Pulling the Trigger
Pulling the Trigger
Pulling the Trigger in the Interval between the Heart Beats at Rifle Shooting (Pulse Technique)
Every rifle shooter is aware of the constant movement of the arms during shooting. Arms movement determine its stability which may be subdivided into two components. The first component is contributed by poorly-coordinated muscles and their tremor. The second component is contributed by the heart beats. He former may be easily reduced by training, the latter cannot really be removed by training. Pulsation component may often be of the same order both for a beginner and marksman. When analyzing the trajectory of aiming of a marksman both components are clearly distinguishable. Pulsation at shooting from prone and from the kneeling positions represents 60 to 80 per cent of the total movement.
Left side figure at the monitor shows the trajectory of aiming of a marksman practicing shooting from the prone position. The section of the trajectory at the heart bet is shown in yellow, while the arms fluctuation between the two heart beats is shown in blue. The example shows that the arms fluctuation happens mainly because of the heart beats. So it brings us to a conclusion that the best possible result may be achieved when making a shot between the heart beats. It is still more important in competition. In practice a sportsman can not actually watch pulsation and be fairly successful in shooting, yet it is the pulsation that may become a serious obstacle to high performance.
The technique of shooting of the marksmen from Russia and other countries was studied and analyzed for 6 to 7 recent years, the research proved that good results at shooting from prone position may only be achieved at making a shot in between the heart beats. The shooters often were not aware that they had followed the rule, intuition helped them to become marksmen. A majority of shooters can not do it and don t know about it. So our purpose is to master the technique.
Methodology of training and mastering the technique of trigger pulling in between the heart beats is as follows:
First one should find out when he pulls the trigger. While practicing one should see how many shots out of 10 are made in the interval between the heart beats. If 7 to 9 are made like this, one shall proceed practicing with training equipment carefully watching for the final stage of each shot. If the figure is below 7 practicing shall follow the following rules. At first one should master auto training, standard methodology may be found in any Aid for psychological training of a sportsman, so I will not go deeply into the details of the auto training technique. When mastering the technique, one solves three basic problems: relaxation of muscles, feeling the heart beats in any part of the body, and utilize the technique as a psychological support for getting ready for the competitions. In this case one need only learn to feel the heart beats in any part of the body. After learning to feel the heart beats one may pass to ideomotor training. Ideomotor training is visualising the muscles work at shooting. It is recommended to take some object to help you to imitate the trigger pulling, then to feel the heart beets in the trigger finger and pull the trigger with a little delay of 0,2,-0,3 seconds after the heart beat. There should be a double timing as you add your own extra time during which you pull the trigger. Moreover the trigger pressure is increased in small steps after each heart beat ( three to five times) to develop the force needed to pull the trigger. After you have learnt the ideomotor technique you may proceed to real practicing, trying to reproduce the mastered technique. The final stage of the shot shall be checked at automatic repetition in the cause of practicing, and at the end of practicing the result of your work will be presented at the speed linear chart.
The lower one represents the same practicing but the analysis was made for three seconds. (For this purpose the check time in the shooting parameters shall be modified to be 3000 milliseconds).
You can download an example of using "Pulse Technique when shooting from a prone position.
BOBKOVA4.AIM [178.00KB]
To view a example, you need install SCATT Professional software on your computer.
The examples above were taken from practicing from prone position. The technique is also of importance in shooting from the kneeling position. When shooting in standing position it is not as important as for the previously mentioned positions, but when a trajectory of a marksman was analyzed, in particular 3 to 5 seconds prior to shooting, it was traced that they made their shots also between the heart beats.
It"s worthwhile to remind that the marksmen alone showed the pulse technique application among many other shooters of various levels, whose shots were analyzed.
So the technique, described above may well be recommended to all the rifle shooters for any types of shooting.