I have a habit I need to break.
When drawing from the holster I meet the gun with the support hand way too early. There is a risk the support hand could pass in front of the muzzle. Also, it makes my presentation a bit jerky doing it the way I do.
Plus, you know, slow. When relaxed and smooth I can sit just under 2 seconds. When jerky and flustered I am at 2.5.
I am no J. B. Books. I don't expect to get to half a second. Ever. My current goal is to get it under one and a half relatively consistently.
How? Initially, untimed 'dry fire'. Just to smooth me out.
Lou Awerbuck would say “Don’t shoot fast, shoot good!” And “Fast isn’t fast, smooth is fast!” He was right on both counts.
ReplyDeleteFastest draw in Hollywood? Sammy Davis Junior.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you doing with your support hand during the actual removal from the holster?
ReplyDeleteOne of the problems people have is chasing the gun with the offside hand. Unless you are fending off someone during the draw, you want both hands together on the gun as early as possible. Basically, as soon as the barrel is horizontal and the breech at the farthest forward point of your belly, you should be bringing your hands together on the grips. Your support hand should be indexed flat on your belly, ready to slide across to cover the gripping hand as your gripping hand is heading toward the holster. Slap your belly, and it is ready to go when the gun arrives.
Some modification to this may be needed if the support hand needs to do something like lift a cover garment, but you should try to make it the last location before moving to join the gripping hand. Select the actual slapping location in relation to where you rotate the gun to horizontal. You don't want to have to move the hand up, or especially down, to get it at the level of the gripping hand.
The point of this is to keep that hand from ever ending up in front of the muzzle, and to allow you to fire as soon as the muzzle covers some important part of your opponent, if necessary, while keeping the gun from being grabbed.
Rotating the gun just out of the holster, before you start to move it to your standard firing position, is slightly slower than the "bowling" technique, but it would seem to be a more useful real-world gun presentation. "Gunsmoke" at noon outside the saloon not being real life, for the most part.
ReplyDeleteI've been competing (not very well) in USPSA since 1983, and I've found that shooting fast AND accurately is absolutely a contradiction in terms ... at least, for me it is.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I tried an experiment. With a friend running the timer, I tried to get an A-zone hit at a target 10 feet away, starting from the "Surrender Position" (both hands above shoulders). Best time I could manage (again, only going for a first-shot hit) was something on the order of 1.5 seconds.
So I tried shooting strong-hand only. Still only recording the first-shot hit.
I consistently beat my 'best time' recorded trying to get both hands on the gun. And at 10 feet, accuracy is more easily learned than "welding a good grip".
My best time was 0.83 seconds. And with a good first-shot hit, I could bring my weak hand in place for a second shot in the same amount of time required for a first-shot with both hands on the gun.
I'm not advocating this; I offer the comment only to suggest that MY speed was determined by the desire to put both hands on the gun. And of course, it was not using the sights, in either case; just snap-shots.
If you find yourself unable to achieve accurate fast first-shot hits, you might consider this (wildly bizarre, completely discounted by "Good Shooters" training technique. It doesn't work for distances past a scant few yards. but it may help you to determine exactly what is slowing up YOUR "draw time".
Your hand should be on your center chest, ready to collect the gun at Two, before extending.
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