Handgun skill, practice, drills, and evaluations posts

[43.6N]

Here’s a fun comparison.
I met up with some guys to shoot today.
AR15 DMR type training out to 700.

When it was done they wanted to try their guns on the figure 5 drill.

3 very competent shooters had a cold run between 30-35 seconds.

Me having the benefit of this being my primary handgun drill ran it sub 30 cold with my 12.5” AR.
Height over bore definitely got me though on the accuracy.

I finished with a shotgun run for fun. 8 in the gun with a pocket reload. Awesome, devistating to the target, but also comparably slow. They were all supposed to be buckshot, but I think at least one bird shell made its way into the tube. Maybe some slugs too.

But the major takeaway was that shooting is shooting. That moving efficiently with a gun and Making hits at speed absolutely translates from handguns to carbines.

 

[PuceLemming62]

Inspired by discussion in the “Most reliable and Shootable pistols” thread, let’s discuss some basic pistol drills here.

A majority of handgun training material is focused on police or military use. So there is more emphasis on transitioning to other weapons, reloads, and other things that likely don’t apply to the average hunter. Making the assumption that most of us as hunters carry one handgun, with one magazine, and the other weapons on us may not be suitable for defense (bow, muzzleloader, etc.). So, I asked Form about a bear defense training or assessment drill.

Form’ suggested drill.

Grab your bear defense gun, and a couple loaded mags.

First, slow fire 10 rounds into NRA B8 at 25 yards for score. Form didn’t suggest a minimum, but I think a 90 is a reasonable goal.

Then:

“…3 of the same targets stacked in distance- one at 3.5 yards, one at 7, one at 15 yards. Start in the 15 yard target, shoot three rounds, then 3 at 7 yards, and 3 at 3.5 yards. All using a shot timer and all rounds must be in the 8 ring.”

If you shoot the drill post scores/times, and pics.
More to follow when I make it out to the range.

Thanks for the drills!

 

[ckt3]

But the major takeaway was that shooting is shooting. That moving efficiently with a gun and Making hits at speed absolutely translates from handguns to carbines.

Neat results and sounds like a great day. This quoted part reminds me of hearing a similar message from some well known shooters on YouTube (I forget which unit but they were former sf, delta, or devgru) but the message was if you can shoot a pistol well, you can pretty quickly shoot a carbine well too, as the pistol is more challenging to master and much of the skills/fundamentals carry over.

 

[43.6N]

Neat results and sounds like a great day. This quoted part reminds me of hearing a similar message from some well known shooters on YouTube (I forget which unit but they were former sf, delta, or devgru) but the message was if you can shoot a pistol well, you can pretty quickly shoot a carbine well too, as the pistol is more challenging to master and much of the skills/fundamentals carry over.

I agree. My experience at least, it seems to hold up in practice.

 

[43.6N]

I think I got it.
9 shots
Figure 5 drill
From concealment.
22.76s

 

[RockAndSage]

I think I got it.
9 shots
Figure 5 drill
From concealment.
22.76s
View attachment 1076410

Hell yeah. It cuts paper, it counts. Awesome to see man.

 

[TradLife406]

What are you guys using for shot timers?
The idea of dropping $350 on one seems ass a nine.

 

[Dave0317]

What are you guys using for shot timers?
The idea of dropping $350 on one seems ass a nine.

It’s crazy that they have gotten so much more expensive rather than cheaper. You would think this would be stupid old technology by now and pretty cheap.

I got one of these maybe 10 years ago and it was just over $100 back then. Now it’s almost $200.

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Works well but very basic.

Newer ones may have blue tooth and apps and things like that which may or may not add training value for you. Some of them integrate with USPSA apps or video software to be able to help you track and score things for competition.

 

[Formidilosus]

What are you guys using for shot timers?
The idea of dropping $350 on one seems ass a nine.

CED7000

 

[Hypernatremia]

for the past few months I have been shooting the FBI instructor qual drill pretty extensively, a few times a week with my Mark IV 22/45 and Tisas 1911 Tank Commander 9mm.

Started out with my best scores on the .22 in the 260ish range and the 240ish range on the 1911. Now I'm to the point where I can reliably shoot >290 cold with the .22 and >280 with the 1911.

The big breakthrough for me came from the first few pages of Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals by Brian Enos. He described an approach centered around a flow state entered while shooting where you do all your thinking and visualizing before hand and then clear your mind and observe what's happening during the string of fire. From there you identify a thing that isn't going well and make 1 change to effect that. Rinse and repeat.

In my own words, I am trying to observe without judgement and then react to what is actually happening, not what I want to happen. Instead of bouncing from technique to technique that I was scraping from youtube vids, I started paying attention to what wasn't working from a single baseline and then set a slow trajectory towards optimal through a process of elimination.

 

[43.6N]

for the past few months I have been shooting the FBI instructor qual drill pretty extensively, a few times a week with my Mark IV 22/45 and Tisas 1911 Tank Commander 9mm.

Started out with my best scores on the .22 in the 260ish range and the 240ish range on the 1911. Now I'm to the point where I can reliably shoot >290 cold with the .22 and >280 with the 1911.

The big breakthrough for me came from the first few pages of Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals by Brian Enos. He described an approach centered around a flow state entered while shooting where you do all your thinking and visualizing before hand and then clear your mind and observe what's happening during the string of fire. From there you identify a thing that isn't going well and make 1 change to effect that. Rinse and repeat.

In my own words, I am trying to observe without judgement and then react to what is actually happening, not what I want to happen. Instead of bouncing from technique to technique that I was scraping from youtube vids, I started paying attention to what wasn't working from a single baseline and then set a slow trajectory towards optimal through a process of elimination.

View attachment 1077823View attachment 1077824View attachment 1077825View attachment 1077826

Darn good work!