Beginning quick draw practice

[Shorts]

I was just curious as to what needs to be done technically as far as starting practice for quick draw. I mean, do you just strap on your empty/snap capped gun and try to get it out and aimed as quick as possible? Or are there some basic rules to remember? I'm just really starting to get further involved and pick up some more skills. And yes, I realize taking a training class will help, we're working on that

 

[Calhoun]

First thing to do is UNLOAD THE GUN. After that take all of the ammo into another room. Then, check the gun again to make sure it is unloaded. Then, check it again. See a pattern developing? After that see what works for you. Start slow. Get the basic motions down pat first, then go on to speed. Remember, smooth is fast.
Once you can draw your weapon smooth every time, go to fast. When you can do it fast, try it from a different position like sitting. Again, start out smooth, then go to fast.
Remember to practice with your cover garmet in place. After all, if you need to draw and come out with a hand full of shirt/jacket/purse liner/etc. you are going to be in a world of hurt.

One last thing, when you are done, and you reload your weapon, PRACTICE IS DONE!! Don't go back to try it once more, you might get an ugly suprise.

Have fun, stay SAFE.

Calhoun

 

[Shorts]

Definite EMPTY gun. I've read several posts about the guys shooting holes through his leg or hips because he was practicing with a loaded weapon

 

[Jim Watson]

Empty means empty. Check, double check, triple check, use snap caps. The A-Zoom are well made but I wish they were a bright color. Safety is up to you in solitary practice. In class or competition there will be a safety officer, range officer, or instructor to keep you straight, but at home it is all up to you. Do dry fire practice in front of a solid wall, chimney, filled bookcase or something else that will stop a bullet just in case you screw up. Definitely not against an interior wall where somebody might be in the next room.

A fast draw is not accomplished by trying to grab the gun out of the holster as fast as possible with no other goal and no fixed idea of the method. I started out that way and got into bad habits I probably will never unlearn. Although I now know better, they are established reflexes (so-called "muscle memory") and are very hard to overcome.

There are specific techniques that get the gun drawn, aimed, and fired with the least fuss. The good news is that there are books and videos that illustrate the techniques so you can practice them first in slow motion and build speed as you lock in the moves. The bad news is, every instructor and champ shooter has his own version that just has to be the very best. So don't mix and match. Pick a style and learn it. There are ads in all the gunzines for them.

The technique I learned when I eventually got formal training from Master Class shooter Dave Elderton goes like so:

Take a firing grip on the gun in the holster with the strong hand.
At the same time, bring the support hand up in front of the breastbone.

Draw the gun but do not put the trigger finger in the guard.
Keep the support hand up but out of line with the muzzle.

Move the gun hand to meet the support hand just in front of the body and take a two-handed grip with the barrel nearly horizontal.

Push the gun up into the line of sight and toward the target. Be looking for the sights to line up on the target, disengage the safety if any, and find the trigger.

The sights should be aligned with each other and on the target as the arms approach full extension in the isosceles positon. The shot should go off as the arms are fully extended. On a very close target you can shoot as soon as the gun comes level, close to the body, or as you are making the push toward the target.

The push is the key. It is faster and more accurate than getting the arms extended early in the process and swinging up through the target, having to find the sights on a gun moving fast at arms length and then line them up on a target you are climbing up on.

But don't take my word for it.
Get a class, book, or video and learn a good way and stick with it.

A draw from concealment as in IDPA or CCW requires clearing the concealment garment. There are recommended ways to do that too, but the main consideration is to not get tangled, and to not flap around.

 

[R.H. Lee]

You could also prime some empty cases so you get a bang with every trigger pull.

 

[waktasz]

I'd recommend some type of competition shooting too. IDPA or USPSA (IDPA is probably easier for a novice) It can really point out the flaws in your technique, plus it's fun

 

[nbkky71]

I've heard of some folks using airsoft pistols to practice their draw

 

[Ankeny]

Brin Enos, Matt Burkett, and Rob Leatham have a ton of info on thier Websites. I have tapes from Avery, Burkett, Barnhart, etc. and they all teach basically the same thing. Fine tune to suit your needs.

