Driving your sights to the target

Ever drive to your destination and wonder how did I get here?  Driving for most has become subconscious and that repetitive motion of turning the key, pushing the brake and placing the shifter into drive requires little thought.  We know if we attempt to place the shifter into drive first, we aren’t going anywhere.  I often see shooters on the line draw out lightning fast, line up their sights and take a shot. This is kind of like forcing the shifter into drive without having the car on.  Let me explain…

During the draw stroke as your hands come together on the pistol at the center of the chest, the pistol should be up high.  High enough that the front sight is picked up in your peripheral and underneath the dominant eye.  The pistol is driven out (pressed out toward the target).  This is not a race and the pistol’s slide should be close to horizontal, more so as the arms extend outward.  During the press out you can align the sights to the desired spot on the target and make adjustments.

This part of the draw stroke is often overlooked.  Most of the time it becomes a race to full extension and a struggle to make sure your sight picture and sight alignment are “perfect” resulting in a less than perfect shot placement.  This is also dependent on where the hands come together, which should be as close to the body as possible.  If your hands are meeting together almost at full extension, you have draw stroke work to do.  This is primarily dealing with the press out and driving the sights to the target.  As the sights are driven to the target toward the desired spot, you can start your press on the trigger.  The shot will break most of the time between 80% to 100% of the extension.  Keys to this are the pistol starts in motion, it stays in motion.  The trigger starts in motion, it stays in motion.

If you are having a hard time with this concept, try this.  As you obtain a grip and break through your retention devices if applicable, as soon as the pistol clears the holster drive the elbow to the rib cage, this will place the pistol up high and will allow you to drive the pistol out like it’s on a rail.  You can be fast to the gun, out of the holster and driving the elbow to the rib cage, but once the gun is up high and both hands are on the gun you need to slow it down.  Once the sights are on target you can begin your trigger press as you press the gun out.

Place this on a timer – often the driving of the sights appears slower, but when you look at the timer, it’s actually faster and if done right more accurate.