Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war,
And my fingers for battle
Psalms 144:1 NKJV
I got my first gun when I was just a little boy. It was a .22 caliber, single-shot Cooey rifle, and since Daniel Boone only needed one shot to down whatever he was shooting at, I figured he was a good example to follow. I loved that gun and I practiced until I could sling lead as well as my legendary hero, or so I thought at least. It took time, lots time, but the hours of practice shooting increasingly smaller and smaller targets eventually paid off. And that is when I learned that if you own a firearm, it’s important to train with it often.
A gun, like a car, can provide protection and enjoyment if you know how to use it safely and train to be proficient. For those of us who carry a gun for a living, that is exponentially more true. My years in Law Enforcement, SWAT, Private Security, and as a certified law enforcement handgun instructor have taught me that if you don’t train consistently with your firearms, your familiarity, proficiency, and accuracy will deteriorate.
A good friend who currently serves in Law Enforcement invited me and two other police officers to a range that allows those who are qualified, to train in more advanced tactics involving moving and shooting, multiple targets and so on. Training how you fight means that you wear the same gear that you do when you are working so everything feels and performs as it would when you are on the job. Sadly, most ranges don’t allow that but this range does making the time training there absolutely invaluable.
The standard protocol for most people hitting the range is to hang a paper target, load up magazines with ammo, and fire away hoping most of the rounds hit the target and preferably close to the center. The problem is that if you have a bad habit, and you put 50 rounds through your gun without correcting it, you just rehearsed or practiced a bad habit 50 more times. You are training yourself to become better at being inaccurate.
The better approach is to hang your target, then take your time ensuring your grip is correct, your stance and sight picture are good. Then most importantly, your trigger pull should be a slow and smooth squeeze and when the gun goes off, it should surprise you. Hold the trigger down for a split second then slowly release it until it clicks then stop, that is called the reset. Now you slowly squeeze the trigger again and if it surprises you by going off. That means you didn’t jerk the trigger making the gun go off which moves the barrel making the shot less accurate.
When I train I always have a plan. It starts with practicing fundamentals to make sure I have no bad habits. Then I load 3 rounds into 3 or 4 magazines. I slowly squeeze the 
trigger to ensure my trigger pull is right, go back to the reset and slowly pull it again. After firing 3 times I do a magazine change to make sure my technique is smooth and fast. And this is how training starts every time.
Then I setup whatever drill I want to work on that day. I need to make sure that I am prepared to win a gunfight in the unfortunate event I am forced into one. Standing static in front of a target is not realistic to what will probably happen in a gunfight. Moving and shooting forward and back then laterally in both directions is very challenging if you have not trained for that so I like to run a course of fire and shoot some video footage of myself so I can evaluate my movements and positioning. Make adjustments, then shoot another course of fire to re-evaluate.
It’s not about shooting a good target, it’s about perfecting fundamentals, then movements so that everything is smooth and efficient as well as accurate. Efficient and precise movement means you get effective rounds downrange more quickly and with effective hits. Working for hours to shave mere tenths of a second off the time it takes to draw your weapon and shoot accurately can mean the difference between life and death.
It’s precision training, fine-tuning, seating good habits, and developing consistently effective results. This is what wins gunfights. So this is what range day looks like.
If you own and carry a gun, I strongly urge you to train consistently both on the range with live ammunition, and dry firing at home. These skills are perishable so no matter how much experience you have, practice is necessary to be safe and effective in the unfortunate event you are forced into a gunfight.
If you are interested in tips and other interesting stuff related to firearms and firearm training I invite you to my new Locals Channel. It’s all free and devoted to helping people be safer and more informed.
