Jake Di Vita

No I think that's a really fitting question for this thread... In my case, I think I'll be best served by having the same firmness on all shots. If only for the fact that it makes the dot track much more consistently. This is something that might vary towards the shooter's temperment though as well.

Yeah I like the way you worded it better than the way I did. Firmness is a much better word than tension. That actually helped sort things out a lot in my head...thanks. Now that I think about it, maybe that was why I was shooting Limited better than I was shooting in Open. My natural tension level subconciously increased because the gun wasn't doing most of the work for me anymore.

Then just tell them you had 5 Grand Masters in this thread say to do it.

First time I had ever seen any of them was that day.

Backstory: Shot the Wisconsin Sectional match this past weekend. Even though it ended in a victory I feel I shot horribly. In 8 stages I had an amazing 21 extra shots. It just felt as if the dot was never tracking like it should, or the gun was controlling me rather than the other way around. I had adopted a very relaxed style of shooting. Very few muscles in my body were ever tensed, shoulders stayed totally relaxed, etc. Well last night there was a local 4 stage steel match so I decided I would use this as a proving grounds. The first time I shot through, I used steel loads I had just worked up. 5.2 grains of 7625 (my usual load is 7.6 @ 175 powerfactor). I shot with the same kind of technique I used in Wisconsin...very relaxed. I once again had several extra shots and it felt as though the gun was pushing me around. My overall time for those 4 stages was right around 47 seconds. The second time around I switched it up a bit. I went into a much more aggressive stance and used my regular 175 power factor ammo. My shoulders were more raised and tense, my head lowered a bit, and my knees bent more. I shot with a much stronger grip as well. The difference was absolutely amazing. The gun tracked the same for every shot. Shooting the stages became very predictable. My times were also much more consistent...and also the biggest measure of relaxation - being my draw - stayed the same or was faster. Shooting with a much more aggressive stance and being more tensed up ended up with a final time of about 41 seconds and 8 fewer extra shots. That's a 6 second difference...or in other words approximately a 15% improvement. So if some of you feel like you are geting pushed around by the gun, or things just haven't been clicking for you....try shooting more aggresively. You might be surprised as to the outcome.

Nice choice with the Steel Reserve.

I'll let you try that....as for me...I'll stick with aiming.

How far of a drive is it between the two clubs?

I shoot as quickly as I can keep them in the center.

Your reloads in the match are good because you don't think about performing them.

Yeah, checking my zero is part of the match prep I go through before every major.

Ditto Mark, I got it on my schedule.

Everyone here should re-read Kyle's post at least 3 times.

Yeah Matt...post the video of stage 6......

Same here. In practice, I never unload.

Absolutey bud.

With a great index, if you do 10 seperate 1 shot draws at 7 yards, you should be able to cover the group with your palm and eventually your fist. I don't see the dot until I'm at full extension either. However by the angle of the slide and I'm extending to the target, I can extrapolate approximately where the dot will be when I am at extension. The problem you are describing is a huge one among Open shooters. Really try and take some time to burn in that each shot does not have to be perfect. You should be pulling the trigger at the earliest possible moment that the bullet will strike your target. Don't forget about developing your index in dry fire too...that's where 90% of it comes from.

Here's a bit of fun trivia. The people who won Limited, Limited 10, Production, Open, and Single Stack this year, also won the same division last year. Awesome match, had a great time this year as well as last.

K, you were definetely right about where you were losing the most time. (You should try and get your hands to the gun a little faster though). From what I see at a glance. You need to establish a more direct line to the target. That will do a few things. First is it will cut time from your draw simply in eliminating wasted motion. And second it will allow you to peripherally see the orientation of your gun sooner as it is coming onto the target. You might try just putting a target at 2 yards and doing reps of hitting the A zone as quickly as possible. At that range the gun doesn't have to be at full extension when you fire so it will start training your body to rely more on its index. When you extend the gun, is the dot on the target during the entire time the gun is extended or is the pause for making adjustments to your sight picture? If the time is for making adjustments, that again will be greatly helped by developing a superior index. If the dot is on target the entire time, what you are looking at is eliminating any hesitation from when your eyes aquire the sight to when your finger pulls the trigger. That would also be helped by developing a better index, but practicing your draws live fire on closer targets (at least to begin with) will get your body used to shooting in a much faster time period. The secret of having a great draw is to develop a superior index. The better your index is, the less adjustments you will have to make. Even bigger than that though, it will allow you to accept much more input from how your body is feeling.

I'd say that almost 90% of the time savings in a draw come from reasons 1 - 3 on my list.

Not without aiming...just without using a dot. Big difference there. When it comes to the draw. Here are the biggest time wasters. 1. Time getting hand to gun 2. Time getting a grip and snatching gun out of holster (most people pause here...as soon as your hand touches the gun it needs to be coming out) 3. Time getting the gun to target 4. Time after extension that gun fires Steps 1 through 3 can all be worked on in dry fire.

Wow...that is very nice of them...They are out of stock when I place an order and don't even have the common freaking decency to tell me? That's the last time I ever use starline for anything.

Fire the second shot...THEN snap your eyes to the next target. Try this. Set up one target (your starting target) and your 2nd target will be a clump of dirt in the berm and 30 degrees off of the starting point. Fire a shot and drive your gun as hard and as fast as possible to the 2nd target and fire a round. Don't worry about hitting anything, just get the gun there as quickly as possible. After several reps of that, repeat. This time begin slowing the gun down as the gun is coming onto the target. Set up on it a bit more smoothly and fire a round. After several reps of that, repeat. This time do the same as before but obtain a full sight picture before you fire the shot. Think of it this way... The gun never stops firing. It's your job to get the gun on target before it fires.

Anyone else order brass from Starline recently? I ordered 1,000 pieces of supercomp last Monday and still haven't recieved it...and I am leaving for a match Friday morning. 9 days seems quite a bit excessive. This is the 2nd time something like this has happened to me from these guys. There anything going on with them I should know about?

I know if I were in the situation....homeboy would have a desk flying at him within about a second followed closely by an 175 pound very pissed off Italian. But then again....that's how I was raised.