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A long time ago working with a handful of students in a private cl***, I needed to ascertain the level of each of the students quickly. All were decent shots but were any of them learning any tactics? One of the fellows had attended a hand full of "tactical" type shooting cl***es and I was interested also in seeing what he got out of the cl***es from that particular instructor.
I put up a very simple drill. Here's a target that's approximately 7 yards from you. Simple drill- this is real life, this guy is going to kill you if you don't kill him first, GO!
Easy enough right- pull your pistol from the holster, shot the target a couple times then put your gun back in the holster. To a man everyone did just that. The student with the previous cl***es was the slowest to get his shots off but quickest to re-holster. The gun almost went back in the holster quicker than it came out of the holster.
Would this be all to a gunfight? Hardly. Would you WANT to re-holster quickly? Not necessarily no. Would their be nothing else to do? How do you know he doesn't have a friend waiting to pop you in the back of your head?
Yet you see this kind of thing in gun schools all the time. The shooter is standing there facing the target, the holster is unsnapped, his hand twitching near his side Matt Dillon style. He's staring at the cardboard, an instructor says "shooter ready?" He squints his eyes staring down that piece of cardboard making it quiver in it's little brown cardboard boots. Shooter says "yes" and the buzzer goes "IIIIINNNNNNNNHHH". Shooter draws and puts two in the chest, re holsters quickly and yells "time." Instructor says "point 95 excellent." The shooter a.k.a. Bit$hingguy goes away happy, thinking "wow, I'm a kick arse guy!"
But is that realistic training?
Are all your fights going to be PRO ACTIVE? I.e, with YOU choosing the time of the fight? Highly unlikely.
Is that drill good for quickly figuring out where people are in their training. Sure, don't be very vague with your parameters. I never said "you have to stay in this spot, don't look around for a buddy of his, don't top off your gun." NEVER set parameters in drills where you can- safety allowing of course.
Setting parameters would be saying things like "only two shots per target count." Things like done in training ingrain bad habits. Two shots may not even bother the drugged up criminal looking to shank you. Instead say something like "you'll need AT LEAST two shots in each target to be considered a kill." Or "shot them to the ground." The problem with "shoot them to the ground" in training is that unless your using special targets, the targets don't give you a visual indication of falling down. Often times an experienced shooter will "call" his shots even doing something like point shooting while moving with a pistol. I did this once at a cl*** where the drill called for two shots. I shot three. The instructor was cool about it- "why did you shoot three?" My reply was simply "the second shot didn't feel right" and he just smiled. A quick check of the target showed that the second shot during the "takeoff" was low on the body while the others were centered.
Try not to set up sacred bulls in training.
Their IS a place for some "always" statements in training. It's early on. You can hardly take a new shooter who is constantly finger fudging the trigger while not shooting and have them work push drills while moving. Never move people up in training where their safety habits don't allow it.
My son has done little "live fire" shooting, but one thing we have drilled into him since he was a child was good trigger control and muzzle control. I realized this training wasn't in vain recently via kind of a funny experience. We got some plug into the TV "Big Buck Hunter" game for him last Christmas. Not long ago we were all playing it. It has a little plastic pump shotgun attached via cable to the TV. He was playing and I started to leave the room and walked past him. He dipped the muzzle of the plastic shotgun down as I walked by. I didn't think anything of it. My wife pointed it out to me when I came back in the room.
Little habits like that and not always riding the trigger when not shooting, will pay him a lifetime of dividends.
Later as folks training progresses and their safety habits match, you can integrate more dynamic movement into training and start inducing some "stress" into the training.
Early on though, it should be all about building confidence. For the novice shooter that means nice groups of holes in the target. I've trained men who later brought their non shooting family members around to shoot with us. Most of them expected the same type of training they received right off the bat. "Hey Rob, she's chicken winging with her rifle, should I say something to her?"
"Nope. Just let her shoot the gun, have fun and build a little confidence."
"But her technique sucks and..."
About this point I would look at them and say "do you want her to WANT to do this again? Then shut up and let her have some fun, tell her how good she did and that your proud of her. Later when she is ready we can start making some corrections." And that's proven a good approach with non shooting women and children.
The WRONG approach IMO to getting the non-shooting wife started is what you see most people advocate- "take her out and have her shoot your 12 gauge." Yep, take a non shooter that already probably has a lot of trepidation about guns and make them shoot a gun with a lot of kick... How could anyone think that was good advice?
