The last Basic Pistol 1 of 2013. Things “go dark” for KR Training next month due to deer hunting season. Well, not totally dark — still stuff on the schedule, just stuff that’s not as loud that would scare the deer. 🙂

Weather was typical. Forecasts of rain, doom, and gloom, then when class time comes around, it’s gorgeous. A cold front was on its way, so there were clouds in the sky and the pressure was towards cooling. So it really made for a great day to be outside. We did worry tho a little about the rain. We’ve been getting some heavy rains here in Central Texas, and stock tanks have been filling up. Then last weekend was when the dam broke — literally. The tanks at the A-Zone Range couldn’t hold any more due to the 7.5″ of rain that fell that weekend. Where the tanks flow out, they then flow through 3 large pipes that go under the road — the road that leads to the range. Well, it couldn’t take it and the road partially collapsed! Some pictures posted to the KR Training Facebook page. Thankfully the county responded fairly quickly and got things patched up. This is just a temporary fix, but it makes the road passable. Hopefully it won’t be too long before the county has a proper fix in place.

But with no rain and a patched up road, class went ahead.

All in all, a fairly typical Basic Pistol 1 class. Seems everyone had a lot of fun, and had a fair introduction to the world of shooting sports.

I did want to use this opportunity to point out a few things to one gentleman that was having issues with trigger yank. We spoke about it briefly in class, but I wanted to give him some reference materials.

Again, there is no magic pill to cure this. I wish there was, because I’d be taking the pill too. 😉  But things we discussed in class should help.

First, that magical “trigger reset”? Work on that. So that your trigger presses aren’t one large motion of putting the finger on the trigger, slapping it, then removing the finger. If you learn to “ride” the trigger, that can help work towards a smoother motion, instead of the “slap” that can come by always putting your finger on the trigger and then taking it off, and then slapping it back down again because you’re trying to get that second shot off quickly.

Second, dry practice. The Wall Drill helps a lot in terms of training your fingers and your brain. Start slow, then work up towards your “normal” speed. It helps everything learn how to press properly, without having to combat recoil, noise, and so on.

Third, a live fire drill is Ball & Dummy. While the linked-to explanation talks about random distribution of the dummy rounds, sometimes try known distribution, like live/dummy/live/dummy/live/dummy/etc. So yes, you KNOW this shot will be live and this shot will be dummy. It works your brain differently due to knowledge and expectation.  Both can be useful approaches.

And it just takes time and practice and patience. One thing to be sure of when you practice is to not chastise yourself when you do yank it. This isn’t to say to not be critical nor correct your mistakes. But rather, I’ve often found when people chastise themselves for their mistakes, they phrase things negatively: “Don’t do that” or “Don’t yank the trigger”. Or the simple fact they get mad at themselves. This doesn’t put you in a mindset for success. If you’re angry, that won’t serve you well to improve yourself. If you think about “Don’t yank the trigger”, you’re telling your body… yank the trigger. Phrase things in terms of what you should do: “Slow, smooth press”. “Slow down”. “Press the trigger”. “Even pressure”. Or whatever you find you need to do. Be relaxed, take a couple breaths, smile, then tell yourself what you should do.

You’ll get there. 🙂