BassCliff
Ronin
Hi,
A couple days ago I took part in yet another Advanced Defensive Pistol Clinic at my range. Tonight I'm using my Mod.3 with the Holosun 507C. I take these classes about once a month just to keep up with my scootin' and shootin' skills. There's usually lots of motion and lots of targets along with some cognitive exercises so that you're not just standing there shooting static. You're also thinking and moving. Plus, it's fun! We started off with a nice clean range.
We each took a booth to stash our kit and waited for the targets to move downrange.
The targets were sent downrange and we ran through our warm-up drills.
We shot from 5 to 15 yards, with pivots 90° left or right and 180°. Usually the command was 3 to 5 to the chest but sometimes a head shot. At the end of the exercise my target looked not too bad.
After the warm-ups we ran a couple of long motion drills using some realistic bad guy targets.
For this one we started in one corner of the range and worked diagonally across the range left and right, continuing to close on the targets, starting at 15 yards down to 5 yards. The we worked our way back in reverse direction putting three to five on every target as we moved left and right.
Then, working with three targets, we went forward and backward, using a smaller diagonal between targets, back and forth between 15 and 5 yards. It's a little disorienting shooting while basically walking backwards.
All this was to get you used to moving and shooting while perhaps looking for cover. Then one of the instructors changed out the targets for a cognitive drill.
With these multi-bullseye targets, the corners were numbered "1, 2, 3, 4" and the middle bullseye was "B". Again from 5 to 15 yards, the instructors would yell different combinations of numbers and "B", we had to draw/shoot as quickly as possible in that order. Here's my target after the drill. The instructors were nice and said I was close enough to do damage.
Our next-to-last drill had two components. First; On command we would draw and put a double tap on the chest, at a good pace. We would increase the pace after every try. The class ran the drill five times, getting quicker each time. The last string was done in a time of 2.4 seconds as a class. (I'm sure some were quicker. I don't think I was the slowest.) Here's my target.
All my high center chest double taps were good. The other hits you see around the head was a "smiley face" drill. We were supposed to hit the eyes, nose, and smile circles under a certain time. My time was good but my accuracy wasn't even close. These old eyes couldn't even see those circles. I had to guess.
For the last drill of the day we did the traditional class standard drill. You've heard me talk about the "Fletcher Drill" and post my videos. I had one clean run at 9.05 seconds. I need 8 seconds or less to get my "Advanced" badge. One student ran it clean in under 5 seconds tonight. He's been a competitive shooter for a while. But it was awesome to see. Just in case you don't remember, the drill is 3-chest, 2-head on 1st target, reload, 3-chest, 2-head on second target. Here's an example from a few months ago.
And that's all the fun we had. We packed up our kit and left the range in a mess. They'll sweep it up tomorrow for recycling.
I'm hoping that my new threaded barrel for my XDM 10mm will get here soon. I'd like to shoot it the next time I practice, but it hadn't even shipped yet. Guh. I might have to wait until next week to go practice. We'll see when it arrives and what my schedule is. Thanks for letting me share. Be strong, do good, keep the faith.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
A couple days ago I took part in yet another Advanced Defensive Pistol Clinic at my range. Tonight I'm using my Mod.3 with the Holosun 507C. I take these classes about once a month just to keep up with my scootin' and shootin' skills. There's usually lots of motion and lots of targets along with some cognitive exercises so that you're not just standing there shooting static. You're also thinking and moving. Plus, it's fun! We started off with a nice clean range.
We each took a booth to stash our kit and waited for the targets to move downrange.
The targets were sent downrange and we ran through our warm-up drills.
We shot from 5 to 15 yards, with pivots 90° left or right and 180°. Usually the command was 3 to 5 to the chest but sometimes a head shot. At the end of the exercise my target looked not too bad.
After the warm-ups we ran a couple of long motion drills using some realistic bad guy targets.
For this one we started in one corner of the range and worked diagonally across the range left and right, continuing to close on the targets, starting at 15 yards down to 5 yards. The we worked our way back in reverse direction putting three to five on every target as we moved left and right.
Then, working with three targets, we went forward and backward, using a smaller diagonal between targets, back and forth between 15 and 5 yards. It's a little disorienting shooting while basically walking backwards.
All this was to get you used to moving and shooting while perhaps looking for cover. Then one of the instructors changed out the targets for a cognitive drill.
With these multi-bullseye targets, the corners were numbered "1, 2, 3, 4" and the middle bullseye was "B". Again from 5 to 15 yards, the instructors would yell different combinations of numbers and "B", we had to draw/shoot as quickly as possible in that order. Here's my target after the drill. The instructors were nice and said I was close enough to do damage.
Our next-to-last drill had two components. First; On command we would draw and put a double tap on the chest, at a good pace. We would increase the pace after every try. The class ran the drill five times, getting quicker each time. The last string was done in a time of 2.4 seconds as a class. (I'm sure some were quicker. I don't think I was the slowest.) Here's my target.
All my high center chest double taps were good. The other hits you see around the head was a "smiley face" drill. We were supposed to hit the eyes, nose, and smile circles under a certain time. My time was good but my accuracy wasn't even close. These old eyes couldn't even see those circles. I had to guess.
For the last drill of the day we did the traditional class standard drill. You've heard me talk about the "Fletcher Drill" and post my videos. I had one clean run at 9.05 seconds. I need 8 seconds or less to get my "Advanced" badge. One student ran it clean in under 5 seconds tonight. He's been a competitive shooter for a while. But it was awesome to see. Just in case you don't remember, the drill is 3-chest, 2-head on 1st target, reload, 3-chest, 2-head on second target. Here's an example from a few months ago.
And that's all the fun we had. We packed up our kit and left the range in a mess. They'll sweep it up tomorrow for recycling.
I'm hoping that my new threaded barrel for my XDM 10mm will get here soon. I'd like to shoot it the next time I practice, but it hadn't even shipped yet. Guh. I might have to wait until next week to go practice. We'll see when it arrives and what my schedule is. Thanks for letting me share. Be strong, do good, keep the faith.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
. Really though, I enjoy reading your reports. Hang in there. Eventually you will shock yourself and get that badge!