More to come.....
Lowdown3
I put up a very simple drill. Here's a target that's approximately 7 yards from you. Simple drill- this is real life, this guy is going to kill you if you don't kill him first, GO!
Easy enough right- pull your pistol from the holster, shot the target a couple times then put your gun back in the holster. To a man everyone did just that. The student with the previous cl***es was the slowest to get his shots off but quickest to re-holster. The gun almost went back in the holster quicker than it came out of the holster.
Would this be all to a gunfight? Hardly. Would you WANT to re-holster quickly? Not necessarily no. Would their be nothing else to do? How do you know he doesn't have a friend waiting to pop you in the back of your head?
Yet you see this kind of thing in gun schools all the time. The shooter is standing there facing the target, the holster is unsnapped, his hand twitching near his side Matt Dillon style. He's staring at the cardboard, an instructor says "shooter ready?" He squints his eyes staring down that piece of cardboard making it quiver in it's little brown cardboard boots. Shooter says "yes" and the buzzer goes "IIIIINNNNNNNNHHH". Shooter draws and puts two in the chest, re holsters quickly and yells "time." Instructor says "point 95 excellent." The shooter a.k.a. Bit$hingguy goes away happy, thinking "wow, I'm a kick arse guy!"
But is that realistic training?
Are all your fights going to be PRO ACTIVE? I.e, with YOU choosing the time of the fight? Highly unlikely.
Is that drill good for quickly figuring out where people are in their training. Sure, don't be very vague with your parameters. I never said "you have to stay in this spot, don't look around for a buddy of his, don't top off your gun." NEVER set parameters in drills where you can- safety allowing of course.
Setting parameters would be saying things like "only two shots per target count." Things like done in training ingrain bad habits. Two shots may not even bother the drugged up criminal looking to shank you. Instead say something like "you'll need AT LEAST two shots in each target to be considered a kill." Or "shot them to the ground." The problem with "shoot them to the ground" in training is that unless your using special targets, the targets don't give you a visual indication of falling down. Often times an experienced shooter will "call" his shots even doing something like point shooting while moving with a pistol. I did this once at a cl*** where the drill called for two shots. I shot three. The instructor was cool about it- "why did you shoot three?" My reply was simply "the second shot didn't feel right" and he just smiled. A quick check of the target showed that the second shot during the "takeoff" was low on the body while the others were centered.
Try not to set up sacred bulls in training.
Their IS a place for some "always" statements in training. It's early on. You can hardly take a new shooter who is constantly finger fudging the trigger while not shooting and have them work push drills while moving. Never move people up in training where their safety habits don't allow it.
My son has done little "live fire" shooting, but one thing we have drilled into him since he was a child was good trigger control and muzzle control. I realized this training wasn't in vain recently via kind of a funny experience. We got some plug into the TV "Big Buck Hunter" game for him last Christmas. Not long ago we were all playing it. It has a little plastic pump shotgun attached via cable to the TV. He was playing and I started to leave the room and walked past him. He dipped the muzzle of the plastic shotgun down as I walked by. I didn't think anything of it. My wife pointed it out to me when I came back in the room.
Little habits like that and not always riding the trigger when not shooting, will pay him a lifetime of dividends.
Later as folks training progresses and their safety habits match, you can integrate more dynamic movement into training and start inducing some "stress" into the training.
Early on though, it should be all about building confidence. For the novice shooter that means nice groups of holes in the target. I've trained men who later brought their non shooting family members around to shoot with us. Most of them expected the same type of training they received right off the bat. "Hey Rob, she's chicken winging with her rifle, should I say something to her?"
"Nope. Just let her shoot the gun, have fun and build a little confidence."
"But her technique sucks and..."
About this point I would look at them and say "do you want her to WANT to do this again? Then shut up and let her have some fun, tell her how good she did and that your proud of her. Later when she is ready we can start making some corrections." And that's proven a good approach with non shooting women and children.
The WRONG approach IMO to getting the non-shooting wife started is what you see most people advocate- "take her out and have her shoot your 12 gauge." Yep, take a non shooter that already probably has a lot of trepidation about guns and make them shoot a gun with a lot of kick... How could anyone think that was good advice?
More to come.....
Lowdown3
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