From all of the training I have done over the years, I have seen many ways of presenting or drawing your handgun from a holster. They were all pretty much the same. It was a choppy step by step method. I never liked this to begin with. The draws always seemed jerky and never seemed really smooth. Some could say I was doing it wrong. That wasn’t it. Because of the motion required and so many reps to get down, it is difficult to have everything
flow together. It required stopping or having a designated spot for your weak hand to grip the gun. I believe this method is an inferior method.
With the help of empirical evidence, we have seen time and time again that people who have trained with a designated spot for their hands to meet are shooting one handed. Subconsciously they are realizing it is more important to get the gun out on the bad guy then stop to get a two handed grip. Because of this, they are shooting one handed. This is mainly seen with the Weaver Stance.
Combat Focus® Shooting’s method, which I am a certified active instructor, is the best method. Here is the method.
Grip the gun and beat any retention devices.
Pull the gun straight up and out of holster.
Orient the gun to the threat.
Extend the gun into and parallel with your line of sight and at some point as you are pushing the gun out, establish your grip with your weak hand.
This requires less time, effort, and energy to perform. Starting out it will be a little jerky as you learn the new skill. Only after a few reps, people are able to smooth the presentation out. This makes it the most efficient draw I have seen. I am open to the idea of a better way. If there is a better way, I want to see it and try it out.
I usually just come out of the holster shooting wildly. By putting a few into the dirt as I raise the muzzle to presentation level, you really let the bad guy know that you mean business…
No but seriously, the draw looks good. I notice that you are going very high with the gun before orienting it towards the target (at least in your pictures). Are you really doing a 90 degree turn with it and driving it towards the target, or is the gun following a curve to eye level as you raise it and drive it towards the target at the same time?
What I mean is - once you’ve cleared your holster, why wait to start driving the gun?
And, as Rob Pincus, has pointed out in his ground breaking work on the topic, by training to bring the gun up to the side and orient it towards the threat consistently, the start of your draw stroke is the same for threats that you will engage at extension and while in contact. Furthermore, you will not be in the habit of pushing the gun forward as part of your raising up from the holster, should you need to orient the gun in a direction other than to the front (for example: when seated with a threat to your strong side).
I think that drawing is situationally dependent and that it’s good to practice different methods, this looks like a decent method. I wasn’t knocking it when I was asking, I was just curious about what exactly was happening and the reasoning behind it. I think you could be faster for a forward threat if you drive the gun on a curve instead of at a right angle. Have you tested this on a timer?
You have to look at effective and efficient. Effective is achieving a stated goal. Alone it is irrelevant. Effective takes least time, effort, and energy. The method you are describing might be faster in isolation by a tenth of a second or whatever number it is. It may not be. We need to look at it within human error. Your method also runs the risk of seesawing the gun, either canting the muzzle backwards or forwards. This requires controlling more unnecessary movement to the gun. Remember we are not robots that can magic the gun in our hands when we need to shoot a threat. So if it’s faster to bring the gun to our face, but takes more time to insure the gun is parallel with our line of sight. It makes it slower. The CFS method mitigates all of the stated issues.
Both methods would be effective because the end goal is going to be met both ways when the target is shot accurately. So by what standard will you measure efficiency if not by time?
All of these technique are well within the same time frame taking human error in account. And correct, both ways completes the stated goal. It’s all about what is efficient. Pulling the gun straight up and extending the gun straight out into and parallel with your line of site is efficient because it is more consistent. Consistency increase our efficiency. Consistency is the standard. By limiting the movement on the gun, it will be more consistent, which will increase our efficiency, thus making it the preferred technique.
This technique is superior regardless of holster/carry. If it the gear requires you to alter the the psychical skill, change the gear if you are able to.
What human error are you taking into account? The inability to perform the action of bringing the gun up correctly? Just because you can’t do it right doesn’t mean it’s a lesser way to do it.
There are several ways to accomplish drawing a gun and your method is sound but is not going to be ideal for every shooter even though it may be your “preferred method”.
Pressing the gun out on a curve is just one example of a way to get the gun on target faster. Another method could be bringing the pistol into the center of your chest and clasping both hands at that point; instead of raising the pistol high to your strong side then clasping hands so far in front of your body during the press out motion.
Additionally, you’re not talking about when to start pressing on the trigger. Do you take up the slack in your trigger during the press out, or do you take up slack when fully pressed out. When you move your finger from finger guard to trigger it’s going to move the sights, so when do you choose to move to the trigger? When you press it? Do you stage the trigger to the break point, or slap it?
Since you’re toting this as a one size fits all drawing method then there’s also drawing and firing from retention. How well will this work for firing from retention? If you draw and raise your pistol as high as you’re going, then do your 90 degree rotation, you may have to move the pistol lower again to fire accurately. On the other hand, if you clear your holster and rotate the pistol, it may already be in the appropriate firing position for you as a shooter, which could be faster.
Thanks for the pics and opinion, but I see no reason to not be driving the gun as soon as it clears the holster. Get it out of the holster, sights on target, break the shot and get your hit. There is no single method to doing this but there are several that work well.
I didn’t notice you were so new to the website, welcome to M4C.
Saying that something is the “best method” is very much a statement that I would expect from someone who has drank the koolaid and refuses any other flavor. :rolleyes:
Making a blanket statement like this is quite arrogant, to be honest.
There are many factors that will influence weapon manipulation skills, gear is one of them. Often, specific pieces of gear is not something the individual can choose to discard/change. Often compromise is neccessary, to achieve best possible integration of technique and gear.
I am no super duper pistolero, but my draw stroke is 4 steps:
I can certainly be faster, but I am pretty consistent in what I do every single time. I don’t find it choppy at least. No particular positions or timing neccessary. My draw will be affected if I am transitioning from my primary, for example.
not to pile on… but besides getting one into a proper superman armpit smelling stance what exactly is this “best” at ?
Ive been exposed to a number of different techniques for draws, and they all have different priorities and thus address those concerns. The draw through retention and through a compressed position EXCELS at Extreme Close Quarters inside 5 yards with a real opponent , while drawing up to get your front sight in your line of sight and drive the gun on rails out to the target (while looking out the front of your eyes, NOT through your eyebrows) EXCELS at taking the first shot on a tight or distant target , meeting the hands lower leveling the gun and driving up onto target though is much much faster, eso to an indexed or large hit where you dont need to maximize sight time.
You are basically doing the CFS method. Up then out into and parallel your line of sight. The only thing we don’t teach is bringing the hand to the chest. If you can do that great, do it. The weak hand may be busy doing something else. So at some point as you are extending the gun out, get your grip.
There is no stopping in the presentation. It is a continual movement. Go back and reread the original post.
For the trigger press, touch the trigger and press it reward when you reach extension. No need to prep it in the context of the course. This is not shooting for competition. This for a combative application.
