Noptel Shot Analysis For Military Shooting Instructors

1. Noptel Shot AnalysisFor Military Shooting Instructors

2. Introduction • Starting point • The laws of success that govern the development of any skill, also apply to the development of shooting skills. Among the most important of these are: progressive training, correct repetitions, immediate feedback and positive reinforcement. Training will be far more efficient and effective when these laws are followed. However, since the act of shooting is mainly an internal process, it has been difficult to analyse by trainers without specific tools available to accomplish this. The end result has been a great deal of wasted time and resources. • Training devices from NOPTEL have brought about a means of analyzing shooting performance. This analysis is based on our model of objectively measuring shooting fundamentals. The results of the computer analysis are illustrated by our Quick GradingDisplay (“Traffic Lights”) , this allows even non-experienced trainees to quickly understand and correct their soldier’s errors.

3. Introduction to shot analysis • Live fire shot analysis • The result of a live fire shot on the target is a hole, as illustrated here. • What does a bullet hole tell us about shooting? Not much - since it takes place after the shooting has occurred! Why is the bullet hole where it is? • Answering this question by analyzing the bullet hole is pure guesswork. The fact is, there are 3 fundamental shooting processes that affect the shooting result separately and in combination with one another.

4. Introduction to shot analysis Aim TC Hit Hold • Every shot tells a story ! • Using a Noptel training device, the illustration shown here can be displayed on your computer screen for the same shot. • The Noptel ST-2000 line of products accurately measure the gun orientation path on the target surface; both before and after the shot, additionally recording the shot itself. The track indicates where the gun is pointing in real time during the shooting process. This path and associated data tell the story of exactly how and why the shot was generated. • In this example the main error was with Trigger Control (TC) as the shooter failed to apply smooth trigger control; graded with a red light by our Quick Grading System (this is usually caused by lack of initial pressure and/or failing to “take up the slack”. The Aim was excellent as indicated by the green box located in the centre of the target and the green light. The overall Hold was average as indicated by the yellow light. This information is objective and reliable; and as we will see later, even more detailed shot information can be displayed in the same easy to see manner.

5. Introduction to shot analysis • Every shot tells a story II • Consider this next example of another shot. Without the NOPTEL data, the shooter would probably be happy with the result of his shooting this time, simply due to the shot location. But shot location alone doesn’t begin to illustrate performance. • The reality is, that from a fundamental standpoint, this shot wasn’t that good. First the aiming (sight alignment) was not correct and then the shooter failed to apply smooth trigger control, badly jerking the shot upwards (a red TC). The overall hit is graded green, but it is indeed only part of the story as we see here.

6. Noptel Shooting Performance Model

7. Shooting Performance Model RESULT TRIGGER CONTROL AIM HOLD • The model • The fundamental success factors in shooting are hold, aim and trigger control (TC). • A shooter's hold denotes his ability to use support and relax his muscles in a position, preventing unwanted movement. • A shooter's aim denotes the accuracy with which he is able to direct the gun at the desired point on the target. In order to be consistent, this must be accomplished through excellent sight alignment. • A shooter's trigger control denotes the timing of the actual triggering event relative to the hold/aim process, and the smoothness (clean) with which the trigger release takes place. • The shot execution is a parallel process of the fundamental factors, which are in constant interaction with each other.

8. Shooting Performance Model • Average evolution of a shot, or the shot trend • If we sum up and average a large number of shots from one shooter or a large number of shots from several shooters shooting the same discipline, it gives us the average evolution, or the shottrend curve. • The adjacent curves are obtained in that manner from 148 Finnish soldiers shooting from the prone position at 10 m distance, simulating 150 m shooting. • The middle curve presents all the shots, the upper one the best 10 shots of each series and the lower one presents the worst 10 shots of each series. • In these curves Optimization,or timing the trigger control with the ideal sight picture is strong. The good as compared to the bad shots differ significantly even several seconds before the trigger release! The main reason for the early difference comes from aiming (sight alignment) errors.

