YouTube Transcript:
Predictive vs_ Reactive Shooting: Sharpen Your Handgun Skills Now!

hello TPC viewers today we'll dive deep
into the term predictive shooting uh as
defined by tactical performance center
I'm saying that because there are
multiple perceptions these days about
what really predictive shooting is many
of them can be true but we'll give you
the TPC perspective of that term and
we'll uh get very into details of the
exact
process tactical performance center the
home of the active shooting
signs the second element is seeing what
you need to see and this is where the F
secret is to never lose track of where
the see the red do exist at that same
focal plane so I don't have gun and up
[Music]
Target in brief we Define reactive
shooting as the process where the
shooter recognizes a good enough sight
picture for each follow-up shot based on
the acceptable margin of error in other
words the size of the target area they
aim to hit the shooter visually confirms
the required alignment between the front
and rear sights if using iron sights or
observes the necessary pause of the dot
if utilizing a reflex sighting
system this visual confirmation serves
as the trigger to fire the next shot if
needed essentially the shooter reacts to
the stimulus of sight picture
confirmation the required sight picture
May range from perfect alignment and
focus to a flash confirmation using the
peripheral vision recognizing the top of
the slide of the gun in the effective
Target area depending on the target's
difficulty we Define predictive shooting
as the shooter's ability to time and
predict when the alignment will be good
enough without requiring a physical
pause in that alignment imagine a
bouncing ball based on the cyclical
repetition of its motion you can foresee
when the ball will touch the
floor similarly if the shooter has
developed a consistent grip that ensures
the gun's cyclical Behavior under recoil
he can predict the moment of side
alignment there is one very important
thing in order to be successful with a
predictive shooting that's to develop a
very consistent recoil control and
muzzle flip management so the gun will
behave exactly the same with every every
single shot and as you probably know the
TPC philosophy is to have a passive
management of The Recoil and passive
control of the muzzle flip that means
once you establish the grip you set and
you forget you're letting the gun to go
in the RICO and to settle back by itself
we are not doing something proactive
that doesn't mean that in a more Dynamic
situation you're not going to move with
you with your body and you move the
shooting platform but the actual grip
will stay absolutely passive no the
reactive now
first principle it's minimizing The
Leverage on the gun over us you need to
grip the gun simply as high as possible
still making the gun
function maximize friction so how much
pressure to apply with each hand to
apply as much pressure as you can until
you see your hands start to shake start
relaxing that grip until that shake is
gone gradually start to relax only the
shooting hand until you achieve very
easy and fast trigger finger
manipulation principle of maximizing the
biomechanical efficiency not cracker
effect we have the Hench we have the
Jaws we have the handles keep that
pressure really tight between the heel
of the palm and heel of the
palm the second part of uh princip of
optimizing the biomechanical efficiency
when you're talking about the muzzle
flip control we simply need to stiffen B
thrust the idea is to create an eff of a
spring steel there will be a shot there
will be a unsignificant muzzle flip up
and the gun will return back
automatically by itself to that side
alignment
you setting your grip you setting your
wrist tension and at that point your
eyes Ling only the movement of your
trigger finger everything else stays the
same when you're talking about the
actual grip that will help you to be
less equipment dependent and what is the
idea behind if you rely on uh some kind
of reactive management every every
single time when you change your uh
weapon platform or even if you change in
the type of ammunition that you use and
you change even the the bullet weight
those Dynamics they will change your
timing will be off if you're
passive doesn't matter of the caliber
that you're
using doesn't matter of the weapon
system that you're using the thing is
that the grip will stay passive that
doesn't mean that you will stay passive
as a shooter or as a responder so what
we'll do it right now we'll demonstrate
a very Progressive layers of multiple
isolated drills that for some of you you
can call them Basics that can be true or
it can be not true depends on your level
of perception but the idea is to create
that stepbystep process in order to
develop that uh complete skill kill
predictive shooting why so simple drills
because of relatively recent scientific
studies they discovered that in order to
mate a specific skill better in other
words developing that subconscious skill
to the level that you're able to perform
it correctly without even thinking about
it uh you need to break that specific
skill in a very small chunks in a very
small more details you need to focus in
one thing at a time and each and every
drill will emphasize that very narrow
Focus all right now what we have here is
