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I started this sport a little late in life at 49, and now 5 years into it, I can see why they set the age for senior at 55. I can definitely feel old age starting to creep up… Honestly, I always thought it would be great to make Master I but never really thought it would be possible. Last year I made production A class and spent a day and a half with Shannon Smith, and I think reaching Master just may be possible. Although, the recent updates to the classifier high hit factors really hurts… I know it’s generally not recommended, but I’ve started shooting classifiers a lot in practice. Since Master is my goal, it seems to make sense to use classifiers as a benchmark to test myself against and learn from. Not to mention I really stink at classifiers in general… My early live fire training was focused on a lot of field course work. This was really helpful with transitioning from running/moving to accurate shooting modes and seemed to make me fairly successful in matches overall, but I perform poorly in classifiers. Long story short… I need help. I’ve really put a lot of work into getting where I’m at today and improvements seem to be harder to come by. I’ve currently got several issues I’m dealing that I’ll detail in my next post. It really boils down to pride. B class was good, and I’m was super happy when I made A class, but “Master” really sound nice. Master.. master.. maaaasteerr Yea… You guys have been an extremely valuable resource over the years, and I know I’ll benefit greatly from your feedback. I know we all love talking about the sport we love, but detailed replies take a lot of time, so let me go ahead and say how much I appreciate all the help.

Has anyone else experienced a substantial loss of speed with a race style holster? Was using a blade tech that sat high, which is not ideal... could still hit 10 yard shots under a second live and .8 or so dry. Now my dryfire is glacial 1.2 with new heavier 2011 and alpha x. I’ve only had it a week or so. Just need to get reps and accustomed to weight? I hope this is normal. I noticed that it’s not as smooth out of the locking mechanism as I expected. If my belt wiggles at all, the holster grabs the gun a bit and I have to wrestle it out. Looked for retention adjustment but there is none I can find.

The long debated and discussed subject of WHICH target to draw to, has finally been settled for me via live fire experimentation today. In match performances, I have almost exclusively planned to draw to an easy target in situations where 1) we can shoot from the starting position and location and should do so, and 2) in that first array there is another easy target to shoot while leaving. This is not regarding stages where steps must be taken before engaging the initial target - those are another, different controversial subject! Now this will not apply to ALL stages/situations even ones satisfying my conditions 1 and 2 above, for various reasons, but it will to many if not most. So, my thinking and decision was based on the fact that we can always draw faster on an easier target. E.g., the time to initial shot is faster on and easy than on a more difficult target. I further always rationalized that approach by thinking that after the first, easy shots, my grip and focus would be more settled before proceeding to the more difficult targets. Probably true to a large extent, especially if I missed my grip slightly in the draw. I have noted that many top competitors would do otherwise, and I often asked them why. They usually responded, that it was easier for them to speed up than to slow down in an array. Heard it many times, but I never accepted it. Today I tested it at the range. The attached drill layout is what I re-used again for this particular test, although this time I ran it in reverse. I drew to the T5 at 16 yards, then transitioned to the two plates at 17 yards, and then back uprange to T4, T3, T2 and T1 in that order. Long story short, when I ran this drill drawing to T1, then moving on to T2, T3, T4, T5 and ended on the two plates, my times on successful runs, dropping 2 Cs, averaged right around 6.20 seconds, with a draw of 1.21 on T1 at 7 yards. I repeated this many times to get a good baseline for comparison. When I reversed it, Drawing to T5 as laid out above, my average run time with 2 Cs or better, over many repetitions, was 5.54 seconds with a 1.34 draw. WOW! Drawing to the long target made the runs .66 seconds faster with same accuracy level, which is 10.7% less time! So that translates into a 12.64% HIGHER HF !! Which on this "stage" would also be 8.21 MORE stage points! How could that add up in a match! Conclusion: at least as to the extent that this particular sample course of fire experiment proved for me (Limited Major), drawing to the more difficult target is a big winner. Of course some scenarios would dictate proceeding otherwise. By the way, I also have considered this as to deciding whether to wrap into a location to shoot a reach target first upon entry to the location, and then unwrapping on the way out to the easy targets, as opposed to the reverse (In situations where you cannot shoot an easier, sooner-visible one as you enter the position. Max calls this the European Method vs. the American method. I use both and like the European better for the same reason as the Draw target analysis above. Thoughts? Target Focus Speed Drill - Rob Cook - 2-18-15.pdf