DoubleA

I agree that knowing what is holding you back is invaluable. My argument is that when you have completed a rep at your maximum efficiency on the edge of your comfort zone, you know that any part of that drill, be it the draw, transitions, or splits, can be pushed and yield a better time as a result. So instead of setting a par of of 2.8 sec when you can normally do it in 3 and then push every aspect of the drill hoping that you catch all the little errors when it's being seen faster than you are used too, you are simply choosing which aspect to focus the push on. I think this also helps with not just being good at that particular drill, but being able to apply what you learned to all drills. Now granted, when I wrote the OP, I had a rep number of 10 or less for each drill in mind. If you are going to do 40 reps then obviously you would want to do more evaluation strings in there so you don't waste ammo and time doing something wrong and not find out until the end of the session. A good analogy would be like school, I suppose. The timer is a form of testing for the most part and in school you don't spend the whole time taking pop quizzes. They are spread out enough that as a student you can see if you are on the right track along with preparing you for finals/matches. I'm not saying don't have fun and play some with the timer. It's falling into the trap of being focused on time I want to stay clear of. I think dry fire par times can have a tendency towards that as well. Since it is free, what's one more run gonna cost you right? If you lose focus on the real objective, which is doing the technique correctly and more efficiently, then it can cost you a training scar that you have to undo later. By all means push the envelope, just don't spend the whole time pushing or you stand the chance of forgetting how to shoot at 100% instead of 120% when the buzzer goes off at a match. This method of using the timer is just a means of keeping that focus in check. There most definitely are exceptions and I am not opposed to them, I just think that you can see a lot of true, repeatable progress with this method because it focuses your attention on the action you are trying to improve instead of the time you are trying to beat. Improve the action and the time will take care of itself. I'm not trying to be arrogant or anything. These are just observations from falling prey to the time trap and how I have emerged from it, slightly mangled and wreaking of titegroup Hell, this may only work for me, but I figure there has got to be other shooters out there like me, so why not say what's on my mind if it may help them too.

Aggressive zen and begging for the opportunity to react. It's just what popped in my head after reading this thread, along with more innuendo

+1 Practicing strong/weakhand sight picture+trigger prep will make freestyle feel effortless.

I've only gotten to practice for about a year with a timer so far, but I have noticed some tendencies that seem to hinder true improvement because of it. I have experienced it and have seen others better than me experience being a slave to the timer. We will sit there banging away at the buzzer and slapping the trigger for run after run trying to make the numbers less each time. I just don't feel like this is what I should do with a timer. The timer is supposed to be a measure of what happened, not a dictator of what will happen. I believe the point is to do what is needed more efficiently, not faster. If you time every run it seems like, despite good intensions, your mind gradually gears towards the goal of having a shorter time at all cost vs the process goal of doing it more efficiently so that the end result is a shorter time. Lately, I have been doing drills with only 2 runs with the timer. I shoot the first string completely relaxed and in a very comfortable state. There are no expectations, no par to make, just shoot the targets and if the run is slower than your goal then it will be easier to see improvement on the timer later. Then I shoot however many strings are required, minus one, with the sole purpose of making each shot more efficient without the buzzer urging me to hurry. Then on my last string I will run the buzzer and record the time, but still shoot with the efficiency mindset that was reinforced through the majority of the strings. This method makes it reasonably easy to show some improvement from the first string to the last and also helps keep your mind in the right state for real progress instead of blazing a string that happened to work out in your favor and then getting frustrated when you can't keep doing it. The confidence boost in seeing improvement is also a big plus. Improvement will spark a little more excitement and desire to practice which will lead to a more productive practice. Positive thoughts are always good to have. The time where I feel you can use the buzzer more often effectively is when you are working on reacting to it or comparing techniques, but even then you should probably do a couple runs without the timer to really focus on the technique and then time it for comparison. What it all boils down to is that the timer is only a measuring devise, it is not the thing that decides who wins or loses. Your preparation and dedication is what decides that.

Yes. As of late I have been putting in extra time in my training rituals to just try to control the images so that I can change the camera angles at will instead of being along for the ride. I can force the first person view a little easier each time, but as I get tired the lack of control over the camera angles comes flooding back. I just made the connection at a match last weekend on the last stage. I was tired and hungry so the lack of focus on seeing everything in first person was in full effect. I bombed the stage and then later realized what had happened and why. The places in my visualization of the stage that were not in first person with a sight picture were the places that I saw no real sight picture in a recount of the stage. I got good hits on the targets that I had visualized the first person view on and not so on the others. It was worth bombing the stage just for the realization that I have the power to access skills that are there just by learning to visualize everything in first person and letting the program run its course when the buzzer goes off. I'm sure this is old news to many, and I have certainly heard it before, but something about being able to compare what I visualized and what I saw happen in a more detailed manner later this time made it truth and I am excited. It's like being given the key to near limitless possibilities.

This is interesting because just today at a match (first one I've shot in a few months) there was a distinct difference in how I shot on stages that I visualized the sights on the targets and the stages that I just had a general visualization of target sequence and shooting positions. On the ones where I saw sight pictures I did fine. I saw everything I needed to see. On the ones where I I had a general plan with no sight picture visualization, I saw the target and fired, half a** looking at the sights. At the end of the stage I sat there thinking "why did I do that when I know better and train myself to look at the sights in dryfire on a daily basis".

