Hey guys,
I have been training every weekend for the past few years. Baby and business is about to limit me to once per month. If you were going to drill with an ar and handgun once per month, what would you do?
I think I am going to shoot 200 rounds rifle, 200 rounds pistol. I think this is sort of the limit beyond which I start to get sloppy. What drills would you recommend guys? My purpose is purely defensive. I am not a gamer. My pistol if for EDC and my rifle is for TSHTF.
Just thinking about it a bit…
You should be able to get in a lot of dry fire of your handgun at home. You should be able to get in dry one “shot” draws at home. You cannot really simulate shooting at speed or shooting on the move or dealing with grip vs. recoil at home… with that in mind:
◊ Hackathorn Three Target Test (round count: 18)
o NRA five-yard bullseye centers
o 10 yards, from the ready
o 6 rounds slow fire
o 6 rounds in 10 seconds
o 6 rounds in five seconds
◊ One – Reload – Two (round count: 15)
o round in chamber, empty mag in pistol, full spare magazine
o 5 yards, -0 body of IDPA target, from draw, 5 iterations
o individual par or par = 6.00 sec.
◊ Dot Torture (round count: 50)
o 3 / 5 yards (3 yards for par time stages, 5 for slow fire stages)
o #2 par time: 4 seconds
o #3 and #4 par time: 5 seconds
o #6 and #7 par time: 8 seconds
o #9 and #10 par time: 7 seconds
◊ Bill Drills (round count: 24)
o 5 yards, from draw, 4 iterations
o individual par or par = 3.5 sec.
o Six shots are fired as quickly as the shooter can achieve six hits on the target.
◊ Press Six = (round count: 62)
◊ Hackathorn Self Defense Practice Drill (round count: 30)
o IPSC target
o 5 yards, 1 ½ seconds, from the ready, one shot to head. (X3)
o 5 yards, 2 seconds, draw, one shot to head. (X3)
o 5 yards, 2 seconds, from the ready, SHO, two shots to body. (X2)
o 7 yards, 2 seconds, facing target, draw, two shots to body. (X1)
o 7 yards, 2 seconds, facing 90° to left of target, draw, two shots to body. (X1)
o 7 yards, 2 seconds, facing 90° to right of target, draw, two shots to body. (X1)
o 7 yards, 4 seconds, withdrawing to 10-12 yards, three shots to body. (X2)
o 10 yards, 3 seconds, start with gun on target and slide locked back, reload and fire one shot to body. (X3)
o 15 yards, 2 ½ seconds, draw and fire one shot to body (X5)
o Head shots only count if you hit the A zone. Body shots count if you hit the A, B, or C zones.
Total: 199 rounds pistol.
I like this. I need improvement on defensive handgun and 200 rounds a month is about all I can stand as well.
Got a question though. What does the 62 round “Press Six” consist of? Everything else is pretty straight forward.
Scoby
Click on it and find out…
Sorry didn’t realize it was a link.
Thanks
Scoby
Damn The_Katar, it is almost as if you were waiting for someone to ask this exact question.
This is great menu for anyones trip to the range. For me, it beats the hell out of showing up then pondering what drill to shoot, for how long and what to do next.
Great info!
Competition.
Nice work up! I think this’ll be my new range session this coming weekend.
Nice drill setup Jay.
I’m not usually allowed to practice from the draw, so I have to practice drawing and pressing out at home. It’s a real disconnect for me and probably one of the biggest reasons I’ve plateaued as a pistol shooter.
My range practice time consists of 2 magazines worth of bullseye, one mag of SHO, one mag of WHO, 2 mags worth of shot-reload-shot and a couple iterations of the FAST, albeit from the ready instead of from the draw.
I’d love to be able to do stuff incorporating the draw and movement but that’s a no-go. The best I can get in that dept is heading out to Blackwater for a USPSA match.
I think it really depends how strong a shooter you are, more specifically, to what level your shooting degrades after one month break.
In my case, one month layoff would mean back to basics such as pressouts, ball and dummy, slow fire at 25, some reloads and maybe FAST or two, and then work directed on aspects I suck more at on that given day.
Can’t you just work on your press out from the ready or is that a no go as well?
I always found the MEU(SOC) qual to be a challenging and fun drill to run and it only requires 50 rounds for each weapon system.
Do to financial contraints, my rifle live fire as tapered off to maybe 100-200 rounds a month. However, I have more 9mm ammo so I do more pistol work along with IPSC matches. In addition to the pistol work, I dry fire and work a lot of manipulations reps at home with rifle and pistol.
I haven’t noticed a slip in rifle work at all. In fact I shot the MEU(SOC) qual on thursday in 30+mph winds and scored a 94.
Although I did have to pause to repair one of the targets the wind snapped in half:eek:
The day should begin(and probably end) with shooting at 25m. If one shoots only close in-10/15m out and closer- then seeing, diagnosing, and correcting issues such as trigger control, sight alignment, and recoil management becomes almost impossible. Everyone(ok, almost everyone) looks like a TS instructor at close ranges. 25m work is essential in developing and maintaining a good skill set.
TK, that is a great agenda.
I would add in (if your cap is 200 you may need to do some manuvering) shooting the pistol from retention. I would drill at arms length to the target 2 shots to the body, move off line and as you gain distance one aimed fire shot to the head.
To be clear thats not to train to do head shots. It is to practice getting solid hits in close from renention and incorporating movement and pushing out to snap off one quick percise aimed shot.
The pistol is the firearm I will use for the threat I could not anticpate, out and about, if I only have limited practice I should prepare for that.
I would also mix in some SOTM. Box drills, figure 8’s. Movement is key IMO, and I am leery of doing only shooting that requires you to plant yourself.
