USPSA targets at 10 yds
Focus:
- Working 180° turns, hand position above shoulders, index on target with finger on trigger and ready to shoot while not stepping outside the fault lines. I've had to make an adjustment for myself on this as it's a bit different and narrower on the foot movement than a normal defensive minded turn for me might be. In the end, eyes lead everything, so the adjustment has been fairly simple.
- Working transition speed, going as fast as I can while still being aware of what's happening. A bit faster than say match speed. Fast enough to stay uncomfortable. Consistent reloads with some single hand transition work post reload.

The work and discipline are in your control.

Daily work. Working on a total of three different skill blocks for pistol today. Above are draws at 10 yds on a full-size USPSA target with no paster for a focal point. Looking for a near perfect consistency with my index and my finger on the trigger ready to shoot sooner. You won't manifest skill from work you haven't done.

I want my hard skills, my foundational skill set to be as over developed as possible. This will leave me with plenty in reserve and the capability to execute at a very high level when the stress or uncontrollable factors of the moment negatively affect my performance. This is one of the reasons for me why learning to go fast is super important. It's so I learn to shoot under stress without putting unnecessary input on the gun that will affect my impacts. It's so my visual processing is highly developed, and I'm acutely aware of what's going on at a very fast pace. And most importantly, I'm not operating from a deficit. Performance value and defensive utility.

I'm not rehearsing pre determined "scenarios" that may or may not ever happen. I want skills I can count on based on training, practice, competition, and experience. These owned skills can then be implemented in any context I need.

Designated target. Working through some carbine iterations in this close to far DT drill. Strong focus on the visual precision component and having the dot land on my focal point. Trying to aggressively engage the targets, push the speed, shoot sooner with only the minimal confirmation needed, keep my connection durable, and hold consistency and accountability under the 5 sec par time.

Small easy setup with a huge return on skill development. Focused dry fire is paying dividends building on demand skills.
- Improvement on draw speed from the .80s to the .70s with a consistent index.
- More awareness in picking small spots on the transitions, keeping the gun up, and holding consistent grip pressure. Resulting in better performance with higher accountability. Faster and more accurate is a total win regardless of context.
- Vision barrier for added challenge and fun on transitions.
- Reloads on the move are smoother and becoming faster, more efficient, and consistent.

Keep putting in the work.

Speed. Efficiency. Consistency.
Breakdown: Starting on T1 finger on trigger. Transition to T2 followed by two trigger presses. Complete full reload. Rebuild grip, re-index with two more trigger presses. My focus will change depending on what I want to work on, and vision and grip are always the top priorities, but short thumbs are a thing.🤨👍 Consistently dropping the mag while trying to go fast is something I screw up at times because of that. I'm working on finding reference points that give me the speed, efficiency, and consistency I'm looking for.

Keep showing up. Because the road to proficiency is in experience, practice, and most importantly, showing up. Parts of yesterday's match were good. However, for much of it, I couldn't get out of my own way. Shooting errors from loss of focus to not sticking to my stage plan to frustrating unnecessary procedural errors that cost me a ton of points. It's not always going to be good, and it hurts the soul when it's not, but it's all good learnings. I will take the experience and – I will keep showing up.

Working on shooting while moving with short and wide transitions and various distances. Testing out fast visual processing, durable connection, and how aggressive I can move and have acceptable dot behavior to make accountable hits.

Working vision and connection at speed and at carbine distances. Pushing to see where the wheels come off. Force mistakes to assess and correct so you can level up to a higher default skill set. Holding a small spot on the target, maintaining a durable connection, and holding the same pressures in the right places to have the gun return consistently. The farther distances of 60 yds and 80 yds in particular try to trick you into feeling the need to put input and muscle the gun to bring it back down. Many times, I see people shooting carbine strictly at pistol distances. Shooting fast at 10 and then slowing down dramatically at 20 and beyond. But there's no understanding of why. The reasoning is I'm close, I shoot fast, I'm far, I shoot slow. The goal is consistent, predictable, and repeatable behavior from the gun. Consistent development of the vision and connection pieces has allowed me to shoot aggressively and with accountability at much farther distances.

Putting some focused practice time in for an all rifle HF match in November. Simple yet challenging setup in the rain. Rain melting paper and pasters made this a perfect day to focus on the mini steel. It forces A zone accountability when shooting aggressively at greater distances. Cones were set up in a zig zag pattern at 50-40-35-30-25-20 yds with enough for short burst movements in between.

