Practice & Training

Handgun Training For Survival
https://www.survivalresources.com/handgun-training-for-survival.html

  (SNIP) ... Carrying a handgun, with the intention of defending yourself with it, is a serious decision. There is more to it than just strapping a gun to your hip. There are legal ramifications in the event that you actually use that handgun and take someone's life.

(SNIP) ... For this reason, as well as others, I believe that if you are training for survival a Defensive Handgun Course is in order.   ---CONTINUED---

How to Practice Good Marksmanship Without Wasting Ammo
https://www.askaprepper.com/how-to-practice-good-marksmanship-without-wasting-ammo/

(SNIP) ... Practicing good marksmanship frequently – we mean on a weekly, even daily basis – is the only way to get confident behind the trigger. But we get it, ammo is expensive. And in times of civil unrest or outright disaster, every round counts. Finding time to go to the local range is never easy, either.

You need to train nonetheless. You can practice certain shooting drills without wasting ammo. In fact, there are plenty of drills you can practice that require no ammo at all. This article will show you how. ---CONTINUED---

Here are a few short videos on some training techniques  you can try at Home with no ammo.  (Obviously follow gun safety rules, ensure your gun is empty and pointed in a safe direction)


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YISTQB-1jKA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4ezHq4KVkb8

I just came across this video that has good tactics and discussion from former operators on room entry and clearing that might be useful for anyone working with a partner or team.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6wd2fJw0dRs

How Much Ammo You Need For Practice Just To Keep Your Shooting Skills In Shape
https://www.askaprepper.com/how-much-ammo-you-need-for-practice-just-to-keep-your-shooting-skills-in-shape/

  I hear it all the time; “I can’t afford to go to the range, so I don’t get any practice.”

(SNIP) ... After research and talking to a few top competitors, I discovered ways to improve my shooting skills while saving ammo. Hopefully you can use them yourself, and maybe save a little cash.   ---CONTINUED---

10+ Shooting Skills You Need To Practice
https://www.askaprepper.com/10-shooting-skills-you-need-to-practice/

(BIG Snip) ... Handling and learning your particular firearm is very important. It doesn’t matter what you are carrying or own for self and home protection, but it does matter that you know how to use it. ---CONTINUED---

All of the stuff above here is fine and good. Well Warrior Poet and Fieldcraft Survival might be a little over the top: after all, are we really going to spend 20 minutes to an hour every day practicing?

In all likelihood, as preppers, we will never have to shoot anyone (let us pray we never have to shoot anyone. If you are in the Army or Law Enforcement, I am not talking to you. For the homeowner, when we drive our personal "grocery getter" vehicle, we don't wear a fire suit, helmet and five or six point restraint system. We don't wear Level 3A body armor to the mall (well, if you are in certain cities, you might).

How much time do we need to practice?
It is different for every person.

When we start, we should probably devote quite a bit of time and resources to each and every aspect of shooting. After we master the basics, we should expect to devote a little less time, and a lot fewer resources.

I mentioned, this morning, in another thread, about accuracy goals, and I hope to expound on those, in further postings, to this thread.

ReadyMom wrote:[size=16]
(SNIP) ... After research and talking to a few top competitors, I discovered ways to improve my shooting skills while saving ammo. Hopefully you can use them yourself, and maybe save a little cash.   ---CONTINUED---

I got the laser target practice equipment you suggested a few years ago. I need to get that out and get warmed up. Haven't been to the gun range in a long time and now I don't want to use even my practice ammo

Violet wrote:

ReadyMom wrote:[size=16]
(SNIP) ... After research and talking to a few top competitors, I discovered ways to improve my shooting skills while saving ammo. Hopefully you can use them yourself, and maybe save a little cash.   ---CONTINUED---

I got the laser target practice equipment you suggested a few years ago.  I need to get that out and get warmed up.  Haven't been to the gun range in a long time and now  I don't want to use even my practice ammo

If you have a .22 pistol and ammo, practice with that, at least you won't get too rusty from not shooting at all.

When walmart (years ago) said they weren't carrying ammo anymore, I went to the bank and then went to 3 different warmarts and bought every box of ammo they had in the calibers that I shoot. I got thousands of rounds stashed for .45, 9mm, .22, .223, 5.56, 12 and 20 gauge.

In shooting, there are many people who will tell you that you need to practice an hour a day and shoot hundreds of rounds a month down range. But seriously, unless you are a competition shooter, you probably need a firearm to deter criminals, remove predators and hunt food. So, how accurate do you need to be?

I was introduced to the idea of "tactical accuracy" a few years ago, and it covers a few different angles. The idea was to be accurate enough to get the job done.

