The Wobble

I'm paraphrasing this from a rifle shooter site I stumbled upon. Is there something to this for pistol shooters?:

How do we control the wobble? We control the wobble by making your own wobble, that's how. By that I mean move the sight back and forth in an exaggerated lazy figure eight, which looks like an infinity sign, or the number "8" laying on its side with the top sides of the two open loops collapsed. Or, think of a pendulum in a Grandfather clock, swinging back and forth from side to side. This is what you do with your rifle to control the movement of the front sight.


As you are moving through the lazy 8, you will cross the bullseye position twice, once from the right and once from the left. Most right handed shooters will find it easier to time the release of their shot if they plan to begin moving the trigger when it is in the 4 or 5 o'clock position, heading towards bullseye. Left handed shooters will generally like to begin their release at 8 or 7 o'clock, going toward bullseye. Whatever you do, your timing is designed so that the sear is released and the gun fires when the dot is at the bullseye.

Many different theories of wobble, arc of movement. watch the dot. watch the target. I have never heard of this figure eight analogy in writings about pistol shooting but everything is worth a try but in the end it all boils down to finding what works for you.

I don't think that this rifle shooting concept translates to pistol very well at all.  If you are consciously trying to get the trigger to move at 4 o'clock as the wobble is moving toward the black, you are going to either get some horrible chicken-finger, or you are going to try to snatch a 10 as the dot crosses the x.

Believe me, neither one of those shots is going to be any good.

You really need to disconnect and let the subconscious mind take the shot as part of the shot process.  Trust your wobble and your trigger finger's ability to make the shot break at the right time.  Dryfire regularly to keep the wobble small to give your subconscious something easier to work with.  It will also help your trigger control to make sure the gun doesn't move when you move the trigger.

I have seen training patterns where you apply black tape or similar to the dryfire wall and trace the lines to center.  Sort of like Zins' move to the north pole thing

BTW I used the biggest dot in my 4 dot UD yesterday for sustained.  Groups were much improved over using the small dot.  I set the light so I could see the target thru the dot.

Any rifle shooter trying to do that should stop. 

That should not be done for pistol shooting either. 

With irons, use a wider notch.  With a dot, a larger dot helps.

I suggest reading the Advanced Pistol Guide by the Army Marksmanship Unit at the start of each bullseye season. Lots of very good, proven techniques. Also, stop thinking about that infinity symbol, sideways 8, clock pendulum, wobble and getting a shot off at exactly 6 0'clock and get yourself a winning attitude.

I can tell you that in rifle shooting, trying to "time" the trigger will get you nothing but shots out in the white.  Get your NPA, breathe down/relax to your wobble area, then trust your subconscious to squeeze the trigger while your conscious focuses on the aligned front sight. 

Just getting into BS shooting myself but, so far in practice, the same concept seems to work for me.

Thanks for all the input. I'm new to this too. Range once a week. Got my first gun a week ago. Spending minimum 15 minutes per day dry firing. Read the AMU manual, great information. Working on the Marine Corp workbook challenges. Hope to enter my first competition "soon". Still have work to do first.

Don't wait to enter matches.  You'll learn more, faster in matches than you will on your own.  There are some great shooters at Central Jersey that would love to help you.

KYShooter wrote:Just getting into BS shooting myself but...

You're in the right place - most of us on this board are High Masters in that art!

Maybe what I typed ("BS") wasn't really a typo?  

NEVER!

This is, like Rob said, going to lead you to yanking that trigger back every time you see something.  Grip the pistol, keep the trigger moving.  Remember that you are shooting for an aiming AREA, not an aiming point.

Any form of intentionally timing the shot will prevent you from developing really good trigger pull.
Wobble is corrected with changes in your position and practice that will make you more coordinated at standing still.