Drills?

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ccsniper

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What drills do you do while practicing self defense? I just simply put up two targets and practice my draw and fire on both. I would like some ideas that you guys have to help me with my drills.

Thanks.
 
Do exactly what you are doing, but now, load your magazine with four rounds. Draw, shoot each target twice, RELOAD, shoot each one twice AGAIN. Go with a friend, have him load your mags, and have him slip a dummy round into one of your mags. Now when you run the drill, you will have a stoppage occur, and you must take appropriate action to clear it and keep fighting.

(That's to start.)
 
You could check the sticky “Practice Drills” for lots of ideas, but since you asked...

Mostly I want to be able to hit big targets up close and fast, drawing from a holster beneath a cover garment.

This means I usually shoot at 3, 5, 7, 15 yards (most of the practice at 7-yards or closer, sometimes out to 25 yards). The closer the target, the faster I shoot. I'm looking to keep shots in a six-inch circle, center chest of target, and in about a two-inch circle in the midst of the target face. (Though I'll take up to eight inches for the chest shots, and grumble about it, and I'll take up to three inches for the noggin shots, and grumble about those, too – though, to be perfectly honest, I'm largely satisfied with any noggin shot inside the 5-point area of the 3-TB-21-E target I seem to like.)

One drill: draw and fire pairs to the chest. Hold pistol at full extension while scanning left and right. Return pistol to ready position. Reholster. Repeat. (I don't want to get in the habit of (a) not looking around for other bad guys, (b) simply shooting and going back to holster, or ready position, without doing part “a”.)

Variation of above: same thing, but fire a burst of three to four rounds (because I don't want to get into the habit of pausing after just two rounds if, in fact, two rounds don't do the trick).

Another drill: Failure To Stop. Fire a pair to the body, one to the head. Repeat. (I don't practice this one at fifteen yards. Maybe I should.)

Variation to all of the above: add turns and pivots. That is, start facing 90-degrees left or right of the target, or with back to target, then turn to target and shoot the drills.

More variations to the above: add some reloads and malfunction clearance drills.

Rhythm fire drill: target at five yards. Shoot five rounds as quickly as possible, keeping them in a two-inch bullseye. Variation: put the target out to seven yards, but go even faster, keeping the shots in a six-inch circle. (With this one I'm always trying to find the maximum speed at which I can achieve those accuracy goals.)

I also like to do a bit of two-target shooting. Here's one drill: Load four rounds. Draw and shoot left target once, right target twice, left target once. Reholster. Repeat in reverse order. Here's another: draw and shoot right target, left target, emergency reload from slidelock, shoot right target, left target. Repeat in reverse sequence. (Of course if someone else is loading your magazines, have them slip a snap-cap in one of them without telling you where it is.)

Then there's this: at fifteen yards, my draw-and-shoot goal is to keep rounds in a six-inch circle when I'm trying to go fast. When taking my time, my goal is a two-inch circle.

Unfortunately, I don't have a place to shoot that lets me move around, so all the movement related stuff has to be done with dry fire, but that's some of what the local range lets me do.
 
sorry my search was "shooting drills" I did not find any recent ones so I figured I would start this one and ask what your drills are and how you do them.
 
Unfortunately, I don't have a place to shoot that lets me move around, so all the movement related stuff has to be done with dry fire, but that's some of what the local range lets me do.

I was going to ask about movement.
 
"...going to ask about movement..." You should be practicing shooting from cover in low light. SD is about stopping an immediate threat, not fire and movement.
While the shooting games(IPSC/IDPA) are just that and have little to do with reality, they are good practice for shoot/no shoot targets and movement. Competitive shooting does put some stress on you. Lets you get extremely familiar with your pistol too. That's more important than anything else. Lots of fun, as well.
 
SD is about stopping an immediate threat, not fire and movement.
Disagree-getting off the X is a fundamental of self defense, along with stopping the threat. Shooting while moving is a great skill to master.
I was going to ask about movement.
I practice moving off the line of fire using targets and an Airsoft gas blowback Glock.
 
In general, gunfights consist of about 50% shooting and about 50% not getting shot. Getting off the X is an important part of that last 50%. Once someone has the basics of safe gunhandling, shooting and hitting a target from a static position down pat, it's time to move on. With an emphasis on 'move.'

At that point, IMHO, professional training is in order. Once properly trained, then it is up to the student to practice those new skills regularly.

jmho, ymmv,

lpl
 
Training is priceless, but you can do better than just shooting bullseyes until/after you can get some training. As mentioned it may have to be in your basement with airsoft if you don't have a good location.