the TPC Target that we call the cross of
truth that particular uh version is
designed to be shot from a distance of
seven yards and that's the distance that
will condu all our uh segmented drills
uh I will explain the exercise uh and
I'll talk it through and then gradually
we'll build and we'll add an element and
then we'll add another element and then
we'll change the Target in order to get
us where we want to be you can download
that Target uh from the TPC website
tactical performance center.com and we
will post the link to the Target in the
description below so you will find all
the targets that we'll use in our uh
drill series here so you can uh try it
by yourself and please share with us
what do you think about that progression
and if that progression actually LED you
to your success of predictive
shooting obviously I'll will load my gun
the first real will be again we want to
achieve that very very cyclical behavior
of the gun so I will place my Red Dot in
that situation or if you're using iron
sides your front side that will be
perfectly aligned with your rear side
Notch you will place it in the very uh
Center of that cros here and you will
observe the behavior of the gun during
The Recoil and will simply you will keep
a consistent pressure on the grip stay
absolutely passive let the gun recoils
and let it settles by itself back
whenever it stops it stops now You
observe where are your sights on that
the Crosshair reference if they are
returning exactly in the center that
means that you're doing everything all
right but if they are returning in a
different area
in reference of that cross hair we are
going to use the
TPC reactive shooting ER chart to Define
what are our deficiency in our grip or
stance or even in the trigger
control if the sides recover high after
The Recoil there are two possible
reasons first your center of gravity may
not be forward enough try leaning
slightly forward second it could be due
to insufficient rest stiffness focus on
stiffening your rest more they will
naturally recover the gun back to
alignment if the sides recover
inconsistently or erratically it's
likely due to grip pressure in this case
focus on gripping the gun harder and
maintaining consistent pressure if the
sides deep down after The Recoil it's
caused by anticipation allow the gun to
settle back into alignment Naturally by
by accepting the Reco instead of trying
to control it
prematurely finally if your hiits are
low and left for right-handed shers this
indicates poor trigger control focus on
isolating the movement of your trigger
finger and pull the trigger with less
effort so I will place in that case my
Red Dot exactly in the middle of that
light gray spot on that in the middle of
the Crosshair
I'll prep the trigger I will break that
shot and I'll observe where is that red
dot where that where that red dot is
returning is it staying is it returning
exactly in that same spot in the center
of the Cross here or it's inconsistent
and that particular case it jump and
settles back exactly in the center I
will repeat that exercise again
place the right do there prep the
trigger let the sh happen is it
returning exactly there yes we repeat it
again yeah it lands exactly in that same
spot why because I'm keeping very
consistent pressure and I'm not trying
to drive the gun down I simply wait
until the gun settles by itself if I
keep my wrist stiffened
it will settle right there now if it's a
very inconsistent return it returns to
the left it's returning next time to the
right and back and forth and back and
forth that's a clear indication that
your grip pressure it's not enough
increase the grip pressure especially
with your control hand that's the hand
that many uh people call support we call
it controlled because because most of
the control of a good grip will be
defined by your control hand so I'll
repeat the drill one more time and I
observe my sides lifts and settles down
exactly where it's supposed to
be right so that's exercise number one
the second drill the second exercise
will be exactly the same thing but now
we'll start from the holster why because
most likely we'll go from The holster so
with this exercise we'll test how well
can we replicate can we form the correct
grip right from the holster and the
behavior of the gun will tell us the
story so we're observing the Red Dot
again a single shot observe where that
dot is returning or where that front
sight will return is it returning
exactly in the middle of that cross here
without your micro steering it you know
you just let the gun to do its own thing
and settles down by
itself it's returning right there now
repeat that
uh exercise several more times just to
make sure that we are consistent
[Applause]
single shot observe if the dot is
returning exactly on the same spot One
More
Time same spot great so I'm satisfied
with the consistency of the my
performance my technical performance
from The holster now we will continue
with the next exercise and the next
exercise size will be exactly the same
thing we'll draw from the h we'll find a
shot and as we confirm that the Sid will
settle exactly in the center we will
fire the second shot now here we can do
a homework and the homework is we can
prep we can reset we definitely need to
reset and we can prep the trigger that
