Week 117: Ready Positions Dry
Week 117: Ready Positions Dry
Results may be posted until July 19th, 2015.
For this drill, all you need is your pistol, a target, and a safe direction. This is going be a dry practice drill that almost everyone can participate in regardless of range restrictions.
At bare minimum, verify gun is unloaded, have no live ammo anywhere in the dry practice area, and keep muzzle in a safe direction. But there is more you can do to ensure safety in dry practice. Please also read Robust Dry Practice Safety Principles and Procedure following the drill description.
Designed by: Gabe White
Target: Any silhouette target
Range: Shooter's choice
Rounds: 0
We are going to continue the practice we started last week of addressing nuances in the presentation of the handgun, this time from ready positions in dry fire.
Each part starts with the gun at a ready position. You choose the ready position(s) to use, but that position should include your finger being in register and you should be able to see the entire silhouette target from your ready position (or at minimum, be able to see the silhouette's hands, were they hanging naturally at its sides.)
Complete as many cycles of the following drill as you want, until you get physically or mentally tired of it. It is fine to break the drill up over multiple sessions. Instead of doing a certain number of repetitions, just keep track of how much time you spend doing the drill.
One cycle of the drill is:
A. Issue verbal challenge. Careful with the verbalization. If you are practicing in a place where there may be people unaware of what you are doing who might hear the verbalization and call 911 or otherwise intervene, then do it quietly. Even if you have to mumble the verbalization, practice saying whatever your verbal challenge is. The gun will stay in the ready position with finger in register the whole time.
B. Present the gun and press one dry shot to the body. We are going to imagine that the threat fell out of the sight picture after the single shot. Put your finger back in register and return the gun to your ready position. You may optionally verbalize.
C. Present the gun and begin to press one dry shot to the body. But before you complete the trigger press, we're going to imagine that the situation has changed and you no longer wish to fire, so immediately stop pressing the trigger, put your finger in register, and bring the gun to your ready position. You may optionally verbalize.
D. Present the gun and press one dry shot to the head. We are going to imagine that the threat fell out of the sight picture after the single shot. Put your finger back in register and return the gun to your ready position. You may optionally verbalize.
E. Present the gun and begin to press one dry shot to the head. But before you complete the trigger press, we're going to imagine that the situation has changed and you no longer wish to fire, so immediately stop pressing the trigger, put your finger in register, and bring the gun to your ready position. You may optionally verbalize.
Please report: gun used, ready positions used, and anything you noticed during the drill.
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.
Robust Dry Practice Safety Principles and Procedure (the closer you follow this, the fewer opportunities you will have to ND)
Principles:
Allow no distractions – focus exclusively on the task at hand
Keep muzzle in a safe direction
Use correct trigger finger discipline
Verify no live ammo in gun, on person, or in the dry practice area
Use dedicated dry practice targets that are put away until you consciously choose to begin dry practice, and taken down when you consciously end dry practice
Use dedicated dry practice magazines and dummy rounds/inert training cartridges that stay in the dry practice area (if you use any magazine or cartridges)
Procedure:
Unload gun in a location other than the dry practice area
Leave live ammo, and magazines with live ammo, completely outside the dry practice area
Enter the dry practice area
Verify gun is unloaded, that any magazines do not contain live ammo, and that any cartridges present are inert/dummy cartridges
Consciously choose to begin dry practice
Put up dry practice targets
Do your dry practice
Take down dry practice targets and put them away
Consciously choose to end dry practice
Exit the dry practice area and do something unrelated for a few minutes
Return gun to location and condition of your choosing
