Filishooter

I usually just use non-amplified muffs but borrowed some amplified muffs when I forgot to bring mine. I think it comes down to personal preference, a lot of people use them but I really didn't like the amplification and ended up just turning it off, it was distracting to me. I would suggest borrowing some and trying it out before buying any.

You probably aren't going to get rid of the "lean" entirely off the reload. If you have long arms, big muscles a high waistline and a short wide torso, it might be near impossible. But I've seen many shooters lean more than they need to more out of habit then what is physically required to get to the magazine. In the video examples you give of Dave and Taran, keep in mind those reloads are performed on the move. Notice most of the "lean" happens when Dave and Taran (both right handed shooters) do the reload while moving left to right, a direction they would be leaning anyways while taking off to the next position so its incorporated into the movement. If you look at Taran at 1:32 where he does a reload moving right to left the lean isn't as pronounced. Here is a video of Sevigney doing slow motion stationary reloads at :35 and 1:03 and 1:19 which is a better comparison to your videos. He is shooting IDPA drills but you get the idea (its hard to find him doing a standing reload in an IPSC match). There is a little movement, but notice how his platform stays upright with minimal "lean?"

Most obvious thing I see is the reload. You have a lot of wasted movement tilting the body far to the right to get to your magazines. I realize we are all built differently, but if you can minimize some of that movement you'll get your shot after the reload off faster AND more accurately. See if you can do the reload without upsetting your center as much, it might involve relaxation and flexibility exercises to loosen the shoulders and arms. Keep in mind that in these stills its obvious that there is movement left to right, but there may also be movement front to back. Try video taping yourself from different angles with a vertical guide in the background so you can get some idea how far off you are from your centerline and see if you can minimize it. I also noticed that this lean got more pronounced the farther on back on your belt you went. You need to get that consistent so the magwell is in the same spot every time. As it is right now, your magazines have a moving target.

You got it, you need to shoot enough IDPA to where the different things that aren't shooting, like drawing from concealment, using cover, target engagement, different types of reloads, etc. are no longer distractions, you just do them automatically. Once you get those things automatic, you're free to just shoot.

I'm all for it. The top dogs aren't really competing with Masters (like me) who barley shoots to the MA classifier time, they are competing with each other. Someday I hope to be there, but I'm being realistic. IIRC Ben Stoeger recently shot a 59 second classifier, so maybe set the GM time around there? If a MA wins MA class and beats a percentage of GM shooters, then I'd say maybe he belongs in that class, right?

A lot of good info already on technical things but here is some advice. Seems that whenever I "decide" on something before going into a match it screws me over! I've changed to accepting (and adjusting) to what I see at the time the shots are fired. The shooting will tell you what pace to shoot at. Deciding on a "casual pace" in a game based on speed on accuracy is only going to take you so far. I've actually found the opposite. When I'm shooting at a casual pace, I'm not as engaged and into the shooting so I end up shooting slower AND my hits aren't as good. Its like cruising at 55mph on an empty highway where your falling asleep vs driving 125mph on a race track. When your going that much faster you BETTER be focused, on your game and paying attention!

Take JT up on his offer! IIRC S&W had a highly successful "Babes with Bullets" women's camp not too long ago. kay M., Julie G., Jesse A.....I'm not sure if they are ALL instructors in the camp but S&W has one of the stronger women's teams out there!

ONLY reason I'm commenting here is because I've had the pleasure and opportunity to help train a really nice lady that shoots with us. Very similar to you, likes to shoot, but doesn't practice much. I think her biggest gain so far is realizing the need for quality practice. The BIGGEST challenge for me (us) isn't so much the technical side, but the mental side. She picks up on the technical things faster than most men, but has trouble translating that into a performance during a match. I don't want to draw gender lines, but here it goes. Women think differently from men. From some the comments you've posted in your video.... "What was I waiting for?" "More wasted time..." "I should have been..." "I can't believe how slow I was." "Poor girl, she's so lost." You seem VERY similar to my student. She sometimes uses comedy as a coping tool, but I also think subliminally she is telling me she knows what she is doing wrong before I tell her. She also gets super excited when she does really well. I'm not sure if its from a lack of practice or being a female in a male dominated sport, but the confidence isn't all there yet. but its coming. I don't really know where I'm going with this other than its been a challenge for us. I feel I can't offer advise in the same raw, brutally honest, abrasive way I would to another guy. It would be like my wife asking me if a dress made her look fat vs blasting my best friend for wearing an underarmor shirt that's barely containing his beer gut. There is a lot of good info on these forums and many people willing to help but it might be good to seek out the advice of a top woman competitor to look into her mind. You may have physiological barriers you need to overcome and another woman may be better able to understand where your coming from.

Couple different product out there. FastGrip http://www.cedhk.com/shop/products/FAST-GRIP-by-Eric-Grauffel.html ProGrip http://www.jerrybarnhart.com/progrip/index.html

Speed up things that aren't the shooting. Something that is immediately apparent is that in the first video...it might feel like you're running from position to position but your really just lazily trotting over. There really isn't any hard acceleration (plyometric explosion) out of position or a need to scrub off any speed (because there isn't any) going into the next position. If you watch the video, the SO almost beat you to the next position and he was walking. Make the SO's work to have to chase after you to keep up! Think of yourself like a racecar, hard on the gas out of the hole, build up speed and momentum quickly then hard on the brakes before entering the corner. Go into a practice and run a COF without the gun. Run from position to position like you are playing tag and someone is try to tag you and each shooting position is "home base." Not sure about you, but when we were a kids we played that naturally without thinking about it. Also, on your first reload you had your hand on the magazine in the first couple steps but didn't start your reload until you were into your next position. try to get that in in the first step so you can focus on your acceleration. In your first array I'd opt to shoot the steel first. Shooting steel last in array could lead to doing the "happy dance" where you start into your movement too early, get a mike and have to jump back into the box to shoot it again. That will also might allow you to preload some weight on your leg in the direction on movement, so you can fall into your run. Approach your movement as an athletic venture. BECOME an athlete. Look at running sprints, agility training, etc. Steal drills from other sports like basketball suicide drills. Look at other sports that require speed and agility. A pro tennis player for example needs to change directions quickly, generate speed to chase down the ball and have the agility to stop on the dime and deliver the swing.

