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facelessman

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Everything posted by facelessman

  1. Try Ben's drill dry AND live, in the same session. I would do this back and forth during my live range sessions. 5 trigger pulls live, 5 dry, 5 live, 5 dry... The best part about that drill is that when done right (the process, not the outcome) you don't have time to freeze on the trigger. You're essentially teaching yourself how to slam/jerk the trigger without screwing up your shot. Concentrate on isolating that trigger finger motion from the rest of your grip. When done correctly, it's an exhausting drill physically for your hands, and mentally for your brain. You can change it up by using this at the end of a draw drill. Gun down low in a ready type position, on the beep, bring it up into your vision, establishing grip and slamming that shot. Make sure you practice this with doubles as well. You can change this up into countless variations. On a related note, I had been stuck in the pin/reset trigger manipulation for a long time (training scars from my LE training). I started doing the same drill, but in Single Action as well. Finger on the trigger, and finger just off the trigger, slamming through. This was actually a break through in my shooting, and things got a LOT faster, and surprisingly, a lot more accurate at speed.
  2. On SP01 Shadows, regardless if they *needed* to or not, the mag springs, recoil spring, trigger return spring, extractor spring, firing pin spring, and slide stop... all got changed once a year. I'd change them during a practice session or two right before nationals each year. It's all cheap insurance and piece of mind. I did zero a stage at nationals one year because of a broken firing pin spring.
  3. Area 2, 2014 or 2015... shooting production. I'm given the make ready, and go through my routine, loading the starting mag I always keep in my pocket. Timer goes off, I start shooting, get to that first reload and there are NO magazines on my belt. As the realization hits, the tension releases, my shoulders drop, I unload, show clear, holster... and you could hear a mouse fart on the range. No one shooting, a whole other squad waiting behind us, it was super quiet... and I hear "that sucks" whispered in the crowd. It was so bad, I couldn't even be mad. I can't remember if it was the first stage of the day, but all my loaded mags were still sitting in their pockets in the gun bag. The burnout was really setting in for my shooting.
  4. I was RO'ing a during a stage at a match I was not a "local" at, so I didn't really know anyone. WSB was an unloaded gun on barrel in front of shooter, and all mags on barrels throughout the stage. Shooter comes up decked out in techwear racing jersey with his name on it "John Doe" and his sponsor "John Doe Custom Guns". He's shooting what appeared to be a custom built 2011, with all the bells and whistles. After double checking down range was clear (now that I think about it, this was right after that infamous video of someone shooting a stage while someone was downrange brassing up. So th pre-match brief included that bit of info). I give him the ol' make ready, and he draws his gun, puts it on the barrel, points it straight down range, looks at it puzzled, then spins it 180° pointing back up range... I yell stop, and he looks around confused as to what just happened. I've seen plenty of other unsafe incidents, but this always stands out to me because of how clueless the shooter really was.
  5. With all due respect to your self proclaimed status as the "worse A shooter in the country", but saying that his micro drill isn't worth doing because it's not done in any competition seems pretty silly when you turn around and suggest he draw with his eyes closed, which is also never done in any competition. FWIW, the "beep" lasts for .30 seconds, and the timer starts recording at the beginning of the beep. At least, that's how all the timers worked that I've ever used.
  6. You take your 1.3 - 1.5 and try to improve on that. Try shooting for 1.2 seconds. Then 1.1, etc... Remember, this is just for that micro drill, not full draw practice. Why is it 1.3 to 1.5, and not consistently 1.4x ? Are you losing time on your reaction to the beep ? Are you wasting time "acquiring" a sight picture before firing ? Are you still getting a grip on the gun ? What happens if you just fire the round as soon as you reach full extension ? Do you see the sights ? Do you pause and focus down on the sight ? Do you need to focus, or are you wasting time with the focal shift when you don't need to ? There are so many little bits to the draw process that you can take the same motion, and focus on different aspects of that motion, and essentially have different drills. You can further modify your micro-drill by starting with a loose two-handed grip in a "ready" type of position. On the beeper, present out and fire. This removes the two hands coming together, and may help zero in on that last portion of the draw. In my experience, and what I've seen others do over the years, is waste too much time at the end of the draw presentation, before firing the round. At some point you obviously need to put all the micro drills together into full draws, but working on the little pieces is where the improvement is made. Not to mention that you have to practice moving/drawing, drawing/moving, in all directions as most first shots in a match aren't a static standing draw to a target.
  7. As mentioned before, Ben's drill is perfect for this, and by all means spend some quality time becoming confident in your abilities for that first shot. However, don't become consumed with that ONE shot to the point that the rest of your practice takes a back seat to it. It is ONE shot in a stage, and any unloaded starts mean your first shot isn't DA. A 10-12 stage level 3 match might have a couple of unloaded starts, and you might only have 8-10 double action shots out of 250-300 rounds. Also, I've seen too many malfunctioning DA/SA guns because someone was so worried about the one DA shot, that they created a magical 4lb DA pull with a super lightweight main spring that will not reliably set off primers, all because they were scared of that ONE shot at the beginning of a stage.
  8. I shot SP-01 Shadows for years, but carried H&Ks on duty/off duty. Now I carry a G43 off duty, and a G47 on duty. So I'm gonna be trying out the G47 in some matches with duty type gear.
  9. Like I told you over on LABS, gotta work on your trigger pull. No double taps. Two aimed shots. 15 yds just means you need a little more attention paid to the sights, but no less attention paid to the trigger pull. All kinds of ideas on what's happening between targets 1, 2, 3, and 4... but that doesn't fix the problem. If it's the first two targets you need work on, then work on the first two targets. Make sure your grip is consistent through the shooting process. Crappy grip out of the holster can certainly affect the first target or two, and as the grip settles during the drill your shots improve. Crappy grip after a reload can affect an entire clip worth of shooting. Perhaps there's a slight case of beeper lobotomy during the first few shots, then as you settle, the shots start falling into place. I've spent a lot of time working on grip establishment. On the draw, after a reload, entering positions, etc... Grip being the support system for your trigger pull, which is what it all really comes down to.
  10. Switching hands Handgun. Non-issue. Dominant hand, dominant eye. Line up the sights, start shooting. My old instructors did me a huge disservice by making me think that it mattered anything more than that. Switching hands, eyes, crazy talk.
  11. facelessman

