GunBugBit

Maybe he misunderstands what dry fire is?

I am not the fastest guy at all but definitely faster than I once was. I'll say yes. We all have to work out how to train ourselves in a way we will stick to and that gets results. There are great resources out there to help us. One thing that helps me do better is to dry fire every day, even if it's just 15 to 20 minutes.

Yes, it's simple. Just learn to get your hits going at top speed (roughly as fast as you can press the trigger). I've shot enough now to know it doesn't just come to us. "Push push push" as Chris said above. It has to be pursued, and very hard, because it does not just come. Not just hard physical effort, but using the mind to be creative, thinking of new approaches to process things and execute within compressed time. The brain is fast, the eyes are fast, the rest can be close behind. My approach got me, what? C class in USPSA, B class in Steel Challenge, the ability to get all the As available in a match. So what. I have to be faster.

This fellow I was speaking of is now a USPSA Master in Open division. He went from Unclassified shooting a 9mm Range Officer 1911 to Master shooting a race gun (not sure who built it) in quite a short time. How? Lots of dry fire, shooting as many matches as he could, getting instruction from at least one GM, and having a lot of youthful fire to pour into the sport. Whenever I observed him, he was always going fast. He took concrete steps to bring his shooting skill up to where he could go fast and get his hits, rather than slow down and hope the foundation of accuracy would magically transform into better scores. Hi name is Theo and you might know him.

The Phoenix Handgunner Shoot-off match was great fun. I shot quite a few rounds against Jerry D'Amico, who ended up winning Best Senior. He knocked me out of most rounds we shot together, but I was able to return the favor a couple of times, including winning one of the stages (usually he won them). I learned a lot from observing his efficiency, patience and consistency. Jerry finished 2nd overall among the Limited (non-race-gun) division, and I placed 6th. I got to shoot in the Finals but was eliminated promptly. I'll shoot this match next year barring any unforeseen circumstances. Have been dry firing every day and am back to hitting my old par times.

This perfectly reinforces recent adjustments I've made to my draw. Thank you for taking the time to dispense this excellent counsel.

The one thing that makes me think we could take longer on the draw for a Bill Drill is that we tend to want to build up our best shooting grip to facilitate fast and accurate repeated shots. As much as I want to be able to have that optimal grip by the time I've got a sight picture, it doesn't usually work out that way. It's a work in progress.

Last night's club match wasn't one of my best, but the weather was fantastic and I had a terrific time. I pride myself on being an accurate shooter, but last night was pretty so-so in that department. Nothing is going on that consistent dry fire won't rectify. I like my new more efficient draw and I feel my eyes are working well. For whatever reason, my shooting on paper is *bleh* while my shooting on steel seems to have improved. Curious. I'll put it all back together soon and push to a higher plateau. The two-day shoot-off match next weekend should help nudge me toward that.

Twice per week when I'm in my normal routine.

Perfect weather at the club match last night. 70 degrees to start out with, ending at around 53 degrees. Almost no wind.

I had a good live fire practice session last Saturday. As usual, all shooting was on the clock. The drills were simple and I went at various speeds. I saw in my practice notes from months ago that I had been working on 2 A's at 20 yards in under 2 seconds, and had a good number of runs of making it several times in a row. I'm not currently at that skill level but will get back to it soon. I'm back to spending a lot of my spare time dry firing and at the reloading press. I've modified my draw slightly and am practicing reloads with the gun held up higher than I used to.

+1. These are beautiful ambi thumb safety kits. So solid, such high quality.

I see this match hasn't been advertised every year here on Brian's forums. I've shot some of Bob B.'s excellent matches and this year I will be participating in the 9th Annual Phoenix Handgunner Shoot-off. Here are several links to inform you about the Deer Tribe club, the match, and to sign up at PractiScore if you are so inclined. The weather should be great! I always have a fantastic time at the Deer Tribe matches (usually an unofficial Steel Challenge match with a shoot-off afterwards). http://www.phoenixhandgunner.com/ http://thunderstrikes.com/gunclub.htm https://practiscore.com/9th-annual-phoenix-handgunner/register

Have a look at Bayou Bullets.

