Old Men, Pocket Pool, and Follow Through

[AxeHandle]

In a discussion with some older pocket pool shooters the subject of follow through at the 25 yard line while shooting timed and rapid fire came up. We all had the observation that the gun did not recover on the target like it did in our younger days and our timed and rapid fire targets and scores are reflecting that. The idea is that your grip and stance position the gun in a physically neutral position such that the when the gun recoils it recovers back on the target for 5 successive shots. We are all having to adjust the gun's position on the target when it recovers. This group was 60 and 70 year old former High Master class shooters. Looking at the senior and grand senior records there is evidence that this does not happen to everyone. I hear Phillip Hemphill is moving over here... We have a plan to make him tell us the secret...

[subsonic]

Stop flinching.

Or, find out what is different. It can take a lot of practice to stand there and simply let the gun do work without interference.

It is easy to take for granted that you are doing the same thing now as you did then, but start with the assumption that something is different and work out what is happening. What do you see? What do you FEEL.

[JM]

Would you mind explaining what "Pocket Pool Shooters" refers to? How the phrase came about?

Thank you.

[bradshaw]

Jan 26, 2017 13:27:44 GMT -5 JM said:

Would you mind explaining what "Pocket Pool Shooters" refers to? How the phrase came about?

Thank you.

*****

“Pocket pool” refers to the offhand, one hand, position in bullseye shooting wherein feet are bladed 90-degrees or less to the target, weight even on both feet. To promote stillness the offhand resides in the front trouser pocket. Hence----bullseye was primarily practiced by males----the appellation "pocket pool” offhand. This shooter may have instigated a revival of this term as projected by Axehandle.

Bullseye and along with it one-hand pistol shooting fell from favor as two-hand techniques caught on in the early 1960’s. I attribute my adoption of a boxer’s two-hand stance to Jeff Cooper, and he attributed his awakening to Jack Weaver. It took me two years to shoot tighter with two hands on a stationary target. Shooting a Blackhawk .357 and Super Blackhawk .44 and stretching the range propelled my switch to two hands. My own exposure to non-competitive shooters suggests that hunters and woods people with an affinity for handguns started using two hands long before more organized elements caught on.

Pocket pool offhand has been obsolete for half a century, but you’d better know how to shoot one-handed anyway.
David Bradshaw

[JM]

Ah... Thank you. That is what I thought it might mean, but wasn't sure.

[subsonic]

Confuscious say man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

[BigBore44]

Jan 26, 2017 14:49:52 GMT -5 subsonic said:

Confuscious say man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

LOL.... I was thinking that very thing
He also said;
Women who fly upside down, have crack up!

[ebg3]

Think he also said "Man who cooks carrots and peas in same pot, unsanitary."

[AxeHandle]

Dang! This sure would have fit the Hijack thread well.. FWIW Bullseye, Outdoor Pistol, Precision Pistol, or Pocket Pool Pistol has experienced ups and downs but is much longer in the tooth than any of the current trendy two handed styles. I find that people who poo poo it the hardest tried and just can't do it.

Flinching? Elaborate please.. How would not recovering centered on the target have anything to do with a flinch? Not recovering on the target doesn't mean that you didn't shoot a high x count 100. It means that that 100-high x count target is not smooth and easy as we remember. Flinching means bad shots on paper to me.

[subsonic]

If you get a "surprise break" and follow that with an involuntary push, the sights will not merely settle. You have messed it up.

For what you are looking for, you need to not only let the shot out undisturbed, but also allow the gun to come back unmolested.

[subsonic]

This could also be a vision thing. In order to involuntarily drive the gun back to the target, you have to look at the target.

[Odin]

For those that learn better with pictures, well, here's a frame of work done by an up-and-coming youngster named Jon Shue around the middle of last year. His total score was 2647-144x (out of a possible 2700). After the match he drove from Pennsylvania to Virginia and the next day shot 2669-165x. The work of a High Master, for sure:



FWIW Axe, maybe it has to do with the fact that as we age our bodies become less... supple? Our bodes more rigid, less flexible. What once came smoothly, now takes effort. The gun used to settle right back, now it doesn't...

I am yet a couple decades away from my 70's, but can already FEEL it coming. I used to be able to charge out of the gate on a morning run, but now my body wants at least 5 minutes of easy warm-up before I'm ready to really hit it. It's not every day, but certainly more than I'd like. I just don't have the "spring" like I used to.

[paulg]

Excellent observation Odin. I don't know a damn thing about pocket pool except what gets posted here. That picture and the ones Axe posts certainly speak louder than words to me. Of course my Dad used to tell me I'm the kind of kid that needs a picture.

[AxeHandle]

Nice target there odin... 100-10X targets are not common. FWIW that is a timed fire target. Two strings of 5 shots in 20 Seconds per string at 25 yards. Look at the score card and you'll see a 100-8X rapid fire target documented at the bottom. This is two five shot strings in 10 seconds per string at 25 yards. Look at the top and you'll see a 98 and a pair of 97 slow fire targets. Slow fire is pocket pool style from 50 yards at the same set of scoring rings with the 8 ring included in the black. Slow fire is ten shots in 10 minutes.

[AxeHandle]

We believe that this follow through issue is an age related thing. We aren't giving up. More dry firing, weight training, and yoga is on my list. Personally returning after 18 years of not competing and immediately being competitive as a master class shooter is a bright spot but that there are old guys that still shoot good tells me that I don't need to lower my expectations.