Thats for pistol. I also need to look at context. For me the carbine is a HD gun. I ned to be able to practice (due to home set up and our emergency plan.) shooting around a left hand corner, moving and then shooting off a right hand corner.
Mix in some dry fire with the drills (i.e. dry fire the drill before and after live fire) and you’ll be able to squeeze all you can out of your range session.
…then I would suggest putting as much time on the pistol as possible. It is the weapon you are most likely to be using should things get uncomfortably real on you. Perhaps do 200 rounds with the rifle every other month or so.
I agree with this very much, and am trying to get to that point myself.
Pistol
Start with old FAM test shot cold (30 rounds) or Todd’s FAST test shot cold 3 times. This is your test to see your improvements from previous sessions and weaknesses that need work.
Group shooting. 6 shot groups at 3" dots at 10 yards. This is slow fire, best group you can shoot. (18 rounds)
Dummy rounds (cap and ball) at the same 3" dots at 10 yds. (16 live rounds)
Now you can work on the weaknesses that you noticed on the cold drills. Reloads, concealed draws, splits/transitions , whatever. (approx 50-60 rounds) If you shot the FAM cold you are now at 124 rounds.
10-8 test reduced to 45 rounds. (What, you don’t regularly train SHO and WHO malf clearing and reloads???)
1 Holstered.- SHO 2 body, 1 head,
2 Ready, SHO.- Shift to WHO, 2 body, 1 head
3 Ready, SHO, empty chamber.- Rack SHO. 3 to head.
4 Ready WHO, empty chamber.- rack WHO, 2 to body, 1 to head, WHO
5 Aimed in, SHO, SL empty mag. RL SHO, 1 to body.
6 Holstered.- 4 to body, 1 to head, freestyle
7 Holstered, 4 in mag.- 4 to body, RL, 1 to body
8 Holstered.- 5 to head
9 ready, 3 in gun.- 2 body/1 head, RL, 2 body/1 head
10 holstered, 2 in gun.- 1 body/1 head, RL, 1 body/1 head
11 ready, 2 in gun.- 2 body, RL, 2 head
12 Holstered, 1 in gun, 2mags w/ 1 round.- 1 body, RL,1body, RL, 1body
Link to full 10-8 test (65 rounds)
http://www.10-8forums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=91804&an=0&page=0#91804
Finish up with a precision drill, Dot Torture. (50 rounds) This bumps the round count to 219. Oops. Shoot the FAST instead of the FAM to and reduce the rounds shot working on weaknesses to get 200 rounds.
Rifle.
Try El Diablo for a warmup test.
18 Yards, 3 mags (one in the gun, two spares), 6 rounds in each mag.
From the buzzer:
Fire six rounds standing.
change magazines
Fire six rounds kneeling.
change magazines
Fire six rounds prone.
An acceptable time to complete the firing rotation is 18 seconds. If you take longer than 18 seconds or drop rounds outside the specified kill zone, you have failed. Target, 8" IDPA 0 down circle. (18 rounds)
CSAT standards are,
5 shots prone at 100 yds in 20 sec.
5 shots kneeling at 75 yds in 20 sec.
5 shots kneeling at 50 yds in 20 sec.
5 shots standing at 25 yds in 8 sec.
1 shot standing at 7 yds in 1 sec.
2 shots standing at 7 yds in 1.5 sec.
5 body-1 head shots standing at 7 yds in 3 sec.
2 shots on ea of 2 targets (4 total) standing at 7 yds in 3 sec.
1 shot rifle-1 shot pistol standing at 7 yds in 3.25 sec.
Create your own drills out of these depending on the ranges available to you. (31 rounds)
Do some precision drills at 10 or 15 yards to teach yourself hold over. Mozambique’s or the Box Drill (2 targets, 2 body hits on 1, 2 body hits on 2, head 2 then head 1) to make good head hits at closer ranges.
Finish with precision shooting at 50 yards or more. Try it prone like a sniper.
Figure out the logistics of what drills to run at what times and make it as easy as possible to run the drills. Maximize your efficiency so you spend more time shooting and less time setting targets.
Gringop
Whatever you do I would not use more than 1/2 of my allotted ammo twords specific drills. I would have a 100rd or so for specific drills with the other 100rds going for practice where you see the most issues.
I prefer drills which do not take much ammo but test many things. The fast drill is a good example. It is only 6rds but you can evaluate many things when looking at the timer.
You may find that after doing a couple drills that you need to work on something before you go on to the next drill. By only having 1/2 your ammo allotted you have time/ammo to stop and work on that skillset. Maby when shooting a drill you see that your splits on small targets is the same speed as your splits on larger ones. Then stop do some drills with both 3x5’s and 8" plates alternating between them. Maby you are having trouble sustaining rate of fire. Stop, and do some Bills.
Just my .02
Hey Katar, that is a fantastic range practice plan! very comprehensive and at least touches on all the major fundamentals of defensive pistol shooting IMO.
I’ve shot IPSC/USPSA for a couple of years and I was under the presumption that the Bill drills was shot at 7m and usually from the surrender position…No big deal just trying to clarify. And I assume your par times are taking into account draws from concealment right?
The only thing I would tweak is to add slightly more movement/shooting on the move into the drills, perhaps doing the 1 reload 2, by shooting the one draw from concealment and engage and doing the reload and 2 while moving backwards. and possibly shooting the bill drills while moving laterally in order to try to get off the line. I’d also sacrifice 100 rds of rifle to add another 100 rds of pistol to work on any areas that I had problems with (rifle use for me as a civy is very unlikely so it is not that important to me).
GU