Bullet Points – By Scott High

BULLET POINTS ONGOING TRAINING

By Scott High

If you own a firearm, you owe it to yourself and the ones you love to practice, and practice a lot. But eventually punching holes in paper targets can get stale, boring, and expensive. If that’s happened to you, there are some things you can do to make it fun again. First you can take classes, there are many classes offered all over the state that not only make you a better shooter, but they are also fun. If you have an HCP, you have had the basic class required by the state, so where do you go from there? Defensive pistol classes are a good start if you carry or even if you own a handgun. Most firearm instructors break these classes into different levels. Level 1 usually starts by going over gun safety, and covers basic marksmanship and gun handling making you both more proficient, and more comfortable shooting and handling your firearm. You will learn to how to shoot faster and more accurately, reload faster, and better understand when to reload, shoot one handed and with your weak hand only. Defensive pistol stage 2 will usually bring in more real world scenarios like recognizing and engaging multiple threats, shooting from barricades or from behind cover, turning and shooting on the move, or from awkward positions and injured. Stage 3 will sometimes bring in the element of stress, loud noises, distracting lights and people yelling or beating on things while you engage targets from different distances and positions. The same type classes are also offered for rifles and shotguns, how many times have you ever fired your weapon from your weak hand or shoulder? Usually classes like this are offered where you took your handgun carry class or at shops with ranges such as Tennessee Gun Country. It would probably be a good idea for all of us to take classes often, but you may also want to try competition. There are lots of different types of competitions from straight marksmanship competitions, to tactical, and practical competitions. There are many different organizations in each category with slightly different styles and rules. Some practical shooting competitions can be done with carry guns and holsters and most will mimic real world situations and are designed to both make you a better shooter and help you better handle a situation where you may have to protect yourself or your loved ones. Some tactical competitions are similar but may use highly modified or “race guns” as they tend to place more emphasis on speed and accuracy. The best route is to check them all out, go watch a few matches and maybe even try a few to see which ones suits you and your equipment. Tactical 3 gun competitions are becoming very popular, in 3 gun, one shooter uses a handgun, a rifle, and a shotgun at different times and often they use all 3 on the same stage. There are cowboy shooting competitions using single action revolvers, and some even dress in period costumes. There are cowboy contests from horseback and others are like 3 gun but use single action revolvers, lever action rifles, and double barrel or early pump action shotguns. There are also long range and sniper type competitions, these use highly specialized rifles and go out to extreme ranges some well beyond 1000 yards. Long range shooting requires hours and hours of very expensive practice but to me looks incredibly fun, but some of the rifles are easily over $5,000, with optics that are almost as much, and depending on the caliber you shoot, ammunition can be close to or in some cases over $5 per round. Reloading classes are also a good idea for some. Reloading your own ammunition can make shooting a lot less expensive if you shoot enough, the equipment can be a little expensive but in the long run will easily save more than the startup cost. Reloading can be as easy or as difficult as you make it. You can buy basic equipment and reload 1 at a time using known loads, or get elaborate semi-automated reloading equipment capable of loading multiple calibers at a very high rate. Because reloading can be dangerous, taking classes is a good starting point. It can be relaxing too. There are lots of things you can do to spice up your training, but the main point is to always train. When you stop training you are going backwards.

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