BassCliff
Professional
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Step right up for another mind-numbing, yawn-inspiring, eye-rolling episode of "Old Noob On The Range".
It was an evening full of thrills and chills, bobs and weaves, booms and bangs. At the end we all landed on the same firing line.
It was not a large class tonight, only ten participants. We had enough room downrange to run most of our drills all at once. A couple of the drills we ran only two at a time. This skills clinic would incorporate everything we've been practicing and learning in all the other clinics plus some extra mental stressors. We started with a bit of warm-up. On the command of "Up!" draw and shoot 3-5 center mass. On a number command, place one hit on the number. We started at 3 yards. So far, so good.
Let's take a closer look at mine.
Don't worry, my target will start looking ugly soon. Next we ran a rapid fire drill, two shooters at a time, sort of 5/6ths of a "Bill Drill". We performed four strings of five shots, each with a faster rate of fire. We had two instructors on each shooter, one to take slow motion video and the other to give commands.
The first string of five was paced bang-1000-bang-1000-bang, etc. The second string was bang-and-bang-and-bang, etc. The third string was bang-bang-bang, etc. The forth string was as fast as we could pull the trigger.
I started with circle #1 them moved on to #6, #4, and finally #2.
Let's have a little closer look at my target.
As you can see, I did OK with #1 and #6. As I picked up the pace with #4 the group started to spread out. The with circle #2 I really started to fall apart and got only three hits near the circle but the other two were way low and way high, actually in the #3 circle. Oops. The instructor also noticed that I was moving way past my trigger reset when trying to rapid fire. I'll practice that the next time I'm on the range. There's no need to go past reset when trying to fire as rapidly as possible. Doh!
The next drill was a weak hand drill. After transferring to the off hand, a double tap to the target as commanded. It's been a while since I've practiced off hand but I did OK from three and five yards.
Drill #5 added a bit of mental acuity. With each successive "Up!" command we were to rotate from the center box to the A box to the B box. In between the "Up!" commands could be a number command in which we were to shoot the circle below the number called. If there was no circle below the number called it then meant a head shot. Now, where was I? Later we added 90° and 180° pivots to the equation. Plus you had to remember to "get off the X" during a slidelock reload, plus search and asses after each string. Yes, they like the "tactical dance" steps here.
Drill #6 was a lot of fun. This incorporated movement, pivots, and extra cognitive stress that stretched your synapses. Two shooters at a time, with three targets in front of them, walked in a figure 8 around the two barrels.
The instructor would yell short commands that "suggested" a target. You had to stop, maybe pivot, find your target, draw, and fire.
Here's what the targets looked like. They had seemingly random shapes, letters, and numbers written on them.
The instructor would yell short phrases:"The closest star!", "Four corners!", "The number closest to your age", "The letter after J!", "The fist letter of John's favorite drink!", "Engagement ring!", and other such phrases. Here's a closer look at the targets I used.
If the phrase (clue) led you to a shape, you were to put one shot on the head. If it led you to a letter or number, three to five shots center mass. For example, "The number closest to the last digit of your phone number!" This led me to the target on the right (9), I put four shots in center mass. "What holiday is tomorrow?" led me to the heart on the left target where I put one shot on the head. All of this is going on while you're walking around the barrels, pivoting, figuring out which target to shoot and where it is, reloading, getting off the 'X', searching and assessing, re-holstering, wash, rinse, repeat, etc. Wow! Fun stuff!
Here's a view of the booths up range. You can see the 15 yard line.
For our last drill we moved a lot between the 3 yard, 7 yard, and 15 yard lines. One instructor would randomly yell "Front!", "Middle!", or "Back!" line for us to hustle (not walk) to that line. At any time the other instructor could yell "Up!" and we'd have to engage the target, wherever we were, pivoting as necessary, and also making sure we were all aligned with the shooter who was most forward, before we drew our firearm. We did not want anyone in front of us when we fired. Any instructor could yell "Stop!" if at any time someone was not in line, drew too early, or otherwise broke the rules where there was any chance of being unsafe. No one had to yell "Stop!" for the whole drill. The instructors were very pleased with the class. There are some really good defensive shooters in these clinics.
After almost two and a half hours of instructions and drills the instructors' debrief consisted mostly of telling the class how well we did. There were a lot of "Nice job!" and "Good shooting!" compliments going around among the participants. I'm looking forward to next month's clinic when they will incorporate some low light scenarios into the mix. I'll make sure my flashlight has good batteries. Hey, thanks for coming along and letting me share my fun.
Sorry, I never did get the slo-mo video of my rapid fire. The instructor was supposed to email it but I have not received it yet. Probably due to some technical glitch. Maybe next time.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Step right up for another mind-numbing, yawn-inspiring, eye-rolling episode of "Old Noob On The Range".
