(Continued from Part1. This concludes the article.)
Intermediate Shooting Drills
Once you are accurate and consistent with static supported positions, start practicing static unsupported positions. The prone, kneeling and standing unsupported positions do not have a sandbag or table to support them (hence, unsupported positions), so you must create a stable platform with your body position in order to maintain a clear sight picture.
Creating a stable platform in the prone unsupported position is executed by placing your elbows on the ground and driving the buttstock into your shoulder. Your shooting hand should be lightly gripping the handle of the weapon, with most of the weight on your supporting hand. Your supporting hand should be gripping the weapon and pulling it towards you. As you lean forward into the weapon, you will feel very little weight on your shooting hand. This is preferable, as it allows the muscles around your trigger finger to relax and set the conditions for a smooth trigger squeeze.
Just as the prone unsupported position relies on using your elbows to create a stable body position, so too does the kneeling unsupported position. Your shooting hand should feel almost no weight from the weapon, but your supporting hand should be gripping the weapon and pulling it into your shoulder. Place your supporting elbow on your knee, then move it an inch or two lower. By placing the lower tricep on your knee, and your elbow guiding the aim of the weapon, you create a significantly more stable platform. Lean into the weapon and gain a proper sight picture before firing your weapon.
Unlike the previous two, the standing unsupported position does not rely on using your elbows. Because your arms cannot rest on the ground or on your knee, it is purely your muscles holding the weapon steady. Therefore the bend in your elbow would cause you to tire faster and to shake when holding your weapon for long periods of time. Straighten your supporting arm and grip the barrel in a C shape, with your thumb on top and the remaining four fingers on bottom. Just as before, pull the weapon into your shoulder and lean into it, reducing the weight on your shooting hand.
It is around this time in each shooter’s progression that he or she starts to anticipate the rifle’s recoil. You may notice this in your own shooting. This may throw off all of your fundamentals of marksmanship, causing some significant inaccuracies. A simple drill that may assist is the ball-and-dummy drill. Have a shooting partner load a magazine of three or four rounds for you, one or two of which are dummy rounds. Since you, as the shooter, do not know which rounds are which, then you will stop anticipating the recoil of the weapon. You will notice your shot groups becoming tighter and more consistent. As you continue to build on your implementation of the fundamentals, the ball-and-dummy drill will help you keep your shooting crisp and accurate.
Advanced Shooting Drills
Having refreshed the fundamentals, we now move on to the advanced drills. These are dynamic in nature; while you stay firmly planted in the ground, the weapon smoothly moves to each target. In order to train your eye to hone in on a target while you move the weapon, I recommend figure-8 drills before engaging in up-down drills or failure drills.
The figure-8 drill is the transition between static and dynamic drills. By training your eye, it will both build confidence in your abilities as a shooter and allow for smooth movements with your weapon. Get in the standing unsupported position and aim at a target about 10 yards away. Move your supporting hand in medium to wide figure-8 movements. Your head moves with the weapon, so as to allow you to look down the optic at all times. Every time you cross the center of the target, execute a clean trigger pull. Move your finger off the trigger and continue in the figure-8; your weapon never stops moving. Begin slowly at first, gradually picking up speed. Over time, your shot groups will become closer and tighter.
You will also notice that your trigger finger will naturally move towards the trigger when it is time to shoot, and away from the trigger when you have completed the shot. This is a crucial habit to form as you prepare for TEOTWAWKI. If your trigger is on the finger at all times, you may become “trigger happy” in a stressful situation and shoot the wrong person; or you may trip and squeeze the trigger. Negligent discharges are extremely dangerous, and keeping good trigger discipline is essential to learning to shoot when SHTF.
Once you have achieved relatively consistent shot groups in figure-8 drills, the next step of progression is up-down drills. These are also executed in the standing unsupported position at around 10 yards’ distance. Lower your rifle and look at the target. When your shooting buddy gives the command, raise your rifle, put your weapon on fire, and execute a controlled pair. Move your finger off the trigger, put your weapon on safe, and lower your weapon. Continue this multiple times until you are confident and comfortable with this movement.
