Risk vs. Reward on first shot

[jetfire]

One of the areas I desperately need to improve this year is my first shot if I've any hope of making USPSA GM. From my L10 set up, I can get 100% hits on a the A-zone average time around 1.25 seconds from the draw at 7 yards. Pushing my speed I can shave that down to in between 1.00-1.15, which is pretty nice all things considered; but to get that extra 0.2 my "risk" factor goes up considerably as I'm only getting about 80% hits in practice.

It's even worse in IDPA, where my first shot to a down zero from concealment is around 1.40, and to get down to the 1.20s I'm looking at 75% accuracy. In USPSA, the risk/reward is a wash if I'm shooting a charlie in 1 second vs an alfa in 1.25 seconds (both have a HF of 4), but in IDPA the risk/reward makes a 1.4 draw to first shot to a down zero a much better idea than a 1.2 (-1).

That's just the first shot, because when I push my speed to get the 1.2 from concealment or the 1.05 from open, there are times where my grip is messed up, making my transition/follow up shots more difficult, that's where the risk/reward starts to skew towards having a slightly slower first shot in exchange for a better grip and a higher percentage of a good hit.

And don't even get me started on drawing to low percentage targets, because that's a whole different kettle of fish. I'm about 2500 rounds into this season's practice, and finding that risk/reward balance is going to be a major hurdle towards making GM.

[JodyH]

Whether its IPSC, IDPA or the FAST I've stopped concentrating on time to first shot and started working on 2 shot times. 2 shots is the minimum in those games so I might as combine them for practice.
Keeps me from blowing my grip or "point shooting" a single shot with no repercussions.

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[jetfire]

Actually, that's a good point; I should note that on all the 'first shot' times I'm actually firing two rounds, because unless I'm specifically training for steel challenge, 1 shot doesn't get it done. I noticed when I hustled my first shot, the chances of having a bad grip or something were higher, which would make my 2nd shot split a bit longer than it was if I took an extra 10th. I saw a lot of shot strings where it was 1.1ish first shot with a 0.25ish split.

The flip side was when I had a slower first shot, say 1.25 I'd almost always have a .20 or better split, maxing out around .18.

[JodyH]

I was really trying to get that elusive <1 sec. -0 hit from concealed at 7 yards.
I could do it but damned if I could of followed it up with anything that resembled a decent second shot.
Then when I went back and really analyzed what i was doing, it was all yank it out and crank one off.
There was rarely anything resembling a solid grip or a sight picture.
So I dialed it back and started working my 2 rounds in <1.75 @ 7 with the goal of getting that down to a solid <1.5 .

[mizer67]

I'm not a GM, but I'd say you're fast enough, and are at the point of diminishing returns on your draw/first shot.

Transitions are where you'll make GM.

[DonovanM]

I'm not a GM, but I'd say you're fast enough, and are at the point of diminishing returns on your draw/first shot.

Transitions are where you'll make GM.

While that's true to a degree, making GM requires that you not neglect a single part of your game. Draw time included. There are more important things to worry about and it's not worth getting fixated on, but you still can't neglect it. In classifiers, a fast draw usually isn't required but it will certainly leave you extra time for other things (like points dropped). And in a match, I know of at least one top flight GM whose match speed consists of 2 at 7 under 1. And then there's Bob Vogel who has a comparatively slower draw but who also happens to be one of the best practical marksmen on the planet right now.

Best way to improve your draw? Dry fire. Lots of honest repetitions. You should know immediately if you don't get a good grip. Yesterday I hit a popper 10yds away in one second, but that's the only part of my game that doesn't suck - because I dry fire alot.

[jetfire]

And to be honest, I don't dry fire for sierra. Tonight at the range I did a ton of draw drills, and I found out a huge pickup was relaxing. I mean, force myself to focus on not tensing up and just pulling the gun, and holy cow did that work wonders.

[DonovanM]

Woohoo!

Relaxing has been a big thing for me. Yesterday shooting a match I tried to wiggle my toes before every stage after tanking my first one.

[Slavex]

we were playing with this tonight at steel practice. draw faster on a large steel plate (easier to hit) or onto the smaller plate to the side, then have a faster transition to the large plate vs the slower transition to the smaller. while in my head it made sense to burn the draw at hit the big plate first, the transition killed me. I picked up an easy .20 on my two shots by going to the small plate first and having that faster transition. So what does that mean in relation to your question? IMO the draw at some point is not as important as everything else you do. (in steel challenge it is much more important of course). Movement, setups (though I hate calling it that) and transitions will gain you far more than a super fast draw. At a large 32 stage match you might have 28-30 draws, but you'll fire over 600 rounds. .25 of a second here or there on a draw is no where near as valuable as .10 across 6 or 7 targets on a bunch of stages.

[ToddG]

Most people are better at drawing than transitions because they practice drawing fast more than they practice good (proper, fast, gamey) transitions.

There is no question that the best draw technique for a wide open, static, close, huge target is different than the technique you'd practice if you were more concerned about a surprise, moving, variable distance, variable size target that may or may not have things in front of, behind, or next to it that you absolutely cannot afford to shoot. This is one of those areas where "competition vs. practicality" comes into play. If making GM is your priority and shaving two tenths of a second off your draw is something you see as necessary, then you'll practice the appropriate technique to meet that goal.

What I've found, fwiw, is that working on a precision-oriented draw (e.g., press out with sights aligned at eye level as it moves forward) improves draw speed across the board but, as caleb points out, has a point of diminishing returns for high% targets. The flip side is that practicing only for the high% target with more of an index draw tends to leave shooters with essentially no draw to low% targets. Instead they just throw the gun out in front of them and then begin the aiming process almost as if they drew to a ready position as an intermediate step.

I honestly believe there's a value in being able to make a tight shot on demand from the holster. At this past Tuesday's KSTG match, the very first stage (shot cold) was one shot to the head of a hostage taker at 5yd. You had literally a 3x5 sized target and almost any snatch or anticipation put a round in the hostage instead. Out of 37 shooters, three of them tagged the hostage for a total of four hits. Times ranged from a smoking 1.68s (our own JV) clean to 7.12s with a hostage hit. The slowest clean run was 5.91 seconds. That's a huge difference. While the scenario may have been contrived, the skill certainly is not.