How do you practice? Do you use your ammo wisely?
Those of you who are firearms enthusiasts were probably very relieved a few months ago when the price of ammunition decreased to somewhat normal range. I know I was, seeing that I usually order a thousand rounds a month for the various guns I train with. Still, even though the price has dropped I don’t waste ammo when I train.
I always tend to notice that person, when I’m slowly cruising by the public range, that is just hammering on the trigger firing several rounds within a fraction of a second. Over and over again throwing brass from their gun and building a neat little pile below them. I think to myself that they either don’t know how to train, or they must have a really good source for cheap ammo.
So, how do you train when you go shooting? Is it more for recreation or to relieve some stress? Or do you shoot to keep your skills sharp because you are an everyday gun carrier? For those of you who shoot to either enhance your skills, keep your current skills sharp or to learn new skills and techniques, well maybe this will help.
You see I’ve been in many situations involving weapons. Including the many hours of personal training and during my military and law enforcement career. Now specifically during my law enforcement career a firearm was always on my person and many times that included a long gun, M4 rifle or AR-15.
My job assignments ranged from patrol deputy, SWAT team member and as a Narcotics Detective. Now you can probably picture the firearm being used in the first two jobs, but the third, Narcotics Detective, was the one that really broadened my scope of how I needed to train with my firearms. You see in that position I almost always carried my handgun concealed and my rifle was readily available in my vehicle. But the scope of how I trained really opened up because the chance of me using that firearm now included every scenario that I could possibly imagine. From drawing while seated at a table in a restaurant, drawing from a concealed carry position while seated in a vehicle, drawing my firearm while in highly congested pedestrian areas, to drawing the firearm while in a physical altercation with a suspect.
You see, being in that job made me realize that I needed to practice everything. If it was a scenario that I could one day find myself in, then I needed to practice it.
Can you answer this… For those of you that carry for self-defense, what position will you be in when you have to use your firearm for self-defense? Will you be standing and stationary like when you shoot at the range? Will you be kneeling because you made yourself a smaller target or will you be in the prone position because you really wanted to be a small target, or someone just pushed you to the ground?
Now depending on your skill level, I wouldn’t suggest you go rushing out to try all these positions. There are ways to practicing these positions in a safe and practical way and in addition a tactical way.
Let’s look even further. Do you practice empty gun reloads, tactical reloads, or even firearms malfunction drills? Do you practice shooting at a target in a scenario where bad guy is 1 or 2 feet from your face? (Retention Drill) Do you practice shooting while on the move, forward, backward and side to side.
Let’s take empty gun reload, or as I call it, stress reload. Have you gotten so smooth and fast performing this drill that you show off to your friends using a shot timer? Now were you doing it standing, kneeling or in the prone position?
You see if you’re not practicing in the kneeling or prone then you’re doing yourself a disservice because if your gun goes empty in a real-life scenario, you better be thinking of making yourself small.
Now you might not think so but there are a lot of small things to learn while performing these drills correctly. Not only so you can do them with a tactical edge over your opponent but also so you can safely perform them in training and in the real world.
Train to win, but don’t think your going to the know the rules of the fight, because bad guys have no rules. So, train it all.
As an Official Partner with USCCA we would like to provide you with a FREE Guide on “7 Firearms Drills that could save your life” call or send us an email and we will get to you right away.
NEVER STOP TRAINING!
For questions regarding my article, please email me at
[email protected]
Oz Johnson/Lead Instructor, NRA Certified
JohnsonGroupTAC.com
602-448-8283 / 602-410-7355
