Following up from last week’s Reactive Response Drill, this week’s drill will require access to a Pepper popper steel target.
The goal this week: get in the habit of shooting a target all the way to the ground. Not really as useful for competition under most circumstances (though there are exceptions!), it’s a critically important self-defense skill. As we’ve learned over the past two weeks, you should not just assume that a certain number of shots is going to stop a threat. Instead, you need to keep shooting until the threat has been neutralized.
Shooting steel targets requires some specific safety measures. First, only shoot at steel which has been rated as suitable for your particular caliber, bullet, and velocity. Second, always wear complete wrap-around eye protection to prevent splashback from hitting you in the eye. Third, always maintain a safe distance (10 yards is a common standard, though some ranges will use anywhere from 7yd to 15yd as a minimum). Bullets can and will ricochet or send fragments back toward the firing line. Because ricochet angle will change as the Pepper popper falls and presents a different strike angle, it is especially important to make sure you take all possible safety precautions and keep the poppers back against a high backstop. Do not shoot at steel targets unless you know what you are doing and are prepared to accept all responsibility for any possible accident.
The Knockdown Drill is an easy one. Draw and shoot at the target until it falls. Note that this does not mean “shoot it once and wait for it to fall.” You keep firing at the target to drive it down. Maintain a practical speed that allows you to get all your hits but still hit the target multiple times as it falls.
Work on the drill at different distances (always maintaining a safe minimum, as explained above) to see how distance affects your speed.
You can also use multiple poppers, knocking each one down in turn. Avoid the impulse to fire just one round at each target to finish faster. While one hit may cause a popper to fall down eventually, it’s rarely an adequate response to a lethal threat.
Training with firearms is an inherently dangerous activity. Be sure to follow all safety protocols when using firearms or practicing these drills. These drills are provided for information purposes only. Use at your own risk.
just don’t use forward falling poppers. you’ll be there all day…………
Is this really a good idea? As I understand it, one of the reasons for the trend towards forward-falling poppers is to prevent exactly this behavior. If I recall, the argument goes something like this: as the target falls, the angle of incidence of the shot decreases, and so it is more likely to skip off the face of the steel rather than splattering as tends to happen with full-on hits.
I like the drill in concept, but it seems to me (and hopefuly I am wrong) that there are some safety issues with it.