Got to work:
- Forward and retreating movement
- Different angles coming into position
- Getting the gun up early to shoot sooner
- Multiple distances
- Adjusting aiming schemes for different distances
- Which levels of confirmation were needed
- Physical stress and how that affects your shooting
- HF scored (rain was messing with the timer, so no score today)

It doesn't have to be complicated. It has to be focused, and you have to be paying attention to what's actually happening with your shooting. Hard skills built here can then be put into any context needed and function in the background on autopilot. This opens up bandwidth for you to concentrate on other things, i.e. tactics.

Working 50 yd Bills.
Analyzing vision and connection at speed.
The goal was to keep it under 3 seconds. 3.06 - 2.60 - 2.45
The vision piece is more challenging at this distance for me. Seeing and staying locked on a small focal point without getting sucked into the dot takes a higher focus than at shorter distances. I'm working to have my mount and connection be consistent and durable throughout. At this distance, there's the urge to put input and muscle the gun around. Remaining tension free, keeping the correct pressures in the right place, and letting the gun return consistently is the key.
I want aggressive shooting with accountability at carbine distances. Understanding the concepts of vision and connection on a deeper level so you get predictable behavior makes that shooting possible, consistent, and repeatable.

Designated target with some movement and an extra round on steel mid movement.
No Shoot @ 10
Open @ 30
Mini ADAP steel @ 40

What does your cold performance look like?
An on demand skill set isn't just when you're warmed up. It's means on demand, any time, any context, any COF. It's an out of the box, no warmup, GO time, whatever you want to call it, implementation of skill into the context at hand. It is important that you understand what you can do truly cold at an aggressive pace. From a concealed carry or home invasion perspective, the why is clearly obvious. Sometimes, it's solid, and sometimes, it'll be ugly. Use it as a diagnostic to inform your practice and fix the issues on the range. You want a skill set that is consistent and repeatable. Don't ignore it because of ego, i.e. bad target and have it come back and bite you in the ass for real.
Come out and train to start developing an on demand skill set.

Personal practice day working transitions and movement from concealment.
4 targets (2 hardcover)
6-inch knockdown plate
Vision barrier
Distances at 7-10-15 yds

Added some doubles and a transition awareness drill to round out the focused day.

Personal cold drill before class starts. Berserker Bill (pistol version)
Time: 25.65
27 Alphas
3 Charlies
HF: 5.61
Train and practice until your cold run skill set mirrors what you're doing after you're warmed up.
Be capable of aggressive shooting with accountability if the context warrants it.

Dry fire work paying off. I've been putting a lot of focus on the vision component. Also, staying connected to the gun through longer COF. This designated target drill confirmed my dry fire.

All I saw were focal points and the awareness of the dot landing softly on each of them. No overcorrecting was needed, nothing but predictable behavior out of the gun, and was solidly connected throughout. My goal was mid 3 seconds consistently for 10 rds on 4 targets randomly spaced. Distance to target was 10 yds. The random spacing and the shorter distance provided some good close to mid swings on the transitions. HF - 13.55

Stay uncomfortable. Push past perceived boundaries. Know your capabilities.

Any fighter – boxer, bjj, mma– that is preparing for a fight will be training for more than he is expecting in the fight. They'll train at a very uncomfortable level with bigger guys, faster guys, and for longer rounds. To have plenty of reserve in the tank to make the fight manageable in comparison.

Shooting is no different. Especially if it's defensive in nature. You should be training and practicing at a level that feels very uncomfortable. Shooting at a very aggressive pace and at uncomfortable distances. Finding out where the wheels come off and what you're actually capable of. To have plenty in reserve to compensate for the deterioration of skill under stress. Shooting slow fire accuracy and thinking that skill will transfer over to anything remotely usable under the level of stress defending your life is delusional.

Learn to run your gun. Aggressive shooting with accountability.

Come out to a class. Train. Work to possess a skill set that's been pressure tested. A skill set you can be confident in because it's based on data, performance under stress, and experience. Not theories you've convinced yourself of. Everything works when you go slow, are close to the target, under no stress, and in your comfort zone. Your easy, slow comfort zone is stagnation and death, and in no way preparing you for anything.

Second stage of yesterday's USPSA match. Finished 6th overall and 4th in my division (Carry Optics). Took 4th for this stage and had top ten finishes for four stages and two classifiers, 3rd being my highest.

The benefit, skill, and experience you gain from competing is huge. The value of taking that same experience that's been pressure tested and executed under stress, and then being able to apply it in any context you need, i.e., defensive utility, can't be measured. Skill based on data, pressure, and experience not theory.

