[quote]Robert A wrote:
Some Dry fire drills to try.
I have done/do all of these, they may help. If one of the actual shooters/instructors wants to weigh in I would appreciate it. If idaho disagrees with any of this he should be considered the expert. I’m writing as an amateur without any real degree of skill.
Classic Coin or Case on the Slide or Front Sight
Goal: Trigger Control (a.k.a. the single most important thing)
Procedure:
Initial/safety
-Confirm gun and magazine are clear
-Confirm no live ammo is in room, frisk pockets/mag holders
-Confirm backstop/target is “safe” and that there is no risk of rounds passing through and hitting someone
-Load gun with snap cap(s), press check to visually confirm snap cap (red A-zoom vs brass or nickel case)
Drill
-Place either a coin or a spent case on the slide
-Extend Firearm to firing position
-Work trigger straight to rear
The goal is that the coin or spent case should stay put throughout the firing process. If it jumps or slides a little, but stays on that is acceptable. If it falls and hits the floor that is a “fail”.
-Repeat
If your weapon has second strike capability than you can simply pull the trigger again. This adds the “how many trigger pulls can I get before it drops?” component. If you are dealing with a striker fired gun than you will have to work the slide and reset prior to each trigger pull.
Notes:
This drill can be done with either a one hand, or two hand grip on the weapon. Don’t neglect weak hand only work.
I have noticed using snap caps makes this quite a bit easier with my glock. The “Krunk…Sproong” trigger/striker hit seems to jump the case off of the front sight without one.
Trigger control is very important and this is a classic.
Brian Enos’s Index/“feel” Drill"
Goal: Master indexing the gun
Procedure:
Initial/safety
-Confirm gun and magazine are clear
-Confirm no live ammo is in room, frisk pockets/mag holders
-Confirm backstop/target is “safe” and that there is no risk of rounds passing through and hitting someone
-Load gun with snap cap(s), press check to visually confirm snap cap (red A-zoom vs brass or nickel case)
Drill
Level 1:
-Start with your weapon in your two handed firing grip and “sight in” on blank wall.
-Confirm sight alignment and lower weapon to “low ready position”, close your eyes
-Raise your gun to firing position, open your eyes, are the sights aligned?
-Repeat
Level 2:
-Same as above, except instead of “low ready” you complety remove your weak side hand. So you are basically going from count 2 in the draw.
Sometimes I will make this a pec index/retention position, but that may be me fucking up Enos’s drill
Level 3:
-Same as 1 except “low ready” becomes holstered. So you are drawing with your eyes closed and confirming sight alignment.
I am pretty happy if I have the front post anywhere in the rear notch. Sometimes it is pretty perfect, but only sometimes.
Level 4
-Sight in on wall
-Close eyes, pivot 15 degrees or so, right or left
-Open eyes and confirm alignment
I think Enos has increasing levels where the pivot gets more extreme and eventually you are doing footwork as well. I am not there yet. Sort of a humbling realization as to just how dialed in great shooters are
Level 5 ?
-I think Enos recommends actually being able to close focus on a specific target, close your eyes, draw, fire, and then confirm alignment. I am so very not there yet.
Notes: No you aren’t actually pulling the trigger here, but it is basically the shootin’ irons version of kyudo and I like this shit. Gi Fag card in full effect.
Timed Draws
Goal: Practice Drawing, indexing, aiming, trigger control, all under time constraints
Procedure:
Initial/safety
-Confirm gun and magazine are clear
-Confirm no live ammo is in room, frisk pockets/mag holders
-Confirm backstop/target is “safe” and that there is no risk of rounds passing through and hitting someone
-Load gun with snap cap(s), press check to visually confirm snap cap (red A-zoom vs brass or nickel case)
Drill
-You will need a “target” I recommend and 8 inch paper plate for “body”/high probability targets and index cards for low probability. If you are in a small room, smaller targets adjust for distances.
-You will need a timer capable of holding par times in increments of at least .2 seconds. If you don’t have a real shot timer than there are several Smart Phone apps that will give you something to work with. I believe Taurus and Surefire have them. I have a dumb phone and a Pocket Pro II so I don’t know.
-Set the buzzer for random delay, set the par time to something generous. If you have never done any draw and fire work than I would say at least 3 seconds from real, honest to god, concealment or Level III retention holster. If you are using an open top holster and no concealment make it 2.25 seconds.
-At the buzzer, draw, aim, fire
-Repeat. When you are guaranteed to beat your par time either add difficulty(smaller target, range, having to move or change position, etc.), or decrease the time.
[i]Please remember par is the beginning of the beep, not the end. A lot of folks like to spot themselves the length of the end buzzer.
What’s good? Just shoot for better than you are. Time limits are kind of arbitrary for dry fire. However I know several folks who hold that you need to be able to make body shot hits, at seven yards, from concealment or level III, in under 1.5 seconds. So the fact I cannot do it dry fire is motivation.
[/i]
Tom Givens resources
You can also play with the targets/drills on the Tom Givens’ sight I linked to earlier in this thread.
Hope some of this helps. I am not the expert with any of this material on these boards. There are a few here who could easily wear that title.
If there is more interest in shooting/gun related stuff or even edged weapons material past the typical I will try to post more of it when it comes to mind. I noticed this thread, the surviving edged weapons thread, and even the old trick shooting thread have brought out some posters we don’t usually see in the boxing vs BJJ or UFC gossip threads.
