Downrange drill target

My only question is whether you might have an alternate suggestion for target set up comparable to the one in this post and the one before. I shoot at two restrictive ranges without the ability to shoot targets spaced as indicated in your diagram.

Almost all indoor ranges are restrictive that way. There are still things you can do even if you can’t accomplish everything you’d like.

This is a target from my upcoming Dry Practice book you can print on letter size paper.

Downrange drill target

Tape it to the head of a silhouette target. It is anatomically sized correctly by using the ocular distance indicated by the line with arrows on the male mugshot of Dennis Rader, the notorious BTK Killer. https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/dennis-rader The dashed circle is sized to four inches in diameter. The pretty lady is a mug shot too, unfortunately, but she serves the purpose of occupying the place of a NO SHOOT.

Place the target at 10 feet, which is the mid-point of the far phase of Social Space in Proxemics. The object of the drill is to place one round in the circle as rapidly as you can. Do it five times in a row. If you hit the lady, you’ve shot a loved one; consider that in your evaluation of your abilities. As Dirty Harry said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”

Even if you don’t have a lot of flexibility at your practice range, there are still things you can do to up your game.

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2 responses

  1. Did similar, today. Traced three headboxes from a Q target. Center unmarked. To its right, a half-obstructed one. To its left, a closely spaced but unobstructed headbox. Left and right headboxes had 4″ circular head targets from one of your e-books trimmed to fit and stuck on with a glue stick. Partially obstructed target was engaged as ball and dummy from four yards with my carry revolver for one cylinder. Second cylinder of ball and dummy started at seven yards and started advancing toward four yards as my timer delay did its thing, stopping and firing one shot to the unobstructed headbox at the tone. Third cylinder was also to the unobstructed headbox stationary at the seven yard line. Centering my front sight along the ridge of the nose proved a satisfactory aiming spot.

    Back to four yards for a final cylinder of ball and dummy at the obstruced target. I used the visible right eye as an aiming spot both times and it worked a treat. All shooting was done from low-ready.

    Working precision at close range was very easy to set-up and feels like an under-appreciated exercise. As a bonus, it was a very good workout using but half a box of precious ammunition. I think my next few range trips will be structured along similar lines with small target zones and 100% accuracy standards versus working raw speed and longer strings of fire. Ammo is precious so working solid first shot hits makes sense when triaging skill maintenance.

    Thanks for the inspiration! It was a fun way to soak up some autumn sun.

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed the drill.

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