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Man Ben is awesome for dropping tips on YT, especially these small short vids that give you something to think about every time, things to work on at every range trip
What I love about Ben's short video tips is sometimes I'm thinking "Oh yeah, I do that already" and it's good to get that validation, but then he always continues the 'lesson' into something I *didn't* know or *don't* do and gives me stuff to work on.
Ben, off topic, but maybe something you can talk about. The mental game. There is always stress at a match whether or not people will admit it. As I was was making my way up the rankings (Steel Challenge) I really never felt any pressure, it was just me shooting against myself. When I made GM and started to win the majority of my matches, I was feeling a different type of pressure. I felt that I was expected to live up to the reputation of being a GM, and afraid of screwing up. Which naturally led to me screwing up! It took about a year to get my head wrapped around this, but now I just shoot MY match, don't worry about what others think, and don't think about beating the other shooters. If you shoot to your own potential, the rest will take care of itself. You can't control how well the others will shoot, so just clear your head of external thoughts and concentrate just on what you are doing. Your thoughts on this please.
Yeah Ben writes fairly extensively on this in his book “Match Mentality”. I don’t want to summarize incorrectly but he talks about, as you say, focusing on the shooting process and not necessarily about a specific result at a given match.
Your description is exactly how I use a double-action revolver trigger. I drives me nuts seeing other revolver shooters try to stage a double action shot.
Thank you for this one. When people say they prep the trigger, I'm always wondering how you get fast splits if you're prepping the trigger between each shot. Maybe for slow paced shooting, but shooting at speed?! No way. You gotta pull through the trigger.
I’m newbie and this really helps. I understand the concept of trigger prep but it makes no since when you’re doing drills like the Bill Drill or sub second draw. That goes out the window right? Surely there’s no prep or “reset” happening when timed. Appreciate your perspective
Some people get wrapped around "prep and press" or other buzz words instead of just pointing the gun where they want to hit and then "just" pulling the trigger. If you want to go faster - do it faster. If your hitting, keep doing that. If you're not - adjust.
I've found that as soon as I am shooting on the clock careful trigger pulls go completely out the window. I definitely rely 100% on my grip keeping the gun pointed where I want my shots to impact. It seems that a lot of high level shooters also express the same sentiments. There is another grandmaster here on YT whose videos I've come across, Rob Epifanua, who suggests a dry fire exercise on pulling an unprepped trigger at the buzzer to teach yourself to not disturb the sights.
I think that what people consider “prepping” is beginning to pull the trigger before they’ve finished getting appropriate confirmation from their sights and stopping that pull at the wall if their sights are still settling. On shots that you perceive to be difficult (i.e. confirmation 3), do you find yourself beginning the slower but still continuous trigger pull you demonstrated as you’re still waiting for the sights to be stopped and stable with the shot breaking right as your sights become stable, or do you both start and finish that slower trigger pull only after the sights have stabilized and you’ve gotten the appropriate confirmation?
Can you explain non dominant hand grip real quick? Are you putting more pressure on the sides, maybe squeezing up or down towards the finger guard or mag well, or about the same all the way around?
Hey Ben, great tips mate. Not a question on trigger control so sorry for the randomness - how do I see where the shots went when I am being target focussed? I try to focus on the target and since I am not paying attention to my front sight/ red dot, I sometimes can't call my shot. Any tips for this?
Need to target focus, but be aware of what the sight is doing. It's like using peripheral vision, even though the sight is not in your periphery, it's a similar concept. Takes some practice, but if you keep working at it you'll start noticing what your sight is doing and be able to call the shots.
@mps9649 I've found that being target focused, but still aware of my sight, has made it much easier to call shots than being purely front sight/dot focused. I'll be looking hard at the centre of the A zone, break the shot and think damn that was terrible, becuase my fiber appears to be so far away from where I'm looking. But I'm looking at a small spot, so when I go check the target I'll see that my shot barely missed the perf on the A zone. Working on vision has helped me a lot, target focused but aware of everything else, not just what my sight is doing but also being aware of the next target I'm going to shoot, I'll see it in my peripheral so when it comes time to transition I already know exactly where my focus needs to go. On a movement, I need to focus on where I'm going to run to, but as I get close I shift my focus to the next target I'm going to shoot, yet I'm still aware of my feet and my footwork and landing in the right spot. Just knowing that you need to be aware of these things will help with that awareness, regardless of where your focus is. It all consolidates over time
@kristian762 Hey thanks mate. I think I get what you are saying. Will have to practice it out and see how it pans out. So far I've been hard target focussed and find that at times I have not called my shot well as I've been so focussed on the target. I have transitioned to red dots recently and found calling shots 100 times better but I still have a long way to go. Thanks for the tips mate - appreciate it.
Ben, if you are aggressively dry firing with a red dot, like you are describing in the video, how much dot movement do you accept. I have a 1" x 1" piece of tape on the wall and I'm able to keep the dot dancing on the tape. I am not able to keep the dot perfectly still.