Designated target. The focus is on confirming some dry fire work. Aggressive vision, hard target focus, eyes ahead of the gun, having the dot land on my focal point without having to over correct. I'm looking for where the minimal level of confirmation I need for repeatability and accountability lives. Next is maintaining a consistent connection throughout the COF. A grip pressure that allows me consistent return and predictable behavior.

Pushing the pace in speed without entirely disrespecting the more challenging setup of targets.
- Mini ADAP steel at 15 yds
- Open and hardcover target at 10 yds
- Partial, No Shoot target at 5 yds

Time - 5.78

10 Alphas
HF - 8.65

Your skill set must be accessible on demand and under stress, or it is not a skill set you own.

Daily dry fire. Working transitions with 6 different scaled targets at various heights and distances. Concentration is on consistent connection and making sure my eyes are ahead of the gun and on the focal point before my dot arrives. Just going through the motions doesn't get you anywhere and won't transfer over to live fire. There must be 100% focus on what is happening with your vision, grip, and gun to get the results.

Two main skills that I'm focusing on:

1. I'm working at a training pace pushing the speed to develop a faster, higher level of visual processing. To know what I can see and where the wheels come off. At this pace, mistakes will and do happen. That's the point. Two things that immediately reveal deficiencies in your shooting – speed and distance. Most things work when you're shooting slow and are close.

I want to see what mistakes I'm making at speed and then correct them at that same speed. Then, if and when, it's necessary to come off the gas to an engagement pace it will seem dramatically slower and more controlled while still being very fast and aggressive on the timer. This translates to a much higher level on demand skill set.

2. With the aggressive movement, aggressive times, vision barrier, and transitions, staying consistently connected to the gun is challenging. This is something I know can be a weak spot for me during longer courses of fire. Therefore, it is a focus during practice.

The only way to get better and develop a higher default skill set is to stay out of your comfort zone and push the pace to where you are uncomfortable throughout your practice.

Refining skills: Vision and movement
- What level of confirmation is needed for available target
- Eyes ahead of the gun on transitions
- Initiating movement while shooting exiting target 2
- 100% sprint between positions
- During deceleration, eyes and gun up on focal point waiting for acceptable confirmation to shoot target 3 while entering into position
- Not overconfirming any sight pictures

Execution of foundational hard skills at the highest level possible is the goal.

Cold start. First classifier to kick off the day. What does your one chance on demand skill set look like when it's pressure tested? This might be important information for you to know for performance value and defensive utility.

Working with 3 targets at 10 yds ,12 rds total with a 180° turn, one hard cover, two no shoots, and a reload. My focus was on being aggressive and accountable. Aggressive vision, keeping my eyes hard target focused, not dot focused, and ahead of the gun on the transitions along with consistent grip pressure. Times were pretty consistent in the low to mid 7's. Lost some time on the reloads that I can definitely tighten up.

For me, working these classifiers is like anything I else I practice on the range. It's about being process oriented and working and developing specific skills. Understanding the path I took to get there and all the details within that. Skills that can then be consistent and repeatable in any context I need. It's not outcome oriented shooting that is merely chasing a time or standard and missing everything along the way. This strategy is in no way repeatable because you have no idea how you got there.

Practice with purpose.

- Aggressive shooting with accountability
- Strong gun handling
- Aggressive visual processing
- Transitions
- Fast, efficient reloads
- Working under a time constraint

These are some of the necessary hard skills for any application or context you need. Stop buying gear to improve skill.

Cold drill Berserker Bill
50-40-30-20-10
6 rds at each marker
HF scored mandatory

Aggressive shooting with accountability
Vision/connection to the gun
Aiming schemes/levels of confirmation
Put in the reps, practice with purpose

You can't learn to shoot fast enough or good enough. End of story. Have way more skill than you think you'll need.

Match #11 PCSL 1 Gun. Out of 30 solid competitors I finished 8th in my division and 11th overall.
4 top ten finishes out of 5 stages.
Stage 2 - 7th
Stage 3 - 10th
Stage 4 - 5th
Stage 5 - 7th

After only one year competing, the amount of knowledge and experience gained is amazing. My shooting skill set continues to be significantly elevated with each match, class, practice session, and dry fire session. Some errors were made, and I'm still learning a lot about stage planning and patience. But overall, so many things that I've been working hard on were clicking throughout the day, which was outstanding.

The crossover utility this has for the defensive side of things can't be stressed enough. On demand performance, aggressive shooting with accountability, multiple transitions, different distances, varying shooting positions, quick decision making, and super fast visual processing all under the stress of a time constraint. To say nothing of the stress of having your peers watch your entire run and score your targets.

