Most shooters train in static environments only, meaning the only shooting they do is on a stationary firing line. While static training is important, we don’t live in a static world. In a lethal force encounter, failing to move can get you killed. Lets look at shooting and moving.
Why Do We Freeze?
In many cases we are our own worst enemies when it comes to training. We practice our stance, locking in our grips and we become as rigid as statues. We go to the range and spend hours and thousands of rounds shooting from a stationary position. Our brain programs itself to understand that when we shoot, we stop. I see this when working with shooters who have never spent time on shooting and moving skills. They can be moving backwards, simulating exiting a hostile area. Their magazine runs dry and slide locks back. Against even common sense, they stop moving and execute a magazine exchange, then continue on their way. I would think when your gun runs out of ammo, it is time to pick up your exit speed, not stop completely, but the truth is we train ourselves to stop because we never practice our weapons handling skills on the move. The other problem is not having a plan. Where are you going to move to if you don’t know where to go or how to get there? If there is a lack of a plan, your default action will be to freeze in place.
Why Do We Move?
As we go through our day, we are rarely in good defensive positions. You can’t get though your work day working your way down your office hallway tactically using cover. If a threat presents itself, you should immediately look for your options. In most cases the best option is leaving the area. If escape isn’t an option, we need to fight our way to cover/concealment. If there is no cover/concealment available, as crazy as it sounds, the best option is to aggressively close the gap between you and the threat. No matter what you plan of action is, it is hard for your adversary to hit a moving target.
Pre Planning Movements
As we go through our day, it is always a good idea to play the “What If?” game. At any point in your day, ask yourself What If an armed person came through that door or out of that car? Take a look at your surroundings and options. What choices do you have and what option gives you the highest chance of success. Use mental imagery to navigate the route and execute your plan. Think about the challenges, stairs, curbs, etc. What is the distance to the place I want to be and how quick can I get there?
How Fast Should You Move?
In any situation, you should move as fast as you can accurately hit your target. The concept of cover/suppressive fire is nice if you have 500 rounds of ammo, but most of us will have a very limited ammo supply accessible and every round counts as it could be the fight stopper.
Training to Shoot and Move
In our Defensive Pistol 2 classes, we spend a great deal of time focusing on shooting and moving. From that point on it is used in every class. Shooting accurately can be difficult. Shooting accurately while you are moving IS VERY DIFFICULT. I highly recommend getting instruction by a qualified instructor before doing anything. The only thing worse than not training is bad training. Our instructors use several controlled, focused and safe techniques and drills to get you comfortable with shooting and moving. Once you are oriented to the basics there are many fun ways to keep your skills sharp. IDPA and other similar competitions involve movements and are an exciting way to get out of the shooting lane. Another way is using airsoft guns and targets. For example, set up a target at the top of the stairs. Get a good sight picture at the bottom of the stairs and start walking up while engaging the target. The most simple way and my preferred method is to get a BLUE GUN of your carry gun and cut the rear sight channel out. Now you have a 100% safe way to practice your moving skills. Pick a target and lock your sights in. The practice forward, lateral and backward movements while keeping your target in your sights. If you are able to keep your sights on, speed the process up a little at a time and you will be surprised how fast you can move while you are able to accurately engage threats.
Add it to Your Toolbox
Shooting and moving is a necessity for you defensive toolbox. It is a fun and challenging skill to learn that can drastically increase your chances of success in a gunfight. As I said, it is important to learn this skill from a qualified instructor because if the training is done wrong, it can get real unsafe and dangerous very quickly. Push yourself and advance your skills, but do it the right and in safe way. Thanks for your time and I look forward to seeing you at some of our advanced training offered at the Bridgeport Shooting Range. As always, stay safe!
Be safe and remember, Failing to Train is Training to Fail! Email David at david@apctraining.com with comments, questions, or topics you would like him to cover in a future article.
We have all taken that impromptu overnight trip and if you are like me, you always seem to forget something. That something could be small, like a cell phone charger, but not it having can cause all sorts of grief for you. You either end up traveling without a charged phone, or have to take time and waste money to purchase another charger. When we get our gear together for a training class, we want to plan out what we need, want and possibly extra gear just in case. This month we will take a look at putting together a range bag for training classes.
ining for your buck. Magazines also tend to break or fail at the worst times. It would be a shame to ruin a $1000 class because your $20 magazine failed on the line and you did not have an extra on hand. With that in mind we also want to bring some type of small cleaning/repair kit. Many manufacturers like Otis make prepackaged ones. You can also put a kit together your self. A bore snake, some cleaner/lubricant, firm toothbrush and any breakdown tools if they are needed. If you know how to change them, extra parts like firing pins, extractors and trigger springs can be quick fixes if you have the parts on hand. Whichever you decide, keep the kit in a heavy duty freezer bag. Gun oil is great on guns, not so great when your kit leaks all over everything else like ammo or leather gear. Be sure to bring the required amount of ammo for the class. 
