Practice for things that could happen..
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Practice for things that could happen..
Just a couple of random thoughts about concealed carry and shooting practice.
First off, have you gone to a restaurant whose only seating was in booths, and rather snug ones at that? If using a pocket carry setup, could you draw and present your firearm without having to stand up? Is a belt or shoulder rig any better? Is it possible to get under the table? Should you always try to sit towards the aisle side of the table, if you are the group's "designated shooter" for the evening? Probably not such cut 'n' dry answers, in many cases. Not something to lose sleep over, just food for thought, no pun intended.
Have you ever done an "ID scenario" at the range? This requires a partner, so you can set it up for each other. Have one person face away, while the other is downrange putting props--such as toy guns, knives, lighters, cameras--on the targets. When the drill starts (let the guy downrange come back first, please! ) turn around and sort out good guys from hostiles by what the targets are "holding". It will slow you down, making you think and perform at the same time, and perhaps force some lateral movement. These are good skills to have, and may help save your bacon in a real situation.
First off, have you gone to a restaurant whose only seating was in booths, and rather snug ones at that? If using a pocket carry setup, could you draw and present your firearm without having to stand up? Is a belt or shoulder rig any better? Is it possible to get under the table? Should you always try to sit towards the aisle side of the table, if you are the group's "designated shooter" for the evening? Probably not such cut 'n' dry answers, in many cases. Not something to lose sleep over, just food for thought, no pun intended.
Have you ever done an "ID scenario" at the range? This requires a partner, so you can set it up for each other. Have one person face away, while the other is downrange putting props--such as toy guns, knives, lighters, cameras--on the targets. When the drill starts (let the guy downrange come back first, please! ) turn around and sort out good guys from hostiles by what the targets are "holding". It will slow you down, making you think and perform at the same time, and perhaps force some lateral movement. These are good skills to have, and may help save your bacon in a real situation.
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!
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1911 and Browning Hi Power Enthusianado.
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Re: Practice for things that could happen..
The Bend of the River club in southwestern Michigan used to use that set up frequently in their IDPA matches. By changing the good guys/bad guys for each shooter, nobody is able to "game" the system.Brian D. wrote: Have you ever done an "ID scenario" at the range? This requires a partner, so you can set it up for each other. Have one person face away, while the other is downrange putting props--such as toy guns, knives, lighters, cameras--on the targets. When the drill starts (let the guy downrange come back first, please! ) turn around and sort out good guys from hostiles by what the targets are "holding". It will slow you down, making you think and perform at the same time, and perhaps force some lateral movement.
This technique makes you pay close attention to just whom it is that you are shooting. It may also produce a satisfying brain-lock that can make you realize just how much more practise and training you really need.
In a match hitting a no-shoot target can cost you ten points. On the street hitting a no-shoot target can cost you ten years...
TunnelRat
"Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States." ~ McDonald v. Chicago
When your only tools are a hammer and sickle, every problem starts to look like too much freedom.
"Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States." ~ McDonald v. Chicago
When your only tools are a hammer and sickle, every problem starts to look like too much freedom.
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Another one my little practice group springs from time to time is to have the shooter run up to his gun, which is in a box. The gun has been put into some relatively common state of inoperability. (For example, if it's a semiauto, you open the box to find the gun in the midst of a stovepipe malfunction. If a revolver, perhaps the cylinder isn't quite closed.) In any event, you are clearing the gun and then operating it, under the clock. Sometimes we stage the gun right next to "cover", and see if the shooter remembers to USE IT while getting the gun running.
A variation on this is to use a "mystery gun" in the box. (This one is loaded and ready to go.) Idea being that you are in a 'No CCW' area without your own firearm when trouble begins, and have to use a gun taken from a downed security guard or BG.
Again, thinking under the clock, plus getting some trigger time with a firearm perhaps very dissimilar to your own.
A variation on this is to use a "mystery gun" in the box. (This one is loaded and ready to go.) Idea being that you are in a 'No CCW' area without your own firearm when trouble begins, and have to use a gun taken from a downed security guard or BG.
Again, thinking under the clock, plus getting some trigger time with a firearm perhaps very dissimilar to your own.
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!
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1911 and Browning Hi Power Enthusianado.
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1911 and Browning Hi Power Enthusianado.
