If you don’t practice then Obama SHOULD take your handgun away
Posted by: Jon Dougherty August 14, 2014
When it comes to self-defense, the best handgun in the world won’t be much good to you if you don’t know its capabilities and are not skilled in its use. That’s why training and practice drills are vitally important; they are the keys to being both fast and proficient with your weapon.
Training of individual movements will make you both fast and consistent; drills will familiarize you with your own ability, and will contribute to your speed and accuracy. These, combined with tactics, will make you better prepared to handle yourself in a life-or-death situation than virtually anyone you may face.
STEP ONE
While you should be generally familiar with a range of firearms, you should really only practice with one or perhaps two primary self-defense handguns (one as a “primary” and the other as a “backup”). This will allow you to store the procedural memory about your handgun’s operation. This way, instead of wondering about the process – Is the slide locked back; press magazine release; magazine is clear; grab a new magazine, insert the new magazine correctly, release the slide – if you practice enough this procedure will simply become second nature. The process will become one fluid progression, from, “is the slide locked back?” to “reload handgun,” while you are thinking instead about your current precarious situation. Ideally, you should be able to complete the load/reload process without having take your eyes off your enemy.
STEP TWO
Without training, any knowledge you have about your weapons is virtually useless. You can read through this primer and think you understand the processes of tactical firearms training, but if you don’t practice the procedures the knowledge and understanding won’t help you. In a firefight, you will not use anything you do not have ingrained into your psyche and memory; so, for the sake of keeping your options open, if you are ever in a situation where you need to defend yourself, you should practice all of the drills we will list and even find other drills, including some that you create on your own. This will permit you to utilize more techniques, which will give you even more of an advantage:
– Position yourself about 7 yards away from a large 10-inch or so target; this is the distance the FBI has determined that a man could move in one-and-a-half seconds. In a lowered gun stance, which is called the “ready” position, pull your handgun up as quickly as possible to a firing position and focus on the front site of your weapon. Wait until you see a bit of the front site between the rear sits and then pull the trigger (this is called flash sighting). You want to be able to put a round in the 10-inch target every time. If you keep missing, try going a little slower until you get better; speed will come with practice.
– Practice putting “bursts” into the target. That is, several rounds in a row. Step back about 10 yards or so and begin doing the same things as before, but this time, fire tow or three shots quickly into your target. In between each shot, get your flash sight again. Once you’re able to take a firing position and put three quick shots into your 10-plus inch target consistently, in user a second-and-a-half, you can move onto the next training phase.
– Fire at multiple targets. Start by setting up three or more targets about a yard or two apart. Get into a quick firing position and the go down the line; one shot per target. Then change it up; try firing at each target in a different order, or have a friend tell you which one to shoot. But the key here is to be sure you are hitting your targets. Once you are doing so each and every time, try to speed up the process. At first, when you fire, move the gun with the recoil; as soon as the recoil is complete you should already be aimed at your next target. As you become quicker, you will be able to force the gun into a position and be ready to fire again before your recoil is even complete.
– Practice firing while moving. When you are moving you should be proficient enough to hit targets at 25-30 feet (10 yards). To practice, set up three or more targets a few yards apart. Start at about 15-18 yards back, then run up to about 10 yards (from your first target), all the while drawing your gun into firing position. Fire off a two-shot burst, side-step to engage your next target, and keep going. Each time you complete this course and are remaining proficient with your aim, try increasing the speed. You will want to pause as little as possible when shooting; even while moving you ought to be able to acquire a flash sight. The longer you pause, the more accurate you will be, but in a real-live gun battle, when you are being fired upon as well, the quicker (and more accurate) you are, the more likely you will be to survive.
FIRING AT AN ATTACKER
Where you place your bullets is much more important than the actual bullet itself. And you should know that there are two critical areas of a human being which contain major and vital organs which, if penetrated and damaged by your rounds, will stop someone in their tracks or kill them outright.
You may have heard the term “center mass” when it comes to firing at a human attacker. This is a reference to the thoracic cavity – where the bronchi and lungs, the esophagus, and structures of the nervous system are located, Also, the heart is located there as well as several organs like the liver, spleen, large and small intestine.
This is a large target area; a shot here is a little different then a shot elsewhere, unless you hit the heart directly (which is not easy nor should that be your goal). You must also keep in mind that someone who is heavily under the influence of certain drugs, or is wearing body armor, or is otherwise stoked up on adrenaline, will not always go down with the first couple of shots. Bullet penetration is also a factor here, so the best advice is to simply fire until the threat ends.
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RAPID FIRE
A number of indoor gun ranges will not let you practice rapid-fire drills, so you will have to find a place to practice this. Many outdoor ranges can accommodate this kind of practice, or you may have a friend who has some land out and away from homes where you can practice (ALWAYS know what is around you when firing a weapon, and never fire without some sort of backstop, like an earthen berm or hillside).
How your rapid-fire drills work depends in large part on the type of handgun you have. For instance, practicing with a semi-automatic pistol is somewhat different than practicing with a single-action, cylinder gun that you may have to cock each time. With both of these weapons, you have to release the trigger each time in order to fire another round.
Once you get your rapid fire down pat, add other elements to your drill: Set up two or more targets; fire four or five rounds at one target then go to the next one, and so on. This combines one of the earlier-mentioned shooting drills and the rapid fire drill as well.
ADDITIONAL DRILLS
There are a number of other drills you can utilize to become proficient at using your handgun. It is often said that when TSHTF and you find yourself in a life-or-death situation, you will not do anything that you have not practiced. The following drills will let you practice the non-conventional, thereby giving you options during a gunfight or other stressful situation:
– Get your heart rate up to simulate the adrenaline you will feel in a real-life situation, giving you a mild tunnel-vision affect: Before doing a drill, and with your handgun securely holstered, bang out 15-25 pushups. Keep going until you experience a bit of a burn and are getting out of breath. Then jump up and perform your drill as soon as possible. You will find that aiming is much more difficult, but your flash sighting should not be much different.
– Practice charging a bad guy: Seem stupid? Well, in most cases, you’d be correct, but if the bad guy is reloading or is otherwise distracted, this tactic could be of great benefit because you could catch him by surprise. Have a center-chest-sized target (10-plus inches) set up about 15-20 yards away; start sprinting towards it, and when you feel you are close enough to hit the target while still moving, slow to a crouched walk and shoot the target.
Poster Comment:
It's almost time to lock and load. ;)