narwhal

Thanks for all the tips. I re-qualified yesterday with a perfect score; then again so does 75% of the class usually. I appreciate it.

Hi, This isn't really a competition related question since I've yet to encounter this type of shooting at a match, but I'm looking for tips on how to improve accuracy with what's known as "one handed bent elbow shooting". I carry a pistol for work (sometimes) and have to requal every 6 months. It's a fairly easy requal course, but the only part that ever messes me up a little is this. It's basically "shooting from the hip"; the position consists of the elbow touching your side with the arm bent roughly 90 degrees and the pistol pointed straight ahead. The sights are not used and only one hand is on the pistol. It's tested with both the weak and strong hand. Luckily the range you are tested at for this position is only 1.5 yards. The only guidance we are really ever given is to square our shoulders to the target and lock our eyes on the same point on the target where we want our bullets to go. I find that my groups are pretty big, even at 1.5 yards (sometimes 10" or more including fliers). Does anyone have any good tips, techniques, or drills which can help a shooter get better at this? Oh yeah, the pistol used is an H-K USP 40 compact with the 10 lb+ "law enforcement" double action only trigger. Thanks!

I checked out Thunder today and it seemed okay, even though the $10 per gun policy is kind of expensive. I asked for a list of range rules but the clerk seemed to be in a big hurry for something. I didn't really see any rules except the big "no rapid fire without safety officer supervision" signs. So I drew from my holster the whole time and didn't hear anyone complain. Then again, I'm not sure that anyone was watching. The pistol range is actually pretty convenient with the pulley system for targets, but it's obviously not geared toward allowing you to keep your brass, seeing as you stand on a big metal grate. Anyway, it's 10 minutes from the apartment I rented in the woodlands so i guess it's my best option for now. I'll try to get some wednesdays off and perhaps meet up with the Thunder Tactical Shooters, if they'll have me.

Thanks for all the info, fellas. PSC and Impact are both kinda "out there"...I've been looking at places in the woodlands so maybe thunder is a good option. I might swing by there this week and see how I like it.

Hi, I'm moving to Houston (from Austin). I was a member of the Austin Rifle Club and it was great - we paid $100 annually and got unlimited use of the ranges. Drawing from holsters was allowed and there was no minimum time between shots. Plus there were anywhere from 2-5 different types of competitive matches every weekend, and RSO supervised action shooting practices during the week. Is there anything similar to this in the Houston area? I am flexible on what part of town I can live in, but I'd like to be within 30 minutes of the IAH airport since that's where work is. With that said, I guess the north side is better. Is the PSC in Friendswood "where it's at" or am I missing some others in the Houston area? I could probably get a place in midtown and split the difference between IAH and friendswood, if that's the case. I've heard of a range near the woodlands called "thunder" but their website seems a little vague. The other places in your town seem to be your run of the mill "$10/hr per gun" type places. Thanks for your help.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I ordered Burkett's Vol. 1-3 DVD's and Anderson's Refinement and Repetition dry fire book last night. Hopefully these will help me come up with some good drills and give me examples to imitate when it comes to technique.

Why would I shoot Limited with an M&P and not production? I know the 40 pro is not on the production list yet but I have a regular 40 that is on the list and I plan on using it in Production when I finally get to an IPSC match. It's my understanding that there is no major scoring in production, thus my reasoning for making bunny fart 40 loads with clays.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll just stick with the M&P for now. The trigger on it isn't bad by any means, and I think the added weight of the Edge I shot and the fiber optic front sight was what made the most difference. The latter can obviously be put on my m&p easily enough. I just got a progressive press so maybe I should see what the "bunny fart" loads I'm working up with 3.5gr of clays and 155gr bullets feel like with my M&P before I really switch platforms. That's not to say I won't get an STI someday....but maybe I'll just go all out and get an Edge from Brazos and have them do their work on it. If I'm still shooting every week by the end of the year I'll spring for it, but I think I'll finish out this year in production/ssp with my M&P's.

