As any good handgun skills instructor or coach already knows, a required component of improvement is an accurate and immediate feedback loop. If you don’t know exactly what you’re doing wrong, it’s awfully hard to get better. If you don’t have a way to confirm when your actions are correct, you don’t know when you’re […]
Why You Shouldn’t Shoot Small Groups – Defensive Pistol Training
While satisfying, shooting small groups at every range outing won’t do you too much good for defensive shooting training. If you use a gun for concealed carry or home defense, tiny groups are not always your friend. Read the rest: Why You Shouldn’t Shoot Small Groups – Defensive Pistol Training
Pistol-Shooting Tips: Improve Your Handgun Skills
Transmit recoil to the ground? Check your work through your sights? Interesting visuals that may improve your shooting… Just what you always wanted—a handy “cheat sheet” of ways to shoot better. Read the rest: Shooting Illustrated | Pistol-Shooting Tips: Improve Your Handgun Skills
What to Expect the First Time You Shoot a Handgun
I wish I’d been able to shed my pride and ask someone what to expect the first time I shot a semi-automatic pistol. Let’s say the episode ended prematurely and with a lot of my blood covering my gun, my shooting bag and the indoor range. No, no one got shot. I just managed to cut […]
Taking a First-Time Shooter to the Range
How to ensure that your first-time guest enjoys a range outing. If you want to protect gun rights, the shooting sports and your ability to defend yourself and your family, the single most important thing you can do is to bring a first-time shooter to the range. On numerous occasions, I’ve brought hard-core anti-gun friends […]
Best Drills to Make You a Better Handgunner
Just like holsters, there’s always a new shooting drill on the market that will test your skills and either make you feel invincible or humble you in depressing new ways. Here are a few of my favorites. They make the list for a variety of reasons including simplicity, a variety of skills tested, and challenge. […]
I Hope I Never Have to Draw…
In the comments section of a concealed carry article I wrote a while back for another publication, I read the following: “I HOPE I NEVER HAVE TO DRAW BECAUSE I CAN’T…” Needless to say, the opening words of that particular response got my attention, and I had to read on. This particular individual had chosen […]
Slide Release vs. Racking: Pros and Cons
Semi-automatic pistols have a neat little lever on the side that both locks the slide open and allows it to close. This feature has both administrative and “tactical” (for lack of a better word) purposes. Administratively, it’s handy for showing an empty gun and field stripping for cleaning and maintenance. Tactically, the lever is one […]
How to Connect: Front Sight Wobble Is Your Friend
I was training with a friend last week. I hadn’t shot with him before, so I didn’t have any idea of his level of skill with a pistol. After placing some targets at about 10 yards and starting to plink, he proceeded to drill the center box out of one of those miniature silhouette targets […]
Why Slow is Fast
All the tactical ninjas say, “slow is smooth; smooth is fast.” Is that just one of those “blah, blah, blah…” pithy comments that gets passed along with no real thought and analysis? I’m going to say no. Here’s why practicing in slow motion works and how it can help you develop important gun-handling skills like […]