I’d Hit It

Last week, I was teaching at a sheriff’s department for three days. When class ended each day, many of us stuck around and made use of the range to get in additional practice and work on more skills. One drill involved a timed walk back drill to hit a 40% IPSC steel target. When my turn came up, I dinged the steel on my first shot… in less than three seconds… at one hundred yards.

If you read pistol-training.com, you know I’m all about being able to do things fast and efficiently. If you’ve ever taken an Aim Fast Hit Fast class, odds are you didn’t fire a shot past ten yards all weekend. But as any AFHF graduate can tell you, the marksmanship requirements are tough. Hitting 2” circles on demand is easy when you’re talking about it. Doing it under stress in front of a class is something else entirely.

Is your marksmanship up to par? If not, there’s no need to move on to more high-speed cool stuff. If you cannot hit what you want on demand, no amount of tactical skill or speed will help you. Too often, shooters want to move on to the fun stuff before they have a serious grasp of the fundamentals. Well, I have bad news: if you can’t hit it going slowly, you won’t be able to hit it going fast.

Missing a lot at high speed shouldn’t be any more satisfactory than missing at slow speed. Increasing to a feel-good giant target isn’t helping, either.

One of my proudest memories as a student comes from the very first open enrollment class Larry Vickers ever taught. I won both the walkback contest and scored the highest on the pistol bullseye test at the end of class. Why? Because marksmanship has always been the foundation of my shooting practice. Being able to do it fast is great, but first you need to be able to do it accurately.

(we won’t talk about my carbine performance at the class… there’s a reason this is pistol-training.com)

There’s a reason the first two shots on the F.A.S.T. are made to a tough target… they demand accuracy on demand right out of the holster. Having watched over a thousand people shoot it in the past ten years, I can definitely say it’s more accuracy than many people can manage under stress.

If you cannot hit a 3×5 card at seven yards on demand going slowly, then your foundation needs some shoring up before you do anything else. Working on marksmanship is nothing to be ashamed of. There’s never a day on the range that doesn’t involve some slowfire marksmanship work. Whether it’s a 3×5 walkback drill or shooting a bullseye test for score like Tom Jones’s great BE1000, part of every session includes refining that foundation: front sight, trigger press.

Don’t get lured into doing fast draws and multiple targets and speed reloads before you can hit a tough target on demand. Don’t worry if the guy next to you sounds better because his gun is making more noise per second. When it’s all said and done, all that’s left is your target and his. Which has the smaller group?

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG