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View Full Version : OrigamiAK's phenomenal article on AIWB in USPSA



LittleLebowski
03-24-2014, 12:20 PM
Thanks for letting me host this, OrigamiAK!

Article (http://rationalgun.blogspot.com/2014/03/uspsa-as-competitive-environment-for.html)

Mr_White
03-24-2014, 12:58 PM
Thanks for hosting it!

1slow
03-24-2014, 01:28 PM
Great article, this is an inspiration for me on the path to my improvement.

justintime
03-24-2014, 02:06 PM
Awesome stuff

jetfire
03-24-2014, 02:26 PM
Thanks for hosting it!

Serious question: how do you get to "like" dry fire? I've had people compare it to batting practice, but I liked BP because I was actually HITTING the ball. Not standing in my basement pretending to hit the ball.

Mr_White
03-24-2014, 03:22 PM
Serious question: how do you get to "like" dry fire? I've had people compare it to batting practice, but I liked BP because I was actually HITTING the ball. Not standing in my basement pretending to hit the ball.

I enjoy shooting and hitting in live fire. I want to be really, really good with a pistol. Seeing a good sight picture and feeling a good trigger press in dry fire is directly representative of hitting in live fire. The dry fire became more enjoyable (though I have always enjoyed it to a degree) because it was kind of like I was hitting if I was doing the right things to hit, even though there wasn't any actual hitting. I feel some of the same enjoyment that I feel in live fire.

This was so helpful because the dry fire I came to enjoy is a big part of the process that leads to improvement and success, and I came to focus on the process that would lead to actual improvement rather than just concentrating on the desired end state of 'being really good', which doesn't necessarily lead anywhere.

I am not strong with baseball, so this may be totally wrong, but in the example of you in your basement pretending to hit the ball, is there any analog to calling the shot? If not, that seems very different from dry fire, where the shot should be called so you would/should know if you 'hit' or not. I don't think I would enjoy dry fire nearly as much if I had to guess whether I was doing it right.

jetfire
03-24-2014, 03:31 PM
I enjoy shooting and hitting in live fire. I want to be really, really good with a pistol. Seeing a good sight picture and feeling a good trigger press in dry fire is directly representative of hitting in live fire. The dry fire became more enjoyable (though I have always enjoyed it to a degree) because it was kind of like I was hitting if I was doing the right things to hit, even though there wasn't any actual hitting. I feel some of the same enjoyment that I feel in live fire.

This was so helpful because the dry fire I came to enjoy is a big part of the process that leads to improvement and success, and I came to focus on the process that would lead to actual improvement rather than just concentrating on the desired end state of 'being really good', which doesn't necessarily lead anywhere.

I am not strong with baseball, so this may be totally wrong, but in the example of you in your basement pretending to hit the ball, is there any analog to calling the shot? If not, that seems very different from dry fire, where the shot should be called so you would/should know if you 'hit' or not. I don't think I would enjoy dry fire nearly as much if I had to guess whether I was doing it right.

Probably the closest analogy would be using a tethered tee-ball stand to work on your swing mechanics. Which I never really enjoyed either.

Jared
03-24-2014, 04:59 PM
I really enjoyed that article, particularly the brutal honesty where he talks about realizing that he had a lot of room for improvement after shooting the IDPA classifier and then setting about doing something about it. Things like that are one of the reasons that OAK is one of my favorite online posters. I'm not as good as OAK is by a long shot, but I do understand why he pursues continual technical improvement.

Caleb: When it comes to liking dry fire, I think that it is one of those things that some people just never come to like. I love it, but I do vary it quite a bit, never spending more than a week doing the same thing. After that, it's time to work on something else. I might do say a week of 25 yard stuff, a week of 10 yard stuff, a week of wide transition type stuff, then a week of movement drills.

Cecil Burch
03-24-2014, 05:06 PM
I have never liked dry fire. I did it because I knew it helped, and I could not get the live fire time I wanted. Now that I am seeing it pay dividends when I do get to blast away, I am starting to enjoy it more.

JHC
03-24-2014, 06:23 PM
Serious question: how do you get to "like" dry fire? I've had people compare it to batting practice, but I liked BP because I was actually HITTING the ball. Not standing in my basement pretending to hit the ball.

Dang, how long did you play? (joe c) ;) Good question though!

OP titled this "Phenomenal" - perfect word to describe it. Awesome job.

jetfire
03-24-2014, 06:42 PM
Dang, how long did you play? (joe c) ;) Good question though!

OP titled this "Phenomenal" - perfect word to describe it. Awesome job.

Into my college years. If I didn't travel so much for work I'd join one of the am leagues out here.

JHC
03-24-2014, 07:00 PM
Into my college years. If I didn't travel so much for work I'd join one of the am leagues out here.

REALLY! Nice. I'll take it off the forum so as not to go too far OT.

Chefdog
03-24-2014, 07:03 PM
Thanks for the link. That was a good read.

TheTrevor
03-24-2014, 09:54 PM
Origami's pioneering efforts in USPSA are directly responsible for my decision to compete in Limited-10 instead of production starting in May. I won't be quite as hardcore, though, given the need for lots-o-mags in Lim-10 -- I'll be drawing and doing my first reload from concealment but the rest of the mags will be on an outer belt. :p

45dotACP
03-24-2014, 10:59 PM
Awesome article btw...has me seriously considering AIWB in competition.

Also, those are some seriously good shooting skillz from concealment. I applaud.

Savage Hands
03-25-2014, 12:56 AM
Very cool journal of your progress :cool:
Have you considered changing your Comp gun to a G35?

