Weaponry and Tactics Practice, practice, and vary your practice!

Discussion in 'Firearms' started by Finster, Jan 16, 2014.


  1. Finster

    Finster Simplify, I'd say more but this says it all.

    I probably don't need to explain to anyone here that more important than what gun you use, is caliber. Without arguing the merits of one caliber over another bring "enough caliber" to EASILY accomplish the objective. More important than caliber is gun, bring enough quality, maintained in such a way as you will Never hear "click" when you want to hear "BANG". And 7x more powerful than both of these is hitting the target, amazing but even if you have enough bullet, and enough gun the hard part is still hitting the target. That means you need to practice right and often.

    Real practice, means quality time with some sort of plan. Plinking is sorta practice, but unless you do it with the gun you'll use when the SHTF, or your carry gun for us CWP types, you are leaving the most important factor to chance. You must practice under various conditions, various ranges, with various targets, and vary your speed! The factor in any sort of gunfight you have least control of is WHEN and HOW LONG the engagement will last.
    Here's the thing, if you live in the city you probably can't practice outdoors, in the rain, at night, with a stiff crosswind. However if you expect to be attacked by a paper target, on lane 2 at 7 yards with the lights on,,, well you're probably ready and that .45acp Wilson Combat will absolutely do the job if you have factory ammo. But suppose your attackers aren't fiber based ink shapes? Maybe there's more than two, they have a pulse and can move and think, it's dark, cold and drizzling, the wind is blowing hard and thy are armed with pipes, chains and at least one gun... They are 30' away and you wish you stayed with the car on the highway....

    Ok now you get where I'm comming from, here are some options and tips;
    1. Have a training plan for each session, know what you want to practice and how to do that.
    2. Vary your pace, sometimes practice each shot with controlled sight picture and breath control, and trigger squeeze... Sometimes 2 of 3, sometimes 1, sometimes push your limits and leave time for none of that.
    3. Carry the conditions, go to different ranges, under different conditions. I schedule my range sessions, weeks in advance just so I won't know what weather to expect. 98% humidity @100 degrees-F will put enough sweat in your eyes to make 100 yards shoot like 300, cold wet hands will take enough off your game to open your groups at any distance.
    4. Find a competitive lcal group and get involved, USPSA, IPSC, NRA, CMP and many others have formal and informal competitions everywhere and they are your best opportunities to challenge your limits and experience new conditions,under someone else's time table. My iron sight M16 at 100 yards is plain and simple too-easy, every shot will be in the black and almost all are going to be 10x, drop the temp to 50, with a gusts to 20mph from 2:00 with a slight sun shower well my upper limit with these conditions is about 200 yards with a few x's and mostly 9's and 10's.
    5. Shoot your favorite target pistol in low light with a beep and a clock ticking, then tell me how ready you are to engage 10 individual targets with 2 to the torso and 1 to the head, moving between cover and concealment for every 2nd target and your hits/time may disappoint you the first time, but I promise if you practice you'll be happier the 2nd, 3rd and 4th times you try this.
    Practice is great, even required, but TESTING tells you when you're ready.
    IMHO, Testing and training are much more valuable than unlimited ammo punched through paper at 15 yards.

    Good luck and let me know how you are "upping your game".
    Here are some links;
    International Practical Shooting Confederation
    The Civilian Marksmanship Program
    NRA Sports
    NRA Training
    NRA Membership Application
    There are many others but these are easy to get started with.
     
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2014
    unobrownsfan and Yard Dart like this.
  2. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    I get in as much practice as I can these days. I trained with the West Michigan Volunteer Militia for about 10 years and retired from that group last winter. I remain in support of them even though Im not an active member. I still go out on my own and practice Apple seed qualifying requirements plus I do rush and bounding drills. Using cover and concealment and just plain marksmanship with all my tools. Cross bow, .22 rifles, hand guns, carbines , long guns and Shot guns. Ammo is not something I am will to shoot up all the time right now so I am doing most of my training with my .22 Ruger pistol and Marlin rifle in .22. I have large reserves of .22 so I can still get out and train. I am always buying ammo for the big guns when I have extra money.
     
    Finster likes this.
  3. Finster

    Finster Simplify, I'd say more but this says it all.

