Advice

[Misty Moonshine]

Hi everyone!

So... at the end of the day, I'm just a shooter... a green one at WBAS who is excited- and nervous as he**- at the impending experience that will be my very first "official" WBAS match- END of TRAIL. While I've tinkered some in the past, a certain long-time issue in my right arm (corrected now thanks to a great orthopedic surgeon!)- and nearing a year since I had (gasp) some heart trouble... have all meant that I've not fully committed to WBAS- and now with a fully healed right arm, and a "go for it" directive from my cardiologist - I'm excited to say that 2025 is my year! 

Yep, why not just trial by fire and shoot the World Championship for the first time, right?! Oooof. 

Leather- check.

My very own WBAS guns - check. (Santa brought me my very own 1911 AND a Model 12! Yay, Santa!)

Excitement - check.

Nerves - off the chart. 

Now, I'm leveraging the experience (hopefully) of all you seasoned WBAS shooters... aside from my main goal of focusing on safety and competency in my handling of the 1911, what other advice would you give? What is that, "man I wish I'd have figured that out sooner" thing in your shooting experience? 

Due to the *wonderful* Indiana weather this time of year, my main goal is dry "firing", working on transitions, mag changes, safe handling, etc. in the warmth of my basement. With, of course, the goal of at least a weekly live fire run down at the range. 

Do any of you have any training exercises/scenarios you would recommend? 

I -cannot- thank you enough in advance,

Misty

[Deacon KC]

Since you are starting with the 1911, maybe look at a replica airsoft or pellet version of one in your basement until the weather is decent. At least get your hands familiar with the feel of the gun.

[Happy Jack]

More time is wasted on mag changes than anything else in WBAS.  Don't take the gun too far down from the line of sight and practise with your eyes CLOSED. You have to feel the change to get it right. Watch shooters, most have the gun in a lowered position and canted when changing magazines. Both are time wasters. Many change the position from mag change to mag change, they don't know where they have the gun and have to look for it. GOOD LUCK.

[Flying W Ramrod]

Don't look for your mags. You don't need to pull them in a specific order. Just drop your hand and grab what you touch.

Keep the pistol up when you change mags, don't lower, insert, raise, takes too much time and you have to regain the target.

You don't need to hammer the bottom of the mag into the pistol, just put it in right the first time.

Whirlwind Wendy taught me all this.

[Burt the Undertaker]

Practice, practice,practice and then also practice for the worst. Be able to clear jams and such safely and quickly. Test all your magazines to be sure they feed and release freely. Then practice, practice, practice some more. 

Get someone else to load your magazines with a snap cap (dud round) in one of them somewhere. It will help you practice clearing your pistol and using your "barney".

Edited January 5 by Burt the Undertaker

[Boggus Deal]

You’ve got some good advice here and some poor advice. I’m going to against the grain with a couple things, though. You’ll hear people say “front sight”! Forget it! Your mind should know now how to line up the sights on target. MUCH more important is proper trigger manipulation. You can spend all day lining up the sights perfectly but when you jerk the trigger all that is moot. Dry fire practice and slow fire target practice will help. But everyone flinches to some degree at some point. Controlling it is the key. That’s the only place dummy rounds are handy loaded in the mag. It will show you your flinch. 
Also, forget “muscle memory”. It’s a fallacy. Your brain tells every muscle what to do, when to do it and how much to do it. 
Don’t pay attention to where the empty mag falls. Too many people waste too much time making sure they land on the table or carpet. All you want is it out of the gun.
As for malfunctions, properly tuned guns with quality ammo and proper mags mitigate malfunctions to practically nil. 
Also, no need to go to the line with a “Barney” mag. That will be the mag you grab when you need a full mag. 
 

[Sedalia Dave]

Best advice I was given is to have mags that work every time without fail.

Second was to use a loaded round gage and check every round you will use in a match. Any round that doesn't drop fully into the gage goes into the practice bin. Also check that the primers are fully seated. 

[Flying W Ramrod]

6 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

Best advice I was given is to have mags that work every time without fail.

Second was to use a loaded round gage and check every round you will use in a match. Any round that doesn't drop fully into the gage goes into the practice bin. Also check that the primers are fully seated. 

Running them through a Bulge Buster at the end of reloading takes this step out.

[Silvertip]

Boggus makes a great point a smooth trigger press makes the difference in hitting the target. Dry fire practice can not be stressed enough, start slow and in time a smooth press can be compressed to quite quick times. I used to at the end of a practice session ( this requires a paper Target).  AT 3 to 5 yards  put 3 shots into one hole it will show you what you are doing right or wrong.  I still like the front sight .  I agree with Happy Jack about time and magazine changes wasting time, make sure to get a good grip with the index finger pointing up the slide towards the bullet, you have a lot of practice pointing use it to get the magazine in the well. Put the flat of the magazine to the flat of the mag well and rotate it.

ST