Move move move

I practice walking backwards and shooting, moving left to right while shooting, and moving behind cover.

Practice:
with one hand (both!)
on a knee
shooting over a car (hood/truck)
around walls

Once you are winded from the above, THEN go shoot some stationary targets, your groups will explode from "pretty good" into mediocrity until you learn to shoot with your heart beating through your throat.
 
You should be practicing shooting from cover in low light. SD is about stopping an immediate threat, not fire and movement.

Agree with the first sentence wholeheartedly. Agree with the first part of the second sentence, but not so much the latter. After all, there are certainly times I can imagine I'd dearly, dearly want to both move and shoot while doing so. If I can do so, I have an advantage. If I can't, I don't. Thus do I ever seek to improve.

As to movement, my basic dry fire biz involves simple things like sidestepping when drawing, clearing malfunctions, reloading. At home, this means one big step sideways while drawing and presenting pistol to target. One big step sideways while reloading. One big step sideways while clearing a malfunction (except in cases of absurd slowness or goofs, which involves more sidestepping and cursing). Ideally, this stepping would mean “movement toward cover.” Basic movement established, the sidestepping turns into “get out of the way as quickly as possible while maintaining some semblance of control.” (I'm always looking for the maximum speed at which I can achieve useful results. Right now, that's not very fast.)

Movement also includes the sorts of things orvpark mentioned, with a sort of “treadmill” gait (as non-bouncy as possible) forwards, backwards, sideways, at odd angles. Then there's the shooting one-handed while moving, utilizing the same attempt at controlled, non-bouncy movement. Then there's the “go as fast as possible while maintaining some semblance of control.” (Thus far, by the way, I'm only moderately crappy with controlled movement via “treadmill” gait. I go too fast, things go from moderately crappy to really crappy.)

Training is priceless...

I see prices on it all the time. :)
 
Self defense

is as much about not geting shot as it is about stopping the threat. Moving to cover and shooting while moving as well as shoot and move should be practiced as much as possible. I am fortunate that I belong to a large club where I can almost always find a range to myself. I normaly hang up multiple targets and practice the normal draw and fire drills. If using one target, usually because I am lazy, I will draw and fire two, reholster and repeat til empty. With my 1911's I load one in the pipe for a total of 9 shots which means I will have to reload for that second shot at some point. If I am getting serious I will mix in dummy rounds with my ammo to practice fail to fire drills and mag changes. If you have plenty of mags you can load them all up before shooting and you won't know when the duds are coming. One FTF and you simply rack the slide and re-engage the target. If you get two FTFs back to back you drop the mag, reload and get back into the fight.

Instead of standing still I do things like practicing shoving the imaginary attacker back with my left hand and moving backwards while drawing with my right and firing. If you are up close and personal your best bet might be to draw and fire one handed while the gun is still low. I practice both aimed an unaimed fire. I also occassionally shoot while moving left and right as well as forward. There are good videos on the web about how this is done.
 
I almost forgot

If you carry a BUG, incorporate it in your practice like you would should your main carry gun go down. My LCP is always carried in my left front pocket regardless of weather I am carrying another gun. If your main gun goes down you may be left holding it in your strong hand. Reholstering may take more concentration than you can afford at the moment especially if you have not practiced it. When doing FTF drills I will occasionaly draw and fire my bug left handed only while holding onto the downed gun with my right. This gives you the option of moving to cover with the malfunctioning gun while covering yourself with your bug.
 
i have alot here, this list hasn't been updated in a while so forgive me. if you have any questions about any of them let me know. be advised i am currently deployed and it might take me 24 hours to get back with you.

