Lowering Power Factor To Increase Speed

[Yar]

I'm shooting reloads through a Glock 35 at 168 power factor. I'm very happy with my load. Another shooter recommended I water my load down to about 150 PF. The idea is that I can shoot 150 PF for practice and go back to 165PF a few weeks before a match. The lower PF will allow me to shoot faster and the POI will be very close so I won't need to adjust my sights. When I go back to major PF I will still have the speed.

I admit this all sounds good, but is it realistic and practical?

[lynn jones]

my opion is to not change your loads. leave it as is. just practice more.

one of the things i have learned, is to eliminate varibles. consistancy wins.

lynn jones

[PaulW]

I second what Lynn said above...

[cpty1]

I'll third that. Practice with the same ammo you'll use in a match.

[Luiz Francisco Ramos]

No way !

To shoot faster pratice for obtain a better grip, a better trigger control, a better seeing, a better transition target to target, and don´t change your loads!

Ramos

[Steve Anderson]

I say it depends on what your weaknesses are.

If your splits are suffering, you may be able to learn continual sight picture better with softer loads.

If it's transitions, it may not matter.

If you're flinching, a lower load will help temporarily.

You need to assess what's holding you back, and honest answers will reveal whether this idea will benefit you.

SA

[Loves2Shoot]

Not realistic or practical.

Speed comes from being able to be comfortable and relaxed with what you are doing. You just need to learn to accept the recoil of 165 PF I shoot 170 just to be safe. Once you learn to accept that the gun will recoil it doesn't become such a bother.

[Ironman]

I tried something similar about a year ago. I started 10% under and worked my way down to a super soft load. The gun seemed to get dirtier with the soft loads so I beefed up the load to the accepted power factor. At first I felt the change but after a while it just seemed natural. The only reason I would load down is if I was competing in an event that did not take power factor into consideration.

Jim

[EricW]

I like 'em hot in my Glock. I think the gun is snappier that way. (Snappy is good, IMHO.) My 9mm minor loads will probably damned near make major out of a G34. They're 140+ PF out of my G19.

[benos]

I "eighth" that. Train with what you compete with. Or just for fun, try the following. Use a slower burning, heavier recoiling powder for practice, and load to 185. Then you'll feel like your cheating when you compete.

be

[Ironman]

Good one Brian I like that kind of thinking!

Jim

[Mistral404]

I am still new to USPSA shooting, so I am learning and unlearning everything.

I did lower my power factor from the factory ammo of about 195 to around 160. It helped me alot. I felt it was a much softer shooting load. I started to learn more about recoil control.

Then I re-watch Matt's Videos, talked with Blake Miguez, and started paying attention to my grip. I shoot alot of factory loads now with increased power factors but have a better grip..

So for me, reducing the load started me on a process of getting better control. The outstanding advice on grip pressure further advanced my control.

So did the reduce factor give me an illusion of more control-perhaps but my scored did improve significantly when I dropped from the 195+ range to the 165-179 range.

But as I said, I am just beginnig to learn more about my shooting technique. I think what I learned is that a reduce power factor can facilitate learning if self-examination is employed.

Just this week, I was shooting a stage, got some more advice, seems as I was slipping on my grip. So I started to focus on my thumb resting on the safety and slightly increased pressure of my hands and my return to natural point of aim was significantly better. My times were reduced by about 10%.

[Flexmoney]

Yar,

If I shoot too much Minor with my G35, then I throw off my timing. I'll even shoot steel matches with Major if I have an important USPSA match coming up.

Steve brings up a good point though. Some aspects of the game aren't really related to the shooting. For example, if you were working on getting out of a shooting position and/or setting up in a shooting position...you could do that with a .22 caliber.

[BigDave]

There is a thread similar to this if you search for something with the title "minor". Anyway, I had a similar idea. At the time, just about everything about my shooting sucked and I had an idea to shoot minor in Limited to force me to be more precise, faster, etc., etc., etc. Well, after several posts, I was talked out of minor and talked into opening my eyes. Lets say that it helped me more than I ever thought minor could.

Its strange: when your focus is on our sights and your awareness is turned up, things like muzzle blast and recoil seem not to exist in the shooting tense.

[Steve Anderson]

And many times, changing something will reveal something new...

SA

[stingerjg]

I have made a big improvement in my shooting skills by using a .22 conversion kit on my Para. it has allowed me to speed up my transition times and work on my trigger speed. i have found it to be benifitial for my overall training. I will admit that the 45 is really loud after i switch over the top ends. LOL

[mcoliver]

One thing I've noticed before was that shifting from my Glock19 to my 1911 took a bit of practice sessions to be able to comfortably bear the 1911 bark and recoil. However, going back from the 1911 to the glock felt like I'm pliking with 22's (anybody notice the downside of "loosing feedback" from the gun?)

Now that I only have the 1911 in 40cal, I think I'll go play in bumped-up loads for a while. I'll see if there's any "significant" match performance gains from doing so.

[kevin c]

FWIW, I've had a number of experienced shooters advise me to shoot a lower PF in practice, mainly to save the gun, though I don't know how much of an issue that is in Limited. They've told me that the adrenaline rush of competition pretty much masks any extra kick, and that their accuracy/recovery doesn't suffer. I can't feel that much of a difference myself, between 160 and 170.

For me, I shoot lead in practice because it's cheaper, and jacketed in matches because it's more accurate, and for smoke avoidance's sake, so the load is different anyway. Loading up so that it recoils the same is an interesting thought - It also gives me an excuse/reason to burn up the 4000 practice rounds I just loaded .