Practice today

[38supPat]

Speed building exercises

[Dillon b]

those were some pretty quick draws, and that gun looked like it shot really flat.

[38supPat]

Early runs were with an 8# ISMI spring in the gun but I had a couple of malfs, ftf, bumped it up to a 10# ISMI spring for the later runs and cured the problem.

[Sin-ster]

I genuinely wish my shot-to-shot reload speed was faster than my buzzer-to-shot draw speed.

Mild thread-drift, but... How helpful is that mag well, in your estimation? (I shoot Production exclusively.)

[38supPat]

Mag wells are always helpful, they won't make the mag go in but it is more forgiving. There were a couple of runs in that practice session where I still managed to miss it altogether.

Years ago there was an article in the Blue Press were TGO and Arnt M ran some El Prez drills where they started with a full house P9 race gun and worked down to a GI .45. If I remember right they used a P9, a SS iron sight open gun, a modified 1911 (.45 with sights and magwell) and a bone stock 1911. If you can find it, it is a great read and interesting results.

[Mat Price]

looks good pat. Here is a question. on your close draw are you seeing your dot on the target or are you working off of muscle memory and finding your dot post shot. I can usually get down in the low .6s but I find when i do I dont see my dot until it recovers. To draw see my dot on target break the shot knowing it is an A shot the best i can get is about a .72

but here is the thing when i do push it down and go by muscle memory it is usually an A shot 90% of the time. I tend to take advantage of that in matches where i have a very close target I draw fire blind and pick up the dot on my second shot. I would however like to see it all.

[38supPat]

I am seeing the dot but it's definitely a flash. I'd say I'm using it as a reference to where the gun went at that speed, essentially it's there to call the shot and nothing more. I'm using mostly my NPA and index to fire the shot, if anything I am using the dot to slow down enough to confirm the gun is on target when the hammer falls and that is all. For reference look at the draw where I shot the Bzone in .85, this is the difference I see when I need to confirm with the sight that I am on target....a couple of tents to confirm the sight picture before I press the shot, on the close target I am seeing the dot but there is no confirmation before the shot, only a reference to where it was when the shot broke.

[Mat Price]

ok so your doing the same thing i am at that speed. I just see a flash of it and use it also. and pick up on the call. I am relying on my NPA also to get me @ A zone at that speed as well. So I know what your saying. I wish i could see the dot at that speed like a normal shot. Wouldnt it be nice to draw see dot confirm dot break the shot and call it in .6 lol

But i guess in essence that is what we are doing.

[38supPat]

If you watch the runs on the transition drill the biggest difference in times I saw and what lowered my times on the runs was the draw. Initially I was drawing at about 1.10 and my runs were over 3.0 seconds. I found I was spending way too much time confirming before I fired the first shot. I worked on getting my index set on the first target and breaking the shot as soon as I saw the dot appear in the A zone. My draws dropped into the low .9s and I started running 2.84 to 2.95 runs...for the record my fastest run that day was a 2.76 but I was down 5 points....all the while I was running .21 to .25 target to target average with my fastest being a .19 and my slowest being a .27.

[Mat Price]

the splits is where I shine. I usually run splits down to .12 - .15 and transitions where i have less than 3 yards between targets in the high teens. things that get me is getting the gun out and on target and getting it back on target after reloads. once its there I am golden but i tend to loose a bunch of time getting it there and getting it back.

[38supPat]

I pretty much never pull faster than a .15 split

Post up a video of you doing the transition drill and let's have a look

[38supPat]

After watching your match vids I would say that while you are pretty quick on the splits and transitions you are dropping a LOT of points. I would focus on your movement, reloads and draws for awhile. If you can be quicker ad more efficient there you can add a couple of hundredths to your splits and transitions, enough to guaratntee A's. I noticed on one stage that featured a lot of close targets (stage 2 I think on first video) you dropped 10 points. You should have been down no more than 2 or three on that stage at most, on the stages with longer shots you were down 15 or more, that's the same as a miss. If you are not shooting 4-5 points down max for each of those stages you are pushing too hard. You are trying to be fast on the trigger and giving up points where you should be using movement to reduce your time to where you don't have to push as hard on the trigger.

[Sin-ster]

Just to add a bit about the draw, and what to see...

Shooting Irons, there's a bit more going on than just picking up the dot-- and NPA has quite a bit to do with it. Like both of you, I discovered that what seems to be a "flash" of the sight (a dot in my case as well, thanks to the Fiber and close ranges of 7 yards or less) is enough to call the shots that were outside of the A-zone, especially those that edge up to or even fall into the D.

I wondered how that was possible, as it felt like I was seeing the dot "after the fact". It hit me then that my perception of the sights was different than my actual seeing, and it was in fact my mind that was slow to the process and not my eyes. I began to expect that "glimpse of a sight" more and more, and found that even as my draw times fell, it seemed as if I were seeing the front post longer nonetheless. A mental thing; quickening of the mind.

That said, my fastest draws at 7 yards are in the realm of .9; you all may very well be experiencing something different!

[Mat Price]

After watching your match vids I would say that while you are pretty quick on the splits and transitions you are dropping a LOT of points. I would focus on your movement, reloads and draws for awhile. If you can be quicker ad more efficient there you can add a couple of hundredths to your splits and transitions, enough to guaratntee A's. I noticed on one stage that featured a lot of close targets (stage 2 I think on first video) you dropped 10 points. You should have been down no more than 2 or three on that stage at most, on the stages with longer shots you were down 15 or more, that's the same as a miss. If you are not shooting 4-5 points down max for each of those stages you are pushing too hard. You are trying to be fast on the trigger and giving up points where you should be using movement to reduce your time to where you don't have to push as hard on the trigger.

yeah pat that is exactly what i am working on now! We had a long conversation on my match video thread about movement and how I move ect. I having very diligently been working on getting to positions quicker and smother. changing my stance and being more aggressive between the shots.

in my last two videos

MPSA match I shot 91.52 % including penalties

stage one was trashed i shot only 75 points of 135 witch in cludes a mike

stage two i droped 1 point But it was a non moving stage 29/30 ( bang and clang)

stage three again 116 of 135 no mikes just bad hits and not getting back on target after a move

stage 4 122 of 155 again a mike

stage 5 136 of 170

this was a very heavy movement match and thats where i loose a ton of points

now move to a week later to another match after i had worked a week on movement and getting into position. Sins-ter was at this match and can attest to the long long long long runs and tons of movement at this match

I shot 95.6 % of the points

with 0 mikes and 3 d's the whole match

I dropped less than 30 points over the entire match 534 of 560

But my times where slower.

SO its starting to come togther for me but its a work in progress

Edited March 22, 2012 by Mat Price

[Mat Price]

I have never shot the transition drill but I will set it up today and see what i get. that is if i can get in some time between the storms lol.