Triangle Tactical Podcast and Blog on Guns, Gear, and Competition Shooting
On Saturday I shot the H2O Fowl Farms September IDPA match. I added most of my comments in the video as a voice-over, so have a watch:
I made some very amateur mistakes that I need to work on going forward. I’ve already ditched the extended slide stop (which I knew would create a problem when I purchased the pistol, I just never bothered to swap it out), and hopefully I won’t have to deal with the slide not locking back again.
Constructive criticism OK? If not, just delete. 🙂
First, the good stuff. Grip looks good (most of the time), reloads look REALLY good (almost all the time). On the grip, sometimes looks like your right hand can be higher, better aligned, more rotated. That thumb should be pointing pretty much right at the target. I know you’ve complained of slide bite, obviously you have to manage that. Just an observation. Most of the reloads in your video were awesome, one flub you noted yourself.
Your splits were mostly VERY slow. They got fast when you felt like you had fallen behind (e.g., after a slide-lock mishap). Obviously, you can’t shoot faster than the sights, or you drop points, but if there’s any place you could pick up some real time I’d suggest it was on the splits, which means having your eyes tracking that front sight at ALL times in recoil, and having the trigger already reset, slack taken up when the front sight comes back down on target.
Remember, when the gun fires and recoils, you ought to see the brass ejecting from the gun, at least for an instant. If you’re NOT seeing that, it means your eyes are closed. Which means a time-consuming re-acquisition of the sights, etc. etc.
Also, master that trigger reset, slack take-up. I used to do drills where I didn’t even HAVE a target, I’d just step up to the berm and fire into the dirt, putting 100% of my concentration on the trigger reset and slack take-up. When the gun comes out of recoil the trigger should be 99% ready to break the next shot.
Great podcast, as always (even though I didn’t get a shout-out this time) :-).
Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Ha, thanks. I’m only a few thousand rounds in to the Glock 34 and I’m still working on everything with it. Actually had trigger freeze once last night at the indoor match on a hoser stage which was really weird. I can tell I’ve been slacking on the dry fire the past couple weeks…
Thanks for the feedback, always good to have another set of eyes looking over my shooting.
No worries. You shot really well. You’re at the stage now, though, where the fundamentals either propel you to the next level (because you master them) or restrain you where you are (because you don’t).
No reason at all you shouldn’t be shooting master. Hell, if I can do it, anybody can do it. It’s just a matter of adhering to and applying the basic fundamentals. Every time.
As Mas likes to say, shooting a pistol well isn’t complicated. It’s just not easy. 🙂
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Let me know the next time you’re in town, we’ll have to hit a match.
If we shot it today, you’d clean my clock. I haven’t shot a match in a year. DAMN WORK!1!11! 🙂
I’m fully expecting to be back in NC no later than Spring. I’ll have practiced by then (work willing). It’ll be great fun! 🙂
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
“The day I smoked Andrew Branca at an IDPA Match” would be a great podcast episode title… Just sayin