jroback

As Elguapo stated it, I use a progressive training approach. This is something that just feels right to me, but it may be different for other people. I find that the more I practice, the more I gravitate to this kind of training. In some of Ben's books, he lists "micro drills" which are another form of progressive training. For example, for reloads he has 2 micro drills: Burkett 1 (gun on target to new mag at mag well) and Burkett 2 (mag at mag well to gun back on target). I was having problems with dropping mag, so I added Burkett 0.5 (gun on target to mag released). Once I fixed that problem, then I added the other skills back in until the whole technique was working. I know this is off-topic, but its the same approach I've used for drawing from concealment.

i have only competed in IDPA, and i started with the MWP mindset: I dressed exactly like i a match including hat, glasses and vest. Since then i have simplified and ditched those. In particular by ditching the vest i could really start to focus on achieving the draw par times in Steve's and Ben's books. I will throw on a vest for 1-2 practices before a match, just to add the step of flinging the vest back. but otherwise my focus is on optimizing the no-vest draw.

You guys are awesome! Now when I go home I'll explain to my wife about Morgan and how he was involved in the previous story lines and she'll think I still have a functional memory.

I've watched every episode, including the season 5 premiere, and also a little of the talking dead. However I can't figure out/remember who the guy is at the end with the mask who touches the symbol on the tree (I think this may have been part of the preview from the next episode). Am I supposed to know who this is? Can anyone clue me in?

Have you read Lanny Bassham's book? It has been helping me... http://www.amazon.com/With-Winning-Mind-3rd-Ed/dp/1934324264

Nice article. Confirms the general consensus that heavier bullets = less felt recoil (at approximately similar power factors).

Great question. I will be watching this thread with interest as I've been training for the IDPA classifier. Looking at my par times for each string, its amazing how much time I lose on the strong hand and especially the weak hand strings. The most recent thing I've tried is to "blade" my stance more, and put up to 75% of my weight on the front foot; seems to help some.

Shotmaxx. In addition to what Jade mentioned, it also allows you to time your shots at indoor ranges with a lot of other shooters around since it filters out the shots of your neighbors.

ahhh -- now I understand. thx.

I think I'm not understanding something. Why 22 ammo, and not another caliber?

Atlas: the slide lightening issue is interesting. Intuitively, I agree that when the slide has moved its maximum distance to the rear, and the wrist is considered a fulcrum, then the relative amount of slide weight in front of the wrist vs. the amount of slide weight behind the wrist probably has an effect on felt recoil. Interestingly, by lightening the slide you should be increasing its acceleration to the rear, but the effect of changing the weight distribution around the fulcrum must more than compensate for that giving you the reduced felt recoil you found. Sure would be interesting if someone had the wherewithal to to calculate what was actually happening. It might lead to some interesting ways to reduce felt recoil through combinations of slide weight distribution, spring weights, bullet masses, and powder.

After reading this thread, I thought -- lets do a calculation. I believe that Newton's third law is applicable here (for every action there is a equal and opposite reaction), which is based on forces, not momentum or energy. By my rough calculations (using atlas' numbers), the 115 gr bullet produces a force of 2.85E8 gr*ft/sec2 while the 230 gr bullet produces a force of 1.42E8. So firing the 115 gr bullet should produce ~ 2X the force back into the shooter as the heavier bullet, which is consistent with atlas' conclusions. The other interesting conclusion from this calculation is that since the slide mass is constant, the slide should accelerate backwards towards the shooter twice as fast with the 115 gr bullet than with the 230 gr bullet. Of course, this does not take into account the spring which is opposing the slide movement, or the fact that the muzzle flips so some of the linear acceleration then becomes rotational -- unfortunately, I have reached the limits of my physics knowledge so someone else will have to do those calculation... In an example more relevant to my shooting, I've been buying my ammo from Freedom Munitions, typically choosing between the 115 gr (1100 fps) and the 147 gr (950 fps). The 115 gr only generates 13% more force than the 147 gr, and the slide only moves backwards with 13% greater acceleration. Their 124 gr ammo exerts only 2% more force than the 115 gr. In my experience, I can't really tell the difference between these loads based on felt recoil. It would be interesting to have your buddy load a variety of different ammos into your mag (in a known order, of course) and then see if you can correctly determine which was which based just on the felt recoil. I'm pretty sure I couldn't.

