Some of these things many of you noted a year ago, and I changed accordingly. I used to pull the trigger sooooooooo slowly in DA. Now it's one shot every two seconds or so with the '22, and maybe a little bit more with the larger guns. The actual time to pull the trigger is probably 1/2 second on the larger guns. It's fast enough for me to not think about what I'm doing, and slow enough that I can pay enough attention to the sight picture.
As to "goals", I've got so many years of what might be a bad way to do this. When my groups were 7 to 8 inches, I wanted 6. Then 5. Then 4. Then six months ago, 3. If I ever did get down to 2" groups, I'd be wanting 1". I now think quality practice, both dry fire and at the range, is the single biggest key to improving - along with following the advice, first from books, and then from discussions in this thread.
As to my arms getting tired, that used to be very much the case. After doing my dry-fire drills, 30 seconds of shooting, 30 seconds of rest, and repeating this for about 20 minutes, non-stop .....well, my arms don't get tired as quickly. At the range, if they do start to get tired, I stop for a while.
As to shooting out a match, or splitting a playing card in two, I didn't write it, but I meant the first shot. On demand. With a handgun.
BCRider, I used to get to the range, and forget several of the things I told myself I'd do differently. I find myself in a different state of mind when I'm standing there with a gun in front of me, from when I'm home sitting at my PC. So, last year, I took several of the things I learned here, and put them into a short list, and printed it out. Now, when i get to the range, I take out my guns, my ammo, arrange the table in front of me, and place that paper under the ammo box. I look it over almost every time I go shooting. Eventually, all those things seem to become habit, but I don't want to risk falling back on my old habits.
Trigger management - for me, it's a never ending story. I now know "what" to do, but as Mr. Borland related, when actually holding a loaded gun up, aimed at the target, some of my "good intentions" get forgotten. Not for long though - by loading only two or three bullets in my revolver, if I'm not pulling/pushing the trigger properly, it's instantly obvious to me. If the problem doesn't go away, I stop firing live rounds, and dry fire for a while instead. (I wonder what anyone watching me is thinking....
).
Last thought - I'm not sure I agree with this: "
But once you're looking through the sights and building pressure in your trigger finger there's no room for all this other junk. Just focus and do...." ..... I find I'm constantly monitoring myself, comparing what I'm doing with what I'd like to be doing. It's sort of like a mental check list for a recipe - follow all the steps, and the holes will be where you want them. It's not easy, but I think (for me) it's necessary.
I think I should add one more thought - at the end of many months of practice and work, I take off for India (doing volunteer work). For four to six months, there is no shooting at all. Every time I return, it takes me a lot of time to get back to what I could do before my trip.