Recoil Management and Trigger Manipulation
#fridayfundamentals
“The purpose of the drill is to practice recoil management and trigger manipulation.”
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/jim-cirillo-s-1-2-3-6-drill/
Sometimes we take things for granted. A more thorough explanation would have been that for each shot, the shooter does four things in sequence.
- Acquire an acceptable sight picture
- Press the trigger smoothly and fire
- Reset the trigger in recoil while the sights are returning to the target
- Take up the slack in the trigger as the sights settle on the target, and finally
- When an acceptable sight picture is acquired, smoothly press the trigger to fire again
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Tightening Your Accuracy and Performance Standards
My latest Shooting Illustrated article is up.
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/tightening-your-accuracy-and-performance-standards
The New Mexico Competency Demonstration was the final exercise in my Revolver Operator Course. Those who had snubs were encouraged to shoot it with their little guns. Shooters can put variations in it to make it even more relevant for Personal Protection practice. In ROC, I made it simple; five shots with two hands, five shots with the Primary Hand Only, and five shots with the Support Hand Only. For the article, I put a little different spin on it.
Here are the images that weren’t used.
Friday Fundamentals – Terminology
#fridayfundamentals
In reply to the Back to Basics WheelgunWednesday post, a pertinent question came up.
“I was ‘hammering’ instead of firing a ‘controlled pair.’
What do you mean by hammering?”
Great question – thanks for asking. Sometimes we trainers take our subject matter knowledge for granted. Several concepts developed by Jeff Cooper have remained constant despite having been formulated nearly half a century ago.
Fundamental Terminology
- Flash Sight Picture
- Controlled Pair
- Hammer
Flash Sight Picture
The concept of accepting that perfect sight alignment is not necessary to achieve an acceptable hit. Shooters often assume that they need to obtain a perfect sight picture for acceptable hits.
That’s not necessarily the case, depending on the distance to target.
https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2015/02/06/89081/
https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2015/10/02/friday-fundamentals-segment-2/
Controlled Pair
Achieving an acceptable sight picture on a target, firing a shot, bringing the pistol down in recoil, obtaining a second acceptable sight picture, and firing a second shot.
Hammer
Achieving an acceptable sight picture on a target, firing a shot, bringing the pistol down in recoil, and firing a second shot using only a physical index to the target without regard to achieving a second sight picture.
Note that the term ‘double tap’ is obsolete because it could refer to either a controlled pair or a hammer and so is inadequate as a description. Others have written in-depth articles about Cooper’s concepts so I will just link to them.
Flash Sight Picture
Chris Baker
Jim Wilson
https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/sheriff-s-tips-understanding-the-flash-sight-picture
Hammer v. Controlled Pair
Jim Wilson
https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/whatever-happened-to-the-double-tap
Darryl Bolke via Greg Ellifritz
Chgowiz wins a free book of mine for asking a great question.
Back to Basics WheelgunWednesday
#wheelgunwednesday
Going back to basics occasionally helps me get back in the groove. Two basic exercises I like for the snub revolver are the LAPD Retired Officer Qualification Course and the NRA Basics of Pistol Shooting Level 1 test.
The LAPD course is described in the LAPD Manual.
“The starting position for this qualifying course of fire will begin at the 7 Yard Line. When the target faces, the shooter will draw and fire 10 rounds at a single silhouette target. A score of 70 percent is required to pass the qualification. All rounds impacting anywhere on the body and head will receive full value and rounds impacting upon the arms are half value.”
Basics of Pistol Shooting Level 1 test consists of shooting five shots into a circle that is four inches in diameter at a distance of 10 feet. All five shots must hit or cut the circle. It must be done four time, not necessarily consecutively, to pass BOPS.
For both tests, I include opening and spinning the cylinder periodically to create ball and dummy practice. In the LAPD Course, I also include a few initial dry practice draws, a la the NY State CCL Qualification, staggered loading with loose rounds during the first five shots, presenting from Low Ready, firing different numbers of rounds, and a reload with a loading device for the second five.