To me, this variation is one of the more challenging I've come across. Still figuring out where the speed and accountability meet. This exploratory pace was doable but was walking the line as far as how fast I could process what I was seeing.

- Very aggressive visual processing keeping eyes ahead of the gun moving from target to target.
- Having the dot land on my focal point.
- Not overdriving the gun.
- Not outrunning the headlights and getting the level of confirmation I need for each target.
- Maintaining consistent grip pressure.
- Trying to remain tension free.

Working on some classifier stuff today. The "boring" work of dry fire and very focused live fire is manifesting into solid improvements and measurable results. No theatrics, no nonsense. Just dedicated practice and development of hard skills for on demand performance under stress in any context needed.

Cold drill for the day 40 - 30 - 20 - 10 yds. For personal practice, in my opinion, "warmups" are a waste of a valuable teachable moment. You can't redo a cold drill later in the day. This is a chance for you to see how your on demand skill set holds up. It should be neither easy nor comfortable. It's not meant to demoralize but to inform. Combining hard skills for a cold pressure test. Ask yourself how did I do at this distance or at this speed? With this more complex course of fire? How did this piece of gear perform? The list goes on.

If it's self-defense or competition, you will immediately be engaging in a very aggressive way. Get comfortable with that.

Anyone who has done a class with me knows that outside of a brand new shooter, everyone goes through a cold drill. One that is a combination of hard skills and is HF scored. They are neither simple nor comfortable. That's the point. Then, the discussion follows of the "why" and specific skills being worked. If you're patting yourself on the back when you leave the range, you're doing it wrong.

You don’t need a fancy setup to get quality practice in. Working on making transitions a bit more challenging with an open, a partial, a tuxedo, and the debut of the ghetto port.
Skills focus for me was primarily on:

- Vision, vision, and vision

- Keeping the gun up when hunting targets. Working on blending and flowing smoothly.

- Maintaining consistent grip pressure and not getting lazy

Personal cold drill before students arrive. When the moment arrives, your skill set will be what it is. For better or worse. And it will be cold.

Good day of learning overall. There were some strong personal skill improvements I was really happy with. Hard skills I've been working on in dry fire and live practice. Also, better stage planning and blending the shooting to just flow smoothly through the stage is something I'm making progress in. Mistakes were almost exclusively in the vision area. Things I know and do but didn't implement in some stages. Things like having my eyes leave the target before I was done shooting and dragging shots. Not being patient and shooting my vision.

A skill set that has not been pressure tested is a skill set based on theory. And theory can't be called upon on demand and under stress. It doesn't matter if it's for competition or defensive use. Be better.

Good day of learning overall. There were some strong personal skill improvements I was really happy with. Hard skills I've been working on in dry fire and live practice. Also, better stage planning and blending the shooting to just flow smoothly through the stage is something I'm making progress in. Mistakes were almost exclusively in the vision area. Things I know and do but didn't implement in some stages. Things like having my eyes leave the target before I was done shooting and dragging shots. Not being patient and shooting my vision.

A skill set that has not been pressure tested is a skill set based on theory. And theory can't be called upon on demand and under stress. It doesn't matter if it's for competition or defensive use. Be better.

Vision, mount, and connection to the gun. Over development of foundational skills leads to proficiency and allows for aggressive shooting with accountability.

The focus here was working on flowing through transitions with some vision barriers for an added challenge to the vision component. The addition of the head box at the end was to force a change in aiming scheme after more aggressive shooting with movement. I'm working on disconnecting what my lower body is doing from the upper body and just shooting my vision.

Another old habit that is finally being broken is lowering the gun or bringing it to a ready position when it's unnecessary. Keeping the gun up, transitioning, and hunting for targets is the way. No jerky movements, just flowing through and shooting when I have the level of confirmation I need for the available target.

You can be much better and shoot much more aggressively and with accountability than you think. Or have been previously led to believe. Challenge what you think you know.

One of the stages from my last match. Videos from two sources. SG timer synced with my run is pretty cool to see and useful for personal critique. Consistently pressure testing and assessing my personal skill set for on demand performance under stress.

Primarily working visual processing speed for this drill. I was looking to see how far I could push the speed and maintain accountability. The goal was sub 3 seconds consistently. I wanted to know where the wheels came off. A few misses on steel was due to not grabbing a small spot and overdriving the gun. Good learnings.

One interesting note was the change in height between the steel and paper. Because the targets were only a yard apart, the fast shift between the two made finding a precise spot that wasn't too low more challenging. Grip pressure here became even more important. Any changes resulted in the loss of the dot and time wasted.