FWIW, developing a kinesthetic awareness of the realtionship of the sights should come before you even think about learning the draw, or even shooting for that matter. Really good shooters can present the pistol with their eyes closed, open their eyes and the front sight is in the notch every time. The same is true for moving the gun from spot to spot.

Two of the most important elements of the draw are snapping that puppy out of the holster as soon as the grip is made, and breaking the shot at the very instant you reach the end of the draw stroke. The pistol comes up and goes out level without porpoising, and the sight can't bounce around like a tuning fork at the end of the draw stroke. YMMV.

 

[jpIII]

A tip that may or may not help.

I find it easier to acquire a sight picture faster if I focus more on the front site as the gun hand is being put onto target.

Try it out. Just watch your front site as you are raising your gun hand from the holster.

Good luck, and stay safe.

 

[Art Eatman]

I work with the Weaver stance, okay? So that's where my own "how to" comes from. And, from a combat pistol course I took in 1980, modeled after Gunsite's.

Start with what's called the "low ready" stance. Arms down about 45 degrees, with the handgun held as you would have it in the firing position.

"Up, front-sight-press." Repeat a whole bunch. That is, bring the handgun up and as soon as the front sight is on the target, press the trigger. Do this until you've developed the eye-finger coordination and "muscle memory". Start with this as dry-fire, and after some ten or twenty repetitions you go to live fire. Maybe a box of ammo's worth.

Okay. Now you have that down. With the handgun in the holster, have your hands in some likely everyday position and start the draw from there. Slowly run through the sequence of discrete steps. As you practice these individual steps, you will little by little be able to shorten the intervals until it all becomes one flowing set of movements. Again, start with many repetitions of dry-fire before loading for "the real thing".

And that beginning point is where Jim Watson and I are in accord...

It's safest to start all this without a coat, with an open-carry setup. When you get all this under control, start all over with an empty handgun. Clearing a coat/jacket, etc., is at first somewhat awkward.

With open carry, starting with clasped hands at belt level, it's not at all difficult when you start yourself off to draw and hit at ten yards in around 0.8 seconds. Starting from the IPSC "surrender" position adds about 0.1 second. Reacting to a buzzer-signal adds some 0.2 seconds.

Art

 

[Bix]

I would caution against "self teaching" a drawstroke. As noted above, it can engrain bad habits that may haunt you into the future. More importantly, it is dangerous. I cringe every time I see somebody in a pistol competition flag their weak hand because they were never taught to properly index it during the drawstroke.

Buy a book, get a video, do some internet research, or better yet, find somebody who knows what they are talking about and learn a proper drawstroke. Then you will have a technique to practice, rather than just flinging the gun out of a holster as fast as you can.

 

[ChristopherG]

I think folks are offering a lot of excellent advice, which could be more pointed and helpful if we knew exactly what you want to do.

What kind of gun are you drawing, and from what kind of rig? Is this for competition or for personal defense or just for fun? Do you wanna draw and just pop a cap, or draw and hit a target, and if the latter, then how big and how far?

For what he did, I think the finest quick-draw of his time was probably Bill Jordan, and his book ("No Second Place Winners", I think?) has an excellent discussion of goals and techniques. But that may or may not be what you're talking about.

 

[Shorts]

ChristpherG, I just want to get fairly smooth at getting to my CCW, and getting it on target to fire. I don't want to just bobble around with it. I would eventually like to make some quick draw and shoots at the range at various distances. It's mainly for self defense.

My main position of carry is a crossdraw, especially wearing jackets and such. I realize that is fairly unadventageous in a quick draw shootout, but I don't get in shootouts with fast guys often enough to keep it on my right hip I am right handed. And I shoot one-handed, so those are sorta my constraints there. Sometimes I carry on my right hip, but I have several reasons why I don't very often.

First, my right hand is my only hand, so when I carry, I can't do things with my weak hand in order not to lift shirt tail or show I am carrying. I am female, and hence I have the curvy hips, so my gun sticks me in my ribs/obliques a lot. I'm going to get one of those ladies holsters when funds permit, I've seen a few good links on here. And last, wearing a jacket I can't get to the gun as fast as just diving my hand in the front and pulling it out. Same thing when driving, I can get to the gun without fighting the seatbelt.

