The Draw

[Onepocket]

Any tips on making the draw faster and more consistent?

[Koppi]

Practice practice practice and than some more practice.

[DoubleL]

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&fromMainBar=1

Search here, there are many many many good threads on draw, draw speed, sights during draw, technique, par times, drills... The info is endless here

[Andreas]

Three that helped me were (1) move the pistol in a straight line from the holster to the firing position, (2) get your weak hand over toward the holster and catch the pistol right after the muzzle goes horizontal, and (3) lots of dry fire.

[itlogo]

Are you practicing for steel (surrender) or most USPSA (hands at sides)? For USPSA, I sometimes use a scoop technique instead of coming over the top and down. From hands at sides, I come up and my four fingers scoop the gun directly out of the holster as my thumb is coming around to the other side. Support hand meets the gun as soon as possible and then extend directly out to your firing position. For me, it's about 0.25s faster than the typical draw where I come up above the gun then down against the backstrap to pull the gun out.

But...it's riskier because you're pulling the gun out before your thumb has actually had a chance to secure the gun, and there's more risk you would end up with a sloppy grip, or worse, drop the gun. For USPSA, 0.25s saved on the draw at the risk of having a bad grip isn't worth it. It would be worth it for steel, but there you're starting from surrender so the scoop doesn't apply anyways.

[kylehb]

I have found the best thing to be repetition - and not necessarily speed of movement. When your hand lands in the perfect position every time and the gun sights land right on target and you don't have to think or make adjustments, I think only then can you really even benefit from attempting to do so at a faster speed. Thus I would say practice, practice, practice and then some more practice as well.

[zhuk]

On advice from a MG'der I've started incorporating closed-eyes dryfire into my routine. Open eyes after the draw to see if you're sight picture is correct, meant to ingrain muscle memory. Also do the same thing for mag changes.

[basman]

Technique first, good grip, slowly increase the speed while maintaining proper form. you will need a timer with a par time setting.

repeat often.

[eric nielsen]

Go with how the instructor does it; skip how the student does it (changing his wrist angle); put much work into this at all you should be under 1 second. Ron took me from 1.25 to 0.85 in about 3 minutes.

[Reshoot]

Technique first, good grip, slowly increase the speed while maintaining proper form. you will need a timer with a par time setting.

repeat often.

+1

Establishing a consistent grip is #1. Your grip must be exactly the same on each and every draw. If you do not first establish this, the rest doesn't matter.

[joedirt]

Go with how the instructor does it; skip how the student does it (changing his wrist angle); put much work into this at all you should be under 1 second. Ron took me from 1.25 to 0.85 in about 3 minutes.

great instruction...I will be doing this drill

[jcarpenter82]

Biggest thing ive found (for me) was to relax. Tensing up produced a fraction of a second slower than if i simply relaxed. I started slow draws to get the movement down, once it became subconsience it felt smoother and faster

[BeerBaron]

great vid. Ron Avery's draw is amazing.

[eric nielsen]

More detail, including draw styles of some classic Steel Challenge winners (Barnhart, McCormick). Especially for shooting Open, I think the flat & level presentation is the way to go but try them all. What matters isn't what feels best but what works best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URLTraSQvmE

[chickenzomby]

one thing that helped me get my sights on target consistently was to visualize my draw right before it happened. Imagine seeing a pre-image of what your draw will look like, almost like seeing runway lights of where the plane is supposed to go for a landing or takeoff. You visually imagine this pathway and then let the buzzer go off, initiating your draw. Your body, after enough repetition, will be more consistent on aligning the sights on target.

[Studlee]

Draw practice at home with a par timer. I start out slow. Once I get consistent, I speed up till I get that consistent, then speed up again.

[joetsui]

Ron Avery is the man! Watch that video five times then practice 50 times a day for 10 days.

[cactusbrew]

one thing that helped me get my sights on target consistently was to visualize my draw right before it happened. Imagine seeing a pre-image of what your draw will look like, almost like seeing runway lights of where the plane is supposed to go for a landing or takeoff. You visually imagine this pathway and then let the buzzer go off, initiating your draw. Your body, after enough repetition, will be more consistent on aligning the sights on target.

I have also found visualizing the draw right before is key. I visualize my gun hand reaching down and wholly gripping the pistol, my support hand coming down to my stomach ready to receive the gun, my arms extending out with proper grip, my front sight covering the target, and pulling the trigger directly back.

