When I train y’all I go over the basics of marksmanship. I train you first in what I call defensive shooting at distances out to ten yards. Those are realistic in an assault and usually considering the distances you’ll likely encounter in your home if attacked there. The statistical records of forensic study show that attacks on persons run for the most part from contact distance to seven yards. CHL training takes into consideration other factors and we train you to a maximum of fifteen yards as you know.
In keeping with me upgrading the quality of my training of you, I will now deal with the marksmanship aspects of your handgun training. THIS IS MANDATORY IT IS NOT A REQUEST AND IT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE OR YOUR LOVED ONES!!! ……. You must learn what you and your weapon are capable of at distances and ranges that you MAY have to deal with……..Yeah I know but then there’s that one time. Better to need it and not use it than to need it and not KNOW how to use it.
IF YOU ENJOY CHALLENGING YOURSELF THIS CAN BE SO MUCH FUN SO TRY IT.
If you have a place to shoot out doors do this at twenty five yards or twenty five steps normal stride. Set up a table of some kind and improvise a rest or bring one for your weapon. If you have to do this at an indoor range, run the target as far out as it goes, get a chair and once again use a rest
1. Outdoors if not a range, make sure you have a good backstop and make sure of what’s beyond it.
2. Targets: Use a silhouette (B27) and put one of those shoot n see round or oval (large) stick- on in the center of it. This will allow you to see your hits, and force yourself in these games to look at the sight picture not at the hits until you’ve fired your rounds. Someone else can spot for you if you like but you concentrate on sight picture and trigger squeeze. If you want to put a four foot stick in the ground with a balloon tied to it and try to hit it or tape it onto the shoot n see on the silhouette. If there’s a breeze you’ll have a blast tryin to hit that balloon.
3. Indoors or Outdoors sit at the table and rest the butt of your weapon on the rest that you improvised or sandbags or whatever so that your sights are at eye level. At first, don’t rest the barrel just hold the weapon so you can figure out how to hold for windage and elevation. Line up your sights so that the sight picture shows you they are all lined up evenly across the top and the front sight blade is centered in the rear with equal amount of light on either side. Put the sights on the target so that the shoot n see sits right on top like the moon or at what is known as the six o’clock position. If you have a semi auto or revolver with an exposed hammer (now you stop and say to yourself 3 times FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER..FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER..FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER..and) cock the hammer. Now put your finger on the trigger and put just enough pressure on the trigger to do what is known as taking up the slack (semi autos) revolvers should just put the finger on the trigger. Take a breath, look at the sights/target, let half of the breath out and squeeze………….BANG! REPEAT…..FOR FIVE ROUNDS. LOOK AT YOUR TARGET. How’d you do? Repeat that process and swing over to try and hit the balloon for the fifth round.
4. Now that set -up except this time move your sights or raise your hold to get you sights on the center (usually a red circle or vertical oval) of the target/shoot n see. Do this for three groups of five shots each at each point on the target. This will tell you where your sights are set and how you are doing with proper sight picture/alignment. Do this for 50 rounds, cause you’ll find that’s just about the point where you either get bored or frustrated. Then your practice doesn’t do you any good.
If you reach a point of just doing something for the fun of challenging yourself try this. Take a break from the marksmanship part and put another four foot stick in the ground with a golf tee stuck in the top or attached so you can set an egg on the tee. You can also staple or tape a playing card to the stick or turn over a red drink cup and try to hit those. That sh*t is just plain fun folks. They also work great for teaching kids with a bb or pellet gun or .22 and one for both of you would be to try to hit a lollipop of any size at that distance. Kids love it.
Why do I teach you this if the self defense distances are so much closer? Come on y’all, think. You just might have that one encounter with the “rocket scientist” criminal you HAVE to engage at that type of distance. Let me give you an example: June 20, 1994 at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane Wash., a recently section 8 discharged airman went on the base with an AK 47 copy and went to the base hospital where he opened fire first inside and then out in the parking lot. He wound up shootin 27 people killing several including an 8 year old little girl in the cafeteria until an “Ape” Air Policeman who rode up on his bike in response engaged him with a 9mm Beretta he’d never even fired (it was just issued to him) and took him out with a shot to the head that entered just to the right of his nose and blasted the top of his brain to spray. He fired five rounds total from his handgun against a rifleman shootin at him. The AP had taken a kneeling position and from his own reports thought he was shootin at no more than thirty yards and couldn’t understand why he was not hitting him. Each shot was carefully aimed and fired and upon stopping the attacker the A.P. had to enter the hospital to clear it of any possible other shooters where to his horror he discovered the eight year old child by slipping in the pool of her blood as he entered to clear the cafeteria. He lives with that and the thought that if he’d only got there sooner………. The forensic investigation showed that the Air Policeman had NOT engaged the nutball at 30 yards at all. IT WAS SEVENTY THREE YARDS WHEN HE MADE THE HEAD SHOT THAT STOPPED THE NUT…and he had hit him twice. YEARS before the Ft. Hood murders folks. You can read about that in the current edition of American Handgunner in The Ayoob Files.
You never know when you might need it so know how to do it. What if that was your eight year old or mine…..?
I will be practicing at Marksman Indoor Range in South Houston , Sunday Dec. 6, 2009 at 1:00 pm I will also be there practicing on Sunday the 27th at the same time please try to come by and join me. You have to practice folks. I can’t stress it enough. Your life and liability could depend on it. If you got in a deadly force situation and faced the aftermath of both a grand jury and the bad guy’s attorney you will have to explain why you didn’t practice at all or you may be accused of practicing too much. I’ll take my chances with the latter. You don’t have to do it like I do but you do have to do it.
Eddie OUT
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