Refining the draw in this manner enables firing at a very close target before the gun is fully extended, but while still having a sight picture. This technique is taught by Kelly McCann in his Crucible video training series. He recommends keeping the strong-side elbow high (upper arm staying as horizontal to the ground as possible), as the gun is brought to the line of sight and as it starts moving forwards. Letting your strong-side elbow droop during the draw stroke causes your arm and the gun to droop out of your sight line.
One of the first actions in the draw is to move both hands simultaneously. The gun (trigger-pulling) hand must grip the gun in the same manner you will use to shoot it as soon as you grasp the gun in the holster. There will be no time to change your grip during the draw and presentation, so it is absolutely necessary to achieve a proper firing grip at first touch. This takes quite a bit of practice, but its importance cannot be overlooked. Get your hand on the gun butt in the correct firing grip.
It is probably best to have your hand approach the gun butt from above, rather than from the side, to effect the centering of the butt in the web of your hand. Make sure that your trigger finger is straight along the outside of the holster over the trigger guard! The firing hand thumb, after popping any thumbsnap strap your holster may have, should be “flagged” or sticking up in the hitchhiker position. This keeps it from accidentally nudging off the safety on a cocked and locked 1911-style pistol while the gun’s still in the holster and also keeps it from getting fouled on any straps or snaps in the way. If your holster has a thumbsnap strap, your hand should come straight down onto the top of the gun butt with the thumb flagged but pointing forwards slightly. In this manner, it will pop the snap as you achieve your grip.
If your holster has an outside snap strap, rather than one topside, you will have to release it with the outside or leading edge of the base of the trigger finger while sweeping your hand upwards along the outside of the holster. Then the hand rises slightly above the gun butt and drops straight down onto it.
The position of your holster may require certain other specific positioning of your drawing hand. If the holster is a strong-side, high-ride, behind-the-hip concealment belt holster, the gun will be positioned high and around toward your back somewhat. You may have to raise up your gun-side shoulder and rotate your hand towards the gun butt to get a proper firing grip, such that your palm is more facing your kidney (where the gun butt is). To effect a proper grip in this case, you’ll have to have your flagged thumb point out to the side, rather than forwards.
Remember, you must achieve the proper firing grip on the gun butt the first time. Apply this grip while the gun is in the holster and then analyze just how your arm, hand, and shoulder have to be positioned to apply it correctly. This is what you will practice to achieve, every time you draw. If you mess it up, it will ruin the entire process all the way through the shot, as an incorrect grip will both cause misalignment of the gun in the firing position and defeat the eventual, repetition-ingrained, correct muscle memory that produces the instantaneous and automatic alignment of the gun in a high-speed presentation.
What’s your non-shooting hand doing at this time? The support hand moves at the same time as the gun hand. As the latter reaches for the gun, the former moves across the body to a position just under the strong-side pectoral muscle. The inside of your support forearm should be horizontal across your chest. The wrist should be bent with the palm facing sideways to the strong side, and the hand canted downward with the thumb extended straight ahead and the fingers pointing as nearly straight downwards to the ground as possible. When the draw motion starts, it should look like there is a string tied between both wrists — the hands move together. The support hand ends up in a place that is along the path of the gun as it comes up from and out of the holster and towards the line of sight. This position is called the “grab.”
As your hands are moving into the grip (gun hand) and grab (support hand) positions, you should assume your shooting posture as related in the chapter on the Modern Isosceles stance. Bend your knees slightly, stick your fanny out slightly, and lean your upper body slightly towards the target. If your feet started out in an awkward position, move them so they are about shoulder-width apart and with the trigger hand-sided foot to the rear. All these movements should be done simultaneously with your hand motions. By the time your hands are in the grip and grab positions, your body should be in the position from which you will shoot. No further body movement (besides the arms) should need to take place after this point. In other words, don’t bob and weave back and forth as you bring the gun out of the holster to the shooting position.
Draw the gun out of the holster in line with the angle at which the holster holds the gun. Any other angle or any twisting or other motion will cause the gun to bind in the holster. Keep in mind that, with a high-ride holster, you will probably need to raise your strong-side shoulder up pretty high as well, to help your arm move enough get the gun all the way out of the holster. Try to keep your gun-arm elbow pointing rearwards, as opposed to letting it swing out to the side. This helps align your hand with the gun butt and also prevents wasted motion. Also, as mentioned before, keep the strong-side elbow high as the gun comes up to our line of sight, to avoid a lowered elbow pulling the rest of the arm (and gun) downwards with it.
As the gun comes up towards your support hand, the gun should be rotated muzzle-downrange just before it intercepts the support hand. For a 1911-style gun, your thumb should be on top of the safety (but not disengaging it) as the pistol clears the holster. As the muzzle gets pointed downrange, now you can disengage the manual safety if your gun has one. For a 1911-style, your thumb should stay up on top of the manual safety lever as part of your normal firing grip.
Make sure the support hand does not present itself in front of the path of the muzzle as you draw the gun and orient it downrange. To do so is called “sweeping.” Use the gun and strong hand to sort of scoop up the support hand from its position in front of your chest.
Another thing not to do? Do not reach out with both hands separately and “clap” them out in front of you. This takes too long and causes the gun to wobble when your hands come together. Bring the gun through the support hand position, get your correct support hand grip as described in the Modern Isosceles section, and continue raising the gun up towards your jawline.
At this point, with a proper two-handed grip but before you begin extending your arms, your trigger finger should still be off the trigger and straight along the side of the gun. This is almost identical to the ready position described previously, except the gun starts from the strong side of the body and has to move across your body to your centerline. At this time you should also be looking at the exact spot on your target you want the bullet to hit. Now, drive the gun upwards and slightly forwards fully into your line of sight, so that your sights become superimposed on your target. Do not make an upwards or downwards arc with the gun throughout this process; you are not bowling or casting a fishing line. The idea is to move the gun quickly straight up into your line of sight and then smoothly straight forwards towards the target.
If you have a double-action (trigger-cocking) semi-auto or revolver, you may start trigger pressure to bring the hammer partway back once you see your sights. Teach yourself a slow, partial trigger pull here so as not to fire the pistol prematurely.