Got to do some holster training. First time.
All this time training and we finally get to holsters and draw training.
The manual of arms is pretty much exactly the same as when I did it for my CCW training 10 year ago. I've practiced that, but with someone watching, now I know where I've been reinforcing bad habits.
People set the draw to numbers. Just like military drill. Add two more if you have a cover garment. Add two more on top of that if you have two cover garments like a button down shirt AND an unbuttoned jacket.
Things I learned:
When you go back to the draw from the 'hands up, surrender' position, tickle the kitty. I'd never done that before. What is that, for those like me that had a quizzical look on their face? When your hand goes to get your gun, brush your finger tips on it as you sweep past. Now you know where it all IS. You feel the back strap, the grip.... for the next step is to get that grip, firm and right the first time, no shifty-shifty. 'Tickling the kitty' makes the problem of getting the right grip much simpler. It sounds stupid, but it works. So...
Other thing I learned... I am relatively disciplined with my support hand, but not enough, and less so with a little stress added on. I am getting it on the grip too early, too, when the pistol is still too close in to my body. I need to meet it when pushing out? Still got to drill this better. This is the third most common time you will shoot your self. One and two are when you are drawing and reholstering, or vice versa. Three is muzzling your own damn hand trying to support hand into place on grip and fumble-bumming. (Ok, I am guessing at the ranking, but smart money says I am right.)
I suggest you make sure your holster is always in the same place on your belt. And if you are not doing it already, holster without looking for the holster.
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ. There is very little need to holster unseeing. Much, much safer if you can see where the gun is going. There are situations when it will be necessary, mostly for police types, but one of the drawbacks to this is most people do it too fast, and that is a factor in some of the ND's during holstering. Unfortunately, the perception is that looking at it is uncool or unprofessional.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't know how to do it, I am saying that it shouldn't be the default mode.
Will,
ReplyDeleteYour point about looking at the holster is well reasoned, and is a good one. I completely agree that there is no reason to be the winner of a "who can holster race."
And you are also correct about my background. We will almost always train with the methods that we are most familiar with.
Clothing caused NDs were one of the reasons I chose an EDC pistol with a grip safety, and I change my grip off of the grip safety after the pistol has begun sliding into the holster to make it far less likely to have an ND causing by clothing trapped in the trigger guard.
I suspect we would find we would agree on far more things than we would disagree upon.