Practice draw

[JD45]

I got to thinking about the way I practice draws today and wondered if anyone else has considered this. When I do dry-fire draws I am indoors. The target is usually pretty close and is fairly high off the floor. I noticed that the angle is a good bit higher than where a target would be in a match.

Most targets at matches are comparatively low, like five feet to the top of the head(and even shorter). When you move that target out to 10 or 15 yards your draw must stop and you pull the trigger at a lower angle. This assumes flat ground, but I see many bays with a downward slope toward the berm.

What I am getting at is that if we all do thousands of draws in dry-fire practice and the pistol stops at a higher point, being higher on average than any real target, are we screwing-up our brains and muscle memory?

I kind of believe that if dry practice was as close as possible to most standing first shot match draws, then that annoying little stall that seems to come at the end of the draw in a match might disappear.

Does anyone else think that there may be something to this? Regardless, I have got to do some figuring about dry-fire targets.

[Duane Thomas]

Does anyone else think that there may be something to this?

Probably not. As I get ready to draw, I look at the center of the A-zone (or down-0 circle in IDPA). The gun just appears in a line between my eye and the target, no problem.

[mcoliver]

You do repeat draws to familiarize yourself with the mechanics and cut down wasted movements.

But your practice should not end there. Also practice starts you normally see in matches you attend as well as other things which you find lacking in your skills.

Personally, I do not practice standing draws or reloads anymore unless I'm trying a new gun, holster, pouches, underwear , etc. What I see in most matches over here require the gun to be somewhere else. So that's what I practice on.

[Nolan]

Vary the height of your dry fire targets. I move the targets around, change heights, etc...

Nolan

[TriggerT]

I agree with Nolan that you should vary the hieght of the targets, BUT I am also a big believer in trying to dry fire at targets that are as far away as possible. Even farther than I see at match if possible. Not only does it make you focus on calling the shot a little more precisely, but it also makes you work your vision harder, since the distance you are shifting focus over is greater. I know that isn't always possible, but I found it helped alot.

[SKR]

let your eyes guide your gun. When i dryfire i do some various heights and distance with my eyes closed, look at the A-zone close your eyes wait for the beep draw the gun open your eyes the dot is perfectly aimed.

[Duane Thomas]

I have three mini-targets set up in the configuration they are on the IDPA classifier, and they're what I use for dry fire. Doing descending par time drills, I start on the far left (high) target at 2.0 seconds, do a few reps, then do 1.8 on the middle (low) target, then 1.6 on the right (medium) target, then back to the left for 1.4....and so on. I've got it down to .7 so far. Do I need to practice the draw on different height targets? Probably not. But as long as the set-up is there anyway....