August 2009

Examining training opportunities – finding value and meeting objectives

As someone who takes a lot of classes and teaches a lot, I spend quite a bit of time around the range. With some of the training craziness that has shown up on YouTube recently, I thought I’d share my personal litmus test on examining techniques that you pick up at classes and from your shooting buddies.

All men are naturally race car drivers and porn stars. So we tend to rate a course, or technique by the number of rounds fired. “I shot 2400 rounds in two days, but I’m not sure what we did?” Some of the best classes I have been to I didn’t shoot a lot, but the concentration in making the shots was brutal. So, how then can we examine a course or technique if it isn’t by round count?

Obviously, you should do research in selecting a course that suits your needs and is recommended by like minded folks.

First, can I perform this safely? Any technique that requires you to break any safety rule in the name of “realism” or my personal favorite “stress inoculation” should be avoided at all costs. Some people will disagree, however, I kinda put that in the same category of shooting my bullet proof vest to make sure it works. Not all that smart.

Next comes, is the technique logical? I have found that a common sense approach to training works well. If it doesn’t make sense, and your spidey senses begin to tingle, it is probably for good reason.

Next up, can the instructor explain why you should do/use the technique? Being a good instructor is more than being a good shooter. The most frustrated I have ever been in a course is the whole “Cause I said so” answer. If you can’t satisfy this answer, you should take a long hard look at one and two.

Finally, can the instructor perform the technique? The old adage, “Those that can, do, those that can’t, teach” doesn’t hold water in the firearms community. I’ve heard some instructors say that they won’t demo in front of their students as not to “intimidate” them. Horsehockey.

Sometimes demo-ing is the only way to make the light come on with some students, and it lends credibility to the instructor. I am really wary of any instructor that won’t demo something on request. Obviously, you don’t have to live fire everything, but how can an instructor set expectations for the student body, when he can’t even perform the feat himself?

In this day and age, it costs a fortune in ammo alone to take a course. I have found that asking these questions have served me pretty well over the last few years. Hope it helps you as well.

Rebuilding a custom 1911

A Colt 1911 got sent to us in order to make some improvements after work by another gunsmith(s). Unfortunately, the customer got the gun back after the initial work but it just wasn’t all that he was hoping for. He sent it to us to see what we could do with it.
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Lubrication of Sig Sauer pistol rails

This article is about what I personally recommend for lubricating Sig Sauer pistols. I have different methods for lubricating other guns, but this article is focused on the Sig Sauer pistols.

My philosophy: If metal rubs metal, it needs grease between the parts.

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Competitive mindset and affirmative decisions

Learning the skills to be competitive is fun, but applying these skills on demand can be frustrating, especially when we are emotionally invested in the results. Indeed, the biggest challenge facing the competitor is to simply trust his subconscious mind to direct his performance just as he trained it to do, and set his ego aside when it really counts most. It’s not enough for you to develop the skills; you need to develop a system to apply these skills on demand.

You’ve trained hard and smart to develop the technical shooting skills you need to succeed in practical competition. Yet, your match performance doesn’t meet your potential ability. Your attention wanders as the pressure you put on yourself from your expectations builds before each stage. Rather than shooting proactively through your subconscious, you become tentative, conscious and reactive. Your fear of missing drives your performance and your results are marred by procedural errors, poor trigger control and a sense of being rushed.

If the above description sounds familiar, you are in excellent company. If you arrive at the range without having a clear plan of action, you’ll invariably make poor competitive decisions in response to self-imposed pressures driven by our expectations and fear of failure.

The difference between a great competitor and a good one isn’t in his shooting skill, but rather in his ability to deliver a higher percentage of that skill in competition. Most likely, he has a system that anchors him emotionally against the changing tides of match pressure, future expectations and past results, and frees his subconscious from these distractions to do the job he’s trained it to do.

Your system should emphasize staying in the moment, focused on the process of shooting while letting the results take care of themselves. Just as your subconscious mind responds well to the visualization techniques you use to develop practical marksmanship skills, you can use visualization to build the competitive system you need to excel.

It will help you greatly to give yourself a set of rules to follow. Here’s a set of affirmations and positive decisions to guide your thinking and prompt your best performance. I stole these from many other shooters over the years, but you’ll immediately recognize a consistent theme: each decision reinforces the process used to reach your goal, rather than focusing on the goal itself.

In no particular order:

• I’m committed to the marksmanship process.
• I’m committed to this event.
• I trust my subconscious to direct my performance as I have trained.
• I am focused on what I am doing and do not care about results.
• I take the time I need to prepare for each stage.
• I visualize each stage carefully, completely and vividly.
• Once I am loaded and ready, I focus exclusively on a visualized image of the sights on the first target, and let my subconscious direct me through the stage.
• I am not influenced by other shooters, range officers or previous performance.
• I replace tension and anxiety about my performance with a poised spirit and sense of fun.
• I have worked hard to be here.
• I want every shooter to do well.
• I give myself permission to “win”.
• I define “winning” as performing to my potential, not as beating others.
• “Performing to my potential” means seeing the sights, prepping & pressing the trigger and following through on every shot.
• I replace conscious control of the process with active observation.

Remember to have fun! You will achieve your ideal state of performance when you are poised and enjoying the process of shooting well as en end unto itself, for the simple sake of running the gun, watching the sights and pressing off good shots. Be free. Strive for this state of having fun at all times; putting a smile on your face when the pressure hits you will go a long way towards reminding you why you are there.

Practical pistol range commands and safety procedures

Practical pistol shooting has the best safety record of all shooting sports. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. That’s because we’ve long recognized the potential dangers inherent in handling pistols in a dynamic, hyper-competitive and high speed environment, and have developed a comprehensive set of immutable rules and procedures to minimize the risks.

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In the beginning, there was a gunshow

I’m often asked how I became a good pistol shooter. Looking back across some 35 years of pulling a trigger, I can see how fortunate I was to be exposed to some good techniques and attitudes early on. Read more