what do you guys think?
Youve chosen to carry a weapon concealed for your personal protection and that of your family. But youve eschewed specialized training and chosen instead to rely upon your personal knowledge, the stuff you have read in written self-defense and firearm publications, and the common sense that has gotten you to this point in the first place. After all, mama didnt raise a fool. Youve been pretty successful at staying alive to this point, so the following is intended as a basic guideline to enhance your current set of skills.
The following is what I call the 30-round defensive shooting scenario. Grab an IDPA target, 60 or 90 rounds and get to the range. If you can get someone to time your shooting, its helpful (specifically if they have a stopwatch or a competition timer). This helps keep you on your toes and gives you effective training.
This type of training is a live-fire exercise and should be performed where you can shoot without concerns for safety (and only after you are confident in your safety protocols). You can perform these drills with a revolver or a semi-auto handgun. Just make sure to have reloads to practice that aspect of your defensive shooting.
Drill 1
Take a position at 5 yards with a low-ready position (unholstered). This drill is not to specify that you ought to use a headshot at this range, but rather to help you learn target acquisition at a short range quickly and with a good focus and size range. You will want to shoot within 1.5 seconds to hit the target in the triangle or head region from a ready position. Repeat the shot 3 times to get comfortable with it before moving on.
Drill 2
Position at 5 yards with a 2-second window from a holstered, semi-ready position to simply focus on drawing and firing at the triangle (the area in the upper chest to nose region), or the headshot. Same area of focus (triangle/head) and you will also repeat this for a total of three shots.
Keep Your Handgun Locked and Loaded, Ready For Instant Use Without Fear Of An Accident!
Drill 3
At 5 yards again, in a single-handed, strong hand, low-ready position, fire a double tap to the body within 2 seconds. The goal is to ensure that you can instinctively shoot to eliminate a threat. You will focus on taking a two-shot action to the body, and repeat the process for two times (6 shots total).
Drill 4
At 7 yards, turn so that the target is to your right side at 90 degrees. This is to react to a threat coming from your side and to help you establish balance and reactive measures to such an attack. You will have 2 seconds to fire a double tap to the body from a holstered position. Shoot this drill once.
Drill 5
A reverse of drill No. 4, you will be facing 90 degrees turned away from the target, with the target to your left side. You will try to shoot a double tap on the body area within 2 seconds from a holstered start. Shoot one time.
Drill 6
At 7 yards, perform a double tap from a holstered position to the target with a 2 second time limit. Shoot once.
Drill 7
At 7 yards, take four seconds maximum to make three body shots in succession, while moving rearward away from a target as though distancing yourself from the attack threat. Shoot 3 shots 2 times. You will want to back away five retracing steps to about 10-12 yards away. The goal is to maintain the sight picture and point of impact for the target to keep groupings tight and centered to the low chest/center mass, starting at the ready position.
Drill 8
At a distance of 10 yards, you will have a loaded chamber. Drop your magazine and then fire your round at the target. Within a 3-second window you should be able to drop the magazine and then deliver your shot on target to the body without concerns. For those who use revolvers for self-defense, do not underestimate the importance of speed reloading in defensive scenarios. There are only 3 seconds, so get to the point where you can make a speed reload on an empty revolver (AND a full cylinder of empties).
You cannot rely on the idea that just because it may not be as easy to reload a revolver under stress that there will be concessions for it. You must do this; its the most important drill in the scenario for wheel-gun shooters. Repeat 2 times with a single shot.
Drill 9
From a distance of 10 yards with an open and locked slide, reload a magazine and load the chamber from the top of the new magazine to fire a single shot to the body in less than 3 seconds. Shoot this only once. Revolver shooters, practice by loading an open unloaded cylinder and with fresh rounds.
Drill 10
From a holstered weapon draw and fire within 2.5 seconds. Repeat 5 times.
All 10 drills will combine for a shot total of 30. You should be practicing real technique and looking to improve timing and holster control, as well as accuracy. Sight acquisition is an important factor in these drills; try doing it dry, without ammunition, to determine if you have the fundamental control and ability to do it in that time frame to begin with. Establishing a base level idea of your capabilities will help in the process of improving.