Mr_White
03-25-2014, 12:40 PM
Origami's pioneering efforts in USPSA are directly responsible for my decision to compete in Limited-10 instead of production starting in May. I won't be quite as hardcore, though, given the need for lots-o-mags in Lim-10 -- I'll be drawing and doing my first reload from concealment but the rest of the mags will be on an outer belt. :p

JodyH directly deserves credit for competing in USPSA from concealment with an AIWB rig in Limited before I did. His doing so first made me aware it was an option. Thanks again Jody!


Very cool journal of your progress :cool:
Have you considered changing your Comp gun to a G35?

Yes, considered it, but I don't want to go down that road. Scoring Minor in Limited, where Major scoring is allowed, causes USPSA to be highly accuracy-intensive for me - much more than if I shot Major. To just tie the score of a Major-scoring competitor in Limited, I have to shoot exactly half the number of C-zone hits they do, in the same amount of time. That is a powerful pressure on me to shoot As, As, and more As. Depending on the total point value of a stage, I can usually get away with two or three Cs, or I am not scoring enough points to be competitive. I don't want to give up that pressure.

Casual Friday
03-26-2014, 10:48 PM
OrigamiAK, after months and months, a little lightbulb just went off and I actually figured out what your avatar is. Here I thought all along it was some sort of mythical two headed armadillo/ardvark/anteater from greek mythology or something.

Yeah cool writeup. I read the thread and watched the videos on TPI. Pretty impressive.

cmoore
03-27-2014, 06:58 AM
Hats off to guy who walks the talk. Outstanding to above!

BN
03-27-2014, 07:02 AM
OrigamiAK, after months and months, a little lightbulb just went off and I actually figured out what your avatar is. Here I thought all along it was some sort of mythical two headed armadillo/ardvark/anteater from greek mythology or something.

Same here. :) I didn't realize until I saw the larger picture.

Cookie Monster
03-29-2014, 11:57 AM
I'm impressed by the journey and the work and the commitment. I am blown away that you used to carry 3 guns, 3 magazines, and 3 knives. I started to carry a reload recently and I'm like "Man, that pocket is heavy."

AIWB that sword is pretty cool as well. I'd been interested in your journey with the knife carry as well. I used to IWB a 4" fixed blade but dropped down to a Leatherman Skelatool which I am thinking might not be the best (duh).

Thanks for all the knowledge sharing.

Cookie Monster

jetfire
03-29-2014, 12:33 PM
I'm impressed by the journey and the work and the commitment. I am blown away that you used to carry 3 guns, 3 magazines, and 3 knives. I started to carry a reload recently and I'm like "Man, that pocket is heavy."

AIWB that sword is pretty cool as well. I'd been interested in your journey with the knife carry as well. I used to IWB a 4" fixed blade but dropped down to a Leatherman Skelatool which I am thinking might not be the best (duh).

Thanks for all the knowledge sharing.

Cookie Monster

I was also blown away by how much kit Origami used to carry. I remember looking at it and thinking "jeez that must weigh a ton, who'd want to lug that around all day?"

JeffJ
03-31-2014, 10:10 AM
Seriously. I know the whole internet thing of he's paranoid, I'm prepared, and you're a sheep - but really, wow, I mean - damn that's a lot of s**t.

Mr_White
03-31-2014, 12:13 PM
Very true, that was a lot of gear. There is a winding path of influences and factors that explain it.

I am an Original Tim. A major portion of my initial development was being steeped in what is now pretty common, tactical/defensive doctrine, from a local school that is directly down the lineage from Thunder Ranch. One is none, two is one, three is even better, etc. Backup guns were gently recommended when a person showed a keen interest in training on an ongoing basis and beyond the basic level.

Over the last fourteen or so years, TPI has been the dominant force in my intellectual development as a self-defense guy. The issue of In Fight Weapons Access was at the fore in my mind for a long time. That led to a desire to put a fixed-blade knife on my support side, and to otherwise put weapons on the left, right, high, and low areas of my person. The net effect was that if I was conscious and had one arm free, I could get a weapon in hand almost without regard to positional considerations.

The knife laws in Oregon, coupled with a longstanding fear of other people's lack of understanding of those laws, made me somewhat uncomfortable with that fixed blade even though it should be quite legal. One day it occurred to me that I had an actual license to carry a pistol (or however many pistols) and that no matter what an officer personally thought of the second or third pistol, they would not be arresting me for carrying it, whereas they conceivably could arrest me for a knife they found scary and then I would have to argue about it in court. So I put another pistol on the support side instead of a fixed-blade knife.

My views on some of that have changed and I am now more at peace with the knife legalities situation. BTW, that is a Bud Nealy Aikuchi with 5" blade that I am carrying now, passed down from an instructor and friend who's passed away. It's not a sword, lol. While I think it was a perfectly worthwhile exploration to carry that much gear, figure out how to make it work for me, work out all the equipment issues, train up my support side skills, work on IFWA issues, etc., I don't think the answer to IFWA concerns is to litter myself with weapons.

Rather than concentrating on placement of numerous weapons enabling me to reach a weapon from any position, I now think IFWA concerns are better dealt with through positional dominance and hand control, along with weapon placement that balances my ease of access against the other guy's ease of access. Lots of guns and knives can be great, but are also easier for everyone to access, not just me. There is a balance to be struck and I think I am significantly more balanced on that point with my current rig.

Basically, what you see in that mondo rig is just a physical expression of my enthusiasm at being involved in the defensive tactical training world. That was just me being 'into it' and exploring as I was inclined to do. I did actually practice with all that gear. Not practice like now, but I did practice with it.

In any case, one day my sciatic nerve got pretty aggravated and I started trying to get AIWB to work. You know the rest.