Tuesday Tips

Range Training Plan-
By Pudge

Today I’d like to briefly discuss how I prepare to go to the range by creating a training plan for the day. This enables me to have some focus and accomplish some quality training instead of just blasting away ammo. (Even though there are definitely times to just get some good blasting out of the way.)

I’ve found that the more firearms I acquire the harder it is to keep myself on track. Because of this, the first thing I do is decide which guns are going with me. If I built or bought something new then this is the first on the list. I always want to shoot and sight in any new gun as soon as possible because who knows when I’ll get the chance again and if I’ll need it before then. I want to be ready. After this, I choose which other firearms should go with me based on what I want to work on. If I’m doing long-range I will try to stay with long guns. If I’m doing quick, in close shooting, I’ll leave the long-range hole pokers at home. The only exception to this is that I always bring my primary carry gun because you can never be too proficient with what you carry every day.

Once I have my firearms chosen, I decide what exactly I’m wanting to work on. Time and ammunition play a large roll in this. I also look at how long it’s been or how rusty I may be on certain skills. If deer season is coming up, I’ll focus a little more on my long-range accuracy. If I’m getting ready for a competition or just staying proficient, I’ll usually bring the home/self-defense guns. Then, it is time to create the training plan itself. I’ll write down my drills and with what guns they will be shot with prior to heading to the range. This looks like a checklist and I will follow it until completion.

An example below based on maintaining self-defense proficiency.

*All Carry Gun from concealment
-Eleanor Drill (Carry Gun)
-3” dots at 5, 7, 15 yds (Carry Gun)
-Transitions (Carry Gun and AR)
-Box drill (Carry Gun and AR)
-El Madison (Carry Gun and AR) (This is a variation of the El Presidente that is done with both handgun and rifle)
-Forward/Rear/Sideways Movement (Carry Gun)
-25M Bull (Carry Gun)

Conducting the Eleanor Drill

Working on my long-range abilities

 

Having a range plan keeps me focused and allows me to AAR post range time. This helps me shoot less ammo but increase my capabilities. I have certain drills I will run each trip and a notebook where the gun/time/accuracy/date are all listed out so that I can track progress. This list can also help me determine what I need to work on based on the increase or decrease of scores on these benchmark drills.

I hope this can help everyone get out to the range and stay focused and hopefully save a little ammo while the ‘pick your panic’ is going on. *A final note- Sometimes you just want to bring everything out to plink and have fun and that is perfectly ok. Enjoy and have fun because that is how we are going to get others into responsible gun ownership.