Some general notes from the Advanced Pistol I class at TDSA (www.tdsa.net) that I took this past weekend

People who just teach tactics can't teach you how to shoot fast and accurately.


Trigger manipulation of an auto pistol:
Slack Out.  Take the slack out of the trigger, all the way up to the point where the shot is about to break.
Align the sights - with the front sight clear in your vision and paying extra attention to the tip of the sight post.
Tap the trigger to break the shot and come completely off the trigger after each tap.  Take the slack out of the trigger as the gun is recoiling.
High thumbs grip with the left thumb aggressively forward, wrist locked out hard, shoulders rolled forward, left arm straight but not hyper extended.
60/40 grip.

To shoot multiple targets, don't take a sight picture after your last shot on a target, instead drive your eyes to the new target and pull the gun along by the trigger as you take the slack out.  Slow down as you get to the new target, and aim small on the point of aim.  The trigger should be staged to be pulled as soon as the sights are aligned.  Getting to the target quicker gives more time to aim before the shot is broken.  If you're shooting two rounds per target on three targets, try to shoot at a cadence that sounds like 6 shots with equal splits.  Don't shoot a double tap, then switch targets, then shoot another double tap.  This is slow and you'll have less time to aim at the subsequent targets.

Ready position is with the gun pointed at the target with the wrists cammed up right at the bottom of the pecs.  To shoot, first bring the gun up to eye level, then drive it out toward the target as you take the slack out.  "Ride the escalator" up to eye level.

To reload, rotate the gun in your grip to drop the magazine with the handle straight down, then regrip (back to a normal firing grip with your thumb up and out of the way) as your support hand indexes a new magazine.  Hold the gun generally at eye level as you bring the magazine up to the magazine well.  Only move the arms.  Swaying, sinking, bending forward, etc. just makes you slower.  Relax the shoulders and pause just before inserting the magazine.  Once the magazine is inserted, take a normal firing grip, "ride the escalator" as you take the slack out, and keep shooting.  It's essential that you regrip the gun with the strong hand before you regrip with the support hand, because otherwise your support hand will never properly get in position, and once you start shooting again you definitely won't fix your grip.

Some general equipment related notes:

Sigs are generally unergonomic pieces of shit.

 

The Beretta 92 needs a lot more lube than a Glock, XD, or M&P.  One of the instructors was using one because he mainly teaches military, so he trains with the Beretta in order to maintain his proficiency with it for teaching the troops.  However, he made sure to mention that he considers the thing to be little better than a trot line weight. 

 

The M&P is great, but the aftermarket isn't there yet for things like .22 conversion kits. 

 

The XD is great, but it would be nice if the beaver tail allowed for a slightly higher grip, or if the bore axis were slightly lower.  Also, a few people had trouble with the XD magazine release under stress.  It had something to do with the fact that if you don't get a perfectly clean, square push on the button it is difficult to depress it. 

 

The Glock Generation 4 has a major problem with the magazine release.  No one could actuate it as well as a standard Glock magazine release under speed and pressure, and it was definitely slower than an extended magazine release.  There were two shooters with the Gen 4, and both had at least of handful of failures to feed.  Both shooters jokingly offered to sell their Gen 4's at the end of class - cheap. 

 

The first day I had trouble with the extended slide release on my Glock getting bumped by my grip while firing.  It hadn't been a problem in the past, and I had a high thumbs grip in the past.  But now my support hand grip is REALLY high, and the extended slide release has become a problem.  I went back to the stock slide release and the problem went away.

 

The 3.5 lb trigger (and I've tried almost all the 3.5lb triggers) are all too mushy to work effectively as a two stage trigger for the purposes of how we learned to manipulate the trigger in this class.  I was actually faster and more accurate with the stock Glock 5 lb trigger (which my trigger guage measures a 4.5 lb pull). 

 

The guys with Glock 19's in the class did very well, except that they sometimes had trouble seating their magazines under stress because the grip is so short.  I think a +2 extension or just reloading with a Glock 17 magazine would fix this problem.