I'll keep saying this over and over and over. You should see the performance value and defensive utility to these skills.

This drill has performance value and defensive utility. Development of hard skills to the highest level possible to be used in any context you need.

Key components for this drill are:

- Physical stress. How fatigue affects your ability to implement and maintain hard skills.

- Rebuilding of proper grip structure and pressure due to disconnecting from the gun so often. Does accountability suffer?

- Picking up focal point and getting gun up early as you're entering into position to be able to shoot sooner. Knowing what aiming scheme you'll use and what level of confirmation you need for your skill set at each distance with movement.

17 rds total
HF scored
Distances at 5, 10, 15 yds
Cones are spaced 8 yds apart in a diamond pattern
Watch video to understand sequence

Very aggressive and challenging drill. While the MXAD works multiple components, my focus for this day was trying to get faster transition times between targets while maintaining accountability. This goal was achieved while also gaining faster draw speed times and overall Bill drill times with a personal best of 1.69. There are many fast changing variables that could deteriorate your standard shooting performance either in competition or during defensive use. Acclimating yourself in practice to shooting aggressively, out of your comfort zone, and being capable of processing what’s happening at the fastest pace possible is a great asset. It leaves you with plenty of skill to fall back on if those negative variables start to unfold.

Blake drill
10 yds
Exploring what's possible to see where the wheels come off with speed, and where the consistency lies.

This is what practice looks like. The road to proficiency is a minefield of mistakes, it's not highlight reels.

Succeed/fail
Assess
Learn
Develop
Implement

Being able to know what you did wrong is great, but knowing what you did right so you can make it repeatable is better.

30 yd doubles.

Skills focus was on:

- Maintaining hard target focus/aggressive vision

- Consistent connection

Skill development for on demand performance under stress in whatever context is needed. This is the way.

First day out live with the new comp rig. Spent the day focused on aggressive vision and transitions with some movement aspects that I was trying to polish up. Good day of development seeing what's possible. Aggressive shooting with accountability.

PCSL targets @ 5 yds
Mini ADAP Steel @ 15 yds
Distance between PCSL targets @ 10 yds

Running my stock G19 Gen 5 with a Holosun 508t. The same gun with which I train, practice, carry, teach/coach. This was a 50/50 kind of day. I was happy with some components of my performance, but there were errors in stage planning and some other things. All in all, it was a good day from a learning perspective. Some solid takeaways to work on for me personally and my next match. You can not count on a skill set that has not been pressure tested.

This is just another tool to pressure test your skills for the real world. Yes, it's a game. A game that requires a high level of skill and on demand application. It reveals flaws in your perceived capabilities and puts you under a level of stress. Use this for what it is – a tool to enhance your capabilities. There are no cons. Ego, fear, and pride are killing your growth.

Your skill set must be accessible on demand and under stress, or it is not a skill set you own.

My focus for this drill is solely aimed at EDC (Everyday carry) and is part of my EDC Assessment (available for download in the workshops section in the training menu.) I want aggressive shooting with full accountability. I'm shooting at a pace where I can essentially guarantee that for real-world application.

The proficiency benchmark begins but does not end for this drill with 5 rds in under 5 seconds at 25 yds from a concealed draw. This isn't meant to rival a Bill drill in terms of speed but to assess your on demand skill set for EDC in common areas like grocery store aisles, churches, atriums, and big box stores.

Adding some complexity like a 90° turn is a great way to push you out of your comfort zone and get your vision working more to elevate your skill set. Give these a try and see where you fall on the sliding scale of the EDC Assessment. This can help inform your practice in areas that may need work.

Back to work with a pistol focused personal practice day running the In and Out drill. One of three things focused on for the day. Drill is extended slightly by 3 extra rounds using paper instead of steel for the farther target. But I like this addition. I was happy hovering in the low 7 seconds consistently. Trying to break 7 today was not to be and felt too sloppy. This drill is no joke. Fun and super challenging with a bunch of skills being worked.

Very productive portion of a personal practice day running the In and Out drill. There's a multitude of hard skills being worked in this low round count aggressive drill. Skills that can then be used in any application you need. Bumped up the round count and slightly extended the drill from 7 to 10 rds using the paper instead of the steel for the farther target.

Practicing to be comfortable and confident at a default shooting speed of 150 mph makes slowing down to 50 if you need to easy. It does not work the other way around.

Aggressive shooting with accountability.
Does the intensity of your practice mirror the stress you're expecting?

Cold drill was a designated target drill with targets at 5, 15, and 25 yds.
Going to the range with a plan is mandatory. I run drills that will help me develop proficiency in specific skills that I want to work on for that day.

