This week, we wanted to try out a new shooting drill and Travis Hakey's venti 100 shot video caught our attention. We downloaded and printed his recommended targets and set everything up. We took turns in performing the drill and video taped the first part of our efforts to emulate the master's performance:
Feedback
Even though the shooter is 'only' three yards away from the target, it is surprisingly tough to hit the small circles consistently; it takes great concentration and muscle control to get it right.
The first 5 shots are fired while closing one's eyes and this exercice helps the shoter feel his gun, anticipate recoil and instinctively reset the sights on target.
Then the shooter has to hit the top left black circle, delivering 5 slow shots. We counted as Travis suggests "1001 - shot - 1002 - shot - 1003" etc. This gave us an initial rythm that we were comfortable with as it allowed to aquire the target efficiently.
Things get harder when shooting the top right circle. The pace is quicker as we delivered shots by counting "and 1 - shot - and 2 - shot and 3 - shot" etc. This drill forced us to work on proper trigger reset and constant focus on the target during shooting.
For the bottom left circle, we accelerated our rythm and counted each shot: "1 - shot - 2 - shot - 3 shot" etc. This let us work on stabilising the gun during rapid fire. It's usually how we shoot when operating in woodland environments as tree branches, leaves and bushes have a tendency to deviate BBs from target.
The bottom right circle was pure fun. We had to deliver 5 shots on target as fast as possible which challenged us as our replicas jerked around while we struggle dto apply all our shooting fundamentals. This is where Nibbio's experience with real steel guns kicked in. He aced the drill and was kind enough to share his tips: "since we're so close to the target its good to remember our iron sight's height over the barrel and aim at the top of the target".
Grips were tightened, hop-ups were adjusted, holsters were fastened and many BBs were fired. All in all great fun!
We did not film the second part of the drill as it was quite long and we felt it might be tedious to show on camera. It took us a good hour to get through the "feel, eyes, finger drill". The exercices are very well described on the target itself and it truly helped us to understand our replicas better.
The first 25 shots make the shooter focus on his grip. The second set of 25 shots made us focus our eyes on the front iron sight: this proved a great tip as it improved our accuracy! The third set of 25 shots was the toughest; we had to focus purely on the target, barely seeing our iron sights. It made us feel the gun and focus downrange as our eyes would during a stressful skirmish. The fourth set of 25 rounds helped us stabilise our replicas by focusing on keeping our index fingers flat. This simple exercice reduced our trigger slamming and gun jerking which translates into more consistency and accuracy when firing. The last row of 5 targets was a great way conclusion to this drill: we practiced all our fundamentals and had much better results.
We woudl definately reoment Travis' training method as it delivers tangible results and left us feeling great. His drills recquire a lot of mental focus and icnreases the shooter's presence and thought, something that is rarely mentionned or emphasised in Airsoft.
Even though the shooter is 'only' three yards away from the target, it is surprisingly tough to hit the small circles consistently; it takes great concentration and muscle control to get it right.
The first 5 shots are fired while closing one's eyes and this exercice helps the shoter feel his gun, anticipate recoil and instinctively reset the sights on target.
Then the shooter has to hit the top left black circle, delivering 5 slow shots. We counted as Travis suggests "1001 - shot - 1002 - shot - 1003" etc. This gave us an initial rythm that we were comfortable with as it allowed to aquire the target efficiently.
Things get harder when shooting the top right circle. The pace is quicker as we delivered shots by counting "and 1 - shot - and 2 - shot and 3 - shot" etc. This drill forced us to work on proper trigger reset and constant focus on the target during shooting.
For the bottom left circle, we accelerated our rythm and counted each shot: "1 - shot - 2 - shot - 3 shot" etc. This let us work on stabilising the gun during rapid fire. It's usually how we shoot when operating in woodland environments as tree branches, leaves and bushes have a tendency to deviate BBs from target.
The bottom right circle was pure fun. We had to deliver 5 shots on target as fast as possible which challenged us as our replicas jerked around while we struggle dto apply all our shooting fundamentals. This is where Nibbio's experience with real steel guns kicked in. He aced the drill and was kind enough to share his tips: "since we're so close to the target its good to remember our iron sight's height over the barrel and aim at the top of the target".
Grips were tightened, hop-ups were adjusted, holsters were fastened and many BBs were fired. All in all great fun!
We did not film the second part of the drill as it was quite long and we felt it might be tedious to show on camera. It took us a good hour to get through the "feel, eyes, finger drill". The exercices are very well described on the target itself and it truly helped us to understand our replicas better.
The first 25 shots make the shooter focus on his grip. The second set of 25 shots made us focus our eyes on the front iron sight: this proved a great tip as it improved our accuracy! The third set of 25 shots was the toughest; we had to focus purely on the target, barely seeing our iron sights. It made us feel the gun and focus downrange as our eyes would during a stressful skirmish. The fourth set of 25 rounds helped us stabilise our replicas by focusing on keeping our index fingers flat. This simple exercice reduced our trigger slamming and gun jerking which translates into more consistency and accuracy when firing. The last row of 5 targets was a great way conclusion to this drill: we practiced all our fundamentals and had much better results.
We woudl definately reoment Travis' training method as it delivers tangible results and left us feeling great. His drills recquire a lot of mental focus and icnreases the shooter's presence and thought, something that is rarely mentionned or emphasised in Airsoft.