Gents and Ladies,
I've been shooting guns for 30 years and thought I was pretty good at it, but I have had ZERO formal training prior to this.
I was surprised and impressed with how much I learned and how much fun I had at the Impact Training Facility at Mt. Carroll, Illinois. The "combat handgun" and "combat carbine" training was fantastic. And fun. And in the time since I got back and have been practicing at my local range I've noticed my shooting has really improved. Yesterday I was able to hit chest sized metal plates at 100 yards with iron sites on my bone-stock M1A (standing up, no bench) all day long. I can even hit the 100 yard plates with my 45 (standing up, no bench).
So here is the strategy/tactics part: Running. Or "runnin' and gunnin'" as Eric, my instructor called it. Although I've chased squirrels while trying to keep a bead on them with a .22, I've never consciously moved while shooting or practiced it. Turns out that in "real life" movement is everything. And hitting targets while moving is loads of fun.
We did a lot of work on the fundamentals of shooting. We did near/far target exercises. We did "controlled pair" exercises (as opposed to a double-tap, you get a sight picture for both shots in a controlled pair). We did mag change drills. We did holster draw and speed and tactical reloads.
But the most fun stuff was movement. Hitting steel plates with controlled pairs from a 9mm glock while closing distance from 25 yard to 7 yards is fun. Doing the same thing from 3 yards while backing up to 20 yards--fun. Same thing sideways. Turning around, finding the multiple targets and hitting them with controlled pairs. Fun!
We did bail-out drills (exiting vehicles while laying down covering fire). Movement with teams. Australian peel drills. "Jungle" drills. Moving target drills.
Really an excellent training facility and Eric, the new owner (took it over from USTF, formerly Blackwater last year) was an excellent instructor. I am definitely going back. I'm sure there are numerous training facilities like this but I've never been to one and can't recommend highly enough going to this one (or one like this one) if you've never been.
So the point of this post is that I think about strategy/tactics mindset/preparedness and train at the RANGE all the time but TRAINING WITH MOVEMENT was something I'd never done before and if you haven't ever trained with movement, you really ought to think about movement and think about getting some training for firing with movement.
It also made me think about my conditioning--huffing and puffing makes it harder to get shots on target. Running, kneeling down, taking shots, getting up, running, squatting down, popping up, taking shots, etc. really works you out and practicing being calm and controlling your rhythm and breathing takes work.
Here is a link to their site if you are interested:
http://www.impacttrainingcenter.co/Schedule/default.html
I've been shooting guns for 30 years and thought I was pretty good at it, but I have had ZERO formal training prior to this.
I was surprised and impressed with how much I learned and how much fun I had at the Impact Training Facility at Mt. Carroll, Illinois. The "combat handgun" and "combat carbine" training was fantastic. And fun. And in the time since I got back and have been practicing at my local range I've noticed my shooting has really improved. Yesterday I was able to hit chest sized metal plates at 100 yards with iron sites on my bone-stock M1A (standing up, no bench) all day long. I can even hit the 100 yard plates with my 45 (standing up, no bench).
So here is the strategy/tactics part: Running. Or "runnin' and gunnin'" as Eric, my instructor called it. Although I've chased squirrels while trying to keep a bead on them with a .22, I've never consciously moved while shooting or practiced it. Turns out that in "real life" movement is everything. And hitting targets while moving is loads of fun.
We did a lot of work on the fundamentals of shooting. We did near/far target exercises. We did "controlled pair" exercises (as opposed to a double-tap, you get a sight picture for both shots in a controlled pair). We did mag change drills. We did holster draw and speed and tactical reloads.
But the most fun stuff was movement. Hitting steel plates with controlled pairs from a 9mm glock while closing distance from 25 yard to 7 yards is fun. Doing the same thing from 3 yards while backing up to 20 yards--fun. Same thing sideways. Turning around, finding the multiple targets and hitting them with controlled pairs. Fun!
We did bail-out drills (exiting vehicles while laying down covering fire). Movement with teams. Australian peel drills. "Jungle" drills. Moving target drills.
Really an excellent training facility and Eric, the new owner (took it over from USTF, formerly Blackwater last year) was an excellent instructor. I am definitely going back. I'm sure there are numerous training facilities like this but I've never been to one and can't recommend highly enough going to this one (or one like this one) if you've never been.
So the point of this post is that I think about strategy/tactics mindset/preparedness and train at the RANGE all the time but TRAINING WITH MOVEMENT was something I'd never done before and if you haven't ever trained with movement, you really ought to think about movement and think about getting some training for firing with movement.
It also made me think about my conditioning--huffing and puffing makes it harder to get shots on target. Running, kneeling down, taking shots, getting up, running, squatting down, popping up, taking shots, etc. really works you out and practicing being calm and controlling your rhythm and breathing takes work.
Here is a link to their site if you are interested:
http://www.impacttrainingcenter.co/Schedule/default.html
Last edited:
