, the first "diagnosis" is that the shooter was not focusing his/her eye on the front sight, but rather the rear sight or the target.

I don't know if this will be helpful, but I've been told the skills translate across.

Let me/us know, please?

Blessings,
Bill

[Coach]

If the gun was grouping good the second time out then it sounds like the shooter. If something seems grossly out of whack as was the case here. I prefer to eliminate gun and ammo problems first. Shooting off sand bags and checking the gun out should do that. If the gun is fine off the bags then I know it is me.

[300sx]

i bet just having a bad day....btw what does sandbags do for ya?

[Coach]

Originally Posted by 300sx

i bet just having a bad day....btw what does sandbags do for ya?

Sandbags remove some but not all of the human element to the shooting, and make it easier to decide if it is a gun problem or a shooter problem. If you bag or bench rest the gun and it is shooting a nice tight group guess what?

JNG seems to have ruled out a gun problem.

[JNG]

Thanks for the advice, fellas. Nothing for it but to shake it off and keep practicing.

[glocktoys]

any eye problems? drink allot of caffeine that day? meds change?