mikemyers said:As I read these, I picture just shooting at a blank piece of paper, with no bullseye, no lines, nothing other than a big rectangular piece of paper. Unless you're going to check where the holes are though, why have any "target" at all? Why not shoot at nothing? If I did what you're suggesting, with that piece of paper in front of me, at some point I'd have a desire to see my grouping. If I didn't want to be doing that, it seems to me that I should just shoot at nothing, no backing board, no target, just the dirt back-stop behind where the targets go.....
Very perceptive.
Since I believe the value of the drill is to forget about groupings for a bit, I normally do recommend the drill be done without any target, but some indoor ranges might get weirded out seeing you shoot without some target hung. And if the back wall is dark, it might be tough to see your sights well without the contrast.
J-Bar's method has a slightly different objective - by removing a black bullseye, you remove a reference, so you don't notice the wobble as much and are able to focus on executing the shot. The point here is that so long as you execute the shot well, you might (or might not) surprisingly good groups despite the wobble.
If you hang a blank piece of paper, you need to decide ahead of time what your objective is and whether you're shooting for groups or not.
mikemyers said:Mr. Borland indicated it might be good to forget about groups for a bit
I didn't say that, exactly. I was trying to emphasize that focusing on the process of executing the shot well (rather than on group size) is where the pay dirt is, so if one needs to get their head back into the process, the "no target" drill is an option.