How Do You Practice?

[David E]

Here's how I practice: I identify an area that needs work then isolate that area to focus on it exclusively.

Some folks think they need to practice everything all the time, but that's not as productive.

In reality, there are a multitude of skills and subsets of skills. Some you're not even aware of at first. But breaking down a movement to its basic core usually reveals a small subtlety that had escaped your notice previously.

Sometimes, I'll work on the first shot. Only. From different distances and/or targets, but all I do is draw and fire one shot. My goal, of course, is to make the hit as fast as I can....but the hit must be made. A timer is very helpful here, as it'll tell you if the one that "felt" fast really was.

Other times I'll work on rapid recoil management (Bill Drills) again at different distances. Or target acquisition times, pure accuracy, strong or weak hand shooting, etc.

At some point, I'll combine as many elements as possible and see how it goes.

About the shot timer: most people would benefit by using one. "But I have a friend that times me with a stopwatch!" I've heard some say, "so why do I need a shot timer?"

Ok, let's say you do an El Prez and you do it twice in a row in 8 seconds. "Hey," you think, "that's pretty consistent!"....according to the stopwatch. But with a shot timer, a review of the shots of the first run reveals a 1.5 first shot, .21 splits, .33 transitions and a 2.15 reload. While the second string reveals a 1.25 first shot and a 2.96 reload, etc. not very consistent at all.

Personally, I don't want to "feel" fast, I want to BE fast.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I agree with this and also highly recommend that folks obtain a shot timer.

The timer never lies and isn't affected by mood.

What is great is it breaks down which part of your technique is lacking and lets you know what to work on

 

[9mmepiphany]

In the context of USPSA/IPSC shooting, I heard a very good shooter say, "If you're good enough to shoot doubles [meaning holes touching], then don't." He meant that if you're consistently grouping that tight, you'd be better off speeding up and letting the grouping drift a bit.

I just spent a weekend with an instructor that shot a Failure Drill in just over a second...granted it was only at 3 yards, but he did step sideways on the draw...and the 2 to the body were well within 1" of each other

There was a incident on the Internet where a father shot a perp that was shielding himself with the fathers daughter. A shot like that takes a lot of confidence in being able to put that bullet exactly where it needs to be while under stress.

I believe that was with a shotgun

 

[ATLDave]

What's a "failure drill"?

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Failure drill is reacting to a gun that does not fire. There are many types of failures, ie failure to fire, failure to eject, etc. These can all be practices, but the common approach is the old "tap, rack and fire" approach.

You can also just get crappy ammo and achieve the same results


(just kidding by the way).

 

[Sam1911]

"Failure Drill" usually refers to the failure to stop the threat (rather than the failure of the gun to work). Hence, two to COM (the body), reassess the threat, and one to the head to correct the failure.

Most of the time it's practiced as simply 2 body, 1 head as fast as possible, with no real time spent reassessing the threat.

Here's a write up on why it's often referred to as the "Mozambique" drill. http://www.shootingillustrated.com/index.php/17234/failure-drill/

 

[David E]

I think his failure drill referred to the "Mozambique" drill for a "failure to stop." Two hits center mass, third shot to the head.

There's a famous episode of Miami Vice where a top IPSC shooter portraying a bad guy does this very thing.

Edit: Odd, when I posted this, Sam's post did not appear before or after I hit "send."

 

[ATLDave]

IIRC, that Miami Vice shooter was played by Todd Jarrett.

And thanks to tall for the "failure drill" explanation. I'm familiar with the "Mozambique drill" moniker.

 

[Sam1911]

Naah, that was Jim Zubiena: http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Jim_Zubiena

At that point (1984) Todd had only been shooting competitively for about a year.

 

[mavracer]

A lot of my practice comes durring commercials, I'll practice dry firing or point shooting with the crimson traces, or practice reloads, draws or other skills. I do what I can for economy of motion pulling the trigger as fast as I can on a snub nose without the laser moving (or at least keeping it on a light switch).

When I go to the range I'll work on what ever skill I'm in the mood to master. I've done stuff as simple as draw fire one shot, reload and fire another to work on reloads to shooting a el prez.
I sometimes use my timer and sometimes I don't. A lot of times with say a plate rack I try to shoot it at a faster pace than I can to hit all six plates, until I start hitting all six.

 

[ATLDave]

Thanks! Better to be corrected than to persist in ignorance!