9. Shooting Performance Model Holder Optimizer Reactor • Shooting styles • The adjacent trends are 30 measured shot curves from three Finnish soldiers. • The Holder keeps the weapon at the correct (as close as possible) sight picture for several seconds and activates the trigger “slowly”. • The reactor instead just brings the weapon to the correct point of aim (with good sight alignment) and activates the trigger rapidly. • The Optimizer spends more time in aiming/holding than the reactor but much less than the Holder so that his curve is somewhere in the middle of the above tracks. • A well-trained soldier should be more or less an Optimizer. He will not have all day to fire the shot nor should he always take quick reaction shots as these will more likely result in a miss. The soldier should make well-aimed shots rather quickly. This applies to normal, single shots; the situation will dictate the style and speed of the shooting (snipers, urban close-combat etc.).

10. Shooting Performance Model • Three fundamental success factors and the result • The hold represents the platform for most types of rifle shooting. It may account for more than 80% of the result. The hold is built with internal support (body position) and or external support (sand bags, sling, etc.) • Consider the sequence that forms the result: • The more the gun is moving the less the shooter can score in average. The better the hold the less the movement. • The more the average aiming point varies from shot to shot, the less the shooter can score. This can be caused by a less than optimum hold and or inconsistent sight alignment. • Trigger control is more complicated. By excellent trigger control the shooter can actually improve the achievable result (after hold and aim errors) or he can reduce the potential result by making triggering errors.

11. Shooting Performance Model RESULT TRIGGER CONTROL AIM HOLD • Summary • As seen in our model picture, the fundamental factors interact with each other. The key position is occupied by the hold factor, which is linked to the other factors and to the result itself, i.e. it affects the result both directly and via aim and trigger control. In addition, the result may have a counter-effect on the hold etc. • It is very important to realize that the fundamentals are strongly interconnected and form a parallel process. In other words the shooter is holding, aiming and using trigger control simultaneously and not in a timed sequence. • Any shooter can only concentrate on one thing at a time. This should be aiming; ensuring consistent sight alignment and sight picture. Holding the weapon takes place automatically with proper training, and smooth trigger control can be a conditioned response to seeing the desired sight picture.

12. Shooting Performance Model • Summary continued • The Hold is the foundation of marksmanship shooting. It is the platform upon which the other fundamentals will be based. The shooter can achieve a good hold by internal support (proper body position) and or by external support from the environment (e.g. sand bags, sling, etc.). • A good hold gives the shooter the chance to aim accurately. Competitive marksman and snipers understand this very well. To minimize errors with iron sights (which are more difficult to use than optic sights), care should be taken to ensure consistent sight alignment. • The trigger control (TC) is the most complicated success factor of shooting. Improper TC may destroy a good hold/aim and even cause a complete miss. • Understanding the interactive relationship between the fundamental success factors will help the shooters and instructors to train in a more effective manner.

13. NOS Program Displays Note: Colors of some drawing elements on this slide show can be different than the default colors of the NOS program.

14. Shooter Displays • XY- Display • The familiar target silhouette is the center piece and most important display. • In the simplest form, there is some numerical data on the upper left side of the display and a 3-level Quick Grading graphic, “traffic lights”, located in the upper right corner of the screen. The two icons to the left of the traffic lights indicate that the shooter is in the prone position and that the selected difficulty level is “Marksman” (2 yellow marks out of 3 possible lit). • The aiming track is blue until the final second before the trigger release. One second before TC the track changes color to yellow for 0.8 seconds. The final 0.2 seconds before TC the track changes to red, then the shot. The follow-through (movement after the shot) is turquoise. The “traffic light” graphic is the most important tool for shot analysis by the marksmanship instructor; it’s use will be explained in greater detail.

15. Shooter Displays Distance Time • R(t)- Display • The shot, as it develops in relation to time, is the second display and is labeled R(t). The R(t) graph indicates the distance from target center (dotted line) of the gun orientation path during the aiming time. • The R(t)-display helps among other things to reveal the shooters style. The example shot here is the same as in the previous XY-display. The graph indicates that the shooter is an optimizer. • Note: The last second interval is divided up into 5 equal time slices for analysis purposes.

16. Shooter Displays • XY(t)- Display • The time-axis movement is separated into its horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) components in the XY(t)-display. • The target centre is again the dotted line between the target 10-markings. The blue track is the vertical (Y) and the red track the horizontal (X) movement. • When the gun is moving towards the left side of the target, the red track moves below the centre line of the display (and vice versa). • When the gun is moving towards the lower half of the target, the blue track moves below the centre line of the display (and vice versa).