I'm sure the method of carry will change with the weather and gun, but I'd like to start somewhere. I'm carrying a Beretta 86, 1st shot DA, safety on, the rest in SA (I can carry cocked and locked, but usually don't). I'm wearing an Uncle Mike's holster with adj. thumb strap.

 

[ChristopherG]

Shorts,

That's extremely helpful information. Glad you're interested in learning to get your piece into action; in the unhappy happenstance that you should ever have to draw your gun in self defense, getting it out promptly and in a controlled fashion is as important as having it in the first place.

A lot of the above advice assumes the use of a two-hand hold and strong-side hip-carry. Since these don't apply for you (and you offer good reasons, obviously), what you need are some of the underlying principles. The best set I've heard are from an instructor named Matt Burket (whose DVDs are available for purchase in various places). The essential thing he teaches, and which I think you could apply, is this: One Thing At A Time.

That means breaking down the draw into component parts and practicing each one--smoothly and properly, and then only gradually quickly--until it all becomes the fast-but-smooth quick draw you see good shooters perform.

So first (after all the above safety stuff, which is all spot on), practice this: just reach and take hold of the gun firmly, correctly, and smoothly. Practice it from various positions--without taking it out.

Then, practice the next step; starting with the grip already aquired, pull the gun out of its holster (a better holster will help with this step; and a good, thick, sturdy belt) and bring it to a 'low ready' position--the upper strong arm parallel to your upper body, the gun pointed toward your target at belly/waist level or a little higher. Practice smooth, not fast. In extremely close quarters, this would be your firing position.

Finally, practice going from this 'low-ready' or 'retention' position to extended, sight-aquisition position. Do it smooth and steady, and do it again and again until you can raise the gun to your line of sight with the sights on target and aligned.

Then, put it all together--first two steps at a time, then all three. You get the idea. This isn't a professional regimen, but shooting a handgun isn't rocket science, and you shouldn't be afraid to try to learn things for yourself. Good luck, and enjoy beautiful Oak Harbor--lucky!

 

[tvdilbert]

Then, practice the next step; starting with the grip already aquired, pull the gun out of its holster...

Christopher,

Is there a reason in particular that you advocate doing step 1 only, step 2 only, step 3 only, as opposed to step 1, step 1 + 2, etc.? If she needs to remove the gun from the holster to practice anyways, why not go ahead and practice aquiring the grip?

Shorts,

There is a lot of good safety advice above and I agree with a lot of what Christopher says.

Something to add is the flagging of the thumb during the movement from holster to the index/retention position. If you flag the tumb and keep it in contact with your body as you come out of the holster and across the body to the centerline, it gives you a tactile index of where your firearm is.

Especially if your holster requires upward motion to draw, I would suggest indexing farther up on the centerline. For me, my index point would be when the thumb hits the sternum --the firearm comes at a diagonal up and across the body. There the elbow moves in a backward arc to come in contact with the body. This moves the pistol across the body (remember the flagged thumb?) and orients the muzzle forward onto target. This is your retention position. Firing the weapon could come anywhere from here all the way out to full extension, depending on proximity of the threat. The next step is to push the firearm out to extension.

Not THE way to do it, just A way.

- Jon -

 

[ChristopherG]

Is there a reason in particular that you advocate doing step 1 only, step 2 only, step 3 only, as opposed to step 1, step 1 + 2, etc.? If she needs to remove the gun from the holster to practice anyways, why not go ahead and practice aquiring the grip?

Doing one thing at a time--and doing each thing as one thing on its own, before doing any of them in combination--can heighten awareness of what's involved in each of them. The way Burkett discusses it, if I remember, is that he wants to focus all your attention on each step in turn, and he does this by isolating them. I think it makes sense, though I won't profess to have become a great 'draw' myself . I'm still practicing, though!!

