Shoot And Share
Doing Drills
We all don’t have access to fancy shoot houses. Use simple drills to
develop skills you can put to use in real-world situations.
After 40 years of teaching, with over 30 spent running a school, the most common questions I get regard range exercises. And many of those involve our “100-round” handgun exercise we developed a few years ago. Go to www.thunderranchinc.com and you’ll find the details posted on the homepage under a training icon to save you time trying to track it down.
But, because of these continuing requests, I’m going fishing of sorts with all of you. If you have a set of drills you shoot regularly send them to Editor. Explain the goal your drills are geared for, and tell me the details on how to do the drills. I’ll be glad, actually grateful, to shoot the drills you send, evaluate them and offer any suggestions to change or improve them. After we shoot your drills, we’ll credit you and pass them on to Handgunner readers. We’ll share, like my Mom used to say.
You’ll want to consider those shooting your drills will have a wide range of personal skills and equipment, so consider the bigger picture of how you are helping others train. You can “outsmart” us all by having an 18-round string of fire because your Glock can manage that, and you’ll “show those 1911 guys!” So keep in mind, could you shoot your drill with all the handguns you own? If the drill is for a type of handgun — like backup guns — then say so. That will help people know what you are trying to address.
We’ll post the reader-generated drills in my column as a sidebar. We’ll also stick to handgun courses, but keep in mind many handgun courses can be fired with the AR platform. The difference is mostly about backstops and targets and such.
Readers may have different kinds of guns so consider it when you submit your drill.
Here a SAA runs next to a 1911.
Consider
Anyone can train on a million dollar range. I’ve seen them, shot on them and frankly, you don’t need them. You do have to consider the kinds of ranges your drills may require and would allow people to actually shoot. Many ranges won’t allow holster work, or moving and shooting. So drills should always be flexible. If people have more ammo, they can run the set two times, maybe once from the holster, once from the ready position, left-handed or 1-handed. If you can’t draw at your range, shoot from the ready.
Since what is happening is about training not necessarily speed, consider liberal times for your drills you submit. Shooters can always work to shoot your drills faster with experience. PACT would be happy to sell anyone a timer if they asked! Maybe encourage a buddy system where somebody shoots while the other shooter keeps a watch to help correct technique, or keep time.
Roll The Ball
Counting the original 100-round drill as the number one exercise, credit for the number two drill to get this rolling goes to Jason “The Kid” Burton from Heirloom Precision, in Tempe, Ariz. Distance required is 25 yards, indoors or out, and only takes 25 rounds. This is intended for handgun, and you’ll need a paper plate or ISPC-type target.
This is your chance to share what you know, what you think, or how you consider training should be conducted. Here’s your chance to shoot and share so let me hear from you.