You're not a robot so it will never be *perfectly* still. When you shoot targets at various distances, at full speed, with that same amount of dot movement at the range are your hits acceptable? If yes, then that is likely an acceptable amount of dot movement in dry fire as well. If your hits are unacceptable and you are shaking like crazy you need to analyze why that is. Too much tension in a specific part of the body, excess caffeine/nicotine use, etc.
Spectrain's take on this was ROUGHLY headboxes at 15 yards if you're slapping the trigger as fast as you can (like 0.25 or less for TCAS) but he qualified that it'll depend on skill level and equipment and there isn't necessarily an exact standard.
Unrelated question but it keeps raining where I’m at. What do you guys usually do when it’s raining a lot for target practice so that the targets do not get soggy?
"As dictated by the target" translates to "The speed of pulling the trigger is dictated by your ability to process whether your sights are still on target." Does it not?
Question for anyone... do you do grip strength training if you do do you use the grip trainers in a specific way. I use the handheld grips only using my dominant hand and keeping my trigger finger straight. Then I just use my trigger finger to press evenly.
I would love to hear your rough estimate of how hard, in pounds of force, you roughly mean when you say pressing through hard. I.e. on a 5 lb trigger, are you pulling through with something like 6 lbs, 10 lbs, 20 lbs? Sorry if you have answered this before.
Dubble action and single action same thing, just longer pull then i presume? Im trying to learn da/sa but i like striker the best for simplicity this far..
@@alexeisenhardt9299 yep, But even still I’m hesitant to believe he can consistently get all a zone hits at 75 feet shooting .14s or what ever his full speed is.
Man Ben is awesome for dropping tips on YT, especially these small short vids that give you something to think about every time, things to work on at every range trip
What I love about Ben's short video tips is sometimes I'm thinking "Oh yeah, I do that already" and it's good to get that validation, but then he always continues the 'lesson' into something I *didn't* know or *don't* do and gives me stuff to work on.
Ben, off topic, but maybe something you can talk about. The mental game. There is always stress at a match whether or not people will admit it. As I was was making my way up the rankings (Steel Challenge) I really never felt any pressure, it was just me shooting against myself. When I made GM and started to win the majority of my matches, I was feeling a different type of pressure. I felt that I was expected to live up to the reputation of being a GM, and afraid of screwing up. Which naturally led to me screwing up! It took about a year to get my head wrapped around this, but now I just shoot MY match, don't worry about what others think, and don't think about beating the other shooters. If you shoot to your own potential, the rest will take care of itself. You can't control how well the others will shoot, so just clear your head of external thoughts and concentrate just on what you are doing.
Your thoughts on this please.
Yeah Ben writes fairly extensively on this in his book “Match Mentality”. I don’t want to summarize incorrectly but he talks about, as you say, focusing on the shooting process and not necessarily about a specific result at a given match.
Your description is exactly how I use a double-action revolver trigger. I drives me nuts seeing other revolver shooters try to stage a double action shot.
Hey Ben. What are your thoughts around finger placement on the trigger? Is it irrelevant as long as you're able to pull the trigger straight back?
Les claypool trains the same way!
slaps the hell out of that bass
Thank you for this one. When people say they prep the trigger, I'm always wondering how you get fast splits if you're prepping the trigger between each shot. Maybe for slow paced shooting, but shooting at speed?! No way. You gotta pull through the trigger.
This info is filling in gaps in a big way.
Thank for the video as always…
Thanks💪
I’m newbie and this really helps. I understand the concept of trigger prep but it makes no since when you’re doing drills like the Bill Drill or sub second draw. That goes out the window right? Surely there’s no prep or “reset” happening when timed. Appreciate your perspective
I'm not Ben, but I think you are totally correct.
Some people get wrapped around "prep and press" or other buzz words instead of just pointing the gun where they want to hit and then "just" pulling the trigger. If you want to go faster - do it faster. If your hitting, keep doing that. If you're not - adjust.
I've found that as soon as I am shooting on the clock careful trigger pulls go completely out the window. I definitely rely 100% on my grip keeping the gun pointed where I want my shots to impact. It seems that a lot of high level shooters also express the same sentiments.
There is another grandmaster here on YT whose videos I've come across, Rob Epifanua, who suggests a dry fire exercise on pulling an unprepped trigger at the buzzer to teach yourself to not disturb the sights.
Ben suggested the same thing in his book if I recall correctly.
I think that what people consider “prepping” is beginning to pull the trigger before they’ve finished getting appropriate confirmation from their sights and stopping that pull at the wall if their sights are still settling. On shots that you perceive to be difficult (i.e. confirmation 3), do you find yourself beginning the slower but still continuous trigger pull you demonstrated as you’re still waiting for the sights to be stopped and stable with the shot breaking right as your sights become stable, or do you both start and finish that slower trigger pull only after the sights have stabilized and you’ve gotten the appropriate confirmation?