I change nothing except magazines when switching between Single Stack and L10, always with .45 ACP. It's my lane and I'll drive in it as far as I can until for some unforeseen reason I decide to try something else. So far, it's a blast. There is satisfaction in beating race gunners and 2011 limited shooters with my .45 1911s.

Sometimes due to lighting conditions, distance, lack of contrast in colors (e.g. light brown targets against light brown dirt), I have trouble seeing things, and will naturally squint my non-dominant eye. When all is clear I do my best to relax both eyes and keep them open; this is the mode I'm in during dry fire practice and that practice helps make it easy during a match.

I drive 50 miles each way to and from work, but if I have the energy I'll shoot this evening's practice match. <brag on>My best practice match was last May. I placed 5th overall out of 71 shooters, shooting .45 ACP from a slightly dressed up Springfield Range Officer 1911. Not that anyone cares, but that night I had the most bonus points amongst the whole field of shooters.</brag off> I attribute that result to daily dry fire and being very rested. Need to get out on Sundays and get that A classification in Steel Challenge. It's not far out of reach.

I haven't bothered with most of the upside-down primer rounds I've produced, except for a couple, which I de-primed without incident.

Awesome! Congratulations!

Like a lot of people, I have my good and my bad Texas Star encounters. I have not specifically timed any of my Star clearing. I have thought about buying one.

Short dry fire session at home before leaving for a match, more dry fire in the gun handling area just before the match. Some dry fire between stages. Light lower body and core stretching can be done whenever there are a few free moments.

2017 has been a crazy year. If I wrote down all that has happened in my personal bubble this year, you might think I'm making stuff up. Bottom line for me as a competitive shooter is: I haven't shot many matches this year. On the bright side, I will be heading to Unit 10 with my bull elk tag in the first week of December. Because of this, most of my shooting lately has been with a rifle, not a 1911. One of our hunting party was scouting last weekend and didn't see a single elk. I'll be joining the scouting effort this coming weekend. I certainly hope to get back to match shooting in the not too distant future. I dusted off the head cam and video editing software for documenting the hunt, so these resources will be available to document practice sessions and match shooting once I get back into it.

The brain sorts this stuff out with repetition. Some of it bubbles up to the conscious mind, other parts we don't really think about as much as we just feel them.

My .45 RO is my favorite match gun, and it is competing against two guns that aren't slouches: a TRP and a DW Valor. It seems that I shoot a bit more accurately with the RO than with the others. Best I can figure, its relatively tight chamber is the kicker. The term "tack driver" would be a bit strong but I really do get my most accurate match shooting with the RO. The sweet thing is, I don't do anything different when I shoot it. The extra accuracy seems quite effortless. Anyway, from all I gather, this model was intended as a base gun for competition. If I'm not mistaken, TGO gave input into the feature package. He and the other good folks at Springfield did a fine job. I added onto mine, not very different from what others have done, and didn't have to do all that much to make it really ergonomic for competing.

One of my single stack guns is a Dan Wesson Valor with a Wilson extended mag catch button, EGW ambidextrous thumb safety, Dawson no-gap ICE mag well, grip bushings/screws/panels changed out to standard thickness. The slide stop that comes on a Valor is great for competition; it has a very nice ledge style lever. My other guns have the Ed Brown ledge style slide stop. Those have a slightly shorter ledge than the Valor has but they still work fine. I left the factory Heinie Straight Eight sights on the Valor but had to get a shorter front sight to shoot dead-on at 15 yards. Tritium comes in handy for evening club matches that go into darkness. I had been keeping the Valor as it came from the factory, my thought being it makes a very nice full-size 1911 for carry. I used it some in that role but stopped carrying 1911s, so I thought, well, I love shooting the thing and most of my shooting is done in matches so I'll dress it up and put it into the rotation. I will have an STI some day, likely when I splurge on myself and get a good Limited gun.