 

[tvdilbert]

Doing one thing at a time--and doing each thing as one thing on its own, before doing any of them in combination--can heighten awareness of what's involved in each of them. The way Burkett discusses it, if I remember, is that he wants to focus all your attention on each step in turn, and he does this by isolating them. I think it makes sense, though I won't profess to have become a great 'draw' myself . I'm still practicing, though!!

Makes sense.

Personally, when I practice my draw, I go through the whole motions by the numbers. Step 1, stop and assess. Step 2, stop. Step 3, stop. Sep 4, stop. Reholster and repeat. After 10 or so, I begin to combine. 1, stop. 2, stop. 3, then 4. 10 more and I add again. Ex. 1, 2, stop. 3, 4. Then do it all the way through but slow, and gradually build up speed.

- Jon -

 

[Shorts]

ChristopherG, thanks for the breakdown. It makes sense. You have to do each step correctly in order for the whole motion to be smooth and proper.

tvdilbert, could you clarify a bit on thethumb indexing thing? I think I might understand you, but I'm not real sure. Is that where you just run the thumb in contact with the body until it hits centerline, and then you press the gun out?

I do have the thumbstrap button on the outside side of the holster, where my thumb has to push out back across the backstrap of the gun in order to release the button. Would it be more motion fluent to switch the button to the inside? So that way when my thumb presses the strap open, the thumb is already sliding down to the correct area of the gun when holding it properly.

 

[tvdilbert]

tvdilbert, could you clarify a bit on thethumb indexing thing? I think I might understand you, but I'm not real sure. Is that where you just run the thumb in contact with the body until it hits centerline, and then you press the gun out?

Flagging the thumb is a little more involved. Try this:

Take your UNLOADED firearm and hold it against your side, muzzle pointed out. Like you are pointing it at someone, but holding it tight to your body. Keep the gun in this direction and let your thumb come back to your body. It should be sticking somewhat away from the firearm now, hence the term "flagging." You also want to establish a slight outboard cant to the firearm sort of a / so that the slide has room to cycle (or the cylinder of a revolver has clearance for that matter). The flagged thumb creates this cant, and provides a way for us to feel where the gun is.

You'll be flagging the thumb from the time you grasp the weapon until it leaves the index/retention position. As long as the weapon is close to your body, the thumb keeps it canted outboard and provides a tactile index.

I also advocate moving the elbow in as opposed to moving the gun out when moving from centerline to retention. Why? Well, a two handed shooter would be mating the support hand to the gun at centerline and pressing out from there. They have a strong foundation to keep the gun under control in case of a gun grab or some sort of muzzle aversion. Only using one hand, we don't have that base. So if we allow the gun to swing out to come on target, it is more succeptible to an aversion or grab. This also puts us in an awkward middle position -- elbow locked to body, gun extended. We have no sight reference and no tactile reference; i.e. we can't see or feel where the gun is pointing.

By moving the elbow back and allowing our wrist to act as a sort of "hinge," we keep the weapon in close where it is not in as much danger to be grabbed, and by keeping the thumb in contact with the body all the way until the retention position, we know where the weapon is and can "feel" where its pointed. We're not looking for precised, aimed shots at this position -- it's used to engage targets in "bad-breath distance."

Hope this helps.

- Jon -

 

[silhanek]

Try this link:

http://www.americanshooter.com/Features/features.html

Not totally focused on quick draw, but I found some of the info helpful.

 

[Ankeny]

Buy a book, get a video, do some internet research, or better yet, find somebody who knows what they are talking about and learn a proper drawstroke. Then you will have a technique to practice, rather than just flinging the gun out of a holster as fast as you can.

That's some really good advice. Unfortunately, you are wanting to go cross draw and there aren't many trainers real keen on that in a class setting. Time for one-on-one instruction.

 

[tvdilbert]

I'd like to also suggest heading over to www.selfdefenseforums.com and searching for "Shoulder Holster PSP." It has a lot of relevant info to crossdraw and it's where I've gotten the majority of my thoughts on the subject.

SouthNarc, the guy who does the PSPs, is well known and respected at SDF and elsewhere. I want to pick up his "Fighting Handgun Volume I" DVD when I have the funds.

- Jon -