Regards,
Robert A
[/quote]
Robert,
There is certainly nothing to disagree with here, excellent post and should be required reading for anyone training with a handgun. I appreciate the complement on being labled a “expert” but, I have been fortunate to work with some outstanding trainers and belive me, I am just average compared to them. This is a great discussion and I am going to add a couple of thoughts to your excellent advise.
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Everyone re-read Robert’s warning on clearing the weapon before dry fire training: Visually and physically check and clear that weapon! Never clear a weapon without looking at a locked back slide and , even though you may feel stupid, run your little finger into the loading ramp. a broken extractor can happen at anytime. Everyone is subject to having a Accidential Discharge (AD). I know that sounds extreme, but, I have been around several AD’s in my life and they all were committed by very seasoned pros. CHECK AND CLEAR THAT WEAPON!
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Small hands: I completly understand, I have, what would be considered “average” hand size and find some handgun designs to be extremely bulky, one of the reasons a 1911 is my carry gun in the states. When I was assigned to the police academy full time as an instructor, I dealt with this problem on a daily basis, both with small stature males and females. The Generation 4 Glocks and S&W M&P’s with the inter-changeable grips have gone a long way in helping this problem, but, at the time, we were issuing the Beretta 92, which is like trying to wrap your hands around a boat anchor. I have come to the conclusion, that as long as the primary hand is tight againist the tang of the grip, then, the support hand can be placed on where it is most comfortable for the shooter. I have had females, their hands were so small, they could not completly wrap there hands around the grip, thumbs pointed straight was not possible, so I had them wrap the support hand around the grip, all five fingers under the trigger guard. I have used the crossed thumbs method, the cup and saucer method in one extreme case( birth defect) and one thumb locked and the other “floating”. whatever works…AS LONG AS THE SAME TECHNIQUE IS USED EACH AND EVERY SHOT!..YOUR “FORM” IS THE BASIS FOR ALL SHOOTING.
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Dry Firing: totally agree and I am a big advocate of snap caps. Nothing is more perishable than handgun skills and like Robert said, it is extremly expensive, when you dont have access to military/ government ammo. will get into my thoughts on different ways to train a little later. dont forget a good quality BB or pellet pistol for cheap training, hell, playing air soft with the neighborhood kids is better than nothing.
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Canted support side: I am not a huge advocate of “canted shooting” even though I train some live fire scenarios where the shooter must cant his pistol around supporting cover to fire. The most common mistake I see, is the shooter turning the wrist without turning the whole arm, which causes the wrist to lose its “staight -line connection”. ex: make a fist and point your arm at the door, rotate the wrist and then rotate the arm from the shoulder, notice that you did not lose your straight bone connection with a total shoulder roll. I know, thats as clear as mud, but, you must keep every thing in line or the wrist will “break form”, especially during multiple shots.
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My perspective on training and a different suggestion: They have a saying in the southern part of the United States that relates to this comment, its called “going out on a limb with this one” Well, I will probably open myself up to some ridicule with this one, but, here goes. If you have basically mastered the fundamentals of shooting: slight alignment, sight picture, trigger squeeze, and you are still shooting like crap, then you have a focus problem. All accurate shooters have a laser like focus, able to concentrate on the target and “willing” the bullet into the kill zone.
If you are having trouble focusing, and, you have exhausted all avenues, try this: all my life, since early childhood, I have trained in Traditional Archery, which is the shooting the Recurve bow or the Longbow (not a compound, machine bow!) In fact, where I go, I carry a short take down recurve with 5 take down aluminum arrows. Since I work in places with lots of sand bags and earth berms, target back stops are not a problem. I ususally shoot an average of 30 times a day, every day. I shoot by the “instinctial method”, which is my right eye is the sight, my brain is the target computer, and by back muscles provide the power. Think about shooting a sling shot as a kid, how did you aim?
shooting a bow has taught me the ability to focus on the target, to allow my brain to “see” the shot before its happens and I use this technique with everything. now, I am not going “Zen” on you , but, I am firmly convinced that the ability to “see” how something is going to happen in your mind, will allow your training and form to take over during a stress situation. When I train MT, I “see” the kick or punch landing before i throw it, when I practice Kali, I see the arc of the stick or knife before I block or attack.
In archery, I “see” the flight of the arrow before it leaves the bow and in shooting, i "see " the path i want the bullet to take, that is why, I dont “look down the barrel at the sights” I look at my target with my eyes and the target computer( brain) “sees the shot” and raise the front sight until it is level with my “computer” and fire. Traditional archery is a skill that will develop this “awareness” unlike no other. When I am shooting a handgun, my form is everything, just like with the bow, I dont really worry any more about a proper grip, the handle of the bow (riser) or the grip of the gun fits into the web of my primary hand, not a death grip, but firm, I “see” my shot before it happens and just “allow” it to happen…I know, sounds like crap, but, believe me, if you want to take your shooting to the next level, you have to train your mind focus, no matter what method you use.
- some tips: buy a cheap recurve bow and start shooting, your focus will dramatically improve. I used this with a middle eastern “Commanding General” and after he got over his ego, it helped him start putting the shots in the kill zone
everyday you should use your mind to guage distance and “see” yourself doing everything before your do it. going to open that door, see the path of your hand and how it gets there. Imagine every movenment and then try to follow that same path…sparring with a guy tonight? see your right hand hitting his cheek bone, shooting on the range tomorrow? stand at the 25 yard line, raise your primary hand and “make the shots” before ever loading the magazine. “see” everything you do, start pointing at objects around your living space, using your index finger, imagine a bullet or arrow striking dead center. Just some thoughts.
- I agree, Robert, post more on the subject, maybe draw some lurkers out from cover. Thanks again for the dry fire tips, excellent.