The Draw

[jkatz44]

Hi,

I am wondering where everyone puts there support hand as they are drawing. Do you put it high at the chest, the belt, the stomach? Also, is it about in the center of your body or is it more toward your holster side?

[Jadeslade]

Slightly towards gun at midline, about bottom of chest. It's all one motion, though. Just a quick move to this position then meet and continue to mount.

[XRe]

Close your eyes. Now, clap your hands. Open your eyes and look where they are - give or take, they'll likely be center of your body, and at or just below nipple level. That's a spot your body inherently knows, and is natural for you to find. That's a good spot to consider for where the hands meet up. As far as getting there, weak hand is always tracking at the same level as the strong hand - you're wired to do that anyway, might as well not fight it....

[jkatz44]

Close your eyes. Now, clap your hands. Open your eyes and look where they are - give or take, they'll likely be center of your body, and at or just below nipple level. That's a spot your body inherently knows, and is natural for you to find. That's a good spot to consider for where the hands meet up. As far as getting there, weak hand is always tracking at the same level as the strong hand - you're wired to do that anyway, might as well not fight it....

any different suggestions?

[pjb45]

I have noticed over the years that the weak hand drives the quickness of the draw. I seen a lot of shooters get the hand on the gun but the weak hand languishes at their side. The focus on the gun hand detracts from the importance of the movement of the weak hand.

[bulamike]

I ride the weakhand and mate up around the midchest, but was told my a few pros that you'll be faster if you mate your hands on target, just havent developed that muscle memory

[LPatterson]

Snap the weak hand to the sternum then join both hands as the gun comes vertical pointing at the target. I would not say the two hands are traveling at the same level as one is going down and the other is coming up but I would say they are moving at the same speed. It is like trying to rub your head and your belly at the same time, if you change direstions with one hand the other hand also wants to change directions.

[Pat Miles]

I have noticed over the years that the weak hand drives the quickness of the draw. I seen a lot of shooters get the hand on the gun but the weak hand languishes at their side. The focus on the gun hand detracts from the importance of the movement of the weak hand.

Very good point Paul! Most folks are so focused on the speed of their strong hand getting to the gun,up and out that they don't even consider working on their left hand speed. That is why some shooters are faster drawing strong hand only.

Adios,

Pat

[Mark K]

Took a Max and Travis class last spring. Travis suggests slapping your upper chest with the weak hand as the buzzer goes off. It is amazing how concentrating on quickly moving the weak hand can speed up the draw as a whole. I am no speed demon, but I find that if put my weak hand at lower rib cage level, I end up bringing it down to join the strong hand, and end up kind of scooping the gun. If I move the weak hand up high enough so my fingertips are nearly at my throat, I end up moving my strong hand much higher before the hands meet, and get a better push out to the target.

My 2 cents worth.

Mark

[jkatz44]

Took a Max and Travis class last spring. Travis suggests slapping your upper chest with the weak hand as the buzzer goes off. It is amazing how concentrating on quickly moving the weak hand can speed up the draw as a whole. I am no speed demon, but I find that if put my weak hand at lower rib cage level, I end up bringing it down to join the strong hand, and end up kind of scooping the gun. If I move the weak hand up high enough so my fingertips are nearly at my throat, I end up moving my strong hand much higher before the hands meet, and get a better push out to the target.

My 2 cents worth.

Mark

Thanks Mark,

That is basically how I was doing it. But I recently found that some people were saying to put your weak hand at about belt level so I tried it out. I felt that I was too kind of scooping to the gun to the target.

[JThompson]

I have noticed over the years that the weak hand drives the quickness of the draw. I seen a lot of shooters get the hand on the gun but the weak hand languishes at their side. The focus on the gun hand detracts from the importance of the movement of the weak hand.

Fold your arms across your chest, weak arm under strong, remove your strong arm... That's a good starting point.

Edited November 24, 2009 by JThompson

[wide45]

The sooner you get both hands on the gun, the sooner you can start shooting.

[JThompson]

The sooner you get both hands on the gun, the sooner you can start shooting.

That's true, but I found that reaching to far over with my left had twisted me up like a pretzel and caused more problems than it's was worth. I'm not saying that's what you meant, only want to make the point that you can go to far getting the weak hand to far over....

Best,

JT

Edited November 24, 2009 by JThompson

[jkatz44]

The sooner you get both hands on the gun, the sooner you can start shooting.

That's true, but I found that reaching to far over with my left had twisted me up like a pretzel and caused more problems than it's was worth. I'm not saying that's what you meant, only want to make the point that you can go to far getting the weak hand to far over....

Best,

JT

Different suggestions?

[JThompson]

The sooner you get both hands on the gun, the sooner you can start shooting.

That's true, but I found that reaching to far over with my left had twisted me up like a pretzel and caused more problems than it's was worth. I'm not saying that's what you meant, only want to make the point that you can go to far getting the weak hand to far over....

Best,

JT

Different suggestions?

Keep your shoulders square... You should not be reaching over so far that you are bending the shoulder toward your strong hand side. Just bend the elbow to about 90 degrees across your upper stomach, lower chest area about where I said with the "arms folded" as I stated above.

