Are You Spending Your Time At The Range Totally Wrong?

If you were attacked on your way home from the office today, and all you had to go on to defend yourself was your last range session, how would you do? Each time you go to the gun range could be the last time you practice shooting before you need to use your gun in self-defense. Let that sink in for a moment, before we move on.

If your range training doesn't look similar to how you think you'll fight for your life, you're doing it wrong. Now, I'm not saying that you'll know how it's going to be when you need to use your gun in defense of your life, because it's impossible to know with too many variables.

But, you should be training in a manner that can prepare you for most situations at least some of the time when you're at the range.

I see people at the range all the time who's training session is filled with nothing more than plucking their carry gun off the bench, throwing a magazine or two downrange, and then checking their targets when done

There's nothing inherently wrong with that. You do need to be able to shoot, and putting accurate shots on target is important. As is making sure your gun feeds your chosen carry ammo.

But, what about the rest of your training? Can you draw from your holster? Do you perform various live-fire drills? Do you ever get your heart rate up to simulate what it would look like to defend yourself under stress?

The way you train with your gun for self-defense is the most important aspect when it comes to improving your chances of survival, and you are likely doing it wrong.

When you go to the range, you need to do so with a self-defense mindset and as someone who is there with a mission to stay alive. Again, going to the range to do some good old fashioned target practice is fine, but doing so with a goal of staying alive is key.

How can you up the ante on your firearms training?

What are some of the ways you can train to stay alive when you need to pull your gun from your holster in self-defense? Well, let's start there. If the only time you spend with your gun is at the range plinking, and never draw your gun out of your holster, you could find yourself up that proverbial, paddle-less creek.

Drawing your gun out of your holster is a necessity and something you need to do on a regular basis.

But, what if your range has strict rules?

Sadly, many gun ranges prohibit shooters from drawing out of their holster and shooting. I understand their point, however, because it can be a liability issue and they'd rather not deal with the headache. Then again, not training for this can be a detriment to your defensive scenario.

If you can't effectively get your gun out of your holster, arguably one of the most important parts of the entire incident, you can have a host of problems from accuracy issues to causing your gun to jam.

One way to combat this, is to find a range in your area where you can train appropriately. I've found that gun ranges who also participate in shooting sports, like IDPA, tend to have a small portion of the range that allows you to draw from the holster and shoot because pulling your gun from your holster is a necessary part of many gun competitions.

Ranges that participate in shooting competitions sometimes put an area of the range aside where members can practice for the competition. Many of them have a small area with a berm on all sides to maximize safety.

Even though it's against the rules to draw and shoot from the holster on the regular pistol range, it's perfectly acceptable there–even if you're not a competitive shooter.

If your gun range doesn't have an area like this, the next best thing is presenting from your chest to at least get some of the motion down while at the range. Then, while you're at home you can practice micro drills to help you get up to speed on your draw during dry fire practice (empty gun/no ammo).

Here is a podcast episode about micro drills:

Other Necessary Self-Defense Shooting Skills:

When we talk about your time at the gun range, and how you should treat each visit like it's the last one before you may have to use your gun in self-defense, there are many different things you can and should be doing.

First, learning how to shoot one-handed is a must. Of course the hope is that we'll be able to draw our weapon and bring our support hand up to the firearm before we put that steady squeeze on the trigger.

But, what if there is no time to bring your support hand up? What happens if you need to shoot from your waist? Could you do it successfully? If you've never done it before, chances are good that you won't be able to.

Or, what if your support hand gets damaged and you find yourself having to shoot one handed for that reason? Do you know how to do it?

Here's an even odder one, what if your strong hand gets hurt somehow, and you're forced to defend yourself with your weak hand, could you do that?

Train how you fight, and fight how you train.

When and if you are ever attacked and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you need to defend yourself, you have one main goal in life: Staying alive.

If you aren't training for that moment whenever you go to the range, there is a good chance that you'll fail, and then the bad guy will have his way with you or your family. Each time you go to the range could be the last time you train with your gun, and you need to make the best of it each time you go.

Of course there is more to it than just being the last time you go, your ultimate goal is to build up muscle memory, but that won't happen if you're not training properly.

Here is a podcast episode about muscle memory:

Other Alternatives:

If you are not allowed to train from the draw and are required to have your gun on the bench, pick it up to shoot, and then put it back down again when done, there are ways to make sure you still have an advantage should you ever find yourself in a defensive gun use scenario.

Next time, try bringing your pistol up to the ready position, extend toward your target as if you were defending yourself, put one in the chest of your paper target. Then, pull back into the ready, and then repeat.

Increase your speed steadily. The most important part is making sure your mechanics are right before you squeeze a round off. How is your grip? Is it as firm as it should be?

If your shooting mechanics aren't right, your target will reflect that.

When you're ready, you may want to add various drills to your shooting like the Mozambique (two to the chest one to the head) and other drills as found on our training video here.

Always pay attention to your mechanics.

Doing this over and again will help you simulate half of your draw stroke, to include tracking your front sight, without breaking the rules of your gun range.

If you add this, with your dry-firing practice at home as you draw from the holster with an empty gun to get the entire motion down, you'll be much better off should you ever need to defend yourself with your gun.

Let me know in the comments if your gun range allows you to shoot from the draw or if they have strict rules prohibiting it. Then, let us know how you combat this, and your method of training.

Add Stress:

Another great way to up your shooting skills as a defensive shooter is to add a certain amount of stress to your shooting environment. There are a couple of different ways you can do this.

First up, we can increase our heart rate.

A few years ago when I was was in a bit better shape I would run a couple laps around the parking lot at my range or do some jumping jacks (side straddle hops) on the line. My goal was to get my heart rate up so I could simulate the extra strain my body would feel under pressure.

Was it a perfect correlation? Not exactly, no. But being that I hadn't fired a shot under stress since my Marine Corps days, it was a wake up call for me. Shooting with blood pumping faster tends to make you less stable as a shooter, and doing this is more accurate than standing there like a tree to poke some holes in your paper target.

Second, a shot timer also adds stress.

We covered this topic a bit here, and some more here, so I won't beat it up. But, suffice it to say that adding a shot timer can add a different aspect of stress. What aspect? Time.

While the saying is true that you won't find a shot timer in a gun fight, what you will find in a gun fight is limited time.

If you've never shot under the stress of time before, you have no idea how long a second and a half can be, while also only being a second and a half. Getting your gun out of your holster and getting an accurate shot off in that short amount of time is not an easy thing for the average person without some practice.

Try the shot timer thing, because it can help you in more ways than one. This is the one we recommend.

Conclusion:

At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you're taking your range time as seriously as possible when you do go and maximizing your efforts to increase your skills to come out on top.