He had determined his target height by using a laser. When I look at this drawing, it appears obvious to me that he was practicing to shoot 3 or 4 inches above the target at 21 feet, which is just what he said he was doing. His target height as drawn is 45 inches with a shooting height of 40 inches. That means the bullet has risen 5 inches in the first 5 feet and will continue to rise another 16 inches in the next 16 feet so the bullet will hit 4 inches above the top of the target at 21 feet.
To calculate proper target height for 40 inch shooting height you take the needed rise of 10 inches divided by 21 feet which equals .4762 per foot. Then times 5 feet for 2.38 inches which is added to shooting height of 40 inches which results in a target height of 42.38 inches at 5 feet.
If you are working on your draw or stance it is always good to recheck your shooting height. It can change. All of Bar-E practice was not wasted. Even though he was practicing to miss high his work was finalizing his draw and may have been very beneficial in chunking data. He was learning and storing information on how to bring his shot down. However, before a competitive shoot it is crucial to do your close work at the proper shooting height.
At Oklahoma State there were categories shot on the first day. Boss had set up some electronic lights in the dry fire area, of course, at 50 inches. Like a rookie, I put my laser in and warmed up at 6 feet on the center of the light. I lost all of my matches shooting high, just could not bring it down. Of course, the more I missed the more I dry fired in between matches trying to find the light. It was not until the next day that I realized that I had been practicing missing in my warm ups.
Bar-E being an old instinctive bow shooter suspected that difference in the angle looking at the target at five feet instead of 21 feet had something to do with the practice not being productive. He is going to try the new target height and we will report if that solves the problem. I don't think looking at a close target is a problem because we do not aim. We look at the target only to be told when to draw not locate our hit. Old West on Shady Mtn shot blindfolded and hit better than 60% which was demonstration that we do not aim.
I have heard other mentors telling their students to "aim" higher or "aim" lower to correct a miss. I always think that is bad advice because we do not aim. Where we look should not have any effect on where we hit. Where we hit is a result of our alignment, which should be done all before the set command.
Right and left alignment is easy to deal with. The hard alignment is elevation. We need to know how we raise and lower our elevation. Shooters do it in different ways. The worst way is by changing your draw. If you are changing your draw to hit you are lost.
You need to know how to change elevation either consciously or better subconsciously. Powder Keg says he controls elevation by the location of his thumb on the hammer. He shoots direct hammer and I suspect that the more flesh on the hammer the higher he shoots. I control elevation by my balance. That is why I get better and better as a shoot goes on because I am learning what my balance needs to be for that shoot.
In the locked elbow draw you roll the gun out of the holster and put the fist against your side or hip bone when the trigger is pulled. The elbow is locked and the forearm is parallel to the ground. Everything needs to level. A slight balance forward will lower the shot, a slight balance backwards will raise the shot. I am not talking about body lean. The change in balance is so slight as to not be seen by the naked eye. It is something that is felt. It is learned. That is why you chunk data, to learn what it takes to raise and lower elevation. That is my method.
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