17. Shooter Displays • Hits- Display • The Hits-display shows all the hits within a series of shots. The last shot is white, with each previous shot coloured red. • The purple cross gives the average centre of gravity (COG) of aim and the blue cross in a blue circle the average hit point of the series of shots. • The first figure of the score (upper left) takes into account the decimal values and the figure in parenthesis only the whole number assigned to the hit values for the series. • The Hit Count gives the distribution of hit scores. • The uppermost traffic lights show the average evaluation of the whole 10-shot series and the lower ones are for the individual shots of the series.

18. Shooter Displays • Session- Display • A summary of all the shots of a session is given here. • The horizontal bar graphic below the traffic lights indicates the style of the shooter. If the round marking is on the blue area, the shooter is a holder, while the red area indicates a reactor style. The green area would indicate the shooter is an optimizer; as is the case with our example shooter.

19. Shooter Displays • Session statistics • This table shows the distribution of different grading lights for different fundamentals.

20. Shooter Displays • Trend- Display • The trend curve is an average R(t)-curve for a number of shots. • In other words it describes the distance from the target centre (on average) over time, during the shot process for the entire session. • The Trend display is mainly used to classify the shooting style. The adjacent trend curve is obtained from our example shooter; this curve indicates an individual well suited for military type shooting (optimizer).

21. Shooter displays Hit Hold Aim Trigger control No data available Good shot/series Average shot/series Poor shot/series • Quick Grading- Display “Traffic Lights” • The Traffic Light display graphic is used to show the quick evaluation of fundamental shooting skill factors in a simple and familiar way. This will be especially helpful to both inexperienced trainers and new trainees. • The upper picture shows the icons of the fundamental factors. • The examples to the right illustrate the use of the 3-level lights. The green light indicates the best result and the red one the poorest. • The long bar on the left of the graphic gives the overall evaluation of the shot.

22. Shooter displays • 5-level Traffic Lights • There are two options available to assist the user in getting more detailed shot data if required. • He can either choose the normal green, yellow, red display; or add complementary 5 level traffic lights to the display screen (see the next slide). • The new colours are red-yellow and yellow-green. The meaning is again self-explanatory.

23. Shooter displays • Complementary info • The complementary info can be opened from the View (Shotlist) by the trainer. • The complementary lights split both the Hold and TC analysis into sub-components. • Especially the TC gives such information which may be hard to find from the track display. The trigger control is divided up into Timing =T and Smoothness = S.

24. Shooter displays • Series lights • The series lights are placed below the main lights and are used when actual shooting takes place. • After each shot the series lights” list” is increased by an additional line. • The trainer sees immediately if the shooter has a specific problem which is repeated. • In this example the shooter has had a reoccurring aiming problem as indicated by the 4 red lights in the aiming column. The most likely culprit is poor sight alignment due to inconsistent head position. • The white lights indicate that the aiming time on target is less than one second.

25. Shooter displays • Grading settings • In total, there are 9 different possibilities you can choose from for grading shots; also known as statistical calculation options. • First the trainer selects the shooting position to be used and then the difficulty level. In this example Prone/Expert grading is selected. • Since the system does not know which position is used in practice, you can select from the 9 different difficulty levels available. The most demanding is Prone/Expert and least demanding the Standing/Unqualified.

26. Shooter displays • Setting Grading Icons • All possible combinations are shown here. The one selected will be indicated on the display to the left of the main traffic lights (upper right area of the screen). • The first icon is prone/unqualified, the middle icon of the second row is kneeling/marksman and the last icon of the 3rd row is standing/expert. It should be apparent what each icon represents

27. Shooter displays • Complete Traffic Lights Display • If the trainer has selected the 5 light- traffic light display (XY-display shown here) and he has opened the Complementary lights, the display will look similar to this example when a series is fired. The right hand side lights can also be shown as the standard 3-level.