His standard was to be able to put five shots inside an area you can cover with your hand. Since hands differ in size I changed that to a circle about the size of a (three pound) coffee can lid.  

This is a practical level of accuracy, based on the size are you need to hit in a gunfight. If you put a coffee can lid on a standard silhouette target, just low enough that it doesn't touch the neck, that is the area you need to place the shot in, in a self defense situation.

(As an aside, when I was in the AF, the pistol range used a 9'' circle, mine is about 6 inches, because I want to put the guy down faster.)

If you can't consistently hit that sized area (you don't need silhouettes to practice, any target with t a 6 inch ring will do), you need to slow down, you need to practice more, or you need to get closer.

And remember, accuracy in a gunfight is never as good as a good day on the range. More like a bad day on the range.

Tactical accuracy has another aspect.

Another instructor, discussing the size of a handgun mentioned that many people were carrying a handgun much larger than they could actually proficient with.

His standard was "try to place five rounds in a five inch circle in five seconds." If the recoil of the handgun was too much for the shooter to accomplish this, they were not proficient.

While we could quibble on the details of that test (five shots in five seconds from a revolver is quite different than using an automatic), but the reasoning is sound.

There is some elasticity in this. I recall (can't find any reference now) someone, an NRA instructor or similar, who said she trained by holding a six pack of coke in front of her at arms length, to strengthen her shoulders. Live fire practice can also help, but gets expensive, quickly, in terms of both time and money.

Oddly, I found it difficult to find references to physical workouts designed to improve shooting, except for the following, which is a collection put together by olympic shooters.
https://www.olympicpistol.com/pistol-home-exercises-and-tools-to-beat-coronavirus-isolation-and-beyond/

Not everyone is going to find all of these exercises doable, but some of the basics may be useful to most of us.

When I was in the police academy one thing was stressed and that was most officer involved shootings are within 3' of the perp. That gives you a sizeable target.

I'm not a fan of getting that closeup to a stranger as there is always the danger of being disarmed so know your personal limitations based on your size and strength.

A lot of women seem to think an iphone and designer handbag makes them formidable.

Blondie wrote:When I was in the police academy one thing was stressed and that was most officer involved shootings are within 3' of the perp. That gives you a sizeable target.

I was told it was 3 yds, but the idea is sound, a fast, safe and secure draw is a must. I was going to get around to that, soon, but you beat me too it. I am reformulating a lot of what I have heard in the past. I got most of my information and instruction in pieces, and now I am trying to put something together that is comprehensive and consistent. Not an easy thing to do, when there are a half dozen different philosophies, created under a half dozen different circumstances.

I'm not a fan of getting that closeup to a stranger as there is always the danger of being disarmed so know your personal limitations based on your size and strength.

Quite Right.
As Dirty Harry once said: A man's got to know his limitations. (Same goes for woman.)
I am a fan of, once things begin to go sideways, never being out alone. (Cops have partners, sometimes.) OTOH, the other person needs to be cool, collected, and at least simi-trained. Otherwise they could be a liability, rather than an asset.

A lot of women seem to think an iphone and designer handbag makes them formidable.

Nice quip.

As "Blondie" pointed out a few days ago, most fights involving firearms are fast, lasting only a few seconds, with one or more shots fired at close range in only a few seconds. Unlike soldiers, though, we don't (or, at least, shouldn't) go through life with one hand on our pistol-grip.  

Bringing your weapon into play quickly requires practice. A lot of practice. There are a lot of schools of thought on this, but I will give my philosophy, based on my experience (years ago) in martial arts.

This will probably be different than most other schools will teach, and this will be just the very beginning of learning to draw and shoot.

I break the operation of removing your pistol from its holster, bringing it into position, charging it (unless you carry it in a ready and hot status), and firing it, into multiple training tasks, at least at first.

Just over a week ago, I said "When we start, we should probably devote quite a bit of time and resources to each and every aspect of shooting."

I would spend a few minutes every day for the first week or so, just going over the functions of your pistol. Working the safety and charging it (with the ammo removed and out of arms length), and looking down the barrel, focusing on the front sight.

In addition it is generally accepted that, after a movement is repeated about 300 times, it has become relatively instinctive. That means repeating a move about a dozen times a day for almost a month. But if you want to be fast, you have to do it exactly right, every time, for those 300 times.

The secret is to go slow, Very Slow, for the first couple hundred times. Resist the temptation to do it fast, in those first few hundred practice moves.

