Wow, nice write-up! I look forward to training with everyone in the future.
Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Doodie Project?
From my perspective and apart from any structural description of Randy's draw, I'd say his draw was really fast due to the two things I contend most people can do to gain time on the first shot: snap into motion and aim and fire the gun as it's decelerating at the end. Randy's hand speed was excellent and very twitchy getting into full speed (that is a positive comment) and he wasted no time getting the shot fired once the gun was out there.
Technical excellence supports tactical preparedness
Lord of the Food Court
http://www.gabewhitetraining.com
Technical excellence supports tactical preparedness
Lord of the Food Court
http://www.gabewhitetraining.com
My primary struggle was with the inconsistency of getting my grip on the draw when trying to ‘go fast.
Last night I returned to GWS dry fire, in particular draws, after a USPSA class with Stoeger. I was using a new CZ P-09 with a longer grip.
I started with concealed AIWB draws, working on getting a very firm support hand grip and a very relaxed firing hand grip. Part times were 1.0s then 0.9s. I found that when I was hurrying, like in the class, I was having all sorts of problems with shirt clearing, consistent grip, etc. When I relaxed and just let the draw happen, without hurrying, I was maybe 0.05s slower, but I seemed to be hitting the 1.0s draw par times, then all the G.W.S. Par times with relative ease. Note I do not use the 0.25s concealment bonus in dry fire practice.
One of my theories on training is that you need lots of shorter (I’m not good at this - I like 1 hour) sessions, with enough sessions to get breakthoughts, and with periodic breaks to let the skills ‘sink in’ and become more of an innate skill than a recently practiced skill. While I had made good *recent* trainign gains, I just don’t thgink I hd been doing it long enough to become smooth, unhurried and innate.
My last 2 runs ont he Split Bill Drill were a good example. I felt like I smoothly and almost casually shot Turbo Pin times without hurrying and it just happened, like it was no big deal. I like that feeling a lot.
t the end of dry fire last night I started playing with even more aggressive times (e.g. shave 0.2s off each drill) , trying to combine that sense of unhurried smoothness, a relaxed trigger finger, and super confident head transitions (using your reset/transition/fire dry fire technique) and felt like I was occasionally hitting it. We shall see with more sessions and hopefully some live fire this weekend.
Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Doodie Project?
GuanoLoco, Just a quick comment as I wait on the chiropractor.... keeping your sessions short and focused and not obsessively long is where it is at in my opinion. I used to wear out my elbows with hour long sessions . In fact that was one thing I specifically wanted to avoid and why I made a conscious decision just to “live my life” this year after I signed up for class and not obsess about getting ready for class. I amped up the dry work just a little (doing three 10 minute sessions per day) in the two weeks leading up to class and that allowed me to keep it focused and not blow out an elbow going warp speed for 30 straight minutes. Dude, you are on the verge. Just don’t overthink it. Shoot the way you can shoot and it will happen.
Randy, I appreciate the positive feedback and input!
You inspired me - I just strapped on my gear and did an Anderson-esque 5 minutes of ONLY concealed draws, 1.0s par time, thinking about every nuance of shirt clearing, thumb position on the initial grip, support hand grip strength, firing hand tension, decelerating the gun, looking at the right spot, etc.
There is a LOT going on in a very short period of time. Much of one's success in the G.W.S. drills are tied to the quality of clear/draw/grip/initial sight picture process.
I work from home (it's not always as nice as you would think) and am hoping to do a large number very brief yet highly focused dry fire sessions in the future.
Thank you!
Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Doodie Project?
@Tiffany Johnson did have some video from Gabe's class. I edited one to get this clip.
One thing I notice right off the bat is that you are able to clear the cover garment single handed. I have not been able to do this reliably with strong side hip carry with a button front shirt.
Your holster is further forward than where I have normally been carrying, and perhaps that accounts for some of the above.
I had an ER nurse in a class. I noticed she kept taking all head shots. Her response when asked why, "'I've seen too many people who have been shot in the chest putting up a fight in the ER." Point taken.
Maybe not my finest work but that is a fair representation of what I’m doing. Yes I’m clearing with the support hand only. For me to offer any advice on your button down shirt I’d have to see it and see how tightly it fit and how long the hem is and whether simply leaving the bottom button unbuttoned would solve your problem. I have to have some shirts shortened if they are too long.
Honestly the polo shirt from Sunday cleared easier than the T shirt on Saturday. And I knew that would be the case. It is simply the nature of how the material hangs. Maybe there is a video from one of the testing runs from Sunday.
Yes the gun is carried more at just short of 3 o’clock instead of 4 like a lot of folks carry strong side. I pretty much carry it like Bruce Nelson designed his old Summer Special holster to be carried, FORWARD of the hip not behind it. It works for some folks and not as well for others.
I had an ER nurse in a class. I noticed she kept taking all head shots. Her response when asked why, "'I've seen too many people who have been shot in the chest putting up a fight in the ER." Point taken.