28. Shooter displays • Instructor window • This is what the instructor can see displayed in a typical 8-shooter training session. It is very easy for him to find the problem shooters and their problem areas. The more red he sees in a shooter window, the more attention the shooter needs; this saves valuable trainer time. Of course the instructor can zoom in to any of the shooter windows for closer observation any time during the shooting.

29. Shooting Analysis Using Quick Grading - Traffic Lights

30. Analysis • Shot analysis using different grading settings • Our “old shot friend” is again under inspection. Now we take a look at it using all the grading combinations in order to see what the story is. The first variation is standing/unqualified for which the shot was all green e.g. very good/excellent. The only deviation from perfect was the TC Smooth which was graded “only” yellow-green. This can be perfected with good initial pressure and by “taking up the slack” in the trigger.

31. Analysis • This is what happens when we change the grading • The Hit goes from green to yellow-green, the Hold from green to red, the Aim from green to yellow but the TC stays the same (as it should be). The overall general grading goes from green to yellow. This demonstrates how important the point of view is.

32. Hold Analysis • Basis • A shooter's hold indicates his ability to prevent unwanted movement in his position during the shot execution. The size of the hold (= wobble area) is shown by a green rectangle in the XY-display and by a green bar in the R(t)-display. The better the hold is, the smaller is the rectangle and the narrower the bar. The length of the bar is the statistical time used in calculation. In military and other professional types of shooting we use the last 0.8 seconds (= the yellow coloured part of the track) to calculate the hold. In our example the hold is graded red when the reference is made for marksman level prone shooting. But as mentioned already our shooter is using optimizing shooting techniques, the main cause of the relatively large movement leading up to the actual triggering event.

33. Hold Analysis • Basis -continued • As we have already learned, the hold has a fundamental impact on the shooting result. Even though the role of the hold depends on the shooting style; the hold is always important. The Holder bases his shooting almost completely on his holding ability, whereas the reactor makes more use of his Trigger Control. In average it is easier to develop an adequate hold than become a master of the reaction skill. Both are partly related to personal characteristics (physical and mental) and in part to the type and amount of training. Sport shooters are typically holders but soldiers and policemen normally don’t have the time for a long hold and consequently have to use more rapid shooting techniques. Care should be taken not to become a “hip shooter” as this rarely brings good results. This is why we recommend that single shots are always aimed shots, that include a short hold period before trigger activation. It is also good to remember that a good hold also enhances aiming accuracy which is directly related to overall shooting capability. • In many of our following examples, the prone position will be used predominantly as it is the most common shooting position used in military training.

34. Hold Analysis • Red Hold • A poor hold looks like this: notice the size of the green box/bar and the yellow line. It is very difficult to control the aiming and triggering when the hold is not good, but our example shooter has succeeded in keeping the TC yellow (probably due to good initial pressure on the trigger). Shooting style is ironically Holder.

35. Hold Analysis • Yellow Hold • Same shooter with a better hold and excellent aiming accuracy this time, but a red TC due to the the lack of smoothness in trigger activation. The “jerk” can be seen on both displays and is confirmed by the complementary lights (TC Timing and Smooth are both red-yellow). Here’s how you fix it: Initial pressure and “taking up the slack” ; this will improve overall triggering.

36. Hold Analysis • Green Hold • Same shooter with a better hold and good aiming accuracy. Still there is a triggering problem as indicated by the red TC mostly because of the timing of trigger activation. This can be seen on both displays and is confirmed by the complementary lights (TC Timing was red- and Smooth was yellow-green). This shot may also indicate a follow through problem that we can fix.

37. Hold Analysis • Red Hold • A poor hold in kneeling looks like this: notice the shape of the green box in combination with the yellow line. The weapon is wobbling horizontally quite a lot due to a poor hold (improper natural point of aim- NPA may be indicated as well). It is very difficult to control the aiming and triggering but our example shooter has triggered smoothly (more initial pressure would help improve the trigger timing.

38. Hold Analysis • Yellow Hold • This shot/hold is already much better. Actually the shot execution was excellent although the vertical movement was doomed red by our merciless and impartial judge. This situation is caused by anticipation of the shot and can be fixed with dry-fire and ball and dummy exercises. You wouldn’t know this without the NOPTEL showing you!