It was an evening full of thrills and chills, bobs and weaves, booms and bangs. At the end we all landed on the same firing line.It was not a large class tonight, only ten participants. We had enough room downrange to run most of our drills all at once. A couple of the drills we ran only two at a time. This skills clinic would incorporate everything we've been practicing and learning in all the other clinics plus some extra mental stressors. We started with a bit of warm-up. On the command of "Up!" draw and shoot 3-5 center mass. On a number command, place one hit on the number. We started at 3 yards. So far, so good.
Let's take a closer look at mine.
Don't worry, my target will start looking ugly soon. Next we ran a rapid fire drill, two shooters at a time, sort of 5/6ths of a "Bill Drill". We performed four strings of five shots, each with a faster rate of fire. We had two instructors on each shooter, one to take slow motion video and the other to give commands.
The first string of five was paced bang-1000-bang-1000-bang, etc. The second string was bang-and-bang-and-bang, etc. The third string was bang-bang-bang, etc. The forth string was as fast as we could pull the trigger.
I started with circle #1 them moved on to #6, #4, and finally #2.
Let's have a little closer look at my target.
As you can see, I did OK with #1 and #6. As I picked up the pace with #4 the group started to spread out. The with circle #2 I really started to fall apart and got only three hits near the circle but the other two were way low and way high, actually in the #3 circle. Oops. The instructor also noticed that I was moving way past my trigger reset when trying to rapid fire. I'll practice that the next time I'm on the range. There's no need to go past reset when trying to fire as rapidly as possible. Doh!
The next drill was a weak hand drill. After transferring to the off hand, a double tap to the target as commanded. It's been a while since I've practiced off hand but I did OK from three and five yards.
Drill #5 added a bit of mental acuity. With each successive "Up!" command we were to rotate from the center box to the A box to the B box. In between the "Up!" commands could be a number command in which we were to shoot the circle below the number called. If there was no circle below the number called it then meant a head shot. Now, where was I? Later we added 90° and 180° pivots to the equation. Plus you had to remember to "get off the X" during a slidelock reload, plus search and asses after each string. Yes, they like the "tactical dance" steps here.
Drill #6 was a lot of fun. This incorporated movement, pivots, and extra cognitive stress that stretched your synapses. Two shooters at a time, with three targets in front of them, walked in a figure 8 around the two barrels.
The instructor would yell short commands that "suggested" a target. You had to stop, maybe pivot, find your target, draw, and fire.
Here's what the targets looked like. They had seemingly random shapes, letters, and numbers written on them.
The instructor would yell short phrases:"The closest star!", "Four corners!", "The number closest to your age", "The letter after J!", "The fist letter of John's favorite drink!", "Engagement ring!", and other such phrases. Here's a closer look at the targets I used.
If the phrase (clue) led you to a shape, you were to put one shot on the head. If it led you to a letter or number, three to five shots center mass. For example, "The number closest to the last digit of your phone number!" This led me to the target on the right (9), I put four shots in center mass. "What holiday is tomorrow?" led me to the heart on the left target where I put one shot on the head. All of this is going on while you're walking around the barrels, pivoting, figuring out which target to shoot and where it is, reloading, getting off the 'X', searching and assessing, re-holstering, wash, rinse, repeat, etc. Wow! Fun stuff!
Here's a view of the booths up range. You can see the 15 yard line.
For our last drill we moved a lot between the 3 yard, 7 yard, and 15 yard lines. One instructor would randomly yell "Front!", "Middle!", or "Back!" line for us to hustle (not walk) to that line. At any time the other instructor could yell "Up!" and we'd have to engage the target, wherever we were, pivoting as necessary, and also making sure we were all aligned with the shooter who was most forward, before we drew our firearm. We did not want anyone in front of us when we fired. Any instructor could yell "Stop!" if at any time someone was not in line, drew too early, or otherwise broke the rules where there was any chance of being unsafe. No one had to yell "Stop!" for the whole drill. The instructors were very pleased with the class. There are some really good defensive shooters in these clinics.
After almost two and a half hours of instructions and drills the instructors' debrief consisted mostly of telling the class how well we did. There were a lot of "Nice job!" and "Good shooting!" compliments going around among the participants. I'm looking forward to next month's clinic when they will incorporate some low light scenarios into the mix. I'll make sure my flashlight has good batteries.
Hey, thanks for coming along and letting me share my fun.Sorry, I never did get the slo-mo video of my rapid fire. The instructor was supposed to email it but I have not received it yet. Probably due to some technical glitch. Maybe next time.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