Most advanced classes require you to wear a belt, holster, and mag carrier. Just like our magazines, belts, holsters or mag carriers have a mind of their own and will fail smack in the middle of a class. Preplan for this and pull your second favorite holster/mag carrier out of your drawer and keep it in your bag. They do not take up to much room and should you ever need it, you will appreciate being able to jump back into the game without delay.
Flashlights are an important defensive tool and are often worked into training. As with anything that requires batteries, when you need it, they will be dead, or dying. In addition to extra batteries, It is always a good idea to bring an extra light or two. Even if your back up lights are less expensive lights, they will let you continue your training. Same rule applies to optics and electronic ear muffs. Moral of this story, prepare for dead electronics and pack batteries in the sizes your equipment uses, 123. AA, AAA, etc.
I don’t have to tell you that safety gear is paramount, but how many people bring extra sets of eyes & ears to the range. I once had to use a pair of glasses with a deep scratch right over the line of sight of my right eye. It drove me insane the entire day because the scratch was right where I needed line up my sights. If I planed ahead and had a spare set, I would have enjoyed the day much more. Some other things I would group into the safety category is some type of hydration system. A camelback carrying 200 ounces of water may seem excessive, but being in the sun all day shooting and moving can dehydrate you very quickly. Some experts recommend you drink 1 liter of water for every hour you are active in the sun. A backpack hydration system allows you to continuously sip cool water when loading mags or between evolutions. This reduces the chance of you dropping from heat stroke or other heat related emergencies. Sun block and bug spray also help make a long day outdoors more enjoyable. A
small first aid kit with some type of pain killer (for day two of a class when you are nice and sore), gauze pads and band aids packs well and come in handy when needed. Throw in a couple power bars, an extra t-shirt and dry socks to change into mid day and you are good to go.
Even when it is not indicated in the class description, there will almost always be a need for paper, pens and markers. They are very flat and take almost no room in your bag. In addition to taking notes in class, they come in handy writing down names of equipment you see and want to look at further, names and numbers of other students you want to train with again and drawing diagrams of range drills. You can also use the markers to mark gear, mags and other equipment as well as targets.
Now that we have our laundry list of items we need, what do we keep all of it in? Many styles of range bags are available from various manufactures. Most of these bags are surrounded in molle webbing that makes it easy to expand your storage by clipping things to them. The “tactical” style bags are nice and work very well, but the can cost upwards of $100 and scream, “HEY, I HAVE GUNS IN HERE!” Another great option are large tool bags. They come in many sizes, have lots of pockets/dividers and are quite discreet. The key thing to look at when selecting a bag is it’s ability to hold weight. I have seen many gym bags buckle under the pressure and dump all of the shooters equipment and ammo onto the ground. You also want to designate a bag for shooting gear and never use it for anything else. Dumping your gear out and using your gear bag as a carry on bag can cause problems when the TSA screener finds a random hollow point cartridge that lost it’s way into a corner when you are boarding your flight. Also, gun powder residue can alert the automatic “sniffers” and put you in a hot seat with some explaining to do.
In many of my articles and classes, I really push the importance of having at least one flashlight on you at all times. Not only for defensive reasons, but also for emergencies, or just plain convenience. For that reason, I think keychain lights are a great, easy to carry addition to your defensive tool box. After years of testing keychain lights of various styles, and having them break in short order, I have finally found a light that is bright, easy to carry, operate and holds up over extended use. That light, and the focus of this article is the Fenix E01.
Many of the lights available are multi feature lights. Push the switch and the light goes on. Push it again and the light dims, or flashes in an pattern. These features are great if you are in lost in the woods and trying to signal for help, but can get annoying when you are just trying to find a keyhole or find something you dropped in the dark.
