TerryYu Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Can someone please critique my draw and reload technique? I am currently doing dry fire practice for an IDPA classifier match coming up next weekend and would like to button down my technique a bit. I would really love to make the jump from novice to sharpshooter class Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpygravy Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I don't shoot IDPA so maybe it's different, but the traditional El Prez is usually a surrender position start i.e hands above shoulders. Beyond that, there's nothing wrong with practicing a hands-at-sides turning draw. You're a southpaw and because you're turning to your strong side (as most folks do) it's hard to see the whole draw when the camera is also on the strong side. Also, since it is a turning draw, your footwork is not visible on the video. That said, here's what I can see: You're leaving your weak hand hanging in space on the draw. Try the draw without the turn. Get the weak hand up to your sternum and onto the gun as soon as possible so you can begin to pickup the sights on the push out. Then intergrate the turn and snap your head around to T1 as fast as possible. You keep the gun up high when doing your reloads. That's a good thing - keep it up, literally. I'm not sure, but when you dismount for the reload, it doesn't look like you position the gun the same each time. You seem to have varying arm/gun positions. Technically, it looks like you know the mechanics. You might work on refinement and consistency. One drill mentioned on the topic of reloads that I found useful was to do the reload just up to the point where you are about to release the mag and push it home but stop at that point. Essentially, grab the new mag and point it into the magwell without actually seating it. Rinse and repeat about a b'jillion times. Another reload drill is to do it with your eyes closed. Start in slow motion and then as your body gets a feel for where all of the parts need to be in relation to each other, you can increase the speed. Do a U-Toob search for Travis Tomasie. He has an instructional snippet posted and in one of them he demonstrates with his production rig which is pretty close to your IDPA setup. Lastly, if you're not using a full mag with dummy rounds you should be to accurately simulate the effort needed to seat a full mag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Anderson Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 Try to get the head moving ahead of the body. If you snap the eyes to the first target, the body has no choice but to follow and will sort a lot of the other stuff out. Let's see the feet... SA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryYu Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 (edited) Thanks for the replies. Here is video showing the feet. I feel like my draw is decent, but incredibly slow. I can move the gun faster than what is in the video, as I am trying hard to focus on bringing my support hand high, but I start to slop. Edited April 24, 2012 by TerryYu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryYu Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Here's a short video of draws and turn and draws I put together. My feet are visible this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpygravy Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 (edited) Did you just get home from work? You're about the best dressed person I've ever seen for a dry fire video. Here's what I see: On your straight up draw, your weak hand positioning is inconsistent. You start off good, weak had high to the sternum and then by the third draw it's off in space. The same thing happens when you incoroprate the turn - you lose consistency with your entire draw motion. On the turn, you step "up range" with your weak foot/leg and then pivot/turn to that side - stepping away from the targets. You'll have to experiment with what works best for you, but most folks pivot/turn on their strong side to reduce the amount of movement needed for the turn. Think of turning in place rather than stepping out and then turning back to face the targets. Another observation is that there appears to be the lack of a "snap" to your movements overall. I'm not saying that you should rush your movements. Moving slowly while getting your motions set is good. But I'm guessing that you can probably complete a solid dry/live draw a little quicker than what you're showing on your video. Do you have a timer? If not get one with a par time function. It's the only objective way to measure any improvements or determine if any changes in your motions are beneficial. Edited April 24, 2012 by lumpygravy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryYu Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 (edited) Yeah. I just got home from work and saw your response and wanted to throw something up on the web. I'll try to work on that snap. I'm not a very snappy person, ha. Currently trying to snap makes me tense up and messes up my draw, but I'll keep working on relaxing while moving fast. Also the 1911 is heavy after a billon draws but that's me whining. Edited April 25, 2012 by TerryYu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Anderson Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Get a timer. Immediately if not sooner. Must have a par time function. Everything feels slow and looks slow necause there's no sense of urgency. I must also point out that dryfiring in dress clothes guarantees one of two things: Wimpy practice or Ruined dress clothes Sorry, I'm on a bit of a rant today... SA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryYu Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 What model of timer do you recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryYu Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 Actually, CED7000 en route! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gng4life Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Hey Terry, Any timer will do but my favorites are the CEDs. There are also apps for the iPhone and Android devices but they are not as reliable. However, just for Par times, you should be okay. If you are coming out to the Steel Challenge this Saturday, I'll let you play with mine...I'm talking about the timer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryYu Posted April 28, 2012 Author Share Posted April 28, 2012 Get a timer. Immediately if not sooner. Must have a par time function. Everything feels slow and looks slow necause there's no sense of urgency. I must also point out that dryfiring in dress clothes guarantees one of two things: Wimpy practice or Ruined dress clothes Sorry, I'm on a bit of a rant today... SA Noticed some oil on my dress shirt :/ Just got my CED7000 in the mail today and also shot the IDPA classifier. Here's a video of the actual turn and shoot with a timer. I think I did a bit better with time pressure but I went so many points down on the long range shoot I dropped my total time from just scratching at expert to the middle of sharpshooter. I need to work on my long distance accuracy under stress, my sights were shaking so much my group size was about the same as the entire target! https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/36520_10100832692649210_15913151_54963016_1461646392_n.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpygravy Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 I see you're pivoting on your strong side. Did it make a difference for you? Your weak hand is still floating. Get it to your sternum quickly so that you can prep it to receive the gun. It's a personal thing, but I like to start with a little more bend/flex in the knees. For me it helps me feel a little more aggressive. Remember, I don't shoot IDPA so if you must start with locked knees then you have to follow those rules. You might now consider breaking down the entire turn-n-draw into an identified series of movements so that you can start eliminating anything that is extraneous. For example: When I do a turn-n-draw, I begin by snapping my head around to visually pick up T1 and at the same time, I lift my strong side heel and pivot on the toe/ball of that foot and get my hand on the gun. Then as I complete the turn, I'm drawing the gun and picking a spot on T1. As the turn-n-draw is completed, I'm presenting the gun on T1 and hopefully, if everything is lined up, I can break the first shot. Your reload could be done higher so that you keep the targets in your vision. You might consider practicing just the reload as a separate skill and then adding the two together. Focus on the presentation of the new mag to the magwell. As you might imagine, if you botch that, you botch the reload. Keep it up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat Price Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Dont know if this will help you but here is a video of me doing el prez. Notice how I whip my head around to get the first target. My turn and draw inst super super fast but I am ready to fire and have my body in the right place bacuae I can already see the target well before I finish my turn. be more aggressive in determined in your movements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryYu Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 That's some fast shooting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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