I have been heavily focusing on my draw the last few weeks and from surrendor to first target hit am about 1.23 to 1.5. Im hoping averys suggestions will continue to whittle it down.

[emjei]

Is it a good idea to tense the elbows anticipating a reaction ??

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[caspian38]

The less tension the better in almost everything.

Video tape yourself and make sure your practicing correctly.

Start with the gun up and on target then work back in steps. I always have a bend in my elbows ( I hate shooting stiff armed it feels like Im fighting recoil ).

Step one :Gun starts to come straight back finger comes off trigger ( about 6 inches , this is where I do my reloads ).

Step two: gun moves down and slightly right , my weak hand relaxes and my fingers pivot up off the index finger ( knife hand ) as I lower the gun ( I keep my wrist straight on the weak hand). All my strong hand did is rotate my shoulder so my elbow pulls back along my body ,and my strong hand wrist has to has to break a little to keep the gun pointed directly down range.

At this point the gun is about 4 inches below my right nipple ( I can't think of a better way to say it ), and my weak hand is palm down with my index finger still touching the trigger guard.

Step three: my weak hand elbow brings the forearm and hand down ( keep the wrist straight ) and out about 6 inches.

Step four: the muzzle of my gun drops / wrist rotates. I go to muzzle 90 degrees down as my forearm drops about two inches or less ( this is where I put my holster ). if your shooting production you'll have to rotate your shoulder back a bit until your holster position is legal.

Step five: thumb is 90 degrees out from the palm ( strong hand ) I use the web of my hand to index on the back of the pistol. I always index the same with a little downward force on the pistol as it sits in the holster. Your weak hand needs to be moving back to its starting position at the same time.

I start my draw arms relaxed with my forearm touching my mag-well ( index point).

This is how I try to get my draw as logical as possible. You can do it with your own draw and make up your own steps.

Key points I use when breaking down my shooting mechanics are:

Relax ( tension is slow). Relaxing also absorbs recoil better.

Movement should use the largest joints / muscles possible.

Index points /steps are important until they aren't.

Video tape and look for wasted motion. ( double chin, neck disappears, scrunching down, ect. )

Put your gear where you move to naturally ...don't force yourself to fit your gear ( unless you have to).

Draw and reloads work together if you can use some of the same movements / index points it will make everything more efficient and smoother.

Reverse breakdown ,and logic work on every aspect of shooting. A video might have shown what I do better ,but I was trying to show the logic ,as it helped all of my shooting mechanics ... as well as opened my eyes to what I was actually seeing on videos.

[emjei]

Excellent info ^^^ there

My question is based on the fact that while surfing YouTube I saw a video of Steve Anderson Dry Fire tune up and he telling the student : "Remember what we talked about the elbows" ...... or something similar

I wonder what he was referring to ?

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[caspian38]

Steve Anderson might be able to answer that...?

People do a lot of weird things with elbows ,so he could have been correcting any number of things.

You might try standing in your shooting position with hands relaxed at sides then bring your hands up (use just elbow joints ) in front of you about shoulder width apart with palms facing each other ... Like your holding an invisible box

Then bring your hands together. Lift them up and a tad out until they line up with your eye then extend them out to where you like to shoot.

Here is the weird part keep your hands (pinkies) touching And pretend like your hands are a book opening... Watch up your elbows as you do this they should kind of move together. Now without moving your elbows much close the book. Your elbows should naturally move out a bit ,or you'll feel tension in your shoulders. Try extending your arms all the way and opening the book ( so to speak ). Feel the tension in the elbow ( not good ). Try diffrent amounts of extension and opening the book.

Now pretend your holding a gun and simulate recoil. Your wrist and forearm should be doing almost all the work ,and it should feel loose and natural. If it feels tight or unnatural figure out why and change it to fit your style.

Lots of people raise their elbows to high( level with shoulders ) or lock them out and all of this causes tension and fatigue. Try simulating recoil with your elbows at shoulder level and see how much your wrist movement is reduced.

Also some people look like a saloon door when the are preparing to draw... Elbows spread out and flailing all over.

Hope that helps ...This is just how I shoot so take it with a grain of salt.

Edited May 6, 2014 by caspian38

[emjei]

Thanks again

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[zjmccauley]

Go with how the instructor does it; skip how the student does it (changing his wrist angle); put much work into this at all you should be under 1 second. Ron took me from 1.25 to 0.85 in about 3 minutes.

great instruction...I will be doing this drill

GREAT video

[turkeypoker]

Ron Avery is smooth