Which Stance Is Better

[mai]

I have one question. In the stage that arranged targets to hard left and hard right, shoot from one position. Let say 6 targets, 1st target on the hard left, 6th target on the hard right (180 degree apart), and the 4 targets has been set up in a semi-circle arrays. The shooter stands at the center of semi-circle, engage all the targets with both hand, reload and engage with strong hand , finally reload and engage with weak hand.

To shoot this stage, which the posture that the shooter should do?

1. Stand square to the hard left one, easy to engage the 1st target but quite tough at the 6th, or

2. Stand about 90 degree and bend upper body to the 1st target, and draw from that stance, a bit awkward to draw.

I try both but I can’t tell the different, sometime one better than another, but other time the result turn upside down.

[Flexmoney]

For me...on stages where I stay in the start box, and the targets require a large transition from side to side...I try to line up on a middle target, so that I am not all bent out of shape when shooting targets on either far side. Lining up to start on a target on one side...then having to twist past my comfort zone to get to the target on the other side has always been slower, and I have watched it being slower for other shooters as well.

[davecutts]

For me if the swing is close to 180 degrees like that I'll throw in a foot shuffle. I might line up facing a little to the left, plant my weight on my weak side foot and draw to the far left target, and at the transition between the fourth and fifth target drop the strong side leg back a bit, and what ever feels comfy on the way back and again. Of course remembering the upper body moves as one unit, and the transition all comes from the hips and legs.

[Loves2Shoot]

What Flex said exactly. You can rotate at the knees to face the first target, but the toes would be strait forward.

[ErikW]

On Matt Burkett's latest DVD's bonus material you can see how some top shooters handled a stage like this at the Infinity Open.

I'd do a little foot shuffle myself.

[diehli]

I agree with Flex. I tend to bend my knees quite radically to get squared up at a target, but I ALWAYS square up to the draw shot.

Steel Challenge is an excellent place to practice this. On 5-To-Go I square up with my toes at the fourth (longest distance) target, check my alignment with the stop plate (to kind of remind my body of the muscle memory) and then slowly swing, at the knees, back to the first plate, stopping at each plate to remind my body where it needs to be. It might look and feel awkward, but it's the only way to fly.