Vision:
- Target focused. Not getting sucked into the dot, particularly at the 25.
- Eyes in front and ahead of the gun hunting for the focal point.
- Paying attention and looking for the level of confirmation I need for each target. Efficiency. Not just chasing speed.

Changing aiming schemes on the fly:
- No guesswork.
- Knowing exactly how aggressive I can shoot at different distances and adjusting for that on the fly.
- Not out shooting my vision. Being patient, relaxed. See what I need to see. Don't overconfirm. Shoot.

Work skills. Don't just chase drills.
Skills can be implemented into any application you need.
Striving to constantly refine my skill set for complete confidence in my capabilities on demand and under stress.

The focus was isolating aggressive vision with transitions and movement. Added some vision barriers to the mix to up the challenge. And yes, on the timer, for those of you in the back row. Because time is not a luxury you have from an EDC perspective. Learn to deal with it and be capable of performing under pressure. This is not slow fire bullseye target shooting. This started as a cold drill, but because of the utility in isolating each of these skills and the ability to run it in numerous ways, there was a lot of time spent here. In the cold with a fun snow squall. Solid day of learning, some mistakes, and strong personal growth on the range.

No range theatrics just learning how to run your gun hard with a skill set you can call upon on demand and under stress. This is the way.

Practice with purpose.
This drill has performance value and defensive utility. Carbine throttle control drill at 10, 25 and 50 yds. Working on the vision and connection to the gun components and changing aiming schemes on the fly.
Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Allow yourself to fail and make mistakes in order to learn and get to a higher level of skill.

Aggressive shooting with accountability.
Consistency and repeatability.

Your skill set must be accessible on demand and under stress, or it is not a skill set you own.

Gloves can be particularly challenging. If you choose to wear gloves I recommend investing in a more “tactical” style glove like PIG or Mechanix. When assessing gloves pay attention to these key factors:

- Can you clear your garment quickly, safely and efficiently?

- Can you get a solid strong hand purchase on the draw?

- Can you fit your finger in the trigger guard?

- Can you obtain a proper grip to withstand firing multiple rounds?

- Can you manipulate all fire controls like the trigger, mag release and manual safety (if applicable)?

- Can you perform reloads and clear malfunctions without any issues?

- Can you rack the slide without excess glove material getting bound up between the frame and slide?

You can’t do something you’ve never practiced and expect good results.

This was an end of the day drill with some remaining ammo. You can pull a lot of value out of a limited ammo, simple drill like this.

Here I'm getting practice with:

- Various distances
- Different levels of confirmation
- Reactive and Predictive shooting
- Movement (One hand and two hands on the gun)
- Getting the gun up to shoot sooner
- HF scored (HF - 3.10) for speed and accuracy

Dry fire can be as simple or as complex as you want. Whichever you decide, you have to be paying attention to the details and be honest with yourself about what's happening. Today's focus was just concealed draws. For performance value and defensive utility. Also, loving the random starts with the new timer. This adds solid training value.

Match # 7

Cold, rain, and mud. The harder the road, the more the herd thins. Walk the walk or keep your opinions for the peanut gallery. A couple of highlights from my last match. Tried experimenting with some things as far as shooting pace and stage planning . Overall the match turned out well but I wasn't satisfied with parts of my performance. Some strong takeaways learned so regardless it's a win.

Putting in work before students arrive with some AK doubles at 30 yds.

Most times, I'm working on these principles in 5.56, but I recently started exploring what was possible for me with 7.62x39. It is interesting to see the different recoil impulses with the heavier caliber when working a drill like doubles, especially at 30 yds. Using predictive as a training tool, understanding and applying the vision and connection pieces, and then applying those same principles to a reactive pace makes shooting aggressively with accountability and repeatability at any distance a reality. This has truly taken my shooting to a place I never thought possible before. Coming from a firefighter background, the importance of passing on knowledge and experience has always been integral in my overall mission and how I train. The more I learn from training, my competing in USPSA, personal practice, and dry fire, the more knowledge and experience gets passed on to my students to help them on the road to proficiency. From me, thank you to @benstoeger and @xray.alpha.llc for passing on their knowledge and experience and leading the charge on what's possible with a rifle and pistol. Keep up the solid work, gentlemen.

Your skill set must be accessible on demand and under stress, or it is not a skill set you own.

End of the day movement drill.

Ran this new one starting at 15 - 10 - 7 - 5 - 3 yds with angled movement to get practice turning toward the targets from both sides instead of a straight run. Targets were spaced 1 yd apart. 1 rd on each. It turned out to be a fun HF scored drill that was challenging enough after a long day. Test of hard skills with some specific focus for me.