I keep my starter mag loaded with 11 rounds in my first magazine pouch. On LAMR I load my first mag from the pouch then replenish the empty magazine pouch with a mag loaded with 10 from my pocket. Couple reasons I do this...its the same EVERY time (no wondering where the magazine loaded with 11 is AND I get a free practice reload from my mag pouch on LAMR.

I'm not sure about the XDM but it's not just the height, but the amount of weight located above the bore axis. I used to have an XD subcompact and for a "small" gun it sure had a big, blocky slide, it felt top heavy compared to some of my other guns.

In China a "buddha belly" is a sign of prosperity and good luck. Remember that next time you get a perf hit on the D zone vs a Mike and thank the belly!

I get what you're saying, but IMHO what you are describing isn't "stereo" vision but mono vision. One eye focused on the front sight the other eye focused on the target. 2 separate channels for 2 separate inputs (MONO) vs 2 channels working off of one input (STEREO). So instead of being dominant in one eye, you could say one eye is dominant at close range and the other eye is dominant at distance. Although it may happened to some extent, the eyes (hardware) don't need to work as hard as they seem to stay closer to their respective focal ranges but the brain (software) is controlling the input and regulating which one is dominant at any given time like an analog mixing board. You not only have the extremes of hard target focus OR hard front sight focus, but some combination of both to various degrees. I know this goes against the normal convention of "you can only see one thing at a time, front sight or target" but there it is.

I like it.

I'm 84.09% A and just shot a 91% on a classifier last weekend. That "should" replace one of my lower scores on file and put me in M. It happened rather quickly. I went from B to A in a classifier match, shot only 2 matches as A, now I'm going to be in M. So now I get to get my ass kicked in M for a while! Biggest thing that I noticed was first, you have to want to be there (M). You have to accept going from being a successful A to fighting harder in M. Second is that you can't try to be better while shooting a match. The "just shoot" advice is probably the best advice that I've listened to. IMHO, skill in A isn't so much different from skill in M. I find the shooters I'm competing with in M are just doing it more naturally with less effort.

+1 moving cover is the best option presented. Sounds like it would be high entertainment value watching people trying to stay behind it while shooting. It would be cool if you could make it variable speed. starts slow, speed up then slow...lol. Do you think you could rig it so it travels downrange instead of laterally? newer shooters seem to do better going forward and back vs side to side.

How about shooting from a treadmill set to run at 3 mph? Can it be done safely?

I have a barrel that has a fixed full choke that I would like to open up to light modified for 3 gun. I know the "proper" way to do this would be to use a reaming tool but somebody told me that it might not be able to be done with a chrome plated barrel. I also know that I can cut the barrel so the constriction is completely removed and have it rethreaded which is what I'll probably do. However, I got into a discussion with one of my friends and we were debating on if I cut the barrel at the area of the constriction that I wanted, ( cut where the inner barrel is .705" in diameter) would it pattern? The barrel would be cut in the area of taper. Don't most fixed choke barrels have a parallel section after reaching the constriction to help stabilize the pattern before leaving the barrel? If so, how do the screw in chokes achieve this in such a short time? I might try it just to see what it does before I send it out.

Before going to the MD talk to your lead SO for your squad. If he is doing his job and managing the squad effectively, he'll take care of it. I sent one guy packing for something similar. I told him he could either stop what he's doing (maybe not in those exact words) or he could switch squads...it's pretty simple. No sense in arguing about it, give them a choice, either fix it or go be someone else's problem.

Loved the Chief! " He tried holding it the old sissy way...." lol!

Present it to IDPA HQ and get their ruling...if they say its GTG then that's the final word. Personally I'd like to see this gizmo used at more matches. Get a patent and start hitting the junkyards for windshield sprayers, it might be the next big thing like the charging target! Its been pretty damn hot down here...some people may take a procedural just to get hosed down.

I'd have to agree. I would check with Robert Ray before using it in a major match. it depends on what the definition is for a "fault line" and what HQ's interpretation is. If we think in literal terms, like in many sports, its a line painted on the ground that differentiates the in-play area from the out-of-play area. you said.."You break the beam and everyone can tell..." A fault line is used for the same purpose. You are substituting an IR beam (line of light) for a line of paint. Don't get me wrong...I think its a cool idea but expect to get complaints from competitors if you don't have it cleared by HQ. Fault definition: a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention. (sports) a serve that is illegal (e.g., that lands outside the prescribed area); "he served too many double faults" Line definition: A geometric figure formed by a point moving along a fixed direction and the reverse direction. A real or imaginary mark positioned in relation to fixed points of reference. A border or boundary

I agree with the others, front pocket closest to the magazine. I tried the waisteband for a while but I guess I like wearing my belt too tight for that to work for me!

Yup...I don't think there is really any one thing that will "take you over the top" other than staying on the path of development. Keep dryfiring, keep practicing keep shooting, make shooting more natural...forget about rankings and before you know it you are there. Then the training really begins.