300 round monster match

[Strick]

I shot the Generation Shooters 300 match this weekend with my single stack 9mm. I have been trying to work on my reloads and my transitions and this match was a good test of both. I don't know my exact hits but I only had a handful of delta's and no mikes.

Happy to hear any feedback and to see if I am seeing the same things I need to work on.

[mudman]

300 rounds over 6 stages? That sounds like fun...

I think you can still shave some extra movement off your reloads. Your upper body kinda leans over to the right, and you bring your strong arm back, down and to the right. Instead, try to keep your body and gun close to your actual shooting position during the reload. Also, if you reload with the gun up in front of your face, you can keep the targets in your visual background while your eyes focus on watching the mag go into the magwell. This way you don't need to look up and reacquire your targets after the reload. I get good results when I move the gun up so the magwell is just above my line of sight - then I can keep my eyes on my next target/position and also watch the reload.

Your left hand should snap down to the mag pouch and back up to the gun as quickly as possible. Instead of moving the whole left arm from the shoulder, you might want to experiment with rotating your forearm down to the mag pouch pivoting around the elbow. Your left hand has a lot of distance to cover, so get it moving as soon as you've called your previous shot. I find it helps to think about snapping my left hand down to my mag pouch as the first step of the reload, instead of pushing the mag release button.

You can also save some time on your draw by eliminating body movement. When the beep sounds, the only things you want moving are your arms. I found it helped a lot to practice in front of the mirror. Pick a spot on the wall behind you or stick a piece of tape on the wall as a reference point - then watch to see if your body (especially your head) is moving on the draw. To smooth out your arm motion, you can try working on reverse draws: start with the gun in shooting position, then put it back in the holster.

Hope that helps... Have fun and good shooting!

[lumpygravy]

Greetings from California.

I watched Stages 1-4 (will return for the rest later) and have these observations;

1] I echo mudman's observation about your upper body on the releaod - it cants to the right. I think this might be caused by the position of you mag pouches. The more vertical positioned they are, the more straight up you have to draw them in order for them to release from the pouch.

2] Ditto on the "snap". I read somewhere (probably in BE's Fundamentals) that you should be able to touch your off hand to your chest before the gun releases from the holster (or very shortly thereafter. I use the same thinking in reverse when I practice my reloads. My off hand should be, at a minimum, on the mag before the empty leaves the magwell.

Now you were using a single stack and that has it's own considerations that affect both points. For example, you may not have enough real estate on the belt to significantly angle the pouches and still have enough mags for long stages forcing a more vertical position to fit enough mags to accomodate the stage.

Lastly, not an observation, but along the lines of dry fire practice in front of a mirror, why not video your dry fire practice? I'm willing to bet a little time in front of the camera practicing your draws and reloads will help identify all of the little areas that you might not be aware of during live fire or during a match. I plan to do as much (or more) video of my own dry fire vs. live fire.

Side note: I shot a stage similar to #4 eons ago when I first started. I lost track of the targets and had a bazillion misses... How'd you do on that one?

Edited November 19, 2010 by lumpygravy

[lumpygravy]

Edit - Deleted due to inadvertent double post.

Is that like when your gun doubles?

Edited November 19, 2010 by lumpygravy

[Strick]

Greetings from California.

.

Side note: I shot a stage similar to #4 eons ago when I first started. I lost track of the targets and had a bazillion misses... How'd you do on that one?

I did OK on that one, managed to not fire any extra rounds on targets already engaged and didn't skip any. Hits were pretty good. That is the one that I was worried about since I had bunch of reloads and with so many targets it would have been easy to lose where you are during a reload.

Thanks to both of you for your observations. They are pretty much exactly in line with what I have noticed on the videos of my last few matches.