Breathing - Respiratory Pause and stuff like that...

[chris matthews]

Ian,
Here's another tip about breathing.
If you don't break your shot during that 5-7 seconds, don't force it and hold your breath longer. Your muscles and your eye will "burn out" due to the lack of oxygen. Your muscles will begin to quiver and your retina burning out causes your sight picture to go fuzzy.
Take another breath and break the shot during the next pause.

[ 03-20-2004: Message edited by: chris matthews ]

[Ian M]

Good point Chris, I find it best to look away and refocus the eye on any nearby object something on the horizon, then come back into the aim, focus on the target and get the shot off within the 5-7 seconds before the old eye muscles start to relax and the picture gets soft.

Worst thing you can do is fight it and try to stay focused, just does not work. As you get older the eyes don't seem to like the 7 second end of the sharpness zone, varies with each person [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] Something for young guys like you to look forward to...

[4ked Horn]

I will try to be brief but complete here.

Something I do during dry fire practice and target practice is to line up the crosshairs where I want them to be during the respiratory pause(rp) then I close my eyes and begin another calm (but not unnecessarily slow)breathing cycle (in then out). A moment after I am in a rp I will open my eyes, make slight adjustments to my sight picture then close my eyes and repeat. I do this untill the crosshairs come to rest in the same spot every time for a few cycles then... "snickBOOM"

Like this:
1. Get on target.
2. Close eyes.
3. Breathe in.
4. Breathe out
5. RP.
6. Open eyes.
7. Small adjustment.
8. Close eyes.
Repeat 3.4.5.6 and 7 untill you open your eyes in the same place as when you closed them. Then press the trigger.

[ 03-20-2004: Message edited by: 4ked Horn ]

[ryan m]

Taking a large breath increases pressure in the thoracic cavity and can help you support your upper body and your gun by splinting you spine. This is obvious if you ever try to move anything heavy, as you unconciously breathe in and push. The problem with this is that it translates your body motion to the gun. Your heart beat now happens under higher thoracic pressure and will have more effect on point of aim. Breathing out completely lets your arms support the weight of the gun more, and lessens that effect. It is the method taught to competetive shooters and millitary, and is definately the way to go if you have a good rest or have time to get into a good steady posistion. For fast and moving shots, and offhand shooting without a sling, I find a deep breath is often beneficial.

[4ked Horn]

Yup. For fast action shots all bets are off. I'm lucky if I don't bite my tongue off [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Ian M]

A while back I started something called the three Bees. Well, I blew that one, there are at least FOUR Bees. Let's consider Breathing. Here I go with the "Q" and "A's" again:
Q. How important is breathing to accurate shooting?
A. You cannot expect consistent accuracy without properly controlled breathing being part of the act of firing a rifle.

Q. Big Deal, what the hell is breathing got to do with accuracy?
A. Accuracy is about steadiness, we are more steady when not breathing hard, or irregularly. No doubt other more learned guys can explain about oxygen in the blood or where ever the heck it goes and what it does

Q. What is a good breathing routine?
A. Everyone requires a different number of breaths to get "calmed down" but since we should break the trigger within 5-7 seconds of getting into our final point of aim, we should take that number of breaths.

Q. What is the Respiratory Pause?
A. This is the natural pause that occures for a second or slightly longer at end of each breath. The shot should be broken during the Respiratory Pause.

Q. What about taking three or four deep breaths and letting out half, then shooting.
A. That used to be taught as a breathing method, put the sight slightly above the target, take a deep breath and the reticle moves downward, let it out and it goes back up. Hold at halfway and the reticle is on target and fire. This is not as good a breathing technique as employing the Respiratory Pause.

Q. Where did this Repiratory Pause thing come from.
A. Uncle Sam, he knows this stuff.

Q. Is there something I can do if I am really breathing hard, like during a hunt?
A. Take three or four really forced breaths (deep), that will slow things down a bit. Also read recently that rubbing your little finger on the left hand will slow down heartbeat - no idea about that one... (Len, get that smirk off your face, I am only passing on what I read in a recent book on Special Forces vs Ossama).

Q. Do I use this Respiratory Pause technique when I shoot during hunts.
A. Only if you want to kill the animal.

Q. Is there any other stuff to consider about breathing?
A. I am hoping to learn more from the guys on this site.

[Len Backus]

Yes, I absolutely was smirking, big time! Until I saw your reference to me and then I laughed. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]