Analysing a target is easy stuff. A ten is a ten! But with the advent of electronic equipment, it is possible to delve deeper into how a shot was developed and how it ended up being in the position on the target.
A series of four targets. The trace lines show GREEN as entry and holding, YELLOW just before shot (approx 2 seconds) and BLUE (approx .5sec) before shot. RED line is follow through.
Target 1 shows the green holding a little shaky at first then settles into area, but as holding increases the shooter seems to increase trigger movement to give the trace “sharp” corners as circled 1,2,3 & 4. Having held in the 9 ring (somewhat) the yellow line deviates sharply left No1, which I’d say the brain over reacts to the sights going left and counters this by going sharp right No2, then counters again into No3 and into follow through No4 again with a sharp counter back into the area. OK it’s a 10!
But target 1B shows the very next shot. Again with the sharp edges and the brain countering movement suddenly especially in the RED follow through line.
Target 2 is much the same as number 1 with the mind seeing the pistol is moving left from No1 to No 2, a sudden movement down to No 3, across to fire the shot (a 10). A sudden shot fired and follow through is erratic so at No4 the sights dip left, trying to stop causing a loop but momentum force the follow through line off the picture and then back into the target area. And yes, still a 10! So what does all this bullshit mean?
Some shooters would simply accept what’s happening and be happy getting 10's even if they are lucky 10's. But in the long term, the shooter cannot control the shot or its outcome and find erratic shots “just appear” whilst doing the same stuff as before and getting 10's.
The lucky 10's shot a fraction of a second earlier would have a very different score. Number 1 target could have been a 9 or a 7? But with the correct training methods as in target 3, you can see that a more controlled shot can be achieved as seen on the marked numbers.
This is the same shooter throughout and target 3 is after a very short time span in training procedures and a change of thought pattern.
So next time you use a SCATT or similar device, check for smooth movements of the traces.
