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Issue 48
Practicing With A Partner
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I
hate jogging.
It is unlikely that there is a sport or activity that I dislike more. I know it's good
for you, it builds your endurance and you can get that "natural high" from the rush of endorphins your body will
produce.
I still hate it.
You're on a track or out on a jogging trail and it's just the boring
left-right-left-right-left-right. On and on and on.
The only way I've ever been able to take the monotony
of jogging is if I have a partner there with me - someone to share the pain!
For most folks, it's the same
thing with most types of training. It's always a bit more fun when you do it with someone else. You can share
techniques and "war stories", and it gives you one less excuse for getting out of the training. You've
made a commitment to someone else that you'll do this with them. Peer pressure is powerful!
Not only
does having a training partner help to keep you in line, it also gives you the opportunity to do training drills that can't
be done by yourself.
Here is a handgun drill - and some variations - that are perfect to do with a partner:
1234 Drill - Take a standard rectangular
target (roughly 2ft x 3ft) and put on 4 stick-on targets. Put them in the upper left- and upper right-hand corners
(be sure they're placed low enough be be below target holder clamps). Put the other two stick-ons in the lower
left- and lower right-handed corners. Put the target out at either 7- or 10-yards.
Load 8 rounds into your
magazine and Make Ready (load magazine and chamber a round). Start in the High Compact position (Two-handed
grip, muzzle pointed down range, gun level and held chest-high, with the rear of the gun as close as is comfortable to your
chest).
Your partner will now call out a number - 1,2,3 or 4. You extend your arms and fire at the
target your partner called. Immediately return to the High Compact position. Your partner then calls another
number and you repeat the drill until you come to slide lock (or the cylinder of your revolver is empty).
Set
up another target, and now YOU call the numbers for your partner. If you're so inclined, you can compare the accuracy
each of you has demonstrated and perhaps make a little wager - such as loser pays for targets....
Variations: If you are practicing at a range that allows double-taps (like
Center Mass Shooting Range in Vacaville), you can work on your accuracy and your rapid fire skills by doing the same drill, but with two shots each
time instead of one.
You can mix it up further by calling out two numbers at a time. For instance
"1-4" you'd shoot first at target one, then at target four, THEN return to the High Compact position.
Be sure to mix this up with high-low, low-high, left-right, right-left.
Once you're feeling confident, you
can repeat all of these drills with a two-handed weak-side stance, and a one-handed stance from both the strong and weak
sides.
If you're one of the folks that's taken our Practical Defensive Pistol class, this drill - and these variations - will allow you to stay sharp-as-a-tack with a good number of the skills you learned.
Practicing with a partner can make a mundane activity, fun. Work in a bit of competition and the training
session will fly by in no time!
Refuse To Be A Victim Group Workshops
Pepper Spray/Stun Gun Group Workshops
Defense Of The Home Consultation
FIRST Steps Pistol Orientation Training
Practical Defensive Pistol Training
Next issue: Guns And Minors
Bison Risk Management Associates is a Northern California-based company providing Personal Safety and Emergency Preparedness training, workshops and consulting
for individuals, businesses and organizations.
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