Dear Fellow Firearms Instructor,
I would like to invite you to join our 2-Day Advanced Firearms Course, “The Neuro-Psychology to “Instant” Precision Accuracy. You may ask yourself; Why attend this program? The benefits are enormous to you, your students, your department and your community.
Save Your Department Money!
The average Police Academy utilizes 1000 rounds of ammunition per recruit. That represents 20 Boxes of ammunition. Let’s say the average box of 50 rounds of ammunition costs $15.00. That means the ammunition cost will be $300 for each recruit.
If you have 40 recruits in an Academy Class it will cost $12,000.00 per Academy Class just in ammunition. If you hold 6 Academy classes a year the ammunition expenditure will be $72,000.00 annually.
Learn Insight’s methodology and you will be able to cut your ammunition costs in half. That’s right, you will save your academy $36,000.00 each year.
Instead of spending 40 hours on the range trying to get everyone qualified, every recruit will be able to qualify after just 24 hours of range instruction and everyone will be shooting scores of 90 percent and better.
Recruits who have participated in an Insight program have reported back to us that they shot 97% and better in their Academy Class because of this powerful methodology.
Deputy Ed Philpott, Maricopa County Sheriff, AZ
“Just to update you, I graduated from the Deputy Academy last week and thanks to your teaching in the past took home the firearms award. I finished with a 99.3% on my quals. Everything you taught me I put to good use while on the range.”
Joe Tessitore, US Border Patrol
“Thank you for the instruction you gave me . . . it helped me excel in my firearms course at the Border Patrol Academy. . . I would like to let you know I was the top shooter in my class with much thanks to you. I scored 357/360.”
Key to Shot Placement
We do NOT teach the officer to shoot “center of mass”. This programs the mind to shoot somewhere between: “shoulder to shoulder” and “neck to groin”. This non-pragmatic approach implies peripheral hits are acceptable accuracy.
Dr. Col. Martin Fackler M.D. is a world authority on terminal ballistics. He shared with me that the only way to assure a one-shot stop is to sever the spinal column or get the bullet to midbrain.
It’s important to realize that the more specific the intent in the placement of the shot, the more accurate the shot will be. This requires the shooter to integrate visual fixation on the exact point where they want the bullet to impact into their pre-shot routine.
When I interviewed Bill Jordan who was with the U.S. Border Patrol, and author of the book “No Second Place Winner”, he shared with me that the secret to achieving precision accuracy when using point shooting was to focus on the exact spot where you wanted the bullet to hit. When he demonstrated his ability to hit an “aspirin” using point shooting, he told me he didn’t look at the aspirin; he focused on the “E” stamped on the aspirin tablet. His visual focus was that specific. He said shooting tablets of Excedrin was his way of cheating, for they were bigger than Bayer Aspirin. (Got to love the guy!) Later in this article we’ll talk about the “Sighted Shot” vs. “Point Shooting”.
We had feedback from a firearms instructor who received our last email. He saw how all of our students are able to split a business card “on-edge” at 15 feet with only one day of training using a sighted shot. He replied; “We don’t teach “trick shooting”. Just for the record, neither do we!
A student’s ability to split a business card “on-edge” is a great confidence builder and convincer. It provides them with proof that they have mastered the basic shooting process. It demonstrates the importance of a pre-shot routine, mental / emotional control, the importance of using the proper visual syntax, and how one’s intent can transform one’s accuracy into a very precise shot.
Refining the Visual Skills
A 7-point visual test is needed to properly diagnose the stability of an officer’s eye dominance to assure a stable sighting plane. We also test to see if he has the physical ability to achieve visual acuity on the front sight. The visual system is one of the most important physical skills required for shooting. If you get garbage in, you’re going to get garbage out. Please refer to our published article “Insight to Eye Dominance” in the IALEFI Magazine, Issue #44. Here is the link to the article:
https://insightfirearmstraining.com/IALEFI%20Eye%20Dominance%20Article%205-08.pdf
The eye muscles have to be trained just like any other muscle in the body. The types of eye movements that are required for precision accuracy are not automatic. They must be learned and conditioned to the unconscious. The traditional method is to simply tell the officer to: “Look at the Front Sight”, which is grossly insufficient. The officer must make a series of saccade and pursuit movements of the eye in a specific syntax to achieve peak performance. Once the officer understands how the visual system works and how it relates to the shooting process, his accuracy will immediately go from a shotgun pattern to “1-hole groups”. Remember: The Mind Controls the Eye and Vision!