Show your hits. Show your mistakes. Show the learning process. Nobody dropped from the womb knowing how to shoot well.

Social media isn't reality. Practice is work and learning. It's dry fire, it's mistakes, it's frustration. It's not being afraid of those mistakes or embarrassed by them. It's a learning process that will get you to a higher skill set and that can be passed on to help someone else reach their next level of proficiency.

If you're a newer or experienced shooter and struggling, DO NOT GIVE UP. The road to proficiency is not found on social media. It's in the work that nobody sees. The dry fire sessions in your bedroom. The focused personal days on the range.

Normally, 2R2 is not something I spend a lot of time with, but having lately put more work into my reloads from concealment during dry fire, I wanted to confirm live. Unless you're trying to conserve ammo 1R1 is not beneficial, in my opinion, because it allows you too much room to give mistakes in vision and grip a pass.

Layers of complexity, performance value and defensive utility.

Adding layers of complexity to drills you may already practice regularly can prove to be deceptively demanding. Bill drills are a great hard skill test of vision, grip and recoil management. Add a layer of complexity like movement and you have a Retreating Bill. This adds performance value and defensive utility. There are countless videos showing real world defensive use with a pistol that mirror this drill. Adding movement takes you out of the static prepped position and makes the vision, grip and recoil management pieces more challenging. As you progress you can begin to introduce more layers of complexity like 90°/180° turns, different hand positions with eyes off target, forward movement then retreating and some realism like single hand draws carrying a baby. This will greatly improve the level of performance in your skill set while holding significant defensive utility.

Things I'm paying attention to:

- Vision piece. Target focus, locking on to a focal point as I'm coming into position, minimum confirmation level necessary. Splits were at a reactive pace low to mid 30's (lots of doubles work has been immensely beneficial)
- Two hands on gun for short bursts, longer run strong hand only
- Enter/Exit in a solid stance, ready to move again, efficiency of movement, no unnecessary steps
- Getting gun up as I'm coming into position to shoot sooner
- Keeping grip pressure consistent (lots of doubles work has been immensely beneficial)
- Fast aggressive movement between cones
- HF scored, aggressive, accurate shooting with urgency
- Hardcover for added challenge

Ran this match from concealment. One of my better stages for the day. The first half of the day was a significant loss of focus and killed me overall. In the second half, I was able to get myself back on track.

Keep learning. Keep getting back up. Get uncomfortable and put yourself out there.

6th place overall.
3rd place in Carry Optics.

Train.
Practice.
Dry fire.
Repeat.
This model works.

This drill helps develop hard skills for on demand performance while also having crossover defensive utility. A layer of complexity with the 180° turn on the draw gets you out of the perfect stance, staring at your target. Instead, you're forced to move, find your focal point, pay attention to efficiency of movement and execute a fast, safe, and efficient drawstroke. The turn also adds the defensive component of a realistic reaction time to an unforeseen threat. Since the turn adds time to your draw, it's especially important to train yourself to turn and lock onto a spot quickly. Because it is for hard skill development and defensive utility, I challenge myself to not simply accept A zone hits. Groups must be in the fist size range for accountability. Speed, accuracy, and accountability at 15 yds is a good step towards pushing you to learn to shoot more aggressively at farther distances. Adding some mental stress in the form of a timer helps mirror the urgency of a real-world application.

Like the standard drill, this is a great addition to hard skill development as well as having real world defensive utility. Adding layers of complexity like movement, 90°/180° turns, reloads, and malfunctions to tried, and true drills are a great way to improve your overall skill set and keep challenging yourself. Give these a try!

One of my go-to drills for practicing pistol hard skills that also has realistic crossover defensive utility.

Hard skill components worked:
- Concealed draw, consistent index
- Vision, finding focal point, maintaining target focus
- Grip durability, structure, and pressure
- Trigger speed
- Recoil management
- Build confidence in aggressive shooting

Defensive utility:
- Immediate threat
- Severely limited reaction time
- Maintaining threat focus
- Fast, safe, and efficient draw and index
- Urgency, not wasting time overconfirming sight picture
- Accuracy and accountability
- Unknown amount of rounds to stop a threat, confidence in your aggressive shooting skill set because it was established during range practice.

Consistency.

