Jake Di Vita

The re-grip for me came pretty naturally. All I do after I insert the mag is roll my hand back into position while driving to the next target.

I'm so confused.

Good to hear. I'd definitely look at doing Rip's rehab program if that is the issue.

There has been a bit of question as to the position and orientation of the gun during the reload so I took a few stills of a video of mine that I hope will help a bit. Picture 1 - Just before the load, gun still at full extension. Picture 2 - Gun comes halfway back from extension, still in front of face. Getting on the mag release as soon as my weak hand is out of the way. It is critical to get the weak hand moving at maximum speed as quickly as possible. My eyes also snap to the bottom edge of the magwell to see the mag starting to come out. Gun is as close to vertical as possible to ensure expended mag sticks as little as possible. Picture 3 - Magazine is coming out, hand is about to grab the spare mag. Weak hand is still moving at top speed. Picture 4 - I turn the gun to approximately 45 degrees to make inserting the mag easier. Note instead of looking at the inner edge of the magwell it works better for me to just keep my eyes focused on where the mag initially came out of the gun. During the seating of the mag I am applying about 70% force with my weak hand inserting and 30% force with my strong hand keeping the gun where it is. After this step find the target and drive the gun to the A-zone. Also notice I keep the same level of tension in my neck and shoulders throughout the entire movement.

I thought that was beer.

Your "central point" isn't necessarily where you charge the gun. Where it should be (IMO) is halfway back towards your body (from firing position) and in front of your face. You are also correct in that the gun should return to that position whenever you are doing something other than shooting for consistency reasons.

Correct. At the insertion point, my elbow is touching my side. But I only use this technique with skinny guns or guns w/o a magwell. Yes, charging the gun is what you do at LAMR.

As far as I'm concerned there is no "muzzle is too high" (unless you break the vertical 180 of course). Another thing I wanted to mention...when reloading Production guns or skinny guns, I like to keep my weak side elbow tucked into my side when doing the load...it seems to give me a good point of reference for a little more accuracy. That might be something to try.

My guess was something was said about pointing the muzzle over the berm during the load. Good luck enforcing that at a USPSA match though as there are no "local" or "club" rules.

Couple things I noticed. The first is that your weak hand isn't snapping to the fresh mag. Ideally when videoed I shouldn't be able to clearly see your arm moving. That is gonna be the first limited factor in the speed of your reload. Try to imagine that your weak hand and arm are a wet towel that is snapping down to the next mag. The second thing is that you hold the gun awfully far away from your body...almost in the same position as when you are shooting. The reason I don't like this is that it is harder to accurately manipulate objects the further away they get from you. I personally like to bring the gun back about halfway when I load because A ) I can get the gun into the exact position I want much easier, and B ) I am much more accurate and quicker driving the mag into the gun. The third thing is that you gun is not in the same position during dry fire and live fire. Everything needs to be consistent. The fourth thing is that when you first charge your gun it is not in the same position as when you reload it...which is another issue with consistency. However I should add that where you charge the gun is just about the ideal place to have the gun during the load (albeit a little higher). Notice also how much more fluid it is. FWIW, I also hold quite a lot of tension in my shoulders and arms, but that works better for me. Keep at it. You have the foundation for a great load....it's just time to start honing the edge.

You are definitely from Kentucky aren't you.

Yeah I've been there buddy. Give it time to heal then get back to it...make sure it heals up good before you screw with it though. You might consider checking this out for rehabbing it. link

The only supplement I take is 1000 mg of Vitamin C. That sucks about the tendon, how did you do it?

Brett Favre was one of the only reasons I still watched football.

I agree....but definitely record your time - regardless of how long it takes.

That's depressing. Brett Favre is my hero.

I once outran my mags at a local match shooting Production, the guy ROing me picked them up as I was shooting. I got to the last position and went to reload and found out I was out of mags so I grabbed it from the RO...we were both laughing so hard I couldn't even hold the gun in one place.

I usually don't because I don't leave the range until I have every stage memorized.

That's the minimum I do for very simple stages. For the more intricate ones, I'll visualize it 30 - 50 times...hence a reason why it is good to scope the stages the day before.

I've tried every big brand name holster and CR Speed is by far the best. I'll never use anything else.

I'd probably look into getting some steel piping from home depot or an equivalent. Although I use a doorway pullup bar that works just fine for me. Get yourself a set of rings at the earliest convenience, those things rock for functional fitness.

Both.

I get a normal grip on the gun, make a cage (for lack of a better word) with my weak hand, and just flip it in. Yes the gun is in the air for a bit. I've also practiced it a couple thousand times in dry fire, which I highly suggest you do if you adopt that technique. It's also something you need to be 100% confident with before you ever try it live.

True, but my back is stronger than my chest. I guess it's a little bit of both.

The most important thing in squats (and similar lifts) are that you must stabilize the weight across all 3 axis. The smith machine takes 2 of those out of the equation and doesn't let your body move in the way it was designed to. I just don't like the idea of "targeting" any muscle group. Your body was built to work together as a unit....why train it separately? I dunno about you, but my pull muscles are way stronger than my push muscles (the deadlift is a great example). No. 343 I'm not sure why that part of your body isn't responding to those workouts...however I can unequivocally guarantee that if you start working out your body in a functional manner, you will see gains (probably better than you ever imagined possible).