In reality, our training program has very little to do with shooting. It is all about training the officer’s mind. Accuracy is the ” Test ” to verify that the officer’s mind is under control!
You may be saying “A shooters vision degrades under a sympathetic response.” Yes that is true. As stated above, “we need to be teaching the officer how to use their mind”. (Refer to our last email: 10 Tips to “Instant” Precision Accuracy.) We reinforce and condition their mind throughout the entire program using a formal hypnotic induction and a classic conditioning process.
Point Shooting and Sighted Shooting
I believe that Point Shooting (sometimes referred to as “Instinct Shooting” or “Unsighted Shooting”) and being able to shoot accurately using your Sights are both valuable tools in the law enforcement officer’s arsenal. I was fortunate enough to have met Col. Applegate when I was General Manager for Gunsite Training Academy. As I learned from him and from Jim Gregg when I attended his course: “The Gregg Method of Point Shooting” when time and light are not available; Point Shooting is a great tool.
With Insight’s methodology, we teach that “Point Shooting” is the very first step to a “Sighted” shot. (This reframe is a great way to limit liability and opposition from those who oppose an “unsighted” method of shooting.)
You pick exactly where you want the bullet to impact “visually”, and “feel” the muzzle touch that spot, thus completing the cybernetic loop required to achieve precision accuracy with an unsighted shot. Then if time and light exist, you advance the process to the sights which involve a series of saccade and pursuit movements in a very specific syntax which gives you the ultimate in precision accuracy.
Vision and Shoot / Don’t Shoot
There are 3-ocular moves required for shoot/don’t shoot situations. These movements will assure good judgmental discretion and precision accuracy. The 1st ocular movement is to the “palms”, (Asking yourself; What does he have in the palms of his hands?), the 2nd ocular movement is to the “exact spot” you want the bullet to impact, and the 3rd movement is to the front sight’s “Gip”. (The Gip requires a very specific pursuit movement of the eye to the front sight.)
Now, I know you’re saying “that’s great if you have time”. It is the 2nd ocular move (focusing on the exact spot where you want the bullet to impact) that prevents the officer from shooting towards the weapon in the suspect’s hand, which is where most shots tend to generate. The shots will generate towards the point of focus. The visual skills and proper ocular movements have to be taught and conditioned just like every other motor movement in the shooting process.
The Secret to Teaching Trigger Control
The officer needs to know how to create a clear neuro-pathway from the brain to the trigger finger. This isolates the trigger finger from the rest of the hand, thus eliminating any muzzle movement as the gun is fired. This keeps the sights in perfect alignment yielding a precision shot.
Traditionally shooters are taught to “Press” or “Squeeze” the trigger. According to the Dictionary, the words “Press” and “Squeeze” implies the use of “force” and neuro-linguistically sets the shooter up for failure right from the very start. We don’t want the student to “force” the shot. We prefer to use the term “Compress” or “Compression” which implies a consistent and steady build-up of pressure.
By teaching the officer how to create a clear neuro pathway and by integrating the process to the unconscious, we create “muscle memory”. (Actually muscle memory is stored in the spinal column according to the book “A Sweet Spot in Time” by John Jerome.) If the muscle memory is stored in the spinal column, that means that once the skill of trigger compression is integrated to the unconscious and the command to the muscles have been activated from the unconscious, the motor skills are less dependent on the brain and the negative effects of the sympathetic nervous system is minimized. Anything which occurs that is “spontaneous” in nature is generated from the unconscious. We use a series of exercises to teach the student how to achieve a clear neuro pathway from the brain to the trigger finger and we use a formal hypnotic induction to facilitate the programming of the process to the unconscious.
This also supports the contention that if the skills are programmed to the unconscious then the related behavior will be “spontaneous” and the use of the sights will become automatic.
How to Shoot Faster with Better Accuracy
When limiting the target’s exposure time and overloading the conscious mind, we can create an associative link for the front sight to become a stimulus for a conditioned response on the trigger. This process can be programmed using a formal hypnotic induction and then reinforced by using a pop-up falling plate target system that limits the target exposure time to 50/100’s of a second and provides the officer with instant positive feedback to reinforce the behavior.
