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.