DotW 16: Acceleration

[JV_]

Please read the rules before participating in this thread.

Week 16: Acceleration
results may be posted until 11:59pm EST on Monday 23-January-2012.

Range: 7yd
Target: 8" circle, IPSC A-zone, or sheet of paper
Start position: mid-draw (see below)
Rounds fired: varies

The goal of this drill is to push draw speed both in terms of mechanical and visual control of the pistol.

You will need a shot timer with a PAR time function.

First, time yourself to draw and get six shots on your target at 7yd. If you do not get all six hits on your first run, repeat until you get a time for six shots, six hits. Write this time down. It will serve as a reference.

Next, you'll begin the actual Acceleration drill.

Start position for each string of fire will be the mid point of your drawstroke where your support hand contacts the gun. You are specifically working on improving your draw so don't cheat yourself. Keep this starting position constant throughout the drill.

Set your timer to a PAR of 1.0 seconds.

For the first string of fire, on the buzzer present the gun from your starting position and fire one round. Repeat for a total of ten runs (ten rounds). Record the number of hits and any instances when you went over PAR.

If you got at least 90% of your hits under PAR during string one, you'll move on to the second string. On the buzzer present the gun from your starting position and fire two rounds. Repeat for a total of ten runs (twenty rounds). Record the number of hits and any instances when you went over PAR. Note: the PAR time does not change, you just have to get more hits within the same amount of time.

If you got at least 90% of your hits under PAR during string two, you'll move on to the third string. On the buzzer present the gun from your starting position and fire three rounds. Repeat for a total of ten runs (thirty rounds). Record the number of hits and any instances when you went over PAR.

Repeat this process adding one shot to each presentation (ten tries at 4 per, then ten tries at 5 per, etc.) until you can no longer get 90% of your hits within the PAR time.

Once you've reached the failure point, reshoot the test from the beginning of the drill: draw and fire six shots on your target from 7yd. Record your results and compare with your starting time.

If you cannot draw from the holster, instead use a ready position for the entire drill (both the tests before & after and the Acceleration drill).

If you cannot consistently get at least two hits on the target within the 1.0 second PAR time, increase the PAR by half a second and complete the entire exercise at that PAR time instead.

Please report the following when you post your results in this thread:

• starting position for the "test" phases (ready position, open holster, retention holster, or concealed)
• number of misses for each string
• number of times over PAR for each string
• time for pre-drill 6 shot "test"
• time for post-drill 6 shot "test"

Training with firearms is an inherently dangerous activity. Be sure to follow all safety protocols when using firearms or practicing these drills. These drills are provided for information purposes only. Use at your own risk.

[DocGKR]

G17 w/RMR07 AIWB from Fricke Seraphim holster under a long shirt, soft shell TNF vest, and Gore Tex hard shell at 7 yds into IPSC A-Zone.

Pre-drill 6 shots from concealed in 3.34 sec all on target.
1st String = all in time on target.
2nd String = all in time on target.
3rd String = last shot over time all 10 runs (1.02-1.13 sec) and 5 missed shots.
Post-drill 6 shots from concealed in 2.74 sec all on target.

Also re-shot the DOW #15 Changing Gears Drill and did a bit better: 32.70 sec (-4).

Best FAST today was 5.48 sec clean.

[CCT125US]

* starting position for the "test" phases: concealed AIWB Target was 8in circle at 7yds
* number of misses for each string: S1: All hits under par, S2: All under par 2 miss, S3: Epic FAIL... I can do 2 hits but not 3 at this point
* time for pre-drill 6 shot "test": 2.77
* time for post-drill 6 shot "test": 2.71
* gun: HK P30 V3 Heinie Straight Eight Qwik

I also shot the FAST as part of the 2012 Performance challenge:
5.25 clean 1.76 / .47 / 2.16 / .29 / .29 / .28
4.71 clean 1.63 / .44 / 1.85 / .23 / .33 / .23 My best time ever... and you can see the time to first hit and reload were key for this.
5.26 clean 1.85 / .55 / 2.00 / .30 / .29 / .27

Now can we please do Dynamic Rock Kicking for the next DotW please??

[167]

Start position for test phase: Concealed from Theis IWB (first time using this holster live).

Time for pre-drill test: 3.32

String 1 all under PAR, 1 miss.

String 2 all under PAR, 4 misses.

String 3 every 3rd shot over PAR

Time for post-drill test: 2.90

[jthhapkido]

Went out in the freezing cold to shoot this, and indeed, as normal, I'm very inconsistent when my hands are cold. Bleh.

Gen 4 G17 in Archangel AIWB, closed-front sweatshirt
Pre-drill 6 shot test: 2.77 s
String 1: 9/10 hits under par (1 M)
String 2: 19/20 hits under par (1 late that was M)
String 3: 24/30 hits under par (3 late, one of which was a M, plus 3 other M--total 6)
Post-drill 6 shot test: 2.50 s

While my time did get better, the format of this drill was actually detrimental to my control. I'm pretty good at body index given practice, and by the 3-shot drill section, I often didn't even bring up the gun to get a sight picture, relying instead on index and trigger for the hits. True, my draw-to-first-shot did improve---but that was at the expense of really getting a decent sight picture.