The aforementioned “controlled pair” is two shots. While these are executed quickly, it is imperative to gain a good sight picture before pulling the trigger EACH TIME. This will dramatically lower the risk of missing your target, while still allowing you to quickly react to and engage targets. You would be amazed at how fast you can gain a sight picture and accurately engage your target.
You are also adding another muscle movement into this routine: manipulating the selector switch from safe to fire and back again. Once you have engaged all targets, in this case, only one, move your selector switch to safe. This is equally important to trigger discipline, as it dramatically reduces the risk of negligent discharges while moving.
Exchange your typical rifle range targets for human-shaped targets. Once you are comfortable with up-down drills, integrate it into failure drills. Failure drills are Hollywood’s favorite: two in the chest, one in the head. While preparing for WSHTF, the sequence sounds like this:
1. Identify your target, raise your rifle, gain a good sight picture at your target’s heart, flip the selector switch from safe to fire, put your finger on the trigger, exhale, and fire.
2. Gain another good sight picture at your target’s heart, exhale, and fire.
3. Remove your finger from the trigger, gain a good sight picture between your target’s eyes, exhale, and fire.
4. Remove your finger from the trigger. Now having completed shooting, move the selector switch from fire to safe, and lower your rifle.
This is a complex drill, with many moving parts. You will heavily rely on muscle memory built from previous drills to be successful at failure drills. I recommend practicing this extensively, as it is one of the most applicable drills to TEOTWAWKI.
Once you are successful at failure drills with one target, prepare two or three targets. Have a buddy move these to varying distances, so you will have to identify which one is the greatest threat (usually the closest target), and engage them in order. Only move your selector switch from fire to safe after all targets have been successfully engaged and destroyed. You can further prepare by designating one target as a non-combatant. This will force you to accurately identify each target before engaging it.
Expert Shooting Drills
Now that you are proficient with shooting while moving your weapon, the expert shooting drills will now train you in moving your body while shooting. To start, shoot and transition between standing, kneeling, and prone positions. Now you will find that manipulating the selector switch from fire to safe and back again is absolutely crucial to safe movements. If you do not, then you risk a negligent discharge, possibly injuring or killing yourself or someone else. Before you move, you absolutely must put your weapon on ‘safe.’
Once you are comfortable in transitioning between different shooting positions, set up barriers of different sizes laterally across the range. At each barrier, shoot at and effectively engage one or two targets. Put your weapon on ‘safe,’ run laterally to the next barrier, and engage the next targets. Continue, and repeat this barrier course until you are proficient at moving between barriers and using them as cover to engage targets.
While lateral movement is often necessary, firefights are generally won by forward momentum. Thus, assaulting forward into your opponents must be part of your training regimen. Place three barriers about 10 meters apart from each other, with targets at various distances from each barrier. At the first barrier, safely and quickly engage the first targets. Put your weapon on ‘safe,’ run forward to the next barrier, and engage the next targets. Continue and repeat this assault drill until you are proficient and understand how to use forward momentum to your advantage in a firefight. Setting the barriers at various heights and angles forces you to use different shooting positions to engage the targets. Integrating different barriers in this way will greatly improve your shooting ability.
Further opportunities for training include integrating reloading and malfunction drills into these shooting drills. Having shooting partners move targets before you see them – and designating some as no-shoot targets and others as hostile – create opportunities to train your mind to positively identify a target before you engage it.
Training with firearms for TEOTWAWKI requires a different mindset and training regimen. Training specifically to deal with hostile encounters requires the mindset of defense of one’s family and home, and the training to quickly and accurately identify hostile people, engage them, and move to cover. These drills create a natural progression towards these objectives, and I hope that you will use these to feel confident and competent with your weapon systems.