39. Hold Analysis • Green Hold • Here we have an almost perfect shot but a small lapse in smooth triggering caused the shot to go out of the ten ring and the marksman did not get an all green grading. Again more initial pressure and ensuring the shooter “takes up the slack” before triggering will fix this.

40. Hold Analysis • Red Hold • Here is an example of a red hold and poor hit in the expert prone position by a shooter using the optimizing style. Usually this shooter can make excellent shots using this shooting technique, but this style can be vulnerable to these types of shooting problems.

41. Hold analysis • Yellow Hold • The same shooter as before, this time using a much better approach. However, the rules are so strict for experts that even this shot performance only produced a yellow hold, aim, and score!

42. Hold analysis • Yellow Hold • This is our first example of an expert shooter using reaction techniques. The difference between a reactor and an optimizer is like the famous line in the water-hard to see. However, our all mighty evaluator recognizes a reactor when “he” sees it. It is very difficult for a reactor to get a green hold and aim at the expert level because of the very nature of their techniques. Their TC can be and usually is very good as we see here.

43. Hold analysis • Green Hold • Again the same shooter as before, this time with a green hold. This shot shows a typical error when using the optimizing techniques: the sight picture, possibly caused by a sight alignment error, is not correct. However, the shooter feels that NOW I have to activate the trigger; and we see the result. In addition to a poor aiming point he demonstrates a lack of smooth trigger control and ends up with a poor hit.

44. Hold analysis • Green Hold • Let us finally enjoy a perfect shot by an expert shooter using holding techniques. There is nothing wrong in this shot! It takes a long time to develop a shooting technique like this and it is a challenge for anyone to achieve it.

45. Hold Analysis • Summary • Holding ability, as accomplished with a proper position, is foundational to shooting success. Because of the effects it has on the other fundamentals, it can account for up to 80% of the result. • It is easy to understand that a Green Hold will provide a better platform for aiming and triggering than a Yellow or Red one. An acceptable hold is not that difficult to achieve by most trainees using supported positions (e.g. prone and fox-hole). An excellent hold, however, requires both talent and hard training and is also more difficult to achieve using unsupported positions. • The way we measure the hold favours a shooter who uses the holder style shooting technique (how else!). A shooter who uses the optimizer or a reactor styles will be penalized somewhat for their techniques. This makes sense and is also fair since they cannot escape from the laws of physics. However, these styles can receive some compensation through good trigger control and more rapid shot execution.

46. Aim Analysis • Basis • We evaluate the aiming ability of a single shot by using two factors: • aiming precision and aiming time. • The main factor is the aiming precision, as obtained by the centre point of aim during the selected statistical time (one second). It is marked by a cross in the centre of the hold box and called COG (Centre Of Gravity) of aim. • For a shot series the measure of aiming quality is the COGvariation between the shots of a particular series. • The closer the shooter’s aiming is to the target centre, the better the average result. In this example the COG is not very good giving a Yellow Aim using the prone unqualified setting.

47. Aim Analysis • Red Hold, Red Aim • Consider this example of a red aim in conjunction with a red hold. This shot was generated from the unqualified standing setting. There is not much here to tell the grandchildren! On the brighter side, somehow, our shooter succeeded in activating the trigger smoothly and on time earning a green TC. This example illustrates how much movement can occur with a novice shooter in an unsupported position such as standing and how an unstable position (hold) can adversely effect the other fundamental shooting success factors.

48. Aim Analysis • Red Hold, Yellow Aim • Our second shooter had better aiming but the timing of the TC was not good, the end result; a poor hit. The hit result carries “double weight” in our general grading and analysis, which is the reason for the red light.

49. Aim Analysis • Red Hold, Green Aim • This example demonstrates a combination that is not that common, since the aiming skill is directly connected to the holding skill. The TC was smooth but not well timed, resulting in a poor hit. This is what we call being “behind” on the trigger and can be caused by the lack of adequate initial pressure on the trigger and/or a failure to “take up the slack”.

50. Aim Analysis • Yellow Hold, Red Aim • The hold demonstrated here is better, however, the aiming result is poor; most likely due to incorrect sight alignment caused by inconsistent head position. The TC was good with respect to both timing and smoothness, resulting in an acceptable hit.