While someone might (fairly effectively) argue that this teaches what level of sight picture is necessary to achieve good hits at this distance on this size target, I'm thinking that I personally have enough of a propensity to "use the force" and don't really need more of that type of help. The drills that require precision shooting at speed really do more for me...though I hate them. I do know a couple of people who have the opposite issue that I'll be introducing to this drill, though...

I took video, so I thought I'd post it. It does point up my wildly inconsistent splits. (0.32 to 0.18?!) Other than that, though, it is pretty boring.

[Mr_White]

Got this one messed up in a few ways.

Start position for pretest: concealed AIWB
Misses by string: S1 had no misses, S2 had 5 misses
Shots over PAR by string: S1 had all shots under time, S2 had one shot over time.
Pre-test: 2.38 clean (no reshooting either!)
Post-test: 2.29 –1

(I used an IDPA target for this drill.)

Here’s the blow-by-blow account.

First I shot the pre-test in 2.38 clean. Now, normally I would probably be shooting this faster, but I really, really wanted to shoot it clean in one try, which I did. So this part was a success for me.

[IMG] Acceleration_Pretest by OrigamiAK, on Flickr[/IMG]

String 1 was no problem. All shots were clean and under time, with 8 of 10 shots tightly clustered in about a 3” group in the center of the –0 zone. Times were .58 to .80.

[IMG] Acceleration_String_01 by OrigamiAK, on Flickr[/IMG]

I failed on string 2, big time. One shot over time and five misses, one of them being pretty egregious (upper left shoulder.)

[IMG] Acceleration_String_02 by OrigamiAK, on Flickr[/IMG]

Immediately upon starting this drill, I felt very shaky with the presentation from position 3/where the hands join during the drawstroke. I almost never practice from this position and I should. I’ve always given short shrift to presentations from this position since it’s incorporated within the drawstroke, which I practice lots and lots. This seems like a mistake now.

Part of it has to do with where position 3 is for me. I use a somewhat more traditional muzzle-level 3 at about upper sternum height. That means I have to either extend the gun straight out, in which case I can’t see the sight alignment until the end of the horizontal line of presentation, or I have to raise the gun up into the true eye-target line at the beginning of the horizontal line of presentation, which gives it funny momentum that I am unaccustomed to.

I went with the second option because I felt pressured for time in trying to get more than one accurate shot under PAR and didn’t want to wait to see the sights until fully extended and also wished to stick with visually-verified alignment so I could be more sure to fire accurate shots. But again, not having practiced this presentation very much, it was just shaky.

I really wanted to pull it together and do better than this, so I reshot string 2. I already legitimately failed on it, so this was just to feel better about myself.

And I did do a lot better (only one miss when I eye sprinted, and times ranged from .77 to .91 for the second shot.)

[IMG] Acceleration_String_02_Redo by OrigamiAK, on Flickr[/IMG]

After all that, I continued with other activities and forgot to shoot the post-test, so I went back to the range today and shot it (2.29 –1.) Bummed I didn’t shoot it clean. I wasn’t warmed up and I didn’t get great focus on the sights, but that is no one's fault but my own.

[IMG] Accerleration_Posttest by OrigamiAK, on Flickr[/IMG]

I have some extra comments regarding presentation from the muzzle-level #3 vs. the muzzle-tilt #3 (Todd’s way) but I will put those in the 1/20/2012 entry of my training journal since they might drift this thread a little.

[LOKNLOD]

starting position for the "test" phases: Concealed in Shaggy under shirt and pullover fleece
string 1.0: -1 hit, -3 over par. Try again
string 1.1: -3 hits (barely, dammit), -2 over par. Try again
string 1.2: -0, -0. sheesh.
Didn't attempt the 2-shot evolution...
time for pre-drill 6 shot "test": 4.16
time for post-drill 6 shot "test": 3.49

Interestingly enough, the clean string was shot with a G17 instead of my P30. Not sure what to think about that.

[JConn]

So after a long break from shooting I'm back to the drill of the week. This was my first time practicing live from appendix. My balls are intact and here are my scores.

Start position for tests was concealed under closed front hoodie.

Test 1 - 3.51

Round 1 - One miss, all in time.

Round 2 - 9 misses, 8 shots over time.

This just shows that I need to get back to practicing, I found it very difficult to track my front sight. When I was able to do it I got hits but when I couldn't, I always missed.

Test 2 - 3.08 -1
Test 3 - 3.28

[joshs]

P30/Concealed/Shaggy

2.94
String 1: Clean
String 2: -2
String 3: -4
2.70

[JFK]

Apparently my comprehension skills are lacking because I mis read this drill and made it harder on myself. Instead of starting where my support hand connects, I started where my strong hand connects. That would be in my holster.

Because I could not read I could not get under 1 second to complete the first string. So I set my par to 1.5

So start position was no concealment, in the holster with a good grip established.
I used a P30 in a C&D AIWB

Pre Test 3.47
String 1 Clean
String 2 (4) mike no over time
String 3 (9) mike 5 over time
Post Test 3.07