Week 94: The F.A.S.T.

[ssb]

Shot it this afternoon. Times aren't amazing, but they're better than they used to be. It's very cool to see this back up and running.

In the interest of transparency, I did shoot this after a round of TDA Dot Torture so the drill was not shot cold as intended.

My concealment reloads are still a work-in-progress. I think the biggest thing is that, even when I know the slidelock is coming, I still get a bit of a WTF moment before going into the reload. I'll be spending the next few weeks trying to trim my times down via dry fire.

While I didn't write them down, I know that my splits are slower than they could be. I definitely feel the slower speed on my part is to ensure that I get good hits. I know that I can shoot faster, but I don't know that I can guarantee that I get the hits I want yet. That's going to take some time for me as well.

Starting position: Gun concealed, hands in normal, rested position at the waist
Gun: SIG MK-25 w/ Trijicon HDs
Type of holster: JM Custom Kydex AIWB; JM Custom Kydex AIWB-SMP
String 1: 7.34s; -0 on head, -0 on body; total 7.34s. Time to first shot was 1.46s. Reload split time was 3.12s.
String 2: 7.16s; -0 on head, -0 on body; total 7.16s. Time to first shot was 1.39s. Reload split time was 3.24s.
String 3: 6.97s; -0 on head, -1 on body*; total 7.97s. Time to first shot was 1.40s. Reload split time was 2.88.
Aggregate score: 22.47s

*Shot was straddling the line of the circle. I wasn't sure if this counted as a miss or not so I added the penalty out of caution.

[taadski]

In that there was no difference in my results shooting carefully versus normally, my take away is that I would need to slow down a LOT to try to guarantee 100 percent runs as opposed to shoot for 100 percent runs.

Guarantees aside, you have to admit that your "normal" has gotten a whole bunch more "careful" (or "attentive", "focused", "refined", "deliberate"….whatever ya wanna call it) after visiting Robbie.

It's cool to see you're maintaining a really good level of speed. Tends to support the belief system that accuracy is about paying more attention more than it is about slowing down.

Nice shooting gents…


t

[ToddG]

Re: table start, I've never done that "officially" so I'd say do it however you want and report your start condition.

GJM, I say this with great sincerity, I was overjoyed to see the consistency in your performance. More impressive to me than anything.

[Mr_White]

*Shot was straddling the line of the circle. I wasn't sure if this counted as a miss or not so I added the penalty out of caution.

If the grease ring touches the line, the shot is in.

accuracy is about paying more attention more than it is about slowing down

That's basically what I tend to think. More attention, more precision, largely irrespective of time.

[LOKNLOD]

My hiatus has been even longer than that of the DotW, but I made it to the range today! According to the log book my last trip was 5/2/14 (and the one before that was 1/14/14...ugh).

I knew FAST was DotW but I didn't check the details, so I missed the 3 aggregate scores angle. I did run it three times, but twice with my G17 and twice with the new Shield (it's supposed to be my wife's...but I had to function check it, right?).

Gear was a Keeper appendix holster and JMCK canted mag pouch at ~11:00 position. I actually did the Shield draws from the G17 holster and mag pouch, which was a bit slower but I had already switched holsters several times and didn't want to screw with it again. Concealment was a t-shirt (it was in the 60's today!).

First run was with the Shield. It was clean, but I didn't get the time because the surefire shot timer app on my phone recorded over 10 shots and I couldn't cipher what was real data (real timer had a dead battery). It wasn't a blazing run, but I was pretty happy it was clean.
Second attempt with the Shield: 2.57, .83, 3.67, .38, .59, 1.11 - 9.11 raw. -1H. 11.11 score. (Check out the awesome short-stroke of the trigger on the last round).

With the G17 (grip chopped), first run was 2.48, .92, 2.56, .28, .38, .27 - 6.90 raw, -1B. 7.90 score.
Second run 2.26, .65, 2.65, .28, .37, .27 - 6.48 raw. -1H, -1B - 9.48 score.

So, aggregate score: 11.11, 7.90, 9.48 = 28.49

None of that is my best work, but considering all things I was actually pretty pleased. I was really rusty at the beginning of the session and absolutely bombed a dot torture session while knocking the rust off. If anything I'm glad to have recovered somewhat after being very frustrated at the start.

Glad DotW is back! I certainly won't get to make it every week still but am now on a half-day Friday schedule so I hope I will be able to take advantage of that to get more trips in.

[luckyman]

Substitution question. I shoot at an indoor range. They allow drawing from a holster and shooting at speed, which is good. I only have a single lane, but that is no problem for this drill .

My challenge is the reload. Unless I do a reload with retention half the time my mag ends up in front of the table, where I can't retrieve it. And my reload with retention is dog slow and it doesn't feel productive to be working on that for speed. Any suggestions?

[taadski]

Snip... And my reload with retention is dog slow and it doesn't feel productive to be working on that for speed. Any suggestions?

But, dude, what about your mad IDPA gaming skillz? [runs away]

[luckyman]

But, dude, what about your mad IDPA gaming skillz? [runs away]

Hah! I'm still enough of a rookie I didn't even know that was a real thing (anything that timed / stressed fast reloads with retention). The training classes and little local informal competitions I've been to never did that.

I know you were just kidding, but maybe the best thing would be to go ahead and just do this using a reload with retention? And assume that dry practice will keep me away from the nasty habit of retaining my empty mag in the middle of an ugly situation ?

[HopetonBrown]

Just fish the magazine back with one of the range brooms.

From my Motorola StarTAC.

[Mr_White]

Just fish the magazine back with one of the range brooms.

I think this is the best option if you can do it.

I know you were just kidding, but maybe the best thing would be to go ahead and just do this using a reload with retention? And assume that dry practice will keep me away from the nasty habit of retaining my empty mag in the middle of an ugly situation ?

I don't think it would be any big problem to do a reload with retention. It will affect your score on the FAST a bit, but if you are doing any other practice at all, I wouldn't be concerned that it's going to turn all your reloads into reloads with retention. You'll be fine.