Can you explain non dominant hand grip real quick? Are you putting more pressure on the sides, maybe squeezing up or down towards the finger guard or mag well, or about the same all the way around?
Hey Ben, great tips mate. Not a question on trigger control so sorry for the randomness - how do I see where the shots went when I am being target focussed? I try to focus on the target and since I am not paying attention to my front sight/ red dot, I sometimes can't call my shot. Any tips for this?
Need to target focus, but be aware of what the sight is doing. It's like using peripheral vision, even though the sight is not in your periphery, it's a similar concept. Takes some practice, but if you keep working at it you'll start noticing what your sight is doing and be able to call the shots.
@kristian762 thanks mate. Will give this a shot - no pun intended
@mps9649 I've found that being target focused, but still aware of my sight, has made it much easier to call shots than being purely front sight/dot focused. I'll be looking hard at the centre of the A zone, break the shot and think damn that was terrible, becuase my fiber appears to be so far away from where I'm looking. But I'm looking at a small spot, so when I go check the target I'll see that my shot barely missed the perf on the A zone.
Working on vision has helped me a lot, target focused but aware of everything else, not just what my sight is doing but also being aware of the next target I'm going to shoot, I'll see it in my peripheral so when it comes time to transition I already know exactly where my focus needs to go. On a movement, I need to focus on where I'm going to run to, but as I get close I shift my focus to the next target I'm going to shoot, yet I'm still aware of my feet and my footwork and landing in the right spot. Just knowing that you need to be aware of these things will help with that awareness, regardless of where your focus is. It all consolidates over time
@kristian762 Hey thanks mate. I think I get what you are saying. Will have to practice it out and see how it pans out. So far I've been hard target focussed and find that at times I have not called my shot well as I've been so focussed on the target. I have transitioned to red dots recently and found calling shots 100 times better but I still have a long way to go. Thanks for the tips mate - appreciate it.
What do you think about the ace virtual trainer, speaking of trigger slapping
What is some tips for shooting strong hand or support hand? I’m having problems shanking shots especially with my left hand, unless I go way too slow.
Ben, if you are aggressively dry firing with a red dot, like you are describing in the video, how much dot movement do you accept. I have a 1" x 1" piece of tape on the wall and I'm able to keep the dot dancing on the tape. I am not able to keep the dot perfectly still.
Are you aiming from across the room or pressed up against it?
You're not a robot so it will never be *perfectly* still. When you shoot targets at various distances, at full speed, with that same amount of dot movement at the range are your hits acceptable? If yes, then that is likely an acceptable amount of dot movement in dry fire as well. If your hits are unacceptable and you are shaking like crazy you need to analyze why that is. Too much tension in a specific part of the body, excess caffeine/nicotine use, etc.
Spectrain's take on this was ROUGHLY headboxes at 15 yards if you're slapping the trigger as fast as you can (like 0.25 or less for TCAS) but he qualified that it'll depend on skill level and equipment and there isn't necessarily an exact standard.
@@brandonsmoot4056 across a small room, say around 7 feet
@@brandonsmoot4056 around 7 feet
Unrelated question but it keeps raining where I’m at. What do you guys usually do when it’s raining a lot for target practice so that the targets do not get soggy?
what do you recommend, if different for a Revolver trigger pull?
"As dictated by the target" translates to "The speed of pulling the trigger is dictated by your ability to process whether your sights are still on target." Does it not?
Do you blow through the wall or briefly stop at it?
The doubles comment at the end…you said you should be able to shoot doubles predictably at 12-15 yards…what’s the accuracy level there? A zone?
Yeah, A zone.
Question for anyone... do you do grip strength training if you do do you use the grip trainers in a specific way. I use the handheld grips only using my dominant hand and keeping my trigger finger straight. Then I just use my trigger finger to press evenly.
I would love to hear your rough estimate of how hard, in pounds of force, you roughly mean when you say pressing through hard. I.e. on a 5 lb trigger, are you pulling through with something like 6 lbs, 10 lbs, 20 lbs? Sorry if you have answered this before.
I'm guessing around 10 lbs. Don't pull too light in dryfire or you'll be messing yourself up. That doesn't mean 20 lbs would be better.
Dubble action and single action same thing, just longer pull then i presume? Im trying to learn da/sa but i like striker the best for simplicity this far..
I agree with basically everything you say but I’m doubtful that you can get all A zone hits at 25 yards pulling the trigger as fast as you can.
I think he has a vid of him doing that actually
Do you know who Ben is?
@@alexeisenhardt9299 yep, But even still I’m hesitant to believe he can consistently get all a zone hits at 75 feet shooting .14s or what ever his full speed is.
@@Jeremyuspsa There are videos of him doing it
Slap that trigger like it forgot to make your sammich! Just train yourself not to move the sights when you do.
🥶🥶🤙🤙🫡🫡
I’d love Ben’s input on curved vs straight triggers.
That's probably gonna be a preference thing my guy. Like slim vs thick grips, just depends on your hands and the gun.