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By the way, I realize that the situations described above aren't LIKELY circumstances, just things that could (and have) happened to others.
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!
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1911 and Browning Hi Power Enthusianado.
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We have had some interesting scenarios at the IDPA match I go to. One was "The Bus" we were the "driver" and there was a incident. What we had to do is stand, turn around and shoot the steel plate over. That popped up a letter, X, Y or Z. We then had to engage the proper targets without any pass throughs on targets of another letter. If we were lucky enough to get a letter that had two BGs in a row, we still had to engage them seperately.
Another one was were we were in a checkout lane, in a CPZ, and it was being robbed. We had to take the cashiers gun from the register, opening a box and puling out our own gun, and engage.
There was also the one where they had a weight with a strap on it, our partner, and we had to run, grab the strap and the gun, which was sitting on the weight and had a stove pipe, drag it back behind cover, clear the weapon and shoot head shots from low cover with a very limited number of shots.
Have you tried the one where there is a deck of cards stapled to a wall where you pulled out a card from a deck and had to shoot that card before you could move to where you could engage the targets? That one was pain as you had to find the proper card from among all the rest as fast as you could then make sure you actually hit it before you could evem move.
Another one was were we were in a checkout lane, in a CPZ, and it was being robbed. We had to take the cashiers gun from the register, opening a box and puling out our own gun, and engage.
There was also the one where they had a weight with a strap on it, our partner, and we had to run, grab the strap and the gun, which was sitting on the weight and had a stove pipe, drag it back behind cover, clear the weapon and shoot head shots from low cover with a very limited number of shots.
Have you tried the one where there is a deck of cards stapled to a wall where you pulled out a card from a deck and had to shoot that card before you could move to where you could engage the targets? That one was pain as you had to find the proper card from among all the rest as fast as you could then make sure you actually hit it before you could evem move.
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Practice
Pratice for the why you want to act. Act as if it was the real thing. I can tell you for a fact, when it hits the fan, it will be FAST, and all you can rely on is your training. You don't have time to think. It should just be ingrained in your head.
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Re: Practice
Agreed: the way you train is the way you fight.qm1edw wrote:Pratice for the why you want to act. Act as if it was the real thing. I can tell you for a fact, when it hits the fan, it will be FAST, and all you can rely on is your training. You don't have time to think. It should just be ingrained in your head.
The guys who goof off during training are the same guys who goof up in a fire fight.
TunnelRat
"Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States." ~ McDonald v. Chicago
When your only tools are a hammer and sickle, every problem starts to look like too much freedom.
"Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States." ~ McDonald v. Chicago
When your only tools are a hammer and sickle, every problem starts to look like too much freedom.
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Re: Practice
That would be an excellent sigline!tommcnaughton wrote:The guys who goof off during training are the same guys who goof up in a fire fight.
Daniel White
NRA Training Counselor
Northcoast Firearms Training
We must carry arms because we value our lives and those of our loved ones, because we will not be dealt with by force or threat of force, and do not live at the pleasure and discretion of the lawless. - Jeff Snyder
NRA Training Counselor
Northcoast Firearms Training
We must carry arms because we value our lives and those of our loved ones, because we will not be dealt with by force or threat of force, and do not live at the pleasure and discretion of the lawless. - Jeff Snyder
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Re: Practice
This is so true. At the match this weekend we had this guy who was shooting a 1911 of some type and ahd all sorts of problems. What starts it off is that he is left handed and had a totally right handed gun. When he drew the weapon he would reach over with his right thumb and push the safety down just so he could shoot. Then, when he needed to do a reload, he would again reach over with his right thumb and depress the mag release, pll out the mag and then start to gra the fresh mag with his right hand. It was done in a fumbling and very slow manner. We took him aside and showed him how to hit the mag release with his left index finger and he tried it nad liked it. But...when he did the next string he reverted back to reaching over the gun like he has been doing. After it was over he realized what he did and learned the lesson. Now he has to go and retrain himself to do it the right way. I hope he can over come that. I'm not betting on it though.tommcnaughton wrote:
The guys who goof off during training are the same guys who goof up in a fire fight.
We also told him that he needs to get an ambisafety put on that gun so he doens't have to take it off with the wrong hand. I'm not sure if he even listened to that advice though.