We reinforce this process by using a pre-shot routine that incorporates an imagery of the officer transforming into a “machine” when he shoots. We utilize this “Machine Metaphor” starting in the initial phases of training and throughout the training experience. This metaphor and image of taking on the persona of a machine revivifies the “State of Detachment” (it disassociates the officer from the recoil process and the threat) and virtually eliminates the emotions from the shooting process and the situation. When you eliminate the emotion from the shooting process and the situation facing the officer, the officer will trance-form into a biological atomatron and will shoot with machine like precision.
We also use a very aggressive approach to structure the learning experience so we stretch the shooters envelope. This will allow us to create time distortions in the mind of the shooter. This process is a lot like driving a car at the speed of 100 miles per hour. Once the brain has adapted to this speed and then you slow down to 50 miles per hour, everything seems to be in slow motion. By creating time distortions in the shooters mind you’ll have them shooting accurately at speeds they never thought possible with 97% accuracy.
Contextual Cues for Shot / Don’t Shoot
Once the officer can shoot precision shots with consistency, the next step is to use a progressive methodology to reinforce the elements of the shooting process in different situations based on contextual cues. (Contextual Cues in the Shoot / Don’t Shoot context are the indicators that, “everything is normal, something is wrong, or something bad is about to happen”!) The more quickly and accurately the officer can read these cues, the more time he will have to assess the potential threat in order to respond appropriately and effectively.
In this stage of training we use Insight’s “RTS”. (Real Time Simulator TM) The Insight RTS is similar to FATS but has some distinct advantages. It engages the officer against one or several suspects in “Real Time” using live ammunition. The officer and the suspects can engage in an actual dialogue. They play off each other, identifying incongruent messages based on their conversation and the subtle nuances in the tonality of their voice and their body language. The officer will be required to read the contextual cues. This simulator creates unpredictability based on a “moment to moment” interaction between the officer and the suspects. With FATS the officer can only communicate with the dispatch or yells commands at the video screen.
This is not the case with the RTS. The officer is able to build rapport and communicate directly with each suspect and vice versa. When you establish interpersonal communication you create total “buy-in” on the part of the officer. Because the officer is using his actual duty weapon and shooting real ammunition in conjunction with the interpersonal context, the effect transforms the perception of the simulation from a “video game” to real life.
Conditioning Cycles
The officer’s unconscious can be programmed so that the greater the perceived threat, the more detached and machine like he will become. This enhances peak performance and precision accuracy even under extreme conditions.
Regardless of their previous firearms experience, nearly all your students will have the ability to shoot 1-hole to 1-1/2 inch groups at 15 ft. and keep 3 inch groups at 30 ft. within the first couple of hours on the range, using less than 100 rounds of ammunition. Typically by the end of the first day, trainees will achieve a level of precision accuracy that will enable them to split a business card “on edge” at 15 feet. By the end of the second day trainees can hit 8 inch pop-up falling plates at distances of 15 feet to 45 feet, which appear and disappear at reactive speeds of 50/100 of a second to 1-second with 97% consistency. After the skills have been programmed to the unconscious, they can be applied to any situation without degrading performance.
If the skills are programmed to the unconscious, then the act of shooting becomes an automatic response. When the shooting process is integrated to the unconscious, police cadet trainees are capable of shooting scores of 90% and better on the typical police qualification course. Many will even shoot perfect scores. They will be able to achieve this within the first 24 hours of training using less than 500 rounds of ammunition.
SUMMARY – Discover How to Supercharge Your Training Program
Want to learn how to have ALL of your students shooting 1-Hole Groups “Instantly”? Join our 2-Day course, “The Neuro Psychology to “Instant” Precision Accuracy”. Most Firearms Instructors tell us that they learned more about the neuro-psychology of precision accuracy and learned more teaching techniques in the first day of our program, than they’ve learned in their entire firearms training career. Insight’s methodology works and it is NOW available to you !
YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:
- Dramatically Reduce your ammunition usage.
- Get your Academy Recruits qualified in less time with higher scores.
- Reduce the number of hours for remedial training.
- Give ALL your officers the skills they need to survive!
Once you are on the inside, you’ll see how easy it is to get all your student’s shooting
with precision accuracy.
We look forward to meeting you at our next 2-Day Law Enforcement Program. You too can make a difference. Any assistance you can provide in making this process available to all law enforcement officers would be greatly appreciated, especially by those whose lives you will save!
Respectfully,
Matt Seibert & Sherrie Seibert
Insight Firearms Training Development
PO Box 12293, Prescott, AZ 86304-2293
(928) 776-4668, Fax (928) 776-4668
seibert@insightfirearmstraining.com
www.insightfirearmstraining.com