Dry Fire Target Transitions: Vision, Shot Confirmation, And The Time Between Shots

Media Description

The Time You Lose Between Shots

Target transitions are where many shooters lose time.

It is easy to focus only on trigger speed, split times, or how fast the gun fires. But a lot of useful time is lost in the space between shots, when the eyes move, the gun follows, the sight picture settles, and the shooter decides whether the shot is ready.

In this video, I brought in Coach Dennis Rousseau for a private lesson focused on dry fire transition drills. The goal was to work on vision, target transitions, shot confirmation, and understanding how to train the gap between one shot and the next.

This is the kind of firearms lesson I value because it gives the student something they can practice without needing to be on the range. Dry fire, done responsibly and correctly, gives the shooter a way to isolate mechanics, vision, movement, and confirmation.

Training With Coach Dennis Rousseau

Sifu Alan Baker with Coach Dennis Rousseau. Dennis has been one of the most influential firearms instructors in Alan’s personal development.

Dennis Rousseau is the head instructor behind Force Solutions and has been one of the most influential instructors in my personal firearms development.

I have been working with Dennis for a while now, and one of the things I appreciate is his ability to take a specific skill and break it down into trainable parts. He does not just tell you to go faster. He shows you where the time is being lost, what the eyes should be doing, what the gun should be doing, and what level of confirmation the shot requires.

Dennis brings a wide background that includes decades of martial arts, firearms instruction, military experience, law enforcement training, defensive tactics, and self-defense education. Force Solutions describes its mission around helping responsible citizens build firearm safety, fundamentals, and practical firearm skills.

If someone wants to connect with Dennis, they can contact us through sifualanbaker.com, and we can point them in the right direction. You can also learn more about his work at forcesolutions.co.

Eyes Before Gun

One of Dennis’s first coaching points is that the eyes should move first.

In a transition, many shooters try to drag the gun from one target to another without clearly moving the eyes first. That creates wasted motion, poor confirmation, and inconsistent hits.

Dennis explains that the quicker the eyes move to the next target, the quicker the gun can arrive. The eyes lead the transition. The body and gun follow.

This sounds simple, but it is a major principle. In firearms training, martial arts, driving, movement, and self-protection, vision organizes action. If the eyes are slow, unclear, or late, the body follows that confusion.

Why Dry Fire Works For Transitions

Dry fire removes recoil so the shooter can study the transition more clearly.

On the range, recoil creates movement. The gun lifts, settles, tracks, and returns. That is valuable to study. But in dry fire, the shooter can isolate where the eyes move, where the gun lands, and whether the sights or dot arrive where they are supposed to.

Dennis uses this to break apart the drill. Sometimes the shooter transitions and fires. Sometimes the shooter transitions and does not fire. That second version is especially valuable because it reveals whether the gun actually landed where the eyes intended.

The goal is not to stare at the laser. The goal is to watch what the gun does and build better visual discipline.

Drag On And Drag Off

Dennis explains two common transition errors: drag on and drag off.

Drag on happens when the shooter fires too soon as the gun is arriving on target. The shot breaks before the sight picture is where it needs to be.

Drag off happens when the shooter is already leaving the target as the shot breaks. The eyes or gun are moving away too early.

Both errors come from trying to move faster than the confirmation level allows.

This is why the drill is useful. It gives the shooter a way to check whether the gun is arriving where the eyes are looking and whether the shot is being confirmed before the trigger breaks.

The Gap Between Shots

One of the most important moments in the video is when Dennis says that the time we are not shooting is what we need to speed up.

That is the gap.

If the shooter can move the eyes and gun more efficiently between targets, they gain more time to make a precise shot. The goal is not to rush the trigger. The goal is to make everything between the shots cleaner and faster.

This is an important distinction. Going faster does not mean abandoning confirmation. It means removing wasted time from the transition so the shooter has more time to see and press properly.

Different Targets Require Different Confirmation

Dennis also points out that different target areas require different levels of confirmation.

A body A-zone shot may allow a different level of visual confirmation than a smaller head box. That means the transition speed may be similar, but the trigger press and confirmation may need more attention depending on the target.

This is where shooters often make mistakes. They treat every target as if it requires the same visual patience or the same trigger speed.

The better answer is to understand the shot requirement. Where does the hit need to be? How much confirmation is enough? How much time do I have? What is acceptable, and what is the specific point I actually want to hit?

That is where shooting becomes decision-making.

Why This Matters Beyond The Range

This lesson is about dry fire and target transitions, but the larger lesson applies beyond firearms.

Many people try to improve performance by pushing harder at the most obvious part of the task. In shooting, that might mean trying to press the trigger faster. In martial arts, it might mean trying to hit harder. In business, it might mean trying to work longer.

But sometimes the real time loss is somewhere else.

In this drill, Dennis shows that the loss often lives between the shots. The transition, the eyes, the confirmation, and the decision all matter.

That is a useful way to think. Improvement begins when you find the actual bottleneck.

Training With Force Solutions

Force Solutions offers firearms safety education, live fire courses, simulations courses, private training, self-defense classes, and related instruction.

Dennis’s teaching reflects the kind of practical, structured coaching that helps students understand what they are doing, why it matters, and how to improve safely and responsibly.

If you are interested in connecting with Dennis or learning more about training with Force Solutions, visit forcesolutions.co or contact us through sifualanbaker.com.

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