Skillz&Drillz - Shot Calling

The five fundamentals of shooting a handgun breakdown like this: Stance, Grip, Sight Alignment, Sight Picture, and Trigger Control. In this blog post, shot calling, which falls under the sight alignment fundamental, is what we are going to focus on.  Whether you're still on iron sights or have moved over to a red dot, shot calling is considered an advanced skill when done at speed. The first step is to teach someone to look at a small spot on the target. Then either align the iron sights or the dot to that spot and pull the trigger, without moving the gun. That's the first half of sight alignment and shot calling. 

The second half is understanding what you just saw on the site or dot and being able to say that it hit where you wanted it to, or it didn’t. In most of the classes I have attended, we shoot around seven to ten yards on a clean white target, so you can see all the holes you are making. When this occurs, all you have to do is adjust the gun a little to hit where you want. In competitive shooting matches, I used to watch guys shoot, then look, then shoot, then look. I would ask them, “What are you looking at?” Then they would say, “I wanted to make sure I was hitting the target.” But what if you aren’t shooting so close? What if you can't see the holes, or better yet, what if the target has clothes on and is not paper? 

Hits or misses have to be called from the gun. The first half of sight alignment and shot calling gets the sight on target. The second half tells you where the bullet went. Based on what you saw on the gun should tell you if you hit your target or missed it. Be so in tune with where your sight lifts from that you can walk away saying, “My hits are here.”

Now, if you're moving the gun when you pull the trigger, that might tell a different story. If you are confident that the hits are in the center, and the target tells a much different story, you must look at how you're moving the gun. To help with this, try to prep and press the trigger, and eventually work on speeding up your split times at whatever distance and calling your shots.

Drills to practice shot calling:

One:

Place a target at fifteen yards with a shirt on it. Fire one round and document on another clean target where you hit the clothed target. Do this six times, and go check the target to confirm. If you have a “C” but called an “A” and it's close, no big deal. If you have a “D” or a miss and called an “A”, that's a problem.  You're not looking to be exact, but you are looking for the ninety percent. After the six initial shots, shoot doubles for a string of four rounds and build to a string of eight rounds. Do your best to call them.

Two:

Place a target down range at twenty yards and paint black stripes all over it.. The black lines will help hide the bullet impact. Have a range buddy stand next to you with a cardboard IPSC target ready to cover your line of sight. The second you break the shot, your buddy drops the cardboard in front of your eyes, preventing you from seeing the hit. Do this six times and record the hits. 

Three:

Place a clean target at fifteen yards. At the same height, place a shot-up target in front of the clean target. The shot target should have enough holes in it that you can’t tell where you are hitting.  Shoot into the shot-up target for six rounds, document it and then go and check the clean one. Go back and shoot two doubles, document it and then check the target. Then go back and shoot a string of eight, four doubles, and call your shots. 

These targets had a shirt covering the one on the right at twenty yards. (see below)