Beyond running and gunning, shooters must master the prone positions to excel in competitive pistol matches.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. At the range, plinking around, pistol shooting is something we most often do with our feet firmly planted on the ground. It’s like we anticipate real life will come at us as if we're on the firing line, leisurely chewing through a few magazines with all the time in the world.
The stark reality, the real world doesn’t play clean. In turn, you should prepare as such.
This means stretching your abilities to their limits, training like you’d potentially have to fight. In many cases, jettisoning the Weaver, isosceles or whatever stance you use and getting down and dirty and off your feet.
Practical pistol competitions are ahead of the curve here. Over the years, the course of fire has grown to include more realistic shooting positions — kneeling, sitting, and prone. Taxing, the stage designs force competitive shooters out of their comfort zone and into the dirt. Furthermore, they entail greater forethought. Running and gunning no long win the day exclusively.
Tough? You bet. Impossible? Not with the right tools.
Mark Redl provides these, breaking down how he attacks non-traditional prone positions — perhaps the most difficult in competitive shooting. Much of it is intuitive, such as how to efficiently get into position and when to plan on doing so. But some of it may not have occurred to you, even if you’re seasoned. There are tricks, such as using recoil to more efficiently engage multiple targets, that give an edge.
As always, the secret to mastering marksmanship without your feet under you is practice. And while Redl tackles this subject from a competitive shooter’s standpoint, all handgunners would do well to work prone shooting into their training regime.
For More Mark Redl Training tips check out:
- Learning To Shoot On The Move
- How To Shoot Steel Targets Safely
- Training Your Field of View
- Practicing Your Draw Without Unholstering Your Handgun
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