[Shot Timers...]

Here's an interesting question:

Let's say you watch a video on the web, and you're curious just how fast the shooter was. Are either of these timers sensitive enough to pick up shots through cranked-way-up PC speakers? Anyone tried that yet?

OF course, you've got to try and hit the start button right as the SO did, but it would be interesting to see what Todd Jarret, Dave Sevigny, and so forth are shooting for splits, and what their reload times were.

Just wondering if anyone has tried it yet.

[Right hand slide release for lefty?]

...Normally I'm pressing the mag home at the junction between my palm and little finger so I'll have to adjust that a bit too

Why are you using that part of your hand?

To quickly insert a magazine, there are 2 things that really help: The first is the "brief pause" just as your first round is coming up to the magwell. Keeps you from throwing a mag across the room, or getting the feed lips hung up on the magwell opening.

The second one is to draw the magazine so that the tip of your index finger is on the nose of the first round in the magazine, so you can 'point' the mag straight into the gun. To do this, you pretty much have to draw the mag from your belt and slam it into the gun with the heel of palm/base-of-thumb portion of your hand on the magazine's baseplate. That's how your ring/index fingers end up right there by the slide stop lever.

So why is the other side of your hand getting used to swap mags?

[Tips from a newcomer...]

I had this happen this weekend in an IDPA stage. Fortunately, the SO saw it, and watched carefully for my hits.

One target had four -0 hits, the other had three -0 and one -1 hit. The previous shooter shot the stage completely clean (I scored for him), so it was pretty obvious which holes I was responsible for.

[Noob, Production Glock Question]

The only thing you're missing is the frame.

So?

You roll your eyes now... But you'll be wishing you had 5 of everything on hand when you discover a broken locking block just before the start of stage 3.

Personally, I love the extended slide stop and mag catch on my gun. But I'm a lefty. So my thumbs (and my on-table starts) have a little difficulty finding them by accident.

[Right hand slide release for lefty?]

(Lefty IDPA Glock shooter chiming in)

I used to slingshot, but it's too slow for gun games.

Don't reach over the top of the gun. You will, when in a hurry, get the meat of your hand pinched between the barrel and breech face when the slide snaps shut. I've had the massive blood blister to prove it.

The absolute best way I've found?

Okay. Follow along with hand motions on an imaginary gun to picture this:

1. Bring the magazine up from your belt with your index finger on the tip of the first round like your supposed to. Begin to insert the magazine.

2. Seat it fully into place with the heel of your right hand's palm, just like always. Now freeze.

3. Look where your right-hand fingers are after seating the magazine. The index and ring fingers are RIGHT THERE by the slide stop lever!

4. Sweep the slide stop lever downward with your right ring or index finger as soon as the magazine is seated fully. Even with the extended slide-stop on my G34 to help, I can do this much more reliably on-the-clock if the heel of my right palm stays on the base of the grip. So you're basically squeezing that finger and the base of your palm together. It's a stronger motion than if the rest of the right hand were off the gun, and you were just trying to move your fingertip downward. Make sense?

5. Drive the gun back out to full extension while returning your right hand to the thumbs-forward grip on the pistol.

After a couple hundred repetitions, 4 & 5 become one smooth motion, which may not be any slower than a righty's reload. Since a right-handed shooter has to adjust his grip to thumb the lever with his strong hand, and then adjust it back, it might even be a tie. We're just moving the weak hand instead of the strong one.

[I spend more time tucking in my shirt than drawing]

I think everyone has this problem. My shirt really doesn't like to stay tucked for 45 draws in a row.

Might be obvious, but when I do dry-fire practice at home (movement, reloads, etc)... I do it without a shirt on. Pants, belt, holster, and mag pouches... but no shirt.

I do most of my dry practice at home, so this works for me. Wouldn't work so well out in public.