Draw Question

[meltdown]

I am new to practical shooting. At a match yesterday someone pointed out that when I draw

I get my weak hand in front of my strong hand for a second before my hands come together resulting in me "covering" my weak hand with the muzzle. What can I do to eliminate this?

[Thomas Moore]

as the buzzer goes off place your weak hand on your chest. while pushing the gun out meet it with your weak hand.

[Jake Di Vita]

While dry firing at home (you MUST dry fire to work out any kinks in your style) practice slapping your stomach/mid-chest area. Do this enough and it just becomes the way you draw.

From that position finish the draw like you normally would.

[meltdown]

Thanks guys! I'll give this some dry fire practice. Hopefully I haven't practiced the draw enough yet for it to be difficult to modify.

[benos]

Yes, I did the "belly-slapping" thing until it became automatic. And as was said - It's paramount that you practice at home, forever, to train the basic movements of drawing and reloading, in addition to dry-firing.

be

[Flexmoney]

Brian said to train forever.

I am going to start from scracth...today.

It is never too late to learn to do it better!

[mcoliver]

Several weeks ago I also started from scratch. With the new baby and all, I wasn't dry firing like I used to. Somehow I got sloppy and every now and then when I draw, my left index finger found it's way inside the trigger guard. GAD!...horrible thing to do...!

So I started to go slow again and go through the motions. Being very concious about keeping my weak hand fingers straight and pointing relatively forward. Now, I'm starting to push it again and hopefully, get the speed (with accuracy) back.

[BigDave]

To add my $.02

Although its not been stated verbally, but nonetheless assumed, you are looking to get the gun from the holster to the firing position as soon as possible. That is the goal. But, to clarify, there are certain things you must not do, one of which (as you mentioned) is sweep the muzzle by your weak hand. The belly slap is pretty common to position the weak hand so that it slightly trails the strong hand with the gun to eliminate the possibility of the weak hand getting in front of the muzzle.

When you are doing dry draws, reloads and dryfire, there are certainly different ways to do all those motions, some you will find better, some not. But, that better is ultimately up to you decide on. It all ties into your personal comfort level and ability. As an example, I have in practice, performed a 0.92 sec. draw on a 3 yard target. I was on the ragged edge of my ability and mechanics. As of now, I don't feel comfortable performing that in a match because of the possibilty of an AD or dropping my gun.

Don't limit yourself to what everone (including myself, because I'm still learning) tells you. Discover for yourself what is your quickest and most sound method of operation.

Another thing I might add is that in your next match or practice, ask an experienced shooter, regardless of classification, to watch your draw or whatever and give you feedback. Unfortunately, we can't watch ourselves, unless you video yourself. And, be specific to what you want the person to watch you doing.

[Duane Thomas]

As you're developing your "belly slap" (I prefer to hit myself right below the sternum) be aware there's a tendency to move the hand going for the gun faster than the support doing the "slapping." Sometimes called "lazy left hand," this can also lead to sweeping the support hand on the draw. As you're starting to build this technique, consciously try to move the left hand even faster than the right. As soon as you start moving, you want that left hand whacking into the body, so hard and fast it actually pops on contact.

[jklt222]

Lots of great tips here. Thank you all.