A local blog wrote about drawing before you move at competitive matches:
2 BUG Matches, IDPA, and a Girl Goes Bang – TTP – Ep. 20 said:
Tip of The Week:
Draw, then move. It’s almost never a good idea in a match to move to a position, then draw the pistol. Ben goes into detail about why this is the case.
They also gave a “Plug of the Week” top my blog. Since I’ve been blogging less time than I’ve been shooting, that really made my week. On the podcast they mentioned that I brought up issues encountered by new shooters. So here’s the new shooter version of shooting on the move.
Stage description:
Magazines were loaded 6,6,10.
Stage was a single shot to each of 6 targets:
1) while moving sideways, then stop and slidelock reload
2) while moving forward, then stop and slidelock reload
3) while moving backward
for a total of 3 shots to each target.
(From March 10, 2013 IDPA match at The Range in Oxford, NC – Stage 6)
Listen closely and you will hear the RSO say “Move” after my draw. I’m thinking so hard about getting the gun on target that I put moving as secondary. This is purely by accident but it’s nice to know I’m developing some good habits:
Note: This is my first video! One of the guys in my squad was taking a video of another shooter and I asked him about that. He said he’d take one of me if I had a camera. When we got to this stage he nudged me and told me that this would be a great stage for video because it was so open. I handed him the $50 camera I bought at a Trade It in Raleigh and told him I knew it took video but wasn’t sure how it worked. Not only did he figure out how to work the camera, he took a short video without extra footage — which is great because it’s beyond me to edit video at this point.
Why am I sharing that? Because Ben & Luke are right that the people you shoot with are really nice, really helpful folks.
I’m very slow and usually come in dead last, but I’m learning confidence with safety, what to expect at matches, and making friends. If I stick with it, I am hoping better scores will be in my future.
And here are more thoughts on shooting and moving that I saw this week on another local blog: Is shooting on the move a good idea?