You want to:
1. Slide your hand  smoothly onto your grip (finger along the frame, not on the trigger),
2. Remove it from the holster clearing your body sufficiently that if you add a "red dot sight" to it, later, that will also clear your body.
3. Bring it up, just in front of your chest (I suggest about 1 foot) and charge it. (You want to move the pistol in a straight line, keeping your elbow in, close to your body. This is, once you have sufficiently practiced, the fastest path for the movement.)
4. Move your other hand into place over your firing hand, and extend, moving your finger onto the trigger as your eye focuses on the front sight.

This should be a purely mechanical exercise. Don't visualize a "bad guy" or think about why you are going through this exercise. Just focus on getting the technique right. (You can fixate on a small point on the wall for point of aim, as you focus on the front sight, if you wish.)

If you haven't done this stuff before, you should get help making sure you do it right, when you start.

Once you have been practicing your draw, a dozen times a day for a few weeks, you can increase speed, as long as you don't sacrifice safety (by putting your finger on the trigger early) or technique.  

Time involved in this exercise will be a few minutes a day for the first month, but will pay off in the long run, even if you practice less after the first month.

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/truth-israeli-carry/

https://www.tacklesmartsports.com/what-is-muscle-memory-and-why-is-it-so-important/

This post actually says to practice 3000 times, rather than the 300 I stated, but the rest of it is similar to what I stated. Again, my thought, here, is that the first 300 repetitions will give you most of the benefit, and we are normal citizens, not professional gunslingers or assassins.
https://www.handguntactics.com/additional-information/muscle-memory-training/

Basic pistol shooting video. Other videos also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psKbJNnSxbs

Get Real in Training
https://blog.cheaperthandirt.com/get-real-training/

I have seen quite a few firearms training images and videos that give me pause to consider the trainer’s intentions. They rank right up with the martial artists who chose a petite female student to hurl to the mat. Let’s pick on someone our own size, and train correctly. ---CONTINUED---

Mastering the Art of Firearm Training
https://blog.cheaperthandirt.com/mastering-art-firearm-training/

  There are many drills to perform and while some are better than others, the problem we face remains the same.

A study of dozens of personal-defense incidents confirms we will face one or two threats at relatively close range.

We won’t have much time. Recreational shooting is fine, but we must be able to win a fight. Some skills are essential.

Whatever the handgun you choose, the problem will be the same.    ---CONTINUED---

ReadyMom wrote:Mastering the Art of Firearm Training
https://blog.cheaperthandirt.com/mastering-art-firearm-training/

  There are many drills to perform and while some are better than others, the problem we face remains the same.
A study of dozens of personal-defense incidents confirms we will face one or two threats at relatively close range.
We won’t have much time. Recreational shooting is fine, but we must be able to win a fight. Some skills are essential.
Whatever the handgun you choose, the problem will be the same.    ---CONTINUED---

From that same link:

Speed to an accurate first shot matters most.

That is what my last post was all about. But it isn't just speed: you have do it without shooting yourself in the foot.

From my martial arts classes, I can tell you that it is important to "teach your muscles" (actually, this takes place in your cerebellum) to do all of the moves correctly, by repeating the same movement hundreds of times. Speed in practice sessions is not important (at least initially), form is. In a confrontation, the movement that was practiced slowly will be repeated, very quickly.

Anyone who read my recent (March 15) posting in "Guns for Preppers" may have notices a slight change in my recommendation for 22, compared to other firearms.

Third gun: 22 rifle. Any 22 rifle.
Buy 1000 rounds, same day.
Learn to place rounds into a circle no bigger than a soup can.

The reason for this is quite simple. The things you are most likely to have to shoot with a 22 will be smaller than things you shoot with any other rifle.

For this rifle, the first thing to do is get to where you can shoot consistently into a very small circle, even if you need to do this at fairly short range.

Typically a good 22 will shoot low, if you are shooting at a target closer than 10 yards, due to the barrel being below the sights. Sighted in, properly, it will usually be hitting the right spot somewhere between 20 and 50 yards, and begin to drop somewhere after 50 yards. (Might be way past 50 yards.) You aren't really worried about longer distances, other than to be aware of where the bullet goes, when it is off in the distance.

Being able to hit a 2 or 3 inch circle out to 50 yards is a worthy goal. (I used to be able to, but my age caught up with me.)

TRex2 wrote:...

Speed to an accurate first shot matters most.

That is what my last post was all about. But it isn't just speed: you have do it without shooting yourself in the foot.

Just as a humorous way to bump this thread:
We should probably practice "reholstering," just enough to be able to not shoot ourselves in the foot.

https://www.coveleaderpress.com/news/one-injured-after-accidental-discharge-gun-copperas-cove-walmart-parking-lot

Thu, 2024-02-08 By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
An individual attempting to holster their pistol accidentally shot themselves in the Copperas Cove Walmart Supercenter parking lot on Monday ...