So I've gotten into our firearms instructor course but have a slight issue with the 25 yard support hand barricade part of the qualification course. I wasn't quite sure whether to place this in Drills and Practice so I put it here.
Besides constant dry fire practice to get the finer parts of trigger control under wraps and besides practicing firing from 25 yards support hand, are there any other methods or things that I can do to improve my support hand shots at distance?
Try to use the barricade to your maximum advantage to steady yourself...then it's just a matter of concentrating on good sight alignment and a good trigger press.
Two things I would give some thought to.
First, is the value of 25 yard non dominant hand shooting. It is such an unlikely scenario that I would have to master virtually every other aspect of my shooting before I'd spend time and ammo on it. Also, for many years police departments had officers shooting two hand support hand from the non-dominant side of a barricade based on the mistaken belief that it was a better use of cover. Thankfully many states, including mine, now have officers shoot around the non-dominant side using their dominant hand and have moved non dominant hand shooting to closer distances and do it non dominant only.
For the second poster, be careful using a barricade as a shooting aid. When reality bites we have no idea what may be available to us. If our goal is to master a 25 yard shot, then it should be unsupported.
I agree with the non-dominant hand stuff in theory, but it sounds like he's shooting part of a mandated qual...so he's stuck doing it whether it makes any objective sense or not.
Yeah, I can see that but support hand or not he should stay off that barricade.
I have to agree with Rich on this one. You never know whether the barrier will be a solid steel I beam or some contraption put together on wheels with 2X4's and some OSB. My state (IN) mandates the same course of fire and I just learned to forget the barricade and concentrate on the fundamentals and was able to pass the course just fine. Start at 7 yards and just keep working it until you feel confident taking the shots at 25 yards. I doubt you will burn-up more than 500 rounds of ammunition before you got it. You wouldn't be in the running for instructor if you weren't fundamentally sound already. Another thing that helped me was because it was a state mandated course, anything in the 8 ring of the B-27 was considered "perfect" and scored 5 points.
That's correct. It's part of our POST course that we fire support hand from the barricade at 25 yards.Originally Posted by TCinVA
Now, I can see the benefits to both thought processes of practicing at the 7 or practicing at the 25. At the 7, I'd focus more on sights and trigger press and then gain confidence to be able to do the same at any distance. At the same time, I've heard the flip side of that argument in that if I can do it from the 25, then anything inside of 25 would be a cake walk.
What are everyone else's train of thoughts? I'll train for everything regardless but just curious as to how to maximize my time. Thanks all.
Setting aside the practicality of WHO 25yd bullseye shooting...
Improve it the same way you improved your 2H 25yd bullseye shooting. Don't overcomplicate it. Work on the fundamentals and extend your range incrementally.
Update:
Considering I forgot that I posted this thread, just an update.
I passed and qualified and am now a POST certified firearms instructor. I had my issues throughout the entire week long course, had my good days and bad days, but eventually pulled my shit together. Had some epiphanies while doing various drills, during the low light/night shoot, and learned some things.
Thanks for the suggestions and advice. Still have a lot to learn and practice.
Maybe you can share an epiphany or two...
Thanks---and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
Bill
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