Time For Some Serious Training

It’s been a bit since our last blog entry.  You know how the holidays can be.  It seems like everything that can require your time does exactly that around this time.  On top of that, a lot of people add in New Year’s resolutions.  Adding things that need done when time is at even more of a premium than usual?  No wonder no one keeps them.  It is just not humanly possible in many cases.

In recent years, I've decided resolutions aren't for me.  Why should I only want to improve myself at the start of a new calendar year?  If I want to make changes badly enough, I ought to follow the slogan and just do it.  It shouldn't matter if it’s January, February, December, or any other time of year.  Now, if only I’d get better about getting off my ass and making the changes I want.  Maybe this year’s the one to do that.

One of those changes is what I decided to write about today.  Shooting and firearms are important parts of my life.  I’m hard pressed to describe any pastime I have that’s more fun, and when it’s going well, more rewarding.  It also ties directly in with my core values and beliefs about liberty and individual responsibility.  I really love every part of the shooting sports that I've been lucky enough to see or participate in.  All that being true, 2014 is the year I will take my firearms training as seriously as I should.

That’s right.  I’m a partner in ownership of a company that has “defensive training” in its name, and I am not satisfied with how serious my training was up until now.  I’m not saying I haven’t participated in some wonderful training or that I was a clown on the range and blew off the opportunities that came my way.  I’m satisfied with my prior training attitude and performance on the range and in the classroom.

I’m talking about the training that SHOULD be the biggest, most constant part of my development.  That’s the training I do (more accurately – I should do) here at home.  Let’s face it, training classes are expensive, and even when they aren't, ammunition is.  It’s also hard to justify to the family that buying 1,000 rounds of my favorite round should be a priority as we decide just how much of this month’s electric bill we’re going to pay.  I mean, is there anyone here that doesn't live paycheck-to-paycheck?  I’m not familiar with anyone who doesn't.  (There are a lot of negatives in that sentence, so you’ll have to read carefully.)

I’m talking about doing a better job of being more diligent about dry-fire and manipulation training when I’m home.  When I wish I had the time, ammo, sunshine, whatever, to go to the range, I should clear the room of any and all live ammo, put on my rig, clear my pistol, rifle, shotgun, whatever; about a dozen times, and practice all the skills that don’t require a bang and recoil.  I should practice those skills until they’re second nature, so that none of my precious live-fire time has to be spent on them.

With inert training rounds, I can practice reloads and malfunction drills.  With my blue gun, I can practice drawing, holstering, movement, scanning, cover, concealment, and target acquisition.  I can also practice my trigger press with either my empty firearm or the blue gun.  Jerking the trigger becomes pretty apparent when you’re using an empty or inert gun.  The whole muzzle dips and you feel foolish.

Some easy exercises we can do with an empty pistol:

Draw, “fire”, scan your surroundings, re-holster

Draw, “fire”, squeeze the trigger again, tap-rack-bang

With an empty magazine in, draw, “fire”, change magazines, conduct a type 3 malfunction drill (pull the magazine from the pistol with your support hand, rapidly and repeatedly cycle the slide to clear any double-feed or stovepipe, insert the magazine, go back to work)

These drills should be repeated over and over, even after they’re second nature.  If you want to add some unpredictability, you can use magazines loaded with inert rounds or even empty shell casings, loaded by someone else you trust.  This way, you aren't going into each exercise knowing exactly what you’ll be doing.  Practice to become smooth at each thing you do, not fast.  Speed comes with proficiency.  Smooth is fast.  It gets fast when it gets easy.  Enough clichés for now?

It should go without saying, but let’s review the basic firearm safety rules.  No excuses for a negligent discharge when you’re doing this stuff.

1.     Treat every gun as if it is loaded.  This means when you’re dry fire training and you know you cleared your gun a dozen times, it’s still loaded.

2.    Always point your gun in a safe direction.  It’s always loaded, right?  So, don’t point it at anything you aren’t willing to destroy.  That means no dry fire practice at the dog, cat, kids, TV, neighbors, passing cars, police, etc.  They hate that stuff.

3.    Don’t put your finger on the trigger unless you’re ready to fire.  This means even when you’re dry firing, your finger should be in a safe place, off the trigger, until you’re at the part of the exercise that would be firing.  Keep your booger-hook off the bang-switch!

If you follow these rules, even breaking one leaves you likely to come out safe.  If you have a negligent discharge, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to think about some practice time for today.  Seriously.