Light Is Not Directed
The E01 is a small aluminum flashlight with type III Anodized finish. It is powered by one AAA battery and is not much larger than one. The light is covered with knurling to provide a positive grip and has a hole in the tail cap to accommodate a split ring, to attach to a lanyard or a key. A nice touch by Fenix is that even while it is attached to keys, it can tail stand and illuminate a room. The light uses a Nichia White GS LED with a life of over 100,000 hours. The light has no lens, but the cone around the light is bare aluminum and reflects light forward well. The light is rated at about 10 lumens and has an impressive 21 hour runtime. The light is operated by a twist switch, and while not as easy as a button, is more reliable and you are less likely to accidentally activate in your pocket.
My first impression of the light was that it was pretty solid and while not tiny, was a good size for a keychain. I have carried the light for about 6 months daily know and I have to tell you that even with a good amount of use, I haven’t even changed the battery yet. The light’s knurling provided for a solid grip, even when my hands were wet. The lights output of 10 lumens produces a good amount of light, although this is not intended to compete with a more powerful tactical light. In a pinch, if you had nothing else, it would provide enough light to identify a threat at close range. I can also tell you that the finish is pretty tough, it looks warn, but not damaged.
In conclusion, the Fenix E01 is a great package for a keychain light. The light is durable, attractive, available in many colors and produces a good amount of light for daily tasks. The best think about the Fenix is the price, about $15 from many online retailers. Needless to say, I give 2 thumbs up to Fenix with their key friendly E01! Pick one up and I have no doubt it will serve you well!
You will never hear me discount the importance of accuracy in defensive shooting. After all, the first accurate shot fired will win any gun fight. That said, you can’t fire that all important accurate shot if your firearm isn’t in a “working condition”. What I mean by “working condition”, is keeping your firearm loaded, free of malfunctions and ready to fire. This skill is called weapons management and is the focus of this month’s article.
If you ask any gun fighter what the scariest sound in a gunfight is, they will all, without a doubt, say “CLICK!”. If you ask them what the scariest sight is, their response will be the sight of their slide locked to the rear. It is scary because you have lost control of the situation and the situation is now telling you what to do. If you don’t have a plan of action, and have not trained in that plan so it is reflexive, you will do nothing and under these circumstances, nothing will get you killed. This article is not so much about the technique as the mind set behind it, as techniques need to be taught in person. Below are key elements (in no particular order) that need to be re-enforced during training.
Understand that the more ammo your gun has, the better prepared you are to engage a threat. That means after rounds are fired, you should focus on replacing your magazine with a full one, otherwise known as a tactical magazine exchange, as soon as it is tactically sound to do so.
If you shoot competitively, remember you are participating in a game. After a round, you empty your firearm, show a clear and safe weapon to the range officer and holster an empty weapon. That is solely for safety. You select shooters need to train twice as hard not to develop that “end of round” routine as a reflexive response. Police officers in the past have made that mistake and they did not go home as a result. 
The magazine is the weakest and most unreliable part in any gun. Carry a second magazine always. Not only for additional ammo, 
I consider defensive shooters and persons charged with the protection of lives, athletes. The only difference is that unlike a runner, who plans to attend a 10k or workout in the gym, they have no idea when they will have to sprint, jump, dive, squat, climb or address a threat. That means as combat athletes, we need to be prepared 100% of the time. This month, we are going to talk about a small portion of that preparation, staying hydrated. Staying hydrated is always important, but in high heat like we have been experiencing, it can be a matter of life and death.
Aside from oxygen, water is the most important nutrient your body needs to properly function. You may be surprised to know that water makes up approximately 60% of the body in males and 50% in females. If you lose just 1% of the water you feel thirst. 2%-5% and you may feel weak, dry mouth, flushed skin, headaches and general impaired physical performance. 6% and your body temperature will begin to increase, as well as you breathing and pulse rate. Once you lose 8%, the real fun begins. You will experience dizziness and the prior symptoms will become more severe. Anything more the 10% and you may begin to experience muscle spasms and delirium. This of course is in addition to the risks of Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke.
It is important to remember to stay hydrated all of the time, but especially during training. Even when temperatures are cooler, running and gunning will cause you to lose a lot of water and become dehydrated quickly. Hydration backpacks are an easy way to sip water when doing reloads or waiting at the line because your water source is hands free and readily available. You will drink more if you do not have to go anywhere to get water
The good news is that all of this can be avoided by simply drinking water. Many experts recommend drinking your body weight divided by 2, then change pounds to ounces. So it you weigh 200 pounds, you should drink 100 oz of water a throughout the day, more if you are exercising or in a hot or humid environment. I keep a 32 oz. water bottle and just refill it with ice and water all day. If for some reason I forget to grab the bottle, I feel the difference at the end of the day.
