Handgun Drills: The Things To Practice – Part 2

Here are 12 things to focus on perfecting while training handgun drills at the range.

A shooting response to a lethal threat is a complex series of observations and reactions. There are a number of skills involved in a successful response, and luckily for us, our innate abilities developed over millennia help us tremendously. Learning to use a specific tool like a firearm, however, is not an innate or “instinctive” skill — it’s something we learn to do in concert with what we already know and do.

So, what are the kinds of things you need to train and practice? In no particular order, here are just a few of the things you might need to be able to do quickly and efficiently:

1. Get a proper grasp on the gun
2. Bring the gun from the holster to the target
3. Decide if and when you need to shoot, and when you need to stop shooting
4. Retrieve the pistol from a storage device
5. Use the gun in concert with illumination of some type
6. Reload the gun when it runs out of ammunition
7. Clear a malfunction
8. Recognize the level of precision to which you need to shoot
9. Deliver that level of precision on target
10. Deal with more than one attacker
11. Shoot rapid, multiple rounds to an appropriate level of precision
12. Shoot one-handed

Of course there’s a lot more, but this should give you an idea of what this concept of “task-oriented” training means: practicing those things that are actually needed in a defensive shooting.

Click here to read Part I.