Rapt

And as CR10X pointed out somewhat facetiously, the only way to actually get to see the squirrel is to be patient and still. Once you quit pursuing and simply observe, then the obstacle of learned knowledge will become an obstacle no longer. It ceases to factor into the issue. If this is not the essence of Zen, ....

Boy isn't that so? when you think about getting rid of "thoughts" then you think, therefore thoughts never goes away. Something a yoga instructor taught to help with the process of emptying that I found helpful was that rather than trying to eliminate the thought, or dismiss it. Accept it. Say to yourself "OK the the thought is there, but I will deal with it later." Then it goes and you are free to stop thinking about it. Otherwise you spend your thoughts thinking about not thinking and never clear your awareness of the "monkeymind".

I've been reading this thread to see where it finally ended up. And the reason is that I wanted to add some comments. I've got a Para 16-40 LTD that is much like the one JFD bought... Its got well over 100,000 rounds on the slide and frame, its not "tight" but it doesn't rattle either. The old barrel wore out and it got inaccurate, so a new Schuemann Ultimatch Bull barrel fixed that it had about 2000 rounds through it when I bought it. S&A magwell. Lightish spring, buff, solid guide rod, extended mag release, full S*I internals, just over 2 lb trigger. I bought it used and "tricked out" with a couple mags. I shoot 180gr loads loaded to 1.180" length without problems. It shoots very well, better than I can. But thats ok I've only been shooting pistol for 2 years and IPSC (USPSA style) for one. That said, a well known gunsmith told me when I was looking at what to get that both S*I and Para will make a very very good gun. The difference is that you'd pay more for smithing/parts to get the Para to the same level starting with new guns. The net effect is that going new is going to cost about the same either way. On the other hand if you can pick up either used and running well then thats a great way to go as you can save a lot of money.

Actually I was thinking for both freestyle and SH/WH grips. Right now I close my dominant eye to force my weak eye to do the work. The thing is I'm concerned I'm affecting my ultimate speed (of vision) by doing this.

Just dropped in on this thread... and here's my thoughts on it... Confidence is a "concious" thought process, whereas "trust" is more a "gut feel" thing, a belief. Its a sub concious (un? concious) process that relates more to how you FEEL about your self and your ability to perform than confidence. For me confidence is more about what you think about your ability to meet a certain standard of performance, rather than a belief in yourself. I'm not a new shooter, but I'm fairly new to pistol shooting and very new to "practical" shooting. So I'm working on the transition from concious fundamentals to the more open state of awareness. I haven't finished Brian's book, but its been enlightening for me and expresses a lot of the sense I have when shooting well. The sense that causes me to compare a good shooting session with a good yoga session. Something that usually gets me some very odd looks.

I'm no shooting guru but lots of live fire practice without learning the right way and practicing the right skills will just teach BAD habits. I see it all the time with newish shooters who weren't taught good skills to begin with. Its much harder to change bad habits than to learn good ones to begin with.

So I just ordered my copy via the website/paypal. Looking forward to getting it. I'm a new IPSC shooter and when my gun runs I'm pushing the C/B shooters in my area. So I figure some structured practice would be good. (Right now I'm waiting on my new pistol.) Already ordered the other books fron Brian Enos' site, and happen to have an RU Ready timer since the man who makes them lives near me. So no special deals for me today.

I'm a cross dominant shooter who has until now always just closed the dominant eye and shot with the "weak" eye. The problem is as I get into this pistol stuff its a disadvantage. I'd love to know other's opinions on options... Is it possible to change your dominant eye? OR should I opt to line up with the dominant eye and shoot with both open? I'd be curious to know what a top shooter like our host does. I know a GM in my area who was cross dominant who learned to shoot with the other hand to solve the problem. This seems like the last choice to me.