General Shooting Exercises
Stance/Hold Exercises
Task | Description | Goal |
SH1 | Hold pistol, arm extended, without point of aim, without shooting. During this training, one works on the shooter’s outside position attempting to stabilize it. The shooter must also try to keep the firearm still. | Develop kinesthetic feel of consistent stable stance. |
SH2 | Hold pistol, arm extended, with point of aim, without shooting. | Develop consistent stable stance, holding on a point. |
SH3 | Hold pistol, arm extended, with point of aim, without shooting. Close eyes then open after 2 seconds: point of aim should not deviate if stance is correct. | Testing stability of stance and ability to maintain it without visual cues. |
SH4 | As SH2, but break out of position (lower, step back) and re-adopt stance. | Develop adoption of consistent stable stance. |
SH5 | As SH4, except adopt stance in front of a different point of aim (1 of a possible 5). Break and repeat on another point. | Develop ability to get into consistent stable stance, quickly and intuitively. (Task imprinting) |
Dry Firing Exercises
Task | Description | Goal |
DF1 | Dry firing, hand supported – without looking at sights (preferably eyes closed), practice squeezing trigger. Focus is solely on squeeze, free of all other distractions. | Develop conditioned smooth trigger squeeze. |
DF2 | Dry firing, arm supported at elbow (resting on pillow, armrest) – without looking at sights (preferably eyes closed), practice squeezing trigger. Focus is solely on squeeze, free of all other distractions. | Develop conditioned smooth trigger squeeze |
DF3 | Dry firing in dark/dim-lit room | Developing kinesthetic feel of grip/stance |
DF4 | Dry firing against a blank wall | Develop sight alignment |
DF5 | Dry firing against a dot on the wall | Develop hold |
DF6 | Dry firing against a target | Focus shot delivery without the shot |
DF7 | Dry firing, finals | Focus on process/delivery, shot in 75 seconds |
Live Fire Exercises
Task | Description | Goal |
LF1 | Live fire, shooting against a blank target | Grouping, reducing diameter of group. |
LF2 | Live fire, shooting against a ring-less target | Grouping in the black |
LF3 | Live fire, shooting against a reduced ring target | Grouping in a small area in the black |
LF4 | Live fire, shooting against a “paster” target (target is roughly half diameter of regular target). | Grouping on a significantly reduced target. Change tone/pace of training. |
LF5 | Live fire, finals shooting against a blank target | Delivering single shot in 75 seconds |
LF6 | Live fire, finals shooting against a faced target | Delivering single shot in 75 seconds |
LF7 | Live fire, “rushed” shooting, shooting every 60 seconds | Contingency planning – staying calm and catching up in match when running out of time or delivering shot in finals after aborting shot – reduce to 40 seconds if not changing targets. |