During my initial run of LAPD (I did four), I noticed that a couple of my shots went high. Upon repeating it, I realized that I was ‘hammering’ instead of firing a ‘controlled pair.’ That was probably the reason I had a couple of high hits during the Rangemaster Pistol Match https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2024/04/10/tactical-conference-2024-pistol-match/.
I used a target that I found on the range. The hits covered with masking tape are mine. The ones with pasters are from the previous and unknown shooter. The two hits just below the neck line were the ones probably the result of hammering.
Since BOPS has four strings, I used the opportunity to tune up with several different loading devices. One was an HKS speedloader and the others were various tools from Zeta6 that I like. All the Zeta6 devices are modified with Retention Rings. I find the Retention Ring is a handy addition for getting the device out of my pocket.
It was a nice little tuneup. The day was nice and the results were satisfying.
Tactical Conference 2024 – Loot and Looted
At every Conference, Seminar, or industry gathering, the attendees always return with items given away by Presenters and other attendees. TacCon 2024 was no exception; I call this ‘Loot’ and I returned with some good items.
Loot
Books
Good reading material courtesy of Chuck Haggard, my hostess for the weekend, Andy Stanford, and Greg Ellifritz.
Targets and Drills
At the end of Andy Stanford’s Practical Handgun Drills class, he gave us laminated copies of the Surefire targets and a double sided sheet of drills for using them.
Cool Stuff
Yet another doubloon from Andy Stanford was a Surefire Stiletto flashlight, given to all the trainers at the event. Retention Ring gave me a nice laminated card as an aid for adjusting pistol and rifle optics. A friend in the Air Marshal Service presented me with a cool pin and Chuck gave me a unique and apparently one off revolver inert gun.
Looted
Notice that there is no picture of the package of Narcan gifted to me by Greg Ellifritz. That’s because it was ‘liberated’ from my suitcase while in the custody of Frontier Airlines on the trip home. Whether a sticky fingered baggage handler got it or it was ‘seized’ without notice or an inspection tag by the TSA is unknown to me. Sunny Hostin might think the Total Eclipse disintegrated it while in the aircraft’s hold. When I opened the suitcase, I thought things were arranged a little differently. A bit later I realized that the Narcan had taken a walk.
That’s the last time I’ll ever fail to secure my suitcase with a TSA lock and a zip tie. I didn’t feel it was necessary this time because I didn’t have a pistol in my suitcase but it’s a lesson learned.
Many thanks to my friends for their generosity. Whether presenting or attending, there’s always interesting stuff given out at conferences. I’m looking forward to duplicating the Surefire targets and shooting Andy’s drills for them.
In Memoriam to all the heroes of the Miami Massacre, April 11, 1986. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FBI_Miami_shootout
Improving Snub Sight Visibility, Again
#wheelgunwednesday
The new Lipsey’s 642 UC (Ultra Carry) is the latest hotness in the revolver community. Its single biggest feature is an upgraded set of sights on it. The sights are a worthy improvement.
Not everyone who owns one of the millions of snub revolvers out there is going to buy something new to get a better set of sights though. I’ve written previously about how to improve the sight visibility of a snub revolver. https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2019/07/10/getting-more-out-of-your-snubs-sights/
The bottom line is that if you can’t see the sights on your snub, you can’t use them.
Earlier this year, I purchased an Ameriglo tritium front sight for my Taurus 856. Although I had already painted the original front sight as outlined in the previous article, I wanted to try out the Ameriglo. Installing it was not difficult, only requiring a 1/16th inch pin punch. Some kind of bench block is helpful. The process is easier if the cylinder is removed so the gun lies flatter on the bench.
A word of warning; the screw that holds the yoke on the Taurus is not one piece assembly like a Smith & Wesson. There’s a small plunger and spring that fits inside the Taurus screw and is a separate assembly. It will come out when the screw is removed. Watch for it and don’t lose it, the screw will not hold the yoke in if the plunger assembly is lost.
The rear of the Ameriglo sight overhangs the barrel a bit and at first I thought that was a design flaw. Then I realized it’s actually very clever. The overhanging lip ensures that the hole for the roll pin holding the sight in place is always in the same spot. It works very well, the pin was easy to reinsert. A replacement pin is included with the sight but I reused the original.
