How about an overview of your self defense training/practice sessions at the range?
What distance do you shoot at, what do you try to work on each and every time, what do you add to help improve, etc?
I try to work in defensive practice every other trip to the range or so. Bring only carry guns, some defensive ammo, silhouette targets, etc. I prefer to separate my "fun" or "target" range sessions from my defensive-centered outings, as the skills needed for one don't necessarily transfer to the other. When I want to target-shoot, I'll bring the model 17 and the Gold Cup; when I want to practice for defense it's the 360 and the G30.
It's a pretty basic routine - draw and empty a magazine as quickly as I can while still keeping everything on paper (8" circle representing COM); distance is 21 - 25 feet; reload as quickly as possible and empty again. Run 3-5 magazines through, checking to make sure all shots are on target. For the snubbie, same routine except a pause to let my wrist heal after each set... :)
If there's any one thing I work on improving each time, it's tightening the grouping of shots while shaving precious seconds off the total time needed to empty. I'm working towards getting as many shots where I want them to go as I can in the least time possible - I want to be able to consistently and reliably put the rounds where they need to go in a short a time as I can. Anything else is just burning ammo IMHO.
Some ranges don't allow you to draw and fire, whether from a CYA standpoint or whatever. In these cases, a two-part practice can work - practice the draw at home (unloaded gun, of course), then at the range, start with the gun on the table in front of you, then pick up quickly to simulate the draw. It's not ideal, but it's better than slow-fire target shooting from a rest...
In any case, what matters is that you practice, practice, practice. And when you think you've practiced enough, practice some more...
That is all.
3 comments:
With due respect to Jay, nothing brushes up the shooting skills faster then competition, especially competition against people better then you.
A good, non-serious competition for handgun is to go to a person on person plate match. While each match will differ slightly, in general you will shoot at 5 8" steel plates set 30 feet away on a falling rack, with the center plate, painted a different color, being the stop plate which is shot last. The winner is whoever gets ALL of their plates down first with the stop plate being last. Depending the steel plate racks a club has, they may run .22 only, or if they have the heavier grade of plates, centerfire handgun. Most clubs will limit it to exclude the heavier magnum rounds and/or 30 carbine, because the heavy magnum loads will start snapping the welds and slowing or stopping the shoot as the plate is replaced. (It is verboten for me to bring my 10 1/2" Ruger Super Blackhawk in 44 Magnum with the heavy handloads because I start snapping welds in a hurry). If I am shooting well, I'll go through about 60 rounds before I get eliminated, if not so well about 100 rounds, I'll usually bring at least 150 rounds of whatever my primary gun will be for that match
Jay, you're forgetting one important concept: movement while firing. Remember some of the force-on-force variations of the Tueller drill: standing still while firing is NOT a good idea!
Something like IDPA is REALLY good practice, as well...
My police friend showed me this relatively simple drill. Start out about 5 paces from the target. Draw your gun, double tap the target, step back 2 paces, double tap, and repeat until the magazine is empty. Clearly you can only do this when you are alone at the range. The first couple times you do this are humbling.
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