Standards (Part VII – Fundamental Marksmanship and Gunhandling for Weapons Carry)

By tacticalprofessor on

I’m taking the NRA Personal Protection Outside The Home Course  this week. Taking the Course is a prerequisite to becoming a PPOTH Instructor but I also like to get back to Basics periodically.

Yesterday, I did the Range Exercises for the Basic level of the Course. PPOTH has Basic Level range exercises of 100 rounds. The Advanced Level range exercises total 112 rounds. The exercises are detailed in a Condensed Reference Guide available from the NRA.

PPOTH Range book

The exercises are nothing fancy or ‘high speed’ but they emphasize fundamental skills that everyone who carries a weapon should be able to execute flawlessly. Most are shot at seven yards.

  • Presenting the pistol and firing one shot (that hits) while not wearing a concealment garment
  • Presenting the pistol and firing one shot (that hits) while wearing a concealment garment
  • Presenting the pistol and firing two shots (that hit) while not wearing a concealment garment
  • Presenting the pistol, moving to a position of cover and firing two shots (that hit)
  • Presenting the pistol and firing one shot (that hits) using the Shooting (Dominant) Hand Only
  • Presenting the pistol and firing two shots (that hit) at close range (2 yards)

The exercises are done dryfire first and then live fire. Generally, 10 to 20 repetitions of each exercise are done. Accountability for the rounds is stressed. I like that. I’ve used the NRA Marksmanship Qualification Program in a number of classes. What my students found was that getting 100% hits on a 12 inch circle at seven yards wasn’t as easy as they thought it would be.

Repetition and performance measurement are the midwives of skill development.

The standard I established for myself yesterday to get all my hits in the 10 ring of the NRA AP-1 target. This is an eight inch circle, which is a relatively well established standard for defensive accuracy among those who can shoot.

AP-1 CB with arrow to 10

I’m looking forward to taking PPOTH and doing the exercises with someone else watching. That’s another of my standards; being able to perform on demand while others observe what my results are.

Posted in: concealed carry, dryfire, firearms, gunhandling, practice, skills, training | Tagged: , ,

2 responses

  1. Brittius

    Reblogged this on .

  2. Koefod Richard G.

    Thanks, Claude. I always appreciate your blog as it always presents well thought out information about the real world of responsible and ethical firearm use. Of particular value are your tips and insights into training. I’ve incorporated many of your suggestions over the last several years and they always give new life to my practice, many of which enable me to test my progress. I’m a strong believer in the value of training which enables one to both challenge one’s abilities while also testing/evaluating one’s progress. This is one more of those.

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