When I took it to the range, I had an issue. While the sight is highly visible, bringing the whole orange area into the rear notch when sighting makes the gun shoot high. This is a common problem when folks paint the entire ramp of a revolver. The natural tendency is to bring the entire colored area visible in the rear notch. Inevitably, this means the top of the front sight is above the top of the rear notch and the gun will shoot high. As long as you’re just trying to hit the 8 ring of a B-27 at 3 yards, this doesn’t matter. However, if you’re trying to put a bullet in the face of the target at 5 yards or more, it becomes very problematic.
I had to consciously bring the top of the sight down into the notch for every shot. This reduced how much the high visibility of the sight contributed to my shooting. I was still able to make my par times but I was working at it.
To remedy this, I painted the lower part of the sight with white Appliance enamel. Fortunately, it was obvious that the tritium dot established the part needing white paint. I’m not concerned about the night sight, so I just painted over it. Masking the area I didn’t want paint on gave a good final result. The original sight with its paint is on the right.
When working on a snub’s sights, putting a large binder clip on the front of the frame will stabilize the revolver and position it properly so you can do your artistry. Put some tape or cloth around the frame if you are concerned about scratching it. Note also that the rear notch is blackened with an Ultra Fine Point Sharpie.
The system that inspired this method of painting sights is the Optical Landing System used by pilots landing on aircraft carriers. They learn to use the visual reference very quickly while landing and with some practice, using the sight paint on the front sight to achieve a good sight alignment becomes second nature too.
If I see the white, I know the sight is too high. If I don’t see the orange, I know to bring the front sight up. After doing it for a while, this becomes as instinctive as driving between the lines on the road, unless you drive a Honda Odyssey, in which case the lines probably aren’t important to you. 😊
I’ll find out how well this works at the 2024 Tactical Conference when I shoot the pistol match.
My ebooks about shooting and personal protection are available on Payloadz. https://store.payloadz.com/results/337896-tactical-professor
McGee’s Paradigm
“Three shots in three seconds at three yards.” That was Lt. Frank McGee’s iconic summation (McGee’s Paradigm) of the typical gunfight of New York City police officers in the 1970s. Lt. McGee was the head of the NYPD Firearms and Tactics Section at that time. His analysis came from the Department’s SOP-9 report, which began compiling statistics about the gunfights of its officers in 1969. Although the scope and name of the report has evolved over time, it is still published by the NYPD and available online. McGee’s Paradigm hasn’t changed much over the past 50 years.
Since most gunowners are limited to shooting at indoor ranges, learning to shoot against a time standard has always been an issue. Shot timers usually work by tracking the noise from each shot and are therefore not always useful in the indoor-range environment because of adjacent shooters. Besides this, casual shooters are generally unwilling to spend over $100 for a shot timer.
The widespread nature of smartphones and Bluetooth earbuds have given us a solution to this problem. There are several timing apps for Smartphones available online. Used in conjunction with Bluetooth earbuds underneath earmuff-based hearing protection, practicing marksmanship with a par time is now easily accomplished.
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/three-shots-in-three-seconds
A demonstration video is available at https://youtu.be/8kL0bUQWsfI
Here’s a target for the final 20 rounds of the 50 round session.
SixFerShur 2nd Day
The first day of SixFerShur sold out faster than I expected. My host, The Complete Combatant, has kindly offered to host a second class on the following Sunday. If you weren’t able to register for Saturday, now you still have a chance to learn how to spin your wheels.
Sunday, May 5, Dahlonega, Georgia – Home Range of The Complete Combatant
https://www.shootingclasses.com/thecompletecombatant/course/?courseId=4493
One Day – $199 plus $20 Range fee
Important: Although a few exercises will be shot with small (J Frame ish) revolvers, this is NOT a J Frame course. You will need a full size (K frame or equivalent) revolver to attend. Shooting 300 rounds in a day through an Airweight J Frame only teaches one thing; how to flinch.
I was asked if a Ruger SP101 would be workable for the course. My answer is:
“If you can shoot 300 rounds through it in a day without developing a flinch, that’s the object of the exercise.”