 

[9mmepiphany]

Thanks all for clarifying my post, sorry for any confusion

I did indeed use the term Failure Drill to refer to the Mozambique Drill. I learned it as the Mozambique also, but haven't heard the term in years in LE circles

 

[Officers'Wife]

My practice generally starts when my Dad visits and invariably starts with his "if you are going to carry that peashooter you are <expletive deleted> well going to train with it."
( I know,but he is my Dad)

I won't even try to describe the dirty tricks he uses for "distraction" at the practice session that follows. It generally takes four magazines to satisfy him.

 

[David E]

My practice generally starts when my Dad visits and invariably starts with his "if you are going to carry that peashooter you are <expletive deleted> well going to train with it."

( I know,but he is my Dad)



I won't even try to describe the dirty tricks he uses for "distraction" at the practice session that follows. It generally takes four magazines to satisfy him.

Does your dad shoot, or does he just watch you?

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Thank you for clarifying my error. It must be a local term for a "failure" being a misfire or jammed weapon over a failure to stop.

 

[Officers'Wife]

Does your dad shoot, or does he just watch you?

Hi David E.
His meanest trick is just as you are about to fire he will fire his 45 while standing behind you. He still expects us to hit the target even with the unexpected shot.

He generally uses the range after my brother, husband and I have performed with our weapons to his satisfaction. Our range on the farm has a 50, 100 and 300 yard line while the house Dad moved to is just six acres. He 'visits' to use the range about twice a week weather permitting. He has drawing and firing his old revolver (.45 ) down to an art form. When a retired employee shows up with his Webley it's time to put your pistols away unless you thrive on embarrassment.

 

[David E]

Your Dad sounds like he's a hoot!

 

[Kleanbore]

I've been thinking about this, and I am coming to the conclusion that Post #26 probably best describes what I should be doing and why, almost.

Wait--the question was, how do I practice.

My indoor range allows rapid fire but prohibits drawing from a holster, and one cannot move. So, I bring the gun up quickly and fire as quickly as possible, maybe three shots, maybe four, maybe one. My objective is to get every shot into an area the size of the upper chest and to have no flyers. I would shoot at ranges varying from five yards and out, but at my range, the lighting is such that the targets are not sufficiently illuminated until they are out seven yards.

Back to post #26. For me, it would be even better if one could have an external stimulus to identify both when to draw and what target is to be shot at, without premeditation.

I do have access to a range where I could do that, but it is a darn long drive.

 

[fastbolt]

Good questions, if your intention is to make people assess their practices. Comments in the quotation.

When you go to the range to practice, how do you go about it?

I'm not referring to pure recreational shooting, but:

repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency.

So, to improve your shooting skills...

1) What drills do you run? Either whatever's being run for quals or training on any particular day I'm working, or, if I have some extra time, some harder drills pushing me to demonstrate continued competency of the "basics" under stress.

2) How long does your session last? Depends how much time I have between other instructor/armorer obligations. Sometimes it's a little bit, and sometimes it's much of the day, afternoon or evening.

3) How many rounds do you typically shoot? As little as 5-10 rounds, or as much as 300-400 rounds.

4) How do you identify areas that need work? If I can't run the first 5-6 cold rounds to my expectations, regardless of what's being done. Sometimes I'll deliberately focus on something I don't feel like doing, or haven't done for a while. Practicing "within my comfort zone" is more of a warm up, for slow days/nights, rather than recurrent training/practice.

5) How often do you practice? 2-4 times per month.

Mostly, I'm probably more at the "prevent degradation" point than the "building new skills" point. Kind of like where I'm at in my lifelong pursuit of the martial arts. Sigh ...

 

[tarosean]

Bill Drills and easily replicated classifiers.

 

[MarshallDodge]

I am at the range 2-3 times a month and try to shoot at least 100 rounds each visit. This year I am down a little because of reloading supply shortages.

Bullseye targets, such as a B-8, for accuracy at 10 and 25 yards. Also shoot a 24x24" plate at 100 yards just for fun. Dot torture, 3x5 card, and the 1-hole drills are fun for slow fire.

I have access to a plate rack and run 50-100 rounds on it at a time using a shot timer to confirm speed. Plates and bowling pins are really helpful in pushing speed and transitions.

Other drills I practice are the Bill Drill and El Presidente. I have a couple steel "C" zone silhouettes that I will setup and practice drawing with the shot timer set with a particular time. Sometimes I will throw in movement and reloading into these sessions.

I also shoot the occasional IDPA, USPSA, or 3-gun match and this gives me an idea on how well I am doing compared to my peers.

I've created a shooting journal but have not been real good about entries. That is an area I really need to stay disciplined.