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Re: Practice
Alas, one of the best things about the M1911 is that it is primarily set up for left-handed persons (as is only right and proper!). The mag release and slide lock lever are both more easily accessed by a Lefty's forefinger than by the thumb of a genetically challenged shooter.jualdeaux wrote:This is so true. At the match this weekend we had this guy who was shooting a 1911 of some type and ahd all sorts of problems. What starts it off is that he is left handed and had a totally right handed gun. When he drew the weapon he would reach over with his right thumb and push the safety down just so he could shoot. Then, when he needed to do a reload, he would again reach over with his right thumb and depress the mag release, pll out the mag and then start to gra the fresh mag with his right hand. It was done in a fumbling and very slow manner. We took him aside and showed him how to hit the mag release with his left index finger and he tried it nad liked it. But...when he did the next string he reverted back to reaching over the gun like he has been doing. After it was over he realized what he did and learned the lesson. Now he has to go and retrain himself to do it the right way. I hope he can over come that. I'm not betting on it though.
We also told him that he needs to get an ambisafety put on that gun so he doens't have to take it off with the wrong hand. I'm not sure if he even listened to that advice though.
Unfortunately, the thumb safety wound up on the wrong side of the gun -- no doubt due to some bone-headed military committee. Of course, the 1911 doesn't really need an ambi-safety; it needs a lefty-safety.
What this picture doesn't show is that I've had the useless safety lever on the other side of the gun ground off...
TunnelRat
"Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States." ~ McDonald v. Chicago
When your only tools are a hammer and sickle, every problem starts to look like too much freedom.
"Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States." ~ McDonald v. Chicago
When your only tools are a hammer and sickle, every problem starts to look like too much freedom.
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Re: Practice
Then what do you do if your left hand is disabled in the fight and you need to shoot right-handed?tommcnaughton wrote: What this picture doesn't show is that I've had the useless safety lever on the other side of the gun ground off...
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Please, please, please, let's not get into one of those "ambi-safety: Good thing, or spawn of Satan?" internet flame wars! There's a bazillion other firearms sites out there with scads of keyboard kommandos aboard, just waiting for a topic like this to boost their post counts!
One can indeed learn to snick down the thumb safety with the other hand, it just takes practice. If I'm reading jualdeaux's post correctly, he was referring to a probable newbie (I hope a newbie!) who showed up at the CCFSA's IDPA match over the weekend, with no doubt a lack of overall skills re his choice of firearm.
We were all novices the first time, try to keep this in mind.
One can indeed learn to snick down the thumb safety with the other hand, it just takes practice. If I'm reading jualdeaux's post correctly, he was referring to a probable newbie (I hope a newbie!) who showed up at the CCFSA's IDPA match over the weekend, with no doubt a lack of overall skills re his choice of firearm.
We were all novices the first time, try to keep this in mind.
Quit worrying, hide your gun well, shut up, and CARRY that handgun!
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1911 and Browning Hi Power Enthusianado.
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1911 and Browning Hi Power Enthusianado.
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yeah, he was a newbie. I believe both he and his wife were both new to the game and had no trainig what so ever, with the possible exception of the extremely generic CCW training classes. She was using an XD sub and was doing rather well, considering her newness, but he had all sorts of bad habits from using a gun that wasn't set up properly for him.
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It is often a lot easier to train women to shoot than it is to train men. Women can freely admit that they don't know what they are doing and will both pay attention and then do what they are taught. Some men like to think that shooting has somehow been grafted in to their DNA at birth and any instructions they might receive come second to their own innate inner knowledge.jualdeaux wrote:yeah, he was a newbie. I believe both he and his wife were both new to the game and had no trainig what so ever, with the possible exception of the extremely generic CCW training classes. She was using an XD sub and was doing rather well, considering her newness, but he had all sorts of bad habits from using a gun that wasn't set up properly for him.
Let's hope that our new friend can find a firearm more suitable to him and that he can get some valuable training along the way.
I was reading somewhere of a prayer to the God of Knowledge. It goes like this: "I don't know".
TunnelRat
"Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States." ~ McDonald v. Chicago
When your only tools are a hammer and sickle, every problem starts to look like too much freedom.
"Applying the standard that is well established in our case law, we hold that the Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States." ~ McDonald v. Chicago
When your only tools are a hammer and sickle, every problem starts to look like too much freedom.
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