S&W Pro shooter BJ Norris explains why he chooses to shoot a pistol at Minor PF for Single Stack matches. One of the interesting bits from his post is this line:
For me, I can deliver better hit factors shooting a minor PF single stack than I can a major PF gun. Most of my practice revolves around hitting nothing but the A-zone, so the reduced points don’t bother me much, as my goal is always no more than 2 C’s on stages over 16 rounds, and no more than 1 C on anything less, and as easy as minor PF 1911’s are to shoot, it’s a very achievable goal.
That’s what we like to call “perfect practice”. If you devote your practice time to smoothly delivering A-zone hits, the speed will follow that.
I wonder what the time and point delta would be for him to move to major. Technique is technique, identical 1911s should work the same, the only differences should be a bit more recoil and two rounds less. More recoil would slow him down some, but I’d wager the bigger detriment would be 20% fewer rounds. Just for S&Gs it’d be interesting to see what his times are on the same stage with a 9 and a .45.
I’ve noticed the 9 guys have to hit poppers high to get them to fall reliably and a low, glancing edge hit on a hinged plate will usually drop it with a .45 but frequently a 9 will leave it up. But, that’s technique again.
One of our master class unlimited guys mentioned one day that if you leave a plate up don’t go back for it; the time you lose breaking rhythm costs more then the 5 points lost on the plate. And, having used both, I’m confident a 9 is faster through a stage than a .45, especially in a well-tuned 1911.