means taking the slack if it's necessary
to the wall if you prefer to use the
prep press technique of few trigger but
as soon as you
confirm a a good sides a red dot or a
line iron sides in the
center you can fire the second shot and
observe again where these sides will
return back are they going to keep that
cyclical Behavior if they doesn't that
means that you've changed something most
likely in your grip right the idea is to
be very repetitive very repetitive why
because it will be very easy to
predict we'll start from the
holster place it in center and if once
they settle back I will fire my second
shot I'm confirming I'm confirming that
the sides or the Red Dot it settles back
in that spot especially when you're
shooting a red dot you need to look at
that tight spot here it's a great
reference because that's the the light
gray area of that crossair let's do it
[Applause]
again I confirm the sides I'll do it a
little bit slower in order to emphasize
the process and we'll talk through the
process so draw from The holster prep
the trigger I will break that shot I
will see the side sets back and will
fire the next shot and I will observe
and control if the sides are returning
back to that same
spot now it's time to really develop the
predictive shooting the next drill will
do exactly the same thing but instead of
waiting and to visually confirm the
return of the sides to the same spot we
will predict it and we time will time
the Red Dot or the front side to the
point that it will it's about time to
get level with the rear side note or
it's about time that red dot to
enter uh that uh light gray spot and
here we need to make a little difference
between shooting iron sights and the Red
Dot now with the when you're using a red
dot sides I need to look in a very very
very very tight spot in that gray area
light gray area over there and your
peripheral vision actually will process
the movement of the dot as a streak
because the dot is not going to be
steady now instead of waiting to see a a
SLE dot a steady dot you will see that
streak coming back down to that same
spot and you will predict at what point
that dot that streak is about to touch
that gray area without visually
confirming so that's why we call it
predictive you'll predict when the sides
will go back to alignment without
actually visually confirming that so
we'll do that right now we'll start from
the
draw all right so what I did here you
see how my Second Shop dropped a little
bit down you know why
because I uh I didn't stay absolutely
passive I didn't wait and let the gun to
settle back down I drove the gun a
little bit down so that's the error
that's the mistake of made now the
mistake is not a failure if you
recognized what's happened what was the
problem and you have the knowledge and
narrow your focus to fix it in a flight
all right now at that point I stayed
absolutely passive I'm looking at that
tight spot the light gray area and I
predicted at what point that streak is
about to couch that light gray spot
we'll do it one more time
[Applause]
all right so uh the next Target that
we're going to use that's uh 2 in dots
and we'll do the same process we follow
the same process of predictive shoting
but right now instead of a cross here as
a reference actually we have a actual
Target we have acceptable margin of
error 2 in 7 yards and the idea to keep
the targets a little bit smaller it's uh
the target to keep you're honest guys
you know even a slight problem and uh
inconsistency of your grip uh the paper
will show that immediately so the idea
is to work and microtune whatever it's
necessary uh in order to achieve that
final goal of a very consistent and
cyclical behavior of the gun think about
uh the grip as a gun Vice once you clamp
the gun in that Vice doesn't care if the
G shoot how many shots will do it stays
it provides the same consistent pressure
and no reaction that will simplify our
process and ability to predict the
second shot all right now we have that
2in dots the first row at the top you
have that reference point of the light
gray area that's exactly where I need to
keep my focus
on when I having that control pair using
the predictive
[Applause]
shooting and I'll draw again again I'm
going to use that predictive shooting
that means I will time I will predict
when that streak is about to enter the
uh the 2in dot I particularly looking in
that light gray spot that it's
significantly
tighter area that the entire Target the
concept is aim small this small you need
to have a narrower point of focus
especially important when you're using a
red dot you keep a Target Focus I keep
my focus over there on that light gray
dot don't get me wrong my goal is to
place my shots within the 2in circle but
again that's a a smaller reference point
so even if there's a a little bit of a
margin of every I still will be on
[Applause]
target all right and now at the moment
that you're comfortable with your
performance now it's a good time to
actually use a little bit metric so you
can time you can time your draw and you
can time the splits between the shots uh
in order to have a metric and in order
to follow your progress in the future
now a good reference point is probably
about uh 1 and a half second or in that
margin and what about the split between
the two shots we'll say that everything
