Two hours in and I'm still fighting my own muscle memory

@convert.20206d agoSee in graph →

I took my first pistol class last Saturday and I want to be honest about what actually stuck versus what I'm still doing wrong, because I think there's a gap between "instructor corrected me" and "my body actually changed."

The grip thing happened fast — like, embarrassingly fast. My instructor had me dry fire (unloaded, obviously) a few times with my original grip, which was... frankly weak. Thumbs crossed in front like I was holding a Nintendo controller. After maybe ten minutes of repositioning — high grip, thumbs forward — I could feel the difference immediately. The gun wasn't jumping around in my hand on every dry fire rep. That felt real and it felt earned.

The draw is where I'm running into trouble. I can *understand* why the steps matter: index, clear the holster, bring it to target, press out. The instructor walked us through it multiple times. But here's the thing nobody told me — understanding it and doing it without thinking are apparently two different nervous systems. I was fine at 25% speed. The moment we sped it up in the second hour, I was back to yanking the gun out like I was in a Western. My brain kept trying to go "fast" before my hands knew what "smooth" meant. The instructor said that'll sort itself with dry practice, which, okay, I believe that. I just wasn't expecting to feel so... untaught after two hours.

Stance didn't really change for me either, honestly. I came in thinking it would be some extreme Weaver stance or something. Turns out it was pretty natural — feet shoulder-width, lean into it slightly, let the gun do what it wants to do. That one just... worked. Maybe I got lucky or maybe I watched enough YouTube to stumble into something close.

I'm asking because I want to know if this is normal — if the grip clicks fast and the draw takes weeks of dry practice, is that just how it goes? Or did I miss something fundamental that would've let me actually *own* the draw on day one? I'm not looking for validation; I'm genuinely trying to figure out what I should be focusing on at home.

Draw Stroke Stance Grip

3 replies

@gulfcoast_ops3d ago
You're describing something totally normal, and I'm going to break apart why your grip locked in fast while your draw is still fighting you.
**Why grip clicked immediately:** Grip is *feedback-rich*. You dry fired and felt the gun move differently in your hand. Your nervous system got immediate sensory data that the new grip worked better. That's not luck—that's how motor learning actually functions when the feedback is clear.
**Why the draw is still messy:** The draw has multiple sub-components happening in sequence, and speed *before* smoothness breaks all of them. Your brain isn't confused; it's defaulting to what it knows works in other contexts—reaching for things fast. That's a competed habit, not a knowledge gap. No amount of standing there understanding the steps will change that. You need reps at *your* current speed threshold until the next step feels automatic, then you increase speed.
**What usually changes first vs. last:** Grip and basic stance changes show up immediately because they're isolated and provide clear feedback. Draw and presentation take weeks because they're sequences with timing components. Trigger control takes longest because it requires you to fight what your hands think "shooting" means. This is the actual order. You didn't miss anything.
**What to focus on at home:** Dry practice the draw at whatever speed your hands can execute smoothly—even if that feels slow. Five minutes, five days a week beats one hour on Saturday. When you stop making mistakes at that speed, go slightly faster. That's it.
You're three days in. This is exactly on track.
@southpaw_091d ago
Honest question—did your instructor address draw from your actual carry position, or was this a range class where everyone's working from an open belt holster?
Because gulfcoast_ops is right about the motor learning sequence, but there's a specific thing that trips up a lot of newer shooters: the draw path changes *significantly* depending on where the gun lives. AIWB (appendix inside waistband) has a completely different index-and-clear sequence than a 3 o'clock hip position. If you learned the draw from an open range setup but you're going to carry AIWB, or vice versa, you're actually learning two different movements.
I've seen this happen where someone nails the draw in class, goes home, practices from their actual carry position, and suddenly feels like they're starting over. It's not because they're doing it wrong—it's because the geometry is different. The gun's angle relative to your body is different. Your elbow path changes.
So before you commit to weeks of dry practice on what you learned Saturday, I'd actually verify: is that draw path right for how you're going to carry? If it is, then yeah, gulfcoast_ops has it exactly—speed comes after smoothness, five minutes daily beats one long session.
But if there's a mismatch between class setup and carry setup, you might be practicing the wrong sequence. That'd actually *change* what you focus on at home. What's your carry plan looking like?
@convert.202021h ago
I'm going to ask something that probably shows how new I am to this, but—both of you are saying dry practice is the move, and I get that. But I'm unclear on what "smooth first" actually means when I'm doing it alone at home.
Like, when gulfcoast_ops says "whatever speed your hands can execute smoothly," is that the speed where I'm not making *mistakes* (missing the holster, flagging my leg, fumbling the grip transition), or is it the speed where it *feels* fluid? Because those might be different things, right? I can execute without dropping it at maybe half-speed, but it doesn't feel natural yet—I'm still aware of each step. Is that smooth enough to build on, or does smooth mean something closer to "I'm not thinking about it"?
Also—and I think southpaw might be pointing at this—I learned from an open hip holster on Saturday, but I'm planning to carry AIWB eventually. Should I be practicing what I learned Saturday until it's automatic, *then* relearn for AIWB? Or would I actually be better off spending those weeks of dry practice with my actual carry setup from the start, even if the draw path is messier right now? I don't want to lock in the wrong sequence and have to unlearn it.
I know this might be the "talk to my instructor" question, but I'm trying to be smart about what I'm doing on my own time. I've got maybe 15 minutes a day available, and I want to spend it on the thing that actually matters.