Over the years I have seen enough students struggle with various shooting errors, like I’ve seen a lot. An excuse begins to form it is not them, but their gear.
We Are All Human
I get it, I’m human and fallible big time. In other areas of my life I often forget the lessons I’ve learned on the firing line. I overlook the simple fact it is not my gear, but me. With ego’s being so fragile these days it shouldn’t be surprising. It is hard to accept the rarity of gear issues. I will caveat my statement with when you select quality gear designed for the mission at hand. More importantly, we loose an important means of growth when we fail to self critique through our own failures. When we refuse to acknowledge our short comings we lean towards a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts.
It Is Always the Indian
On the firing line, the difference between a mechanical versus a technical issue is not frequently observed. I had a recent conversation with a student who didn’t realize their lack of experience was preventing them from seeing the real issue. They blamed the “possibility” of gear failure rather than looking at the real problem, instead of acknowledging most gun related issues are operator error. I’m not saying they are not possible, I’m saying before you try to blame the gun or create some wazoo need to carry this or that, look inward. Be genuine in your self evaluation and ask yourself if it is possible you could be the culprit. Start with this question, what could I be doing wrong. Not, what is wrong with my gun.
But Then Again
There comes a point when you realize maybe it is mechanical versus technical. Recently, I experienced this issue first hand. I literally was going crazy because I refused to blame my gun. I was owning up to the responsibility it was me and me alone. I started trouble shooting my technique at a microscopic level. Employing the very corrective strategies we teach in class. I literally refused to believe it could be anything other than me. What was funny, less than a week ago I experienced a similar issue with a different gun. I opted to consider the first issue was a fluke, but two guns and you really have to look more closely.
Thank Goodness
I was getting frustrated because I know my skill. I know my capabilities, when I see problems my natural instinct is to think I’m in a rut. A lot of times, my go to solution when in a rut is to transfer the gun to my weak side. Do some hard work from that perspective before returning to my strong side. I can vividly recall the instant where as I was about to transfer the gun to my weak side. Right as I was transferring the gun, I used my weak hand trigger finger to test the integrity of the front sight post. To my absolute relief, it moved…pretty easily I might add. As I correlate my dry fire with a crystal clear image of my front sight and compare it to my windage issues from live fire I can see the pattern more clearly. I’m more than relieved to know in this case, it wasn’t me…it was my gun.
I encourage you to always look inwards regarding your shooting errors first. Eliminate any an all possibilities, then whatever you are left with; however improbable is your answer.