Posted on 04/18/2016 5:29:56 PM PDT by Lazamataz
The following are some thoughts I would like to share based on traveling the world while training various military, law enforcement and civilian personnel in pistol and carbine marksmanship. Some of you may agree, some may disagree, but my goal is to really get you thinking about what I said when you’re done reading this.
Muzzle Brakes
Muzzle brakes are great in a three gun match, but almost completely worthless in the real world. If you ever need to use your carbine while in confined spaces, as part of a tactical entry team, or during nighttime fighting, then you have no business putting one of these on your gun. Period. If you just go to a class and pound a bunch of rounds down range trying to look cool then it is tailor-made for you. So are Ronald McDonald shoes.
Electronic Hearing Protection
I honestly still have people show up to classes without electronic ear protection if you can believe that. This creates a borderline dangerous situation as you have a student who isn't hearing half of what the instructor is saying. Bottom line: if you can't afford good electronic hearing protection then you can't afford to be in the class. Instead, you should stay home and scrounge the neighborhood for soda cans and bottles until you get enough pocket change to buy a pair.
Sacred Cows of Training
Two of these come to mind: students who do tactical reloads nonstop, and those who constantly close the ejection port cover on their carbine. These two techniques are valid at the right time and place, but many of the students I see who are proficient at these sacred cows actually suck as shooters. Here's a tip from your Uncle Larry: work on being able to hit your target first, and then worry about secondary tasks like closing your dust cover. You may find out that in the real world the first makes the second largely unnecessary.
Skill
You can't buy skill. This is where students put every accessory known to man on their carbine, or have the so called 'combat' pistol they are using tuned with a stupid light trigger or some other heinous modification. Try saving your money you spend on stupid gadgets and apply yourself in a more productive way, like mastering sight alignment and trigger control. You will be amazed at how well you can shoot with even a box stock weapon.
Quality Over Quantity
Try to get the most out of every round you fire. You are better off going to the range and shooting 150 rounds and executing well designed drills that hone your skills than shooting five times that amount in a high round count 'entertainment' class where you run around like you’re in a first person shooter video game. In the real world, you’re accountable for every round you fire and only effective hits on target count. The bad guys don't give out style points for your dynamic mag dump in their general direction; they just return the favor with lead.
And last but not least,
Competition Shooting
Competition shooting is fun and exciting, but can actually be hazardous to your long-term health should you ever get in a gun fight and apply some of the 'match winning' techniques to try and win the gunfight. You don't get a staged walk-through in a life-or-death situation, and there is no range officer to tell you to load and make ready. I bring this up because I have seen students in classes who shoot a lot of competition and repeatedly begin a drill with an empty weapon. This in an era when over 40 states have concealed carry! Unreal.
That's all for now. I'm sure I’ve ruffled some feathers with these comments and some of the people reading this are probably cussing me right now. I couldn't possibly care less. Where I came from, we trained to enter hijacked aircraft and save lives- not win matches or impress people with Ninja gun handling skills. My goal is to get you thinking about what I said and hopefully some of you will make changes in how you train that could make the key difference some day when you need it most.
Larry Vickers Vickers Tactical Inc.
For example, while a bumpfire stock on an AR is cool -- and it's okay to have a toy like that! -- it should be switched out for the standard stock either at, or when returning from, the range.
I would say it is good to get competition shooting and dryfire drills, but I do see this trainer's point that the most important training is actual shooting, oiling your fundamental skills.
Interesting article from a pro in the field.
aim small ... miss small
I shoot 100 rounds of 22 LR out of a Buckmark every Sunday at 25 yards.
It makes me better with everything else.
Hardly anyone agrees with me on this but I am sure it is right.
The best way to become a good shot is to grow up with guns and do a lot of informal plinking with .22 rifles and pistols.
Having an accurate fairly powerful air pistol is also incredibly useful.
Ready. Fire. Aim!
Caused me to put my Rockola in a folding, pistol grip stock.
HAHAHA - me too! It’s amazing how good your eye gets.
I know these snipers . I know their logs and commendations. I know that we can kill these Wahhabi bastards at will. I want Donald Trump as President.
There was a Marine company (Romeo) at camp Lejeune in 1971 taught an obscure British technique at the range. We used Daisy lever action bb guns and shot at a small rolling white disks at around ten yards to start. It built up our confidence. If you watch Annie Oakley from older films you’ll see her do the technique and we know how good she was. We translated that to M-16’s and took range records some say. I’m sure they tell every Marine that though, haha. Even then, we were pure rock and rollers, no doubt in our minds.
That one always made me laugh. I'd see 100 (or more) guys on the range with their issued M-16's close that damned dust cover after every set. Why? So that 15 seconds later it would fly open with the next round?
I took BCT with the M-14, so don't know if that was a taught behavior when the Army switched over to Mattel's.
And closing the ejection port cover was a step we were taught when recovering from Inspection Arms. Never any other time.
This is my technique. Cheaper than .22 and improves your skills immensely.
Interesting you mention that. I grew up with a Daisy BB Gun. Pump style. After a couple of months the BB Gun lost power and I had to learn to arc the BB to the target. This rate was a very helpful tool that eye and hand coordination taught me. In Vietnam I was deadly accurate with the M-79 Grenade launcher. I learned to arc the round down range just like an under powered BB Gun.
Yep. On both counts.
Point shooting two days a week with my carry pistol and precision rifle practice , competition on weekends...... getting to old to heel toe, shoot and scoot, dance of death etc...... misspent youth, lots of sudden stops and more holes in me than I was born with keep me grounded to simple things such as altering a coyotes arrogance at 800 yards or a sod poodles tanning session at 300 yards..... No real time for “combat” anything shy of personal defense perishable skill sets.
Vickers speaks, one should listen. Pat McNamara is another one to follow... he’s my favorite to learn from. Also Todd Hodnett up in Canadian Texas..... runs Accuracy International. His work can be had on a DVD set called “Art of the Rifle” from magpul website or amazon........
Stay Safe Laz .....eat a cookie !!
NO COOKIE lol
I grew up back when my dad would buy me a brick of .22LR every weekend. Of course that was from age 12 or so. Prior to that he bought BB’s from Coast to Coast hardware in the little milk jug things.
Shouldering and firing a rifle is automatic to me now. BRM in Army basic training was a joke. I’ll always remember the DI telling me “save your rounds” when the 300 pop up came up. I nailed it first shot and he said “fire away private”. I hit 36/40 that day. One of 6 out of 230 to get Expert.
I can’t shoot a pistol to save my life.
Around 1962, I ordered a .22 Benjamin air pistol from Herters. It turned out to be much slower than the claimed 500 fps. On the other hand it was about as accurate as one could be.
That year one of our oak trees produced a bumper crop of huge acorns. They were just slightly smaller than a pecan. For some reason I tried throwing them in the air and trying to hit them with the Benjamin. The fact that I could actually see the pellet in flight helped and by a few days I was hitting more than missing.
I eventually graduated to a Colt Woodsman and Pennys. I eventually got to where I was about 95% on hitting them.
BTW, you hit them coming down and not where they stop at the top of the arc like some people just assume. It is a skill sort of like riding a bike. You never lose it but a little practice to get back in sync doesn’t hurt.
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