<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bondage:
Enjoy your new weapon. I think you've made an outstanding choice, now practice, practice, practice!
You were too kind to call our rambling nonesense "advice." But take what Beastmaster said to heart - he is, IMHO, dead on. Go back and re-read his last post. I agree 110%.
Sean </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Drills are the key. It's called muscle memory, and if you do the drills over and over and over - your gross motor skills will react properly and by the numbers under stress every single time. This is the basis for most successful training programs that combining firearms and stress mangement.
I've got a funny story about muscle memory, rather recent, in fact.
My stress relief is practicing a rather esoteric martial art called Krav Maga. We had an out of state instructor come by to demonstrate disarming techiques.
Utilizing ASP Red Training guns, we practiced the movements. Then came the drills using real "training" weapons - firearms with plugged barrels, no magazines, and no firing pins. The pistol in this case was a Beretta 92.
The out of state instructor (who instructs with LAPD SWAT) was the guy I was paired with. Figures. And he was the armed person.
Now - when you're doing pistol takeaways, rule #1 is: The gun will go off! Most takeaways will have you grasp the pistol in the area of the ejector port to cause a jam when the pistol discharges. Well, in my former life's training, when you take away the pistol, you rack the slide twice (done to clear and put the pistol back into battery), come up to target, and assess. (Of course, I won't talk about situations where you back into a semi-auto pistol!)
Well, that's what I did. Everyone started asking me why I did that. Then came the real life versus dojo training discussion.
So - muscle memory done years ago for 3 1/2 years straight still applies and is remembered over 10 years later. It did cause the group to discuss stuff that the instructors really didn't want to cover, but the point is that doing drills over and over again until they are second nature will put you in good stead.
I do have a bad story about the same clearing drill. I was a particpant in an introductory IPSC shoot. The fake sceneario was an interesting one where you grabbed any loaded pistol on the table and started shooting the selected targets. On the table were three revolvers and one Sig P228 semi-auto.
The Sig got a stovepipe jam on the second target. Muscle memory said for me to cycle twice and continue. That's what I did. Floor rules for that day's shoot was to halt after all jams. I got DQ'ed.
So there are times where real life drills sometimes conflict with competition rules.