How To Enter A Shooting Position - Set Up

[Clay1]

The first thread that I started had some great info on how to leave a shooting position. I want to continue with that same theme and specifically speak to entering a box, port or other shooting position.

Please provide as much detail as you can. Do you enter with the leading foot or the trailing foot. Do you come into the position with more weight on one foot and then transition to a balanced stance or remain with more weight on one foot. Bluntly after being able to stand and deliver a series of accurate shots on target at varying distances movement is THE PLACE to cut time it would seem. I see the ability to set up for the next shot as one of the places that huge gains can be made in lowering my time. Would appreciate your input. Thanks in advance.

Rick

[eric nielsen]

For large props - plywood walls, snowfence, barricades & such - I would follow Max's advice of watching the target on the way to the vision barrier and then ignore the barrier [pretend you see right thru it] until you pass the far end and present right out onto where the target is. It's sorta 1/3rd of a draw into a wall then another 2/3rds draw just clear of the wall.

A great place to see this is the very first stage shown [the Open men's super-squad] on Shooting USA's episode of the 2004 USPSA Nationals. Starting with JJ Racaza, you'll see them present out even when the target is obscured by a vision barrier for part of their push-out. Many of the targets are NOT visible prior to clearing the vision barrier but they know where to look based on the way they worked the 5minute Walk-thru.

Practice this in your house working your way down hallways left-right and also right-left. I get the best results with the top-front of my compensator right at the elevation where the target will appear. It's more tilted when I run right-left, I'm using the corner of the comp. I have my slide pointed at the exact same angle it will take to shoot the shot once in position.

I like to enter with the trailing foot and somehow, just noticing the end of a wall come up, I size my steps to wind up with that trailing foot set down at the end of that wall. No work or planning involved. For boxes on the ground, it's harder.

I'm blessed with 2 different partial-walls in my house where I can practice the see-before-and-after-the-wall method. Everywhere else in the house needs a "walk-thru" to know where to be pointed as the vision barrier clears.

Because I'm a complete idiot I've only been doing this for about 6 or 8 weeks now, based on reading Max's site and some emails from him too. Prior to this I would look to set my feet where they need to be first & I'd pretty much never see the moment when the vision barrier cleared out. Needless to say I was never 1/2way thru my presentation with the old method. New way works out about .3 to .5 second quicker for every position entry. If that sort of thing interests you.

[Clay1]

That's great info Eric thanks. I've been watching Matt Burkett tapes last night and again today. I shoot on Tuesday nights and Thurs nights these days and try to do some dry fire inbetween and matches on the weekends. Still have a long way to go in this learning cycle and I know it so I am trying to be all ears and eyes. I'll try some of the drills you mentioned and see what I notice tonight at the league. Thanks

[XRe]

First off, let me say that movement essentials are something I'm sorely missing, right now, after 6 years off or whatever it was, but...

In general, what I've done is to try to find where I need to be to engage targets - whether that be an open area, a box, etc. I look at how I need to move into it, and out of it, and how the targets I'm engaging from there are arranged - determines where my body needs to be positioned. Then I decide how to get in and out. Regarding getting in, I usually enter w/ trailing foot first, unless something about the setup makes this awkward - for instance, moving left to right to a barricade, where I have to engage targets from the left side of the barricade, I find it easier to enter right foot first.

Then I visually confirm where that foot needs to hit - during shooting, my feet sort of guide themselves, if I focus on getting the proper foot to the chosen spot. Once I "know" that the foot is going to get there (usually, about 2-3 steps beforehand), I focus on getting the gun mounted and presented. This all kind of "works itself out", in practice, once I worked on it for a little while.

Eric's tip is a great one. One thing that I try to do is to pick out a spot on the side of the wall or obstacle that is at the same height as the A zone on the target that will "appear". I find that spot visually during the stage and get the gun presented there as the target is about to come into view.

Note that I'm finding that as I'm getting back into this, I have to take on some of these techniques gradually. Stuff that I used to do by rote I really have to focus on blocking out during the walk through, now. So, I'm really consciously aware of having to plan this stuff out. Given a little time, it'll all come back, but.... I'm learning/remembering a lot from these threads Thanks!