Hi, I'm a beginning competitor. I've shot about half a dozen IDPA matches. I shoot an M&P 40 pro series with night sights. I've been practicing for a few months, both dry fire and movement/steel/accuracy drills at the range. I can get about a 1.8 draw and shoot on a 6" steel plate from 15 yards....knock down a 6 plate rack in about 7 seconds, splits are in the .3-.5 range for targets from 7-15 yards. A friend let me shoot his STI Edge 2011 .40 the other day. When I was shooting plate racks with it I was taking about 1.5 seconds off my times and it felt like there was no recoil, even with the major pf 180gr rounds I was shooting. With the M&P I probably average 2 misses on 15 yard plate racks, with the STI it was 1 or 0. The trigger was just unbelievable compared to what my M&P has. I was thinking I might want to look into an STI eagle 2011 w/ a barrel bushing since I could use it for both sports (ipsc, idpa). Is the trigger on these guns comparable to what the Edge has? Am I wasting money moving to a high end gun considering my level of experience? In part, the 2011 is hard to justify since I wouldn't really be able to use a 2011 for anything other than gaming, whereas my M&P's are concealed carry pieces. Thanks for the advice.

Hi, I'm a beginner shooter. I joined IDPA and have shot half a dozen matches. I plan on doing a few IPSC matches and will probably join the local IPSC club as well assuming I don't hate it. Anyway I typically finish in the top 25% or so in the local IDPA matches but I'm still not very close to the top shooters. I carry a pistol every day on the job. I want to get good. I want to practice a lot. Does anyone publish a "diet" or regimen on taking someone from mediocre to decent. I shoot M&P's right now, all in .40, I have 3 of them and usually use the "pro series" 40 which has a 4.25" barrel and night sights. I have a shot timer, holsters, and magazine pouches. Unfortunately my job puts me on the road and unable to shoot for 4-5 days per week. I can go to the range twice per week. The rest of the time I can do dry fire. Is it possible to improve in this situation? I've been practicing with some master level shooters every week at my range. I usually double their times on any given course of fire, with similar points down. Granted they are shooting open guns but I'm guessing that doesn't matter too much. I'd like get closer to 150% of their times by the end of the year. Any recommendations are appreciated.

Thanks. I am getting pretty good at "ghost loading" the 930 so perhaps the longer extension is not necessary. My match directors don't have a problem with it. When I ghost load it'll give me 8+1.

Thanks for the replies. I guess the best strategy with the 930 is just to dump 4 rounds in any time I'm not shooting. It's sort of hard to get used to that since I usually shoot IDPA and almost always do slide lock reloads with the pistol. In my first match I was usually just waiting till slide lock to reload the shotgun....finsished 19th out of 39, but only because a lot of benellis people brought were not working with birdshot target loads. I might consider downloading my right side shell strippers to 3 rounds too....but like jtischauser said, any misses could really throw a wrench in the works!

Hi, I'm new to competition shooting. I've only competed in one shotgun match and I finished middle of the pack. I use a Mossberg 930 SPX which has an 18" barrel and a 7+1 capacity (9 total if I ghost load). My only saving grace was that a lot of semi autos were jamming and luckily mine was functioning properly. Anyway, in that match I was using a side saddle/butt saddle and cargo pockets to reload. Needless to say since then I've added the california competition works four shell tactical strippers and have been working on my reloading speed. It still takes me about 12 seconds to load the gun up to 7+1 from slide lock, granted I've only been practicing a few days using the techniques from the Noveske instructional video on youtube. On the 930 the lifter will not raise out of the way and allow the magazine to be filled unless the bolt is closed. If I have an empty gun at slide lock I will usually take 4 shells from a stripper into my hand, throw one into the chamber, press the bolt release button with my thumb, then come under and put the other three rounds into the mag. This seems to take at least 6 seconds. My questions: Do most shooters avoid slide lock reloads altogether? Is there a faster way to do this? Should reloading always be done with a round in the chamber, or should I just fill the tube then rack the bolt handle to chamber a round? I realize the 930 spx isn't really a thoroughbred competition gun; I have a beretta A391 with a 26" vent rib that I might throw a mag extension on and use later, but the question still applies. Thanks!