Slow fire at Timed fire pace

Even though Precision pistol rules allow 10 min for 10 shots I find that my scores go up from low to mid 80’s to low to mid 90’s when I shoot Slow Fire at a Timed Fire pace. Some people say to do what works best for you,, but all top shooters do take as long as 8-9 min to shoot the Slow Fire strings. What are the disadvantages of a faster cadence in shooting Slow Fire strings?

Try it for a few months.

Keep diligent notes in your shooting journal.

(NB: I would NOT give you the above advice if I thought it would be detrimental for you.)

What John said.  

Overall, it depends on where you're at in your development as a precision pistol (bullseye) shooter.   Moving from mid 80's SF to mid 90's would seem to indicate holding the shots too long, trying to pick off the shot, etc.  

So, try shooting a single shot during slow fire, but within the same time as you shoot your first timed fire shot. 

Abort if you hold longer than that.   Then, review the shot, call the shot, scope and confirm, regroup and assess, rest and visualize what you want for the next shot.   That will probably get you to 6 to 9 minutes, but each shot will only be a few seconds.  Everything else is either preparation before the gun leaves the bench or assessment and visualization after the shot.  The only round that matters is the one that's in the gun right now. 

CR

CR1 wrote: The only round that matters is the one that's in the gun right now. 

CR

Amen!
When I was shooting competitive target archery, I used to tell myself the same thing every shot. Except I would substitute "arrow" for round and "bow" for gun.

Extra time in slow fire can result in mental trigger inhibition. In Rapid, you know you need to get on the trigger, recover and repeat. Many RF groups are better than SF groups.  Good shooting is easy and quick. Bad shooting is hard work. No wonder I am so tired!

Was talking to Steve Reiter earlier this year about it. He said only do it if it is planned! If you are shooting 2 shots plan on shooting 2 shots. If 3 then no more than 3, etc. It has to be part of your shot plan. 
Tom Woods won Perry shooting like this way.
Jon

I'm seriously thinking of training for 2 shot slowfire strings next year for 45 at least. I've thrown shots this year in 45 SF that I never would in timed fire. Recoil anticipation is a real mind trip.

Excellent advice. Thank you.

I think maybe when you are shooting one shot, you are trying to make each shot too perfect and making the gun fire when you see the sight in the right spot.  On the other hand, when shooting timed fire at 50, you are watching the sights and increasing pressure on the trigger and letting it fire when it fires.
Phil

FWIW I get tired shooting slow slow fire....  In thirty rounds I may as well go home.  Shooting  timed fire slow fire gets me through the slow fire stuff with energy left for timed and rapid.

Another thing that better scores at a timed fire pace would mean for me is that my follow thru was bad while shooting one shot at a time.
Phil

As a marksman, if you can consistently shoot low to mid 90s in slow fire when you're shooting at a timed fire pace, then you're also consistently scoring 98+ in timed fire with those same groups... so you should keep doing what you're doing in slow fire and timed fire, and work on your rapid fire until you reach expert, which should be happening shortly.

If you then feel like your slow fire is holding you back, it might be time to re-evaluate what you can do to shoot better in slow fire.  That might mean slowing down (only doing 2 or 3 shots per lift), or it might not.  Like others have suggested, doing worse when slowing down to 1 shot per lift likely means you're over-thinking each shot; holding too long, trying too hard to make it perfect, trying to pick off shots, not committing to the shot/trigger pull, hesitating during the trigger pull, and so on.

But for now, low to mid 90s in slow fire is excellent shooting (and will win you the slow fire portion of most competitions you enter as a marksman or sharpshooter), and you should stick with that, because it's clearly not a disadvantage to you at all.

Dave