Without consistency, it's nothing more than a one-time circus trick. 10 yd Carbine Bills are a good test of raw speed, vision, connection, and recoil management, but they don't expose flaws in your fundamentals the way distance does. Walk out to 30 yds and start shooting aggressively to see where your skill set truly lives. 30 yds exposes problems and amplifies weaknesses with your fundamentals. With your vision, mount, and connection. It exposes whether you are able to shoot consistently and be confident in your on demand performance. It shows you where you need work. That doesn't mean the plateau inducing "slow down to get your hits" answer. Address the actual problem and fix it.

Officially a USPSA competitor in the Carry Optics division. Great experience, and I've got a lot to learn. I’m looking forward to continuing my development as a shooter and being an asset to those around me. Lessons learned will be integrated into classes and adapted for real-world applications.

Persistently a student.
Action over rhetoric.
Lead by example.

Working close to wide transitions from concealment in my practice session.

My distance to USPSA targets - 10 yds
My distance to 6 inch knockdown plate - 17 yds
Close targets spaced - 1 yd apart
Wide transition spaced - 12 yds

While I was trying to keep the COF under 3 seconds, the speed wasn't my main focus. The higher priority was keeping my eyes out ahead and in front of the gun, being able to visually process everything with the minimum level of confirmation needed and staying relaxed and tension free.

Working from concealment at 30 yds on a 6 inch knockdown plate. Identifying the threat, drawing from concealment, building your grip, finding a focal point, and indexing on the target. Then, pressing rounds off accurately and with urgency while paying attention to your background. To say nothing of the stress of the moment. This is a skill that needs to be practiced because these distances are a reality. Grocery store aisles, churches, atriums, parking lots, big box stores, etc. Build confidence in the capabilities you do have and recognize the skills that need work.

I'm trying to push the speed to see what's possible and where the wheels come off. I want a clean, single hand draw with solid purchase on the gun. Consistency in indexing on the target and only the acceptable level of confirmation needed. This drill was not just about raw speed or precise accuracy. This is not a suggestion to shoot single-handed unnecessarily. It was with a forced (my arm is injured) defensive utility in mind, so urgency and speed with an acceptable level of confirmation and accuracy as the goal. Don't be afraid to push yourself and see where it starts to unravel so you know what's possible and you understand what your actual capabilities are. Then you know where to put in work. Confidence in your skill set comes from work and proven data and performance on the range.

Cold drill – Shooting on the move. What does your on demand pistol skill set really look like? Are you basing your answer on actual data and performance or is it just theory and what you've convinced yourself you can do? If you're carrying concealed every day, this is something you want to be able to answer with confidence. Adding movement to your shooting adds a layer of complexity. Some things that are affected are vision and your perception of the target, importance of a focal point, dot/sights behavior, grip structure and pressure and points of impact. This is a skill that must be practiced and has real world application.

This drill works a multitude of hard skills while highlighting areas that need attention. Times were pretty consistent throughout the day from the 1.90s to 2.30s. Overall accuracy was fairly consistent with alphas, dropping some charlies when my focal point was lost or there was too much over muscling of the gun on my strong side. Understanding how to self diagnose your shooting is a major part of the path to proficiency.

Aggressive and very challenging drill. Skills that are highlighted are visual processing, draw, grip, trigger control, recoil management at speed and trying to remain tension free. One of the most important goals for me is consistency and repeatability. Consistency of gun handling overall, draw speed, Bill drill time, overall time and accuracy of hits. Consistency equates to on demand performance which benefits not only hard skills but the crossover utility for self defense.

A significant amount of our time is spent performing everyday tasks in areas where distance is a factor such as grocery store aisles, big box stores, churches etc. Learning to shoot aggressively at these distances should be an on demand skill set you own. Adding in some complexity to your draws in the form of 90°/180° turns is a great way to enhance not only your technical skill set but also add a bit of realism.

Working at three different distances, 10, 25 and 50 yards. My focus is primarily grip structure and pressure, focal points on targets, and adjusting how fast I shoot based on target distance and the level of aiming confirmation I need from each target.

I’m working at 10 yards. My focus throughout this drill consists of a few things: a consistent mount and index, maintaining my focal point, and a strong connection to the carbine throughout to manage recoil. My goal was 6 rounds in the A zone with a par time of 1.30.

I’m working doubles at 10 and 30 yards. My main focus for this drill is a consistent mount, maintaining a strong connection to the gun, not adding any unnecessary input, and staying locked on a small focal point throughout.

I’m working at 7 yards. In this drill I focus mainly on vision and connection to the carbine, keeping my eyes ahead of the gun as I transition from target to target, staying relaxed and not muscling the gun. The standard I hold myself to is 6 rounds with a par time under 2 seconds. In this series, my par times ranged from 1.58 to 1.46.