Speed Shooting Tips From a Retired Navy S.E.A.L.

Hi, I’m retired Navy SEAL Chris Sajnog, author of Navy SEAL Shooting. One of the top 20 most frequently asked questions I get is, “Why do I shoot bad when I speed up?” Now get ready as I share my speed shooting tips and five reasons your shooting goes downhill as soon as you speed up.

This is obviously a question I get all the time. That’s why It made it to my top 20 list. It’s very common for people to do great shooting slow fire. But as soon as they try adding speed, their grip opens up, or they just completely miss the target. So I’m gonna give you five reasons why that’s possibly happening.

Shooting Platform

Now number one on the list is you haven’t built up the mechanical foundation to shoot faster. What I mean by the mechanical foundation is that you need to actually build your shooting platform. You need to focus on:

• • Your structure
  • How your legs are
  • How your arms are 

• How strong your grip is

All of these things come into play. As the gun starts shaking and moving and vibrating from those rounds coming out faster, you’re literally shaking the foundation of your shooting platform. So you need to strengthen that if you want to shoot faster. 

Present Focus

Number two is your present focus, you don’t believe you can shoot faster. A lot of people when they shoot, they go out there and they’re thinking about how they shot last time. They will be thinking about how the last time they tried shooting fast, their grip opened up.

You don’t want to sit and focus on those things, you need to be present where you are right now. So you need to actually believe that you can shoot faster if you actually want to do it. 

Natural Point Of Aim

Next in these speed shooting tips, Number three on the list is probably one of the biggest ones that I noticed. Especially when shooting a carbine, your natural point of aim is off. 

I’ve got other posts out there where I will tell you how to use your natural point of aim. In general, what happens is in slow fire, you are going to recoil back up to wherever your natural point of aim is. 

So if naturally, your hips are off, say to the right, and you’re using muscle to aim at your target when you shoot that gun, you’re going to go back to your natural point of aim. Each time you shoot, you’re going to have to force it and you’re gonna end up shooting the low and to the left. If you’re a left-handed shooter, it’s going to be low and to the right. So make sure that your natural point of aim is right on target and that’s going to help speed you up 

Changing Your Ways

Number four on the list is you’re simply changing your ways when you speed up. You don’t want to do that. Everything you do when you shoot slow fire are you building up to be able to shoot faster. So don’t change anything. 

If you need to change something to shoot faster, then you need to practice that way. That goes back to building those mechanics and doing it correctly each and every time.

Speed by Force

And finally, number five is the speed by force. You should never force speed. I like to say speed happens and speed happens by you doing the mechanics of shooting perfectly. 

As you do that through repetition, and building those neural pathways, speed will be a byproduct of your perfect practice. So just keep practicing and you’ll naturally get faster. 

Alright, that is it for today’s FAQ. Practice these speed shooting tips to naturally allow your shooting to speed up while keeping your rounds on target. And please check out my other 19 five and under-five FAQ videos and posts to continue paving your path to perfection.