What's your range routine?

[Cowtown44]

I'm curious as to other's range routines. Do you have a warm up period? In what manner do you hit the fundamentals? When do you do drills? When do you do up close work vs. distance? Do you set up stages?

I'm just curious as I had a 5 hour session today and, while it was structured, I think I missed some things I should be drilling (i.e., SHO, WHO, retention).

[Al T.]

I have a couple of drills (FAST is one) I do cold. Shoot it, record my performance, watch for trends...

Once a month, shoot everything WHO. Sucks, but is worthwhile. :eek:

[Stuffbreaker]

No warm up for me because I hate to waste the first few shots fired cold. I start with either FAST or several Mozambiques to IDPA target zones. My first FAST is typically 0.5 seconds slower and less accurate than my next two attempts. Though more than three FAST in a day is cheating, I sometimes run five if I think there is a chance at a personal best.

I like to follow my initial flurry with a magazine of slow fire at 7 yards, leaving a group no larger than 2 inches. This helps me establish good trigger control for the remainder of the session, and quiets the occaisional critic in a nearby lane who is urging a new shooter not to be a "hoser" like me.

Next comes speed training with a bunch of 1R2s, 3x5 Press or some variant of El Prez. Speed drills are run at 7-10 yards with a shot timer. I often run my CED 7000 in silent mode with a manual/instant start when the range is crowded. I shoot at indoor ranges, so transition work is limited to whatever target zones I can draw on a large paper target. Thanks to the DotW, my range bag is full of cardboard stencils. I often run two handed, SHO and WHO transition drills to the five target zones of a 530 target. I'll sometimes work single draws at 7 yards trying to break 1.0 second to an 8" circle. I'm not quite there yet.

Next comes bullseye shooting at the farthest distance possible, usually 15-25 yards. Two handed shooting at these distances has always been part of my act. SHO and WHO shooting at this distance only recently become a staple of my training after taking a serious beat down in the Bullseye Threeway DotW. I've dusted off my .22 to help develop my WHO non-skills.

My 200-round session typically ends with slow and deliberate draws trying to hit 1-inch target dot at 7 yards.

[JodyH]

My first run is usually a untimed but full speed 2-5 shots at a 3-10 yard silhouette from the holster with no warmup whatsoever and from a random facing and hand position.
Most trips I do this with my carry ammo.
A simulated DGU if you will.
Then I move on to various drills and tests depending on what I'm working on that trip.

[JDM]

My first run is usually a untimed but full speed 2-5 shots at a 3-10 yard silhouette from the holster with no warmup whatsoever and from a random facing and hand position.
Most trips I do this with my carry ammo.
A simulated DGU if you will.
Then I move on to various drills and tests depending on what I'm working on that trip.

DGU?

[Mr_White]

DGU?

I'd bet Defensive Gun Use.

[JodyH]

yah... defensive gun use.
c'mon man, you gotta get with all the cool tacticool acronyms

[JDM]

I'm in the dark here.

[Mr_White]

I'm in the dark here.

If I understand correctly, the term DGU refers to any occasion the gun is 'used' defensively, including incidents where no shots are ultimately fired. It's an important category because it more correctly illustrates the frequency with which private citizens successfully avail themselves of firearms in self-defense. If one only considers incidents where shots are actually fired, the number is vastly lower, and those deceptive kinds of numbers are sometimes cited by people who want to make the point that 'guns are rarely fired in self-defense and are thus unlikely to be an asset and likely to be a liability.'

You can see the term used here: http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdguse.html

and here: http://www.pulpless.com/gunclock/stats.html

I have not examined those websites carefully, but they do appear to use the term under discussion.

[JDM]

Thank you very much OrigamiAK.

[Mr_White]

Thank you very much OrigamiAK.

You are most welcome BOM!