    Kingfish, EXCELLENT ! You ARE doing exactly what you need to do. And some advise for everyone as we all feel the Ammo$ crunch, use the .22 in your training just like Kingfish and I do, supplement or finish your training with the guns you carry and only a few rounds of ammo.
    50 rounds of .22 and a magazine of my carry hollow points ante up to a complete training session IMO.

    p.s. Kingfish, nice hat... I have one just like it.
     
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2014
  4. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    That hat is long gone now but I wore it every day in support of second amendment rights. It was great hat, I just plain wore it out. . The year was 2001 when that picture was taken. I had just joined the Militia and got married . Im planning on getting my wife out for some training as soon as this snow melts. We have some new guns to work into the defensive plan..
     
  5. Finster

    Finster Simplify, I'd say more but this says it all.

    I had a great session Friday, I had a goal and a light hearted plan. Three guns with a plan for each.
    1. The 1911 plan is to have some fun and practice target re-acquisition. First I started with loaded mags and silhouette target at 25', draw fire two holster, draw fire three, draw fire two-reload-fire one, double tap heart, double tap head, double tap pelvis(ballistic vest avoidance) reload, holster. That's 14 rounds and should represent a LONG firefight. Repeat that 3 times, analyze my hits, mistakes, take a minute and log what to do differently next time... Then with the remaining rounds a little fun water bottles at various ranges from 4-20 yards, the last magaize goes to a plain corrugated paper 18" x36"" target at 100yards, the reason for the last is it forces me to slow down, think about stance, grip, breath control, sight algnment, trigger press, bang. One hole at a time. At that distance they wont all hit but i can call my shots and expose each mistake.
    2. AR15 carbine, theis is a relatively new build and I am testing and adjusting more than anything. I recently obtained a bulk of steel cased herters, having had a few stuck steel cases in a hot rifle before I wanted to heat this baby up and see how she runs, as well as adjust the new strike-fire optic. Loaded up 3x30 mags and 1x10. Starting with the 100yard target and the 10 round mag, fired 3 off the bags, adjusted front BUIS sight up 1/2 turn then 2 more to confirm, turned on the green dot, adjusted it to align with the BUIS (co-witnessed) and five slow deliberate shots off the bag, nice group. Ok now to bring the heat, I want this barrel hot to make sure it can be dirty and still cycle reliably. I rip through 2.5 mags at the 25 yard silhouette as fast as I can, in this case that's about 45 seconds including the semi-fumbled reload. No to really test the reliability I need to leave a live round in this hot chamber, smoking hot heat And smoke from trace oil rise up the length of the barrel, keeping it pointed at the target, safety clicked on, waiting for the heat to "cook-off" the round in the chamber. 30 seconds, still smoking but i check to ensure i can extraxt the live r round. No resistance with hot bore, push the same hot round back into battery, pump the fwd assist a few, keep waiting. 5 minutes later, bore still on target, its cool enough to grip the barrel and keep my hand there. Ok now the last test, cycle three rounds manually, no problems. Reload the three rounds inthe same mag, deliberate fire rested at 100yards, nice group For 10 rounds under 3" I estimate at this range with with 60x60 vortex spotting scope. Satisfied I pick out a couple of target fragments and snap fire the last few rounds at these. Not bad.
    3. Last one, I've had my fun now NM style practice with the M1, it's only 100 yard range so I place two B1 targets on the existing board aligned vertically. My intent is to fire 3 clips pron (I'm in a wheelchair so this is two elbows rested with sling engaged), then 3 more standing (off hand without sling) at the upper. My goal is 48 holes in on paper, well placed. (not favoring high, low, left or right, I.e. centrally spread). Shoot 4, scope the target, shoot 4, scope, repeat 6x. I pulled 1 way low but called it, the rest were on paper well distributed. This met the goal of deliberate practice and the shots were a visible improvement on the targets I shot in the same fashion before Christmas :)
    Satisfied I cleaned up my gear waiting for the other shooters to change targets, retrieved my own and loaded the car. Last thing I did before throwing away the trash was to photo the two M1 targets, I'll compare these to next months and continue tracking my progress.
    About my targets/stands, I use two wooden plant stakes from lowes, about 5/8" square and 4' tall driven into the sandy soil 16" apart, they cost $0.50 each. To that I staple cardboard cut from boxes, to that I staple paper targets. Most of my targets are printed on my color printer, I use heavy weight paper ( 30#) it makes for a much better target and cleaner bullet holes. 1/2" staples work great for both cardboard to wood and paper to cardboard. Cleanup your mess you'll always be welcomed back.
     
    kellory likes this.
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