When you go to the range, whether it is in your or a friends backyard, at a local indoor or outdoor range how do you practice? What do you practice? Do you just put lead downrange as fast as you can in hopes that it hits the target because people are around and you want to sound like you know what you are doing (this is way more common than you might think)? There are some things that I would like to put out to everyone that I hope can help you out in your range training.
There are many people out there that can tell you how you need to shoot. I am not one of those people. I just want to give you some very basic things that may help you out and make the best out of your range time.
- Safety!
- Know Your Weapon!
- Target Identification!
- Know Yourself!
Safety
I am not going to hammer hard on safety but just touch on a few key points because everyone that has a weapon/firearm should know the basic rules of safety.
- Muzzle Control! Know where you weapon is pointed at all times!
- “Red is Dead” That is still the same as it always has been that I can remember. Meaning that if you see a red ring on your safety, your weapon is “Hot”!
- Never point any weapon at anything that you are not willing to destroy (loaded or unloaded). Enough said!
- Do not rely on a mechanical safety … Keep your finger off of the trigger until you are drawing down on your target!
Know Your Weapon
Whatever your weapon might be, you must know it to the smallest detail. If there is a problem with your weapon you need to know what it is and how to fix it. That might mean that you have all night or you might have to fix it right now. It could be the difference between life and death!
- Run Malfunction Drills. I cannot harp on this enough. If you have never experienced a miss-feed, a stovepipe or an over stuffed magazine how are you going to fix it?
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- Buy “dummy [1]” rounds. Dummy rounds are made in nearly all calibers. They do not have powder or a primer in them but they look and are weighted just like a real round (the older ones actually had a real slug instead of the colored slug). I recommend getting some and putting them into your allotted range rounds. Close your eyes when you load your magazines. There is such a great value added to your training time by using just a few of these mixed in. There are so many things that you can learn from trying to shoot one of these rounds.
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- First and foremost – You know that there “might “ be one (depending on how many you have mixed in) in your magazine(s). This psychological aspect alone will disrupt your mindset!
- With dummy rounds there is the “Oh Schumer” moment that you may have not had when the round doesn’t fire. This will show you many things. The main one being that you push the muzzle down “anticipating” the weapon going off.
- If the round doesn’t go off what do you do? Maintain Situational Awareness (SA) and stay calm. Know how to remove that round from your weapon and be able to stay in the fight. If you train this it will become second nature.
- Run Reload Drills. This falls into routine and malfunction training. There are many aspects of each that you should train on.
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- Let a “member” load your magazines and place them in your kit and you do the same for another member (with dummy rounds included maybe?). Don’t load full magazines. Maybe one magazine you load (weapon dependent) 10 rounds and the next you load 3 and next 8, etc. You have to think on your toes! More of that whole psychological thing going on.
- Know what it feels like when the bolt locks back. A matter of seconds could mean life or death!
- Learn to count your rounds fired (work on it all the time).
- Know the ballistics of your weapon. If you live in a neighborhood where houses are feet apart it is probably not a good option to shoot a high-powered rifle at an intruder coming into your house. Houses are made very cheap these days.
- Be able to reload your weapon without taking your eyes off of your target.
Target Identification
Know your target! Simple as it may sound there are many problems with this in the heat of the moment. There are many factors that play into this:
- Know beyond your target (know your weapon). If you are shooting a rifle at a target 10m away and there is “someone” 10m behind the target, you are going to shot that someone behind the target. That someone might just be a friendly?
- Use plywood silhouettes (4x – 3/4inch think) with targets behind them to get a sense of what your weapon will do at different ranges.
- Use paper targets that look like real people. Get away from running drills on “bullseye” targets. Zero your weapon on bullseye targets. Why you might ask … more of that whole psychological thing. You are now pulling the trigger on what looks to be a living, breathing person. I don’t see people running around with bulls eye’s painted on it for you. It is a time and again proven thing that certain people hesitate to pull the trigger in the heat of the moment, which can be catastrophic to the rest of the “members” because they can not over come the fact that they are going to shoot a person.
Know Yourself
This is the final milestone that you must cross. With all the above stated and trained to total perfection and the hand that you might be dealt and your faith in God will you have a second thought?
There are many companies out there that you can locate to get firearms training from but I would suggest using the Internet to your advantage! YouTube [2] is a great one for firearms training and drills. Not only can see what is being done you can watch it as many times as you want and even download the videos with YouTube Downloader [3]. I would suggest looking at the Viking Tactics [4] (VTAC) videos that are available via YouTube [5]. I have had the privilege to taking a class from retired SGM Kyle Lamb. His classes are fast passed but very informative! It would be a great thing to get your group to go through. He also has instructional videos that can be purchased.
JWR Adds: At least one member of each retreat group should shell out the big bucks to take a professionally-run course from an organization like Gunsite, Thunder Ranch, or Front Sight. That individual can then go home and cross train their fellow group members. (All of the best schools are run in a “train the trainer” format, these days.) And once you are at home, practice, practice, practice. Shooting skills are perishable, so regular practice is essential. Continuously increase your knowledge. Instructional videos (such as Magpul’s Art of Tactical Carbine series [6] and Art of the Dynamic Handgun series [7]) are well-worth adding to your library.