Kelly: Guess I won't be getting my gold from them! DH: The hedge fund guy in the book said specifically, don't buy futures, funds etc. Buy real gold bars. The idea I guess is that if our economy collapses (s.a. Iceland, Greece, Ireland, etc) these funds will be worthless but actual gold will retain and actually increase its value. This is probably old hat to the experienced investors out there, but I'm still trying to learn and develop a strategy. Atlas: Based on spread, your dealer's 5% looks pretty reasonable (looks like apmex is at about 3% right now). Do you buy bars or coins? TH and e-m: Thanks! Steve: yup, good advice.

e-mishka: Have you purchased from apmex.com before? Just curious if you were happy with their service... I see that they have a large variety of Krugerands to choose from JR

... I was wondering if anyone here has actually purchased gold bars on-line or at a store? I was reading Michael Lewis' Boomerang, and the Dallas hedge fund manager he interviewed (who profited both from the 2007/8 US housing meltdown and the Iceland bankruptcy) said that he tells his mother "buy guns and gold bars". I figure I have the guns part covered , but looking on-line for gold bars I get this sneaking suspicion that some of these might be shady businesses. Has anyone looked into this, and can you suggest any reputable gold sellers? Thx, JR

Although this post is almost 3 months old, I just saw it yesterday and tried it today. It worked very well! I was having a similar problem to Blackstone. My front site typically traced a letter "P": it started at the bottom of the P, rose up and to the right, and then came back to rest in the middle of the P. I tried a little forearm rotation, a little shoulder rotation, and the combination. For me, a very slight amount of shoulder rotation with no conscious forearm rotation (and no increase in gripping power) caused the front site to snap right back to where it started. It really surprised me at first, but it was very reproducible. I'm going to try to some of the tweaks JShu suggested next time.

Great suggestions! Thanks. JR

Steve: any suggestions for types of "singular jobs" that have worked for you? Thx, JR

I'm going to say what others have in a different way, based on the ideas of Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). I read this book many years ago, and recently saw it cited in one of Ben's books so I think there is definitely relevance to the shooting sports. For example, say that you can pretty routinely perform a 3.5 second Bill drill. What you may be feeling is either boredom because you're taking on shooting challenges that are below your skill level; e.g., you're practicing 4 second Bill drills. For most people, this is probably unlikely. More likely, you're going into practice with the idea that you can reduce that to a 2.0 second Bill drill today, or this week, or this month. In this case, you're getting frustrated because your immediate goals are too far beyond your current skills. To stay in the flow channel, and avoid either boredom or frustration, you want goals that are currently just out of reach but readily achievable with significant effort. Think reaching for an object on a shelf when you're flat-footed and you can't quite get it. But, if you get up on your tip toes and stretch you can.

I've also had horrible experiences with these guys. When I bought my current house I found a broker who had all the "right creds" and his website went on and on about how ethical he was. After it was all over, my realtor (who I trust) said he was the worst broker he'd ever worked with. I will add, however, that I have refinanced a couple times with Quicken Loans and I thought they were super efficient and competent. Not sure if they are as good when doing the initial purchase...

You are a bad influence! But you're make a lot of sense....

Steve: do you have any classes coming up in the Atlanta area? Thx, JR

I preordered the 6 about 5am EST yesterday on line. No real issues. Also quoted delivery date next friday. Interesting that they won't ship the 6plus for another month. Either they had sold out of those, or there was some truth to the internet rumors that the 6plus was delayed (accept preorders for both phones on the same day, but delay 6plus shipments for a month).

^^^^^ Hmmmmmm. Well, I think you're right. Most of the articles I read leading up to the press conference said the Plus would be delayed a couple months. Then, I went to order a case, and they had cases for the smaller 6, but not for the Plus, which confirmed the delay in my mind. But I agree, all the sites now say that pre-order for both phones starts tomorrow.

"So I plan to purchase the iPhone 6 on Friday, 9/12-which version I haven't decided yet" FYI: you probably know this, but only the smaller iPhone 6 is available on Friday; the iPhone 6-Plus won't be coming out for a while. I will be joining you in ordering mine at 3am EST !!