Reactive Shooting Archives - Tactical Performance Center

January 24, 2019January 25, 2019

Exercise: 1″ Dots Fastest 75 with a Twist

Exercise: 1" Dots at Speed

Summary: Shoot dots as fast as you can hit them. An exercise for the “speed” portion of a practice. You can try this cold as well from time to time to see where you are on high pressure shooting with no warmup.

Rounds: 75
Target: 1″ Dots (https://classes.tacticalperformancecenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/TPC_1_Inch_Circles_Target.pdf)
Time: < 1 minute
Start Position: Compressed Imminent Threat, 3 to 5 yards (based on your skill)
Procedure: 3 Shots in Each Dot, on the clock, add 2 seconds for each miss.
Variant: 1 shot in each dot, 3 strings.
Dry variant: You can do this try but it is very important to be honest about your hits. When dry, because of no recoil the focus changes to Isolating the Trigger

Standard: Go at a pace where you hit at least 4 dots per row. World class shooters do this in about 25 seconds with 3 misses. For a total of 31 seconds.

Sometimes, when practicing, you have to step on the gas… shoot fast… add pressure. You can do this cold, as a measure (but not for training), or in the middle of a practice where you carefully think about what you want to accomplish with it. Do NOT end on this, as we prefer to end positive, slow and doing things exactly right.

What fundamental are we learning here… well this tests several, but the biggest payoff will be Letting Recoil Happen (step 4 of the Reactive Shooting Cycle). And Isolating the Trigger (Step 3).

Shoot either 3 strings of 1 shot on each row. Or 1 string of all 75.

Your time = Your Raw Time + (2 seconds * each miss).

More than 5 misses = NoGo, reconsider the pace you are doing it at.

What to think about… in sequence…

see your perfect sight picture (learn it on the top row with lines in the circles).
isolate the action of your trigger finger
let recoil happen
call the shot (if you are at that point in your education)
follow thru – find the sights again while resetting the trigger AT THE SAME TIME
see #1

Try it dry for a bit if that helps. Then… unleash the calm, precise, mentally focused, visually driven monster within.

Write down in your journal what worked to get you through this with < 5 misses. And what you want to try next time that might improve your performance.

January 24, 2019January 25, 2019

Exercise: Visual Patience, 100 rounds, 1 hour

Exercise: VP 170/100 - See What You Need to See for different targets

An exercise improves a fundamental. A drill improves a set of connected skills or fundamentals. This exercise builds up 2 core fundamentals – seeing what you need to see, and deciding as early as you can what you need to see. These are part of a larger process called “Visual Patience”, which you will constantly be working to improve once you have basic fire control fundamentals down.

Target: Visual Patience Target (a mix of various targets) (PDF link, you can print from it.)

Goal: Improve ability to present to various target difficulties and see what you need to see.

Procedure:

This can be done dry only (170 reps). Or live on the range with 170 dry, then 100 hot.

3 to 7 yards depending on your skill.

DO AT THE PACE OF DOING IT RIGHT. Not slow. Not fast. The speed you can do it right every time.

Recommendation: Rebuild stance and grip at least each target. On early targets, rebuild each rep.

Step 1: Look at the target. Decide, right now, what you need to see in terms of SIGHT PICTURE for each type of target. I’ve done it for how I’d think it for each size/shape/region target. I’m thinking in terms of what alignment I need to see over a SMALLER region of the target, to maximize the chance of a hit.

Step 2. 170 reps. That’s right. 170!

For each target on the page (17):

dry fire each target 10 times.
Start on the target with the sight picture you want.
Come back to compressed imminent threat (CIT), or low ready (LR), (not the holster – focus the hard part…. the end of the draw, not the start).
Present to the target
1. find the sight picture, press the trigger, reset the trigger (even simulated if your gun is an SA), hold and confirm you saw what you needed to see and didn’t move off of it with the trigger press.
If you find yourself having trouble with one target, stop, think, and try to get 10 perfect reps.

Step 3.

Same as Step 2. Only live. 5 rounds per target.

You will have 15 rounds left of your hundred. Use 10 of them on your worst target. Use the last 5 on your best. Finish strong!

Step 4

Write this down in your journal. Think about what you learned. Think about what was key. Thing about things you can do to improve results (whether accuracy, time or both).

NOTE: You should be mentally tired at the end of this. Do it at the PACE OF DOING THINGS RIGHT. Each shot – dry or live, should be thought about and done in a calm and measured process oriented manner.

Feel free to rest and to do dry warmups between targets.

January 23, 2019January 25, 2019

The Draw: Present at speed for hard shots

Summary: Present at the same speed for hard or easy shots. You will save time you can spend confirming your sight picture and ensuring a hit. Try this on the WB40 exercise.

It’s very common when you know you have a tough shot to present the gun slowly. That just wastes time better spent either hitting early, or taking whatever time you need to see the sight picture you need to see and ensure a hit.

How fast should that be?

Using our Reactive Shooting doctrine we recommend:

rising up
at about the speed that you point at things (do it now, just point at something)
with sights aligned (see our other videos about that)

Why up? Gravity helps you stop the gun. If you push or punch out you can create a spring in your arm that results in a big vibration at the end of the push out – causing misses. In practice, “up” also keeps the muzzle of the gun within a typical human lethal/”stop the threat” zone.

Why present like you point at things? It’s fast. It’s something you’ve done a million times. It is naturally and comfortably up. For 99.999% of people, it ends with the finger aligned with the dominant eye – which is also what you need for shooting.

Give it a try. A perfect exercise to try is the WB40 exercise/test used in our TPC Rating. You will find this helps a LOT when you get out to the 15, 20,25 yards with the reduced size target making them geometrically 50 yard shots.

July 17, 2018October 18, 2018

Reactive Shooting

The science of the best chance of a hit as early as possible.

Ron Avery, Co-founder and Director of Training for TPC, developed his Reactive Shooting Science program many years ago and now uses this program exclusively through the Tactical Performance Center in St. George, UT.

This program uses the very best principles of science and teaching from a wide variety of disciplines that have been proven to be a superior method of training.

Our Reactive Shooting Science Program is the result of many years of work, experimentation and implementation of scientific principles of high performance specifically geared to reactive shooting with different firearms.

We have pioneered and systematized many reactive shooting training concepts and we continue to improve the program over time to ensure the highest quality training.

Our unique training allows us to apply principle based training to each student and help them develop their own style.

A unique part of the program lies in our capability to assess each student, correctly analyze and diagnose problems, determine the correct level and type of remediation for each student and help them learn and grow faster while avoiding the pitfalls of other recipe based teaching methods where one size fits all.

For instructors we offer far more detailed information and teaching materials to prepare them to teach in depth training programs.

For our students going into harm’s way, you will have arguably the best techniques and procedures available to bring your reactive shooting skills up to the highest standards.

We have and continue to train everyone from world champion shooters and elite special operations personnel down to beginner and intermediate level shooters.

We have worked with many different agencies and military units as well as individual soldiers, police officer and instructors.

Our doctrine is being used across the US and we have trained many instructors and operators over the years.

This program is also unique in that the doctrine allows for adaptation into almost any existing program or as a stand-alone course of instruction. This allows you to integrate it into your shooting skills program. We have worked with many agencies and military units to do just that and it has been very successful.

We look forward to working with you and sharing our programs with you.

July 17, 2018December 29, 2018

Reactive Shooting