1)MEU-SOC AR Qualification
2)MEU-SOC Pistol Qualification
3)Bill Drill
4)El Diablo
5)El Presidente
6)Tueller Drill
7)Shooting on the Move
A) Forward
B) Backwards
C) Left to Right
D) Right to Left
E) Weaver drill Forward and backwards
F) Weaver drill right to left and left to right
G) Box drills (1 man, 2, 4 or more)
H) To and from cover
1)2 hands
2)Strong hand
3)Weak hand
8)Lowlight drills
A) Syringe
B) Neck Index
C) FBI
D) Harris
9)Positions
A) Supine
B) Prone
C) Sitting
D) Kneeling
E) Fetal Positions
F) Urban prone
G) Rice patty prone
H) SBU
10)Behind Cover
A) High
B) Low
C) Medium
11)Dot drills
A) 21 shot drills
B) Cognative drills
C) Rythmatic shooting
D) Allen Dots
E) Shrinking Dots
F) Dot Torture drill
1)Weak hand
2)Strong hand
3)2 hand
12)Reloads
A) Tactical
B) Emergency
1)2 hand
2)Strong hand
3)Weak hand
13)Transitions
14) Ready Positions
A) Covert Ready
B) Center hold
C)Holstered etc
15)Buddy Team drills
A) Peels
B) Bound forward and back
C) Buddy team 1st aid
16)Reflexive Fire
17)Turn and shoot
A) 90degrees.
B) 180degrees
18)SEB Drills (combat focus shooting)
A) SEB targets (up and number drills)
B) Colored numbers , shapes and sizes etc.
19)F.A.S.T.
20)Hostage drills
21)Multiple Targets (2-3 or more)
22)Malfunction clearance
A) Type 1,2, and 3
B) Strong, weak , and 2 handed
23)Moving targets
24)Get off the X drill
25)Retention Positions
A) Regular
B) Guarded
C) Hand on shoulder
D) Defending the SUL
26)Center hold break contact drill
27)Modes of fire
A) FTS
B) Hammers
C) Controlled Pairs
D) NSR’s
E) 2-3rds
F) 4-6rds
28)Speed drills
A) notebook paper, whole, ½, ¼ etc.
B)Push your limits drill
29)Shooting from a vehicle
30)Alternate sighting Techniques
A) Red dot down
B) Shooting through the notch
31)Offset (rifles)
32)Shoot no shoot scenarios
33)Draw stroke, by the numbers.
34)Slovakian malfunction clearance
35)Mag pul barricade
36)½ and ½ drill (vtac)
37)1-5 drill (vtac)
38)2-2-2 drill (vtac)
39)Check drills
40)Figure 8
41)Moving- move
42)Hackathorne standards
43)Magpul BSA
44)CFS Balance of speed and precision
45)Highsmith drill
46)Stronghand/ weakhand work out
47)shoulder switch
48) won't die drill
 
sorry they are all jumbled i tried to fix them but this is the way that they keep comming out when i post. if you want i will send you an email with the word document attached, that might make things easier for you op. anyone for that matter that wants these and or info about them send me a pm or an email.
 
Go with a friend, have him load your mags, and have him slip a dummy round into one of your mags.

Great advice. Your clearing of a ftf / misfire / stovepipe, etc, will increase exponentially if the drill is timed, but start slow and easy. Get the techniques down - speed will come with time.
 
Please: Help with movement

I believe that movement and a loud fast noise saved my life.

I was on patrol when I was surprised one night by what I thought was just one perp. He got off the first shot (with a revolver) and I leveled him with a 12 gauge. A second one popped up from some high grass pointing a handgun while my shotgun was at port arms. I fired two times from the hip while running 10 yards to cover. He escaped and there was no evidence that I ever hit him, but more importantly, he never got off a shot and I remained un-perforated. Well, maybe a loud fast noise (two in this case) never killed anyone, but I'm sure that it helped keeping me from being killed.

I would have preferred to have taken the second perp out too, but I did not have the skill to get the job done and I still don't. I'm hoping to get the opportunity to take a course teaching that skill, but it won't be for a while.

So, what I'm looking for is a DIY course, in book and/or DVD format in the meanwhile - preferably with reviews on their content. Any help would be appreciated.
 
I think the best way to train, probably, is doing force on force with a partner and a couple airsoft guns, as you can have the target actually move and shoot back in an extremely realistic manner. Smince linked to Suarez's FoF DVD, and while I haven't seen the DVD, I have gone through one of Suarez's FoF classes, and it was excellent. Obviously you won't be able to train with a partner as often as you can by yourself, but you might want to consider working atleast a little FoF into your training schedule.
 
Force-on-Force training is a very eye-opening experience.

However, if you do get an Airsoft gas blow back gun for this training, you will find it is useful in other areas. Depending on where you live your back yard, garage or basement can become a shooting range to practice some of the other drills mentioned in this thread if you can't get to live-fire often.
 
smince & Banfield - thanls for your input.

Ten or eleven years ago I took an "Urban Carbine" course (using ARs, Mini 14/30 and AKs) from a guy named Jim Crews. IIRC Gabe Suarez showed up to whet our appetities for more training with him. We were very impressed with his teaching ability and skill and if it's the same guy I'll be taking a course with him. Does he teach it himself or does he delegate it to his assistants?
 
He has instructors all over the country, and a few overseas. They teach the same material Gabe does, so you get good instruction no matter who leading the class.

I've taken two classes with Gabe and two with Randy Harris. Randy is out of Chattanooga, but teaches some in GA and FL.
 
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