When I visualize some action that is complex or lasts longer than 5 seconds or so, the images in my head bounce around like flipping channels on a tv, only all the channels are different camera angles and details of the same overall subject, but happen in correct sequence along the same timeline. There are, however, variations in the speed that the video plays. It is like being bombarded with information that is almost overwhelming and when I am in the shooters box it is hard for me to make everyone wait for while I digest it. Does anyone else deal with this? Is it just weak focus that will eventually go away so I see it all in first person?

When I check my ammo, I will spin the case with the rim in my fingers to feel for cracks as I look and then drop them in the gauge. Usually I can feel the slightest crack or abnormality before I can see it. It goes pretty fast that way too.

Archer cracks me up. Burt's the f'n man! Haha

Wouldn't 2 bullets at equal power factor have the same knock down "authority"? Seems like a pound of feathers vs a pound of nails type of thing. I think that the heavier bullet retains the same energy for longer than the lighter bullet so it more capable of "pushing" the steel over rather than "popping" it over.

I would be interested in knowing how well they work as well. Have thought about an AA .22 conversion, but seems like they just make people angry.

As it stands now, I'm going to shoot the rivercity match. All I've heard is good things so I'm pretty pscyched.

Great! Thanks for all the help guys. Gonna be cool visiting a new club.

Where is the rivercity club located?

I'm going to be in the San Antonio area this coming weekend and would really like to shoot a match since I can't be with my family anyway. Anything around here? I'm actually staying in Beeville, but I'm willing to drive.

This post is exactly what I needed right now. I had not noticed the slow decay of my visualization over the last year until now. As I have gotten hung up on elements of my shooting, the frustration has lead me once again into trying to make it happen through physical repetition and thinking through the action as it was happening instead of putting more focus into visualizing it happening and witnessing it happen as I shoot. It also reminded me what it was I was doing when I made my greatest jump in skill. It wasn't so much the drills I was doing, but the maximizing of the effectiveness of those drills through visualization. Talk about a breath of fresh air!

Try Insanity. It's a great combo of agility and endurance with a focus on explosive strength. I noticed a huge difference after my first cycle. Now I do weight lifting in between cycles so I can build muscle and then put it to use.

I love shooting those big beautiful bullets! It's only like another $10 more than .40 for every 1k rounds and I was gonna blow that 10 bucks on something stupid anyway....

Is BB written on the box or is it initials of the manufacturer? If they are just lubed lead cast bullets you can even go a little less on the powder. I was making major with 180 grn TC lead over 4.5 gr n320 at 1.130 OAL out of my G35.

I have been tempted from time to time to put an optic on my limited gun to better learn smooth trigger slapping and recoil management. It is much easier to track the dot and see how small changes in grip pressures and such effect it's path in rapid fire. I would then like to take what I've learned from that and apply it to help make my iron sights return to perfect alignment as quick as is possible with that gun.

Cadence shooting does sound cool and gets attention, but I think it's a learning tool and good to pull out of your bag of tricks if a useful opportunity presents itself at a match. Learning to shoot an El Prez and it sound like a bill drill does have its benefits. I think it forces you to learn what you can really get away with when transitioning and then gives you the confidence to use that knowledge in an applicable situation. I still believe that the goal is to see WHAT you are getting away with so that increased vision is the byproduct of cadence shooting and then the appearance of cadence shooting from the perspective of others is the byproduct of that increased vision (especially with high variables of target distance and spacing). In the end the shooting still needs to be based on vision and not a set rhythm.

I have a Trojan and love it. The trigger is great right out of the box and is is very accurate. All I did was change the grips and add a magwell. Some of the blue is worn off the slide from dryfiring it a ton, but I think thats a good look on it. Besides, STI will take it and reblue it for you if you like, no charge. That's what they did on my brother's Ranger. I vote Trojan, works great and is a very good sexy looking pistol.

I shoot Limited right now because that's what my glock is set up for and I want to master it before I move on to a gun that is much easier for me to shoot. Then it is on to shooting production with a CZ or even maybe open if I came across the right deal.

What I do on my draw is pull the gun up to a somewhat "high ready" position with the the gun tilted back slightly so that the front sight is up there and easy to pick up right away. I then push the gun out and let the rear sight pull up around the front sight. If you start prepping the trigger about halfway through the push, you can be ready to fire pretty much as soon as you are extended. Practice that for smoothness and not for speed and you will be surprised at how fast you can get that first shot off accurately. On a side note to the subject, I wouldn't worry a whole lot about getting a sub second draw since that is only a very small part of the whole stage. Instead focus on being smooth and in control as this will help you to shoot the whole stage in that state. You may be able to rush a .8 draw, but it won't win you the stage if all the following shots are all over the place because you rushed them too.

I've been shooting my g35 for about 4 years now and just about anything is a lot of muzzle flip when loaded major. My main load is 4.5 grn of WST over any 180 grn moly or lead and 4.7 grn for jacketed, all at 1.130 OAL. I also use 4.2 grn of Titegroup with moly's at same OAL. It is a bit snappier, but returns quickly.