Repeat all 10 drills as a single set at least 3 total times per range trip until you are fully comfortable with the drills. Using 90 rounds (3 sets of 30 rounds as listed above) per 250 or so that you shoot until you get to a state of comfort and proficiency is an excellent rule of thumb. These drills are ALL ABOUT de-holstering and coming ready with a target coming towards you.
To make the task more difficult, use scoring zones to test your proficiency. Specifically, headshots might only count if you can hit in the center section. The first 3 inner rings might be the only ones that count for the body shots.
Use the same gun you carry, and do it with your carry ammunition at least once (preferably at the end of training, when you are already proficient). You will want to use a concealed carry holster, not a duty holster or a competition shooting holster. The goal is to eventually get to a point where you can meet the time constraints and hit the correct areas, but mostly, you want to maintain comfort, control, and sight picture under stressful situations. The ability to do these drills in non-stress situations means very little; you need to perfect your skills under circumstances more like those you might face while the subject of an attack and where you will have to defend your life
8 Mar ’12
Ton of stuff to practice but if I were not doing it for a living These are what I would my drills on:
Can repeat the same smooth draw quickly giving you the same sight pic every time.
Can keep sight picture while squeezing trigger (dry fire)
Moving while shooting.
Shooting using a barricade/cover
Point shooting (yes, I said it). Very Close work.
volume of rounds on target. I don't care if you empty the mag.
The real issue is whether you are the guy/gal that can move forward when another human is trying to end you and You won't know the answer to that one till you been there.
And the monkey presses the button.
8 Mar ’12
Here is a tool:
And the monkey presses the button.
8 Mar ’12
moro, you ever seen rhymes dry fire drills?
I don't think so. I've read some of rhymes stuff on the other site and I believe he knows what time it is though. He's also a competitive shooter isn't he?
Drill work I focus on now is repeating scenarios I got my arse into back in the day. For example, the first time I ever had to fire my duty weapon was during a residential burglar alarm call. Day shift and a house where it was known to go off. The house was set back off the road on a 2-3 acre lot. I parked down the street a piece and walked up..gun out but not up. Got near the house. Stayed near the exterior walls keeping my head away from the windows as I checked for open doors or windows. Got to the 2, 3 corner and briefly reholstered to use both hands on a slightly cracked window to see if it would move.
I saw two mid size dogs flying out from behind a shed in the back yard maybe 40~50 yards away. No bark, no growl, just head down hackles up and hauling ass at me. I back pedaled maybe 3 -4 steps when that voice in my head said "shit, they mean business and you ain't gonna get away". Dogs covered the remaining distance instantly. Gun ended up in my hand before I knew it and I discharged two rounds from the hip. They made it to less than 5 yards away in the time it took me to clear the holster.
One round Struck the lead dog in the place where the snout meets head. The second hit the foreleg. Dog #2 must have felt that discretion was the better part of valor cause he made an instant 90 degree turn at full speed and headed for somewhere else at Warp 7. #2 was a blur and gone. Doggie #1 was a good dog. The 9mm HP (federal hydroshock btw) rattled him but didnt knock him down or out of the fight...he simply backed up and waited.
The rest of the story for another time i suppose...(cause it got worse before it got better) but i learned some things that day besides the fact i got lucky. In the academy, the head firearms guy was a marine corps vet that had seen combat in vietnam. I dont believe pulling the trigger was new to him when he hired on. One of the drills he used to make us repeat was using one hand to come up to protect your head while drawing and firing from the hip with the strong hand from point blank range. This particular R.O. Had been involved in a few on duty shootings (which is why they probably moved his old ass to the range) and this was one technique that saved his butt during a building search where he gave his attacker a case of lead poisoning. Point shooting....it was nothing more than the point shooting drill. Moro didnt have to go get rabies shots that day cause of point shooting.
The doggies got all up on me faster that i could have accessed my sights...in fact if doggie #2 had an ounce more courage he would have latched on or grounded me before i could have gotten round #3 off. You better have an answer when the target is close as crap or is rapidly closing to grappling range. You will not always be able to access your sights. Extending your arms will sometimes place you at a strength/leverage disadvantage. Good drill for everyone (especially women).
And the monkey presses the button.
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