    Light strikes

    Had a buddy that was having light strike malfunctions, but way more often. Long story short, the tip of the striker had been worn down from it's normal triangular shape, to a rounded shape. Might be worth comparing it to another known good striker. FWIW
  12. Sometimes your stage plan is better executed by reloading early. I've shot a few stages where I burned two rounds and reloaded. Just because the dropped mag is empty, doesn't mean there isn't still a round in the gun. ...and it's only risky if you aren't confident enough in making the shots you need to make.
  13. The vast majority of reloads you're going to be taking atleast a step, in which case the slide lock reload isn't that big of a factor. However, if you're left with a standing, slide lock reload, you'll have already cost yourself way more than 1/2 second, and given up any perceived competitive advantage you might have had over other competitors by slam charging the gun. Then you're doubly screwed if/when it malfunctions because of said slam charge. It would make more sense to practice those things that would leave you in that situation in the first place. I'm not saying don't practice that, but where a slide lock reload is really a disadvantage, is usually caused by some other problem, like misses.
  14. Check that area of your slide stop. If it's rounded off any, it could cause the slam charge to happen more frequently. Might be time to change it (it's never a bad time to change it, except when it's too late). Check the feed lips of your mags as well.
  15. So slam charging works 100% of the time, except for the "rare occasion" when it doesn't work... got it. I'd hate for the rare occasion to wreck a major match. Cutting (clearancing) the slide stop does nothing to stop them from breaking. It's so that the longer different profile bullets don't hit the slide stop causing the gun to lock back prematurely, and causing feeding issues. I have 3 Shadows, at one point had 4. They work a true 100% of the time by using the slide release, and I don't think the speed of the slide lock reload is holding me back. ;-)
  16. This. I only separate because loading the crimped brass I need to use a little more caution seating the primers (550). I HAVE had issues with bulged brass, in which case I had somehow flipped the seating die over to the round nose from the flat nose side while loading MG JHPs.
  17. This is why you don't want to rely on the "autoforward / slam charge" or whatever you want to call it. It doesn't happen reliably 100% of the time. I've seen double feeds, stove piped live rounds, or when the slide doesn't drop, the shooter smacks the mag again rather than hit the slide stop. The guns were not designed for this to happen. The forceful slamming of the mag into the gun jars the frame enough for the slide to slip off the stop and go forward. It's only faster until it doesn't work, or causes and malfunction. Realize that it can/does happen, but don't practice it or count on it. Practice using the slide stop/release.
  18. Thanks for everyone who replied. Huge help.
  19. Someone messaged me about this thread. So here's a little update. The Bear Creeks I just couldn't get to work at all. Not with N320 or the Clays I had. 147s, 135s, 125s, Round nose, cone, .356 or .357. .378 - .382 crimp. Not through either of the two SP01 Shadows I had or my G17. I got a sample of BBI 125gr and tried those. They worked great. Back to back, same gun, same mag, 5 BCs, 5 BBIs, world of difference. It's now a year or so later, 5,000rnds of BBI 125s, through all 3 of my SP01 Shadows, they run and shoot awesome. No fouling of the barrels, not sensitive to crimp (.378), powder or charge weight (Clays, WST, N320), or OAL (1.08 - 1.11). Very pleased with the BBIs through my guns and my loads.
  20. Those are the bronze grips from CZC.
  21. That's pretty much what CZC does. As long as there's enough material left to contact the mag follower and lock the slide back, you're good to go.
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