Charge The Plate Rack

[EricW]

The drill according to Steve:

on the movement:

From your plate rack, spray paint a line or lay a fault line (don't use a box) at 10, 15, 20, 25 yards.

Start at the 25. At the beep, draw and move to the 20 and shoot two plates. Move to the 15 at shoot 2 plates, move to the 10 and shoot two plates.

Notice you don't shoot at the 25, you draw and move to the 20.

My times: 12.15, 12.45 today with Limited gear. Limited and Production will basically shoot exactly the same times as you have LOTS of time to draw on this drill.

I honestly think I could shave off 3 or 4 seconds by simply getting my gun up sooner. This is a very deceptive drill as the desire is to run like hell, which only makes setting the shots more difficult.

[Ron Ankeny]

EricW:

In his live fire drills tape, Jerry Barnhart has a similar drill, but it's closer and faster. He puts a line at 7 yards, another back 1 1/2 yards from that, then another at 2 yards more, and the last line at another at 3 yards back. That way the distances between presentations decrease as the level of the shot difficulty decreases. Start with the gun at the "high ready" as it would be coming into a position. As a variation, place a popper to each side of the rack and shoot them on the move, one popper between the most distant shooting positions. It's not a very forgiving drill.

[Loves2Shoot]

Ditto to Ron, the Barnhart drill is very effective. I think it works better than the longer distance between shots. You can't afford to drop it the gun. If you shoot open just increase the distance.

[wide45]

I used to do the 25,20,15,10 yrd. drill, with reloads. I miss having access to a plate rack...

[Flexmoney]

This is a very deceptive drill as the desire is to run like hell, which only makes setting the shots more difficult.

Steve was doing this drill the other day, after our NRA Action Pistol match. I noticed the same thing...the need to be smooth (over the desire to be fast moving).

[EricW]

OK, either I'M learning small truths about shooting on the move or I'm learning more bad habits. Here's what I'm learning from this drill (mainly done dryfire):

- I've discarded dropping the gun from vision and remounting at each position for simply leaving the gun in my vision for the entire drill. I may or may not be aiming precisely depending on how close to getting into position I am, but I never let the gun "drop". If the distance between positions was longer, I would consider dropping the gun, but for this drill it seems like a time-killer.

- I'm slowly learning to give up the comfort of shooting flat-footed for shooting on the move. For me, the most stable, still-moving-forward postion seems to be with one foot on the ground with the other moving forward. I slow down to shoot, but my torso always has forward momentu. I know that seems like a modified-Egret, but the gun seems to be the most stable as it feels like you're "gliding". Trying to trigger shots with both feet touching seems like a loser due to all the jostling and the fact that I tend to glue my feet down if I try to shoot with both feet on the ground.

Any comments/tips about what I'm "learning"?

[Jake Di Vita]

I'm not a huge fan of shooting on the move and I will only do it when I feel it gives me a great advantage. Most of the times it just isn't worth it. You will shoot slower, drop more points, and move slower all at the same time. There are some stages where it is great though....the Ohio match we had just recently comes to mind.

Not dropping the gun from your vision is huge though. Keeping it right up in the high ready position is safer, more consistent, and faster than dropping the gun.

[EricW]

Jake,

I see your point. The problem is, that Area-1 *seemed to me* to just about DEMAND the ability to shoot on the move. I'm not talking about ripping off shots while breaking Mach 1, but just smooooth forward progression while working your way through the ports.. Bonedaddy was tutoring me on the back half of the match and and made a great point that it takes just about .75 secs or better to get your butt moving from a dead stop. Well...the way that match was set up, gluing your feet to the ground was just death on a stick if you wanted to place anywhere decent in the overall standings. I can think of half a dozen stages where shooting flat footed added an automatic 5 seconds to your time.

I don't have much big match experience, but I definitely came away from that match with the impression that shooting on the move is a required skill at these port festivals. On stages with only two or three shooting positons and long, tough shots, I definitely can see the merits of getting your points and getting into and out of positions quickly.

[Sterling White]

Or the Florida Open where its almost required to be competitive!

[mcoliver]

When I did a variation of this drill some time ago it took me a while to realize I was unconciously pulling the gun closer to my face. Somehow I (or my body) adjusted my presentation a bit to minimize the gun bounce.

One can burn a lot of ammo doing this drill. And if not critical of performance and aware, one will end up depressed and disappointed.