that it's under three it's a it's a very
very uh commendable result if you want
to increase the speed uh the only thing
that you need to do is passively to
stiffen your wrists a little bit more be
just a little bit more aware about that
passivity and uh that will guarantee
that the gun will get back to sight
alignment faster and you simply need to
time that second shot a little bit
[Applause]
faster all right
so total time 2 seconds flat 1.65 it was
the first shot now I'm using a double x
for a shot and also retention holster so
I need to fight two obstacles here I'm
just joking you know the process is the
process it doesn't matter uh and the the
split time is 35 hundreds of a second
between the first and the second shot
which is pretty pretty pretty decent uh
pretty decent result how you're going to
use your iron sides in that um in that
perspective it depends uh if you're
comfortable to shoot with a Target Focus
uh absolutely go with it not a problem
uh but the target is a little bit tiny
it's a 2in circle and seven yards so
probably you need a little bit more
precise reference uh between the front
side and the rear side Notch until they
get back to alignment so don't hesitate
to move your Focus Shift your focus back
a little bit in order to get a good
information from your site alignment so
it's a very very personal based on what
the vision can tell you and how the
brain will process that visual
input it's time to make the things even
more interesting so what we're going to
do right now guys we have a new TPC
challenge for you and that's the uh
hammer time
[Music]
2.0 Hammer Time
2.0 distance 7 yd from the target
starting position handgun loaded and
holstered hands relaxed at your sides
action at the audible signal from the
timer draw the handgun and engage all
four targets with a controlled pair Two
Shots each start with the target of your
choice makeup shots are not
allowed scoring the overall time
recorded from the start signal to the
last shot
fired penalties shots must be within or
break the 2-in dot line to avoid
penalties if a shot breaks the light
gray Circle but not the 2-in dot line a
penalty
of25 seconds per hit will be added to
the overall time complete misses incur a
2.5 second penalty
for each Miss
shot objective draw fire first shot
speed controlled pair execution all
right now the things are getting more
complex and more complicated it's a
great opportunity to use the predictive
shooting here we have a pretty spicy
time so in order to achieve the highest
run run Master uh it's a
4.3 seconds for eight shots and draw
from The holster control
pair uh of each Target from a distance
of seven yards let's give it a try let's
see that's uh it's a hard challenge but
uh if you stay focused on the process
and you don't let a uh a thought about
speed to sneak in your mind stay
absolutely on the moment present and
just execute the process correctly that
will guarantee uh a very good and
reasonable time because we're not
forcing the speed we're achieving the
speed through efficiency so here very
critical is how fast the eyes will snap
to the next Target and particularly in a
invisible but
mental smaller Target that will create
remember the reference with the light
gray dot inside of that 2in dots there
now it's your responsibility to create
that mental image on each of those
targets all right time is uh 469 so it's
not it's not perfect but uh it's not bad
it's not bad like a very uh few times
actually I tried that exercise we a
little bit far from grandm but all right
guys the that was the uh hammertime 2.0
that's the newest TPC challenge you have
hopefully predictive way of shooting
those control pairs the time I'm a
little bit overtime from a grandm so
it's a
4.69 grandm I truly believe we need to
be in
4.30 and uh my first shot was a little
bit late and the reason of that is my
red dot didn't arrive exactly where it
needs to be so I needed to micro adjust
it but I'm happy that I stayed mentally
calm and I didn't fire that shot without
confirming what I need to to see inside
of that Target area uh from there so 175
first shot that we keep um 47 split
between the first shot
40.4 transition to the next Target 43
with the split between the third and the
fourth shot then we had another
transition to the top Point 39 hundreds
of a second and then we have the split
between the shots uh 43 so pretty
consistent splits then we had another
transition from right to left for 4
545 and the last split was
46 so pretty much uh In Cadence but
something that you need to understand is
a Cadence driven not by acoustic input
it's a c Cadence based on what you see
on the target so it's completely
visual that's one of the greatest
misconceptions when Shooters start to
talk about shooting in Cadence multiple
targets so uh try the serious of that
micro drills and at the very end try our
new challenge the uh hammertime 2.0 and
let us know how you did don't hesitate
to post in the comments below if you
have other questions related to
predictive shooting and what is the
difference between predictive shooting
and reactive shooting and do you agree
with our definition for both terms we
will be glad to hear your
opinions till
then stay stay safe shoot straight and
remember more hot kills less cool
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