JT

Edited November 25, 2009 by JThompson

[CocoBolo]

+1 with XRE & JT. Now I'll dive into a few fine points.

1. The only thing that moves in a draw is your hands. Shoulders should not move if they do fix your gear.

2. Do not draw into a position be in that postion with your head and eyes straight and focused on your first objective, aka the target.

3. Establish a full strong hand grip on the gun in the holster with trigger finger along side the slide.

4. After you join the weak hand and as you PUSH the gun out click the safety off if so equipped not before.

5. Still pushing the gun out and before fully extended pick up the sight and or dot.

6. Bang. Work on not looking at the dot or sight on the target for extended periods of time.

Notes on 4&5 the gun is pushed straight out not up then down finding the right spot takes a little work but pays off big.

If on the draw you miss the exact spot you were focused on you need more practice. If you need to look at the holster to put your gun away you need more practice. XRE says practice till you can do it with your eyes closed and still hit the spot, not quite there yet.

I'm not that smart I have the Burkett Video's.

[jkatz44]

+1 with XRE & JT. Now I'll dive into a few fine points.

1. The only thing that moves in a draw is your hands. Shoulders should not move if they do fix your gear.

2. Do not draw into a position be in that postion with your head and eyes straight and focused on your first objective, aka the target.

3. Establish a full strong hand grip on the gun in the holster with trigger finger along side the slide.

4. After you join the weak hand and as you PUSH the gun out click the safety off if so equipped not before.

5. Still pushing the gun out and before fully extended pick up the sight and or dot.

6. Bang. Work on not looking at the dot or sight on the target for extended periods of time.

Notes on 4&5 the gun is pushed straight out not up then down finding the right spot takes a little work but pays off big.

If on the draw you miss the exact spot you were focused on you need more practice. If you need to look at the holster to put your gun away you need more practice. XRE says practice till you can do it with your eyes closed and still hit the spot, not quite there yet.

I'm not that smart I have the Burkett Video's.

Thanks for the tips

[bkeeler]

Maybe this will help. I took a sequence from one of my videos.

Draw_Part_1.doc

BK

Edited November 26, 2009 by bkeeler

[bkeeler]

Edit........

BK

Edited November 26, 2009 by bkeeler

[1917]

In law enforcement training cadets around here are taught to slap their chest with the non gun hand first to draw bad guy's attention and hopefully their shot to your chest. It's better to get shot where you have bullet vest than shot somewhere else. Also, you then have your weak hand in position to join your gun grip.

[jkatz44]

In law enforcement training cadets around here are taught to slap their chest with the non gun hand first to draw bad guy's attention and hopefully their shot to your chest. It's better to get shot where you have bullet vest than shot somewhere else. Also, you then have your weak hand in position to join your gun grip.

Thanks everyone,

the only part that I was unsure about is how high or low your weak hand should go.

Ex. If you look at Ben Stoeger's draw, his weak hand is at his belt and over to his holster side.

[JThompson]

In law enforcement training cadets around here are taught to slap their chest with the non gun hand first to draw bad guy's attention and hopefully their shot to your chest. It's better to get shot where you have bullet vest than shot somewhere else. Also, you then have your weak hand in position to join your gun grip.

Thanks everyone,

the only part that I was unsure about is how high or low your weak hand should go.

Ex. If you look at Ben Stoeger's draw, his weak hand is at his belt and over to his holster side.

Everyone will find their own best place on this one... all we are trying to do is tell/show you what works for us. Then it's up to you to try it out and find your own comfort zone.

[kevin c]

+1 to JT's observation.

For instance, what works for me with my Production rig is to get the WH over quickly, just above belt height, and mate up with the SH ASAP. I find that if I get the WH on the gun late, it tends to move the gun off the line towards the target. With the hand on early, I find I can get the sight picture much faster and more consistently.

YMMV

[jkatz44]

+1 to JT's observation.

For instance, what works for me with my Production rig is to get the WH over quickly, just above belt height, and mate up with the SH ASAP. I find that if I get the WH on the gun late, it tends to move the gun off the line towards the target. With the hand on early, I find I can get the sight picture much faster and more consistently.

YMMV

Thanks everyone for all of their suggestions!

[AriM]

I have watched myself in the mirror many times to try and see exactly what my weak hand is doing (during the initial movements of the draw)....I have noticed that if I start with my weak hand resting on one of my mags (I wear my mag pouches way towards the front of my waist, as well as my holster), it seems to track with my strong hand better....this way it seems that they are both starting (during the draw) on roughly the same planes...and I try to bring them together at my bodies strongest chakra point (just above the belly button) as if I was going to catch a stream of falling liquid.....i.e. hands cupped....seems to work for me, and it's not something I had to think about too much or "work" on....I just watched myself in the mirror and noticed that that was what my body wanted to do....and went with that....I think someone mentioned earlier about clapping your hands with your eyes closed, and then seeing where they meet....that is a great way to think of it...the best golfers tend to develop a swing that is natural to their bodies instinctive motions...