Fatigue Drill Variation
Here’s a drill you can do to test and develop your ability to maintain accuracy and concentration as your heart rate and blood pressure rise (simulating stress).
This particular pass was not my best, as I was already pretty fatigued. But that’s kind of the point. Repetition and concentration on fundamentals helps to improve performance as you learn to adapt.
I’m placing 2 shots from each position as a means to train followup-shot ability.
Two-Shot Fatigue Drill
8″ plate at 23 yards. Instead of my standard fatigue drill, with this one I’m focusing on accurate follow-up shots. So I’ll take 2 shots from each position instead of just one.
Not my best effort here. Moar training!
Ten Shots at 25 Yards
This is something I’m going to do every week so that I can track progress (I hope!) for putting 10 shots on target at 25 yards. I’d like to keep the time under 9 seconds and the shots within an 8″ group.
It’s a process. This particular effort was pretty underwhelming. :-/ Moar training!
Training With Kyle
After years of acquaintance on Twitter, I finally met and got to train with Kyle Southerland at the Proactive Defense gun range. We did lots of good pistol work and rifle drills. It was a blast and I look forward to the next time. Gig ’em!
100% Headshot Accuracy for Time and Distance
Today I spent time at the practical range doing something different than my usual.
At the practical range, I’m typically pushing boundaries and exploring my limits with regard to practical and situational defensive drills. This means that I’m riding the edge of my abilities for accuracy and timing, going as fast as I safely can go. The result is that I run at best somewhere around 50% accuracy for the specific hit zone I’m gunning for. I learn much in these training sessions, but what is absent is knowledge of what I’m 100% capable of doing with regard to timing and accuracy (and the HABIT of doing so—important!).
Today’s effort was concerned exclusively with confirming my 100%-accuracy & timing capability for a headshot—4″ x 7″ eye-width face zone measuring from the top of the eyes to the Adam’s apple—while moving off the X and drawing from concealment with my EDC setup (which is the only way I ever train). I worked from 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards, measuring the time for 10 consecutive good hits in the 4″ x 7″ zone. In every case I only counted the slowest time of the 10 consecutive scoring hits. The result is the time, per distance, that I’m confident I can make a human-stopping headshot with 100% accuracy.
Some caveats:
- Yes, the target zone I’m going for here is taller (twice as tall) than merely the oculonasal area one typically associates with a “turn-out-the-lights” facial headshot. I’m using this larger area for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I’m not yet good enough to hit the 4″ x 3.5″ oculonasal area at 20 or 25 yards consistently, but secondly, supersonic hits to the extended area will still traumatize either the spinal cord or the vital arteries of the lateral neck areas. So this extended area is still a lights-out hit.
- Yes, this is a very simple drill: one shot from concealment while moving off of the X, and while under no physical or emotional distress. The point is I need to establish baselines before I can effectively measure more complicated scenarios.
My times for 10 consecutive in-target hits:
- At 5 Yards: 1.7 seconds
- At 7 Yards: 1.75 seconds
- At 10 Yards: 1.8 seconds
- At 15 Yards: 2.1 seconds
- At 20 Yards: 2.1 seconds
- At 25 Yards: 2.3 seconds
Observations
I have training scars! Timing was not too much of an issue until I got out to 15 yards, at which point my pushing-boundaries habits had me consistently going too fast and missing often. I had to deliberately slow down the time from presentation-to-shot in order to find 100% accuracy. This tells me that I need to spend not nearly so much time racing the clock and far more time insisting on quality hits in my training.
My suspicion is that my 20 and 25-yard times are a bit off, because by the time I got to those ranges I had put quite a few rounds downrange and my technique was well practiced (for this session) and my presentation was near flawless. This happens in any training session, where you’re better after a 100 rounds or so than you were for the first 10. I expect that, when cold, I’d be .1 to .3 seconds slower than what I achieved today.
*Upon reflection:* Next time I’ll start at 25 yards and work inward. I want to know my cold 25-yard 100%-accuracy times!
All told, I found today’s training session to be valuable and instructive. I’ll make this a regular part of my training. You might consider doing so yourself!
* * *
Below: Here’s a look at what I was doing. This video is from months ago and on a plate twice as wide as my target area today. Just contextual reference.
Moving With Rapid Fire
While it’s not an obviously useful skill, shooting rapidly and accurately while moving is a good offensive skill. In today’s wartime environment, it could prove useful one day. Sadly.
Here I’m just trying to move obliquely toward the 10″ square target (on the right) while hitting it with 3 rounds as quickly as I can and still be accurate. These are just some of the more successful passes I made in 50 or 60 reps.
Two-Mag Drill for Indoors
Here are four reps of a drill I do every week at the indoor range, in my narrow lane. It’s a fundamental gun-handling drill that others are built upon. Here I’m shooting at a silhouette at 7 yards. The image (below) shows the results of a few passes at 7 yards and you might just be able to make out the silhouette I’ve drawn on the target.
The drill is:
- Move off the X while loading a 1-round magazine and rack the slide,
- Fire 1 round to chest, gun locks back empty,
- Reload from concealed 2-round magazine while moving off of the X,
- Fire 1 round to chest, 1 round to face.
Yes, that one shot in the middle-left is off target. In the real world, that’s called “a lawsuit” (we are responsible for every round that leaves our muzzle).
Mainteance
Every 1000-3000 rounds you will want to completely disassemble your frame and slide for a comprehensive cleaning. Don’t skip this vital component of maintenance.
Responsibility
This is my friend John. He’s at the range almost every week working on practical manipulations, technical fundamentals, and marksmanship. Last week, though it was warm, he brought a variety of jackets, coats, and a sweatshirt to practice deploying his carry pistol from under different types and layers of winter clothing. Unlike most, John is a responsible man. God bless John and those few like him.