Please be sure you can do that. What I want to avoid is teaching someone how to massively flinch.
https://www.shootingclasses.com/thecompletecombatant/course/?courseId=4493
Competition, Practice, Training, and Testing – Redux
#mindsetmonday
In this case, I am using Redux not to mean “Redux is an open-source JavaScript library for managing and centralizing application state” but rather “redux describes things that have been brought back—metaphorically, that is.”
Ten years ago, I wrote this post about Competition, Practice, Training, and Testing, https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2014/09/29/competition-practice-training-and-testing/
The subject has reared its ugly head once again, so I’m revisiting it. For personal reasons, I stopped competing for a number of years but recently rejoined IDPA and got back into it. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to shoot a thoroughly enjoyable and challenging match at my gun club. It featured a variety of start positions, had scenarios in which required or allowed shooting on the move, reloading on the move, shooting either with the Support Hand or Primary Hand, and various other skills. While many of these skills are not entry level skills, they are skills that someone who is an Intermediate or Advanced shooter should be at least capable of, if not proficient at.
Here’s a video of the entire match from the shooter’s (mine) perspective.
What did the match cost me? About 40 minutes’ drive, $10 entry fee, two boxes of ammo, and three hours of my time on the range. I also had the opportunity to hang out with friends and people who are on my same sheet of music. It’s also an ego investment, good or bad. That’s a pretty good value for the experience I received. It was a good investment with, to me at least, a high Return On Investment.
Many years in the real estate industry taught me the value of ROI. I submit that shooting in competition may have a much higher ROI, in addition to being fairly accessible, than is generally acknowledged by the training community.
I’m very rusty, as is obvious in the video, but it was a really good TEST for me. One of my benchmarks is how well I can hit the mini-poppers, and I’m pleased that I hit them all with one shot. The skill of being able to transition to a precision target quickly and make the hit is something that every Intermediate and Advanced shooter should be capable of, on demand.
Afterward, I shot the IDPA 5×5 Classifier on my own to get a benchmark of where my skills are at. They’re pretty sad (Sharpshooter) compared to where they used to be (4 gun Master) but at least I have a solid and repeatable measure of my marksmanship skills. My plan for the year is to shoot the 5×5 every month and shoot the full Classifier once a quarter.
I’m looking forward to improving this year. The VP9SK is a great pistol that I really enjoy shooting. The Assassin mentioned that he’s confining himself to one pistol, his Pizza gun, for six months and I’ll probably do the same with the VP9SK.
Snub Dry Practice Training Aids
#wheelgunwednesday
All discharges of a firearm by LAPD officers must be reported to the LAPD Force Investigation Division. Each discharge is thoroughly investigated, adjudicated by the Board of Police Commissioners (BOPC) for LAPD policy compliance, and a public report posted on the BOPC webpage.
https://www.lapdonline.org/police-commission/categorical-use-of-force
Of particular interest are the off-duty discharges. These usually involve one of two situations. First, situations of self-defense similar to what would be encountered by any non-sworn person who owns a firearm for personal protection. Or, second, Unintentional Discharges due to administrative gunhandling such as: placing or removing the firearm in a storage location, cleaning the firearm, or dry practice “to improve accuracy.” In one rare instance, both situations were involved; a firearm was discharged while being retrieved during a ‘tactical situation.’
In adjudicating Unintentional Discharges cases, the LAPD BOPC subdivides them into two categories.
A. Unintentional Discharge
The definitions for an Unintentional Discharge, both Accidental and Negligent, are as follows:
Accidental Discharge: The unintentional discharge of a firearm as a result of an accident such as a firearm malfunction or other mechanical failure, not the result of operator error.
Negligent Discharge: Finding where it was determined that the unintentional discharge of a firearm resulted from operator error, such as the violation of firearm safety rules.
Administrative Disapproval – Negligent Discharge. Finding where it was determined that the unintentional discharge of a firearm resulted from operator error, such as the violation of a firearm safety rule (Los Angeles Police Department Manual, Volume 3, Section 792.05).
From 2005 to 2023, five Unintentional Discharges of five shot revolvers, which are authorized for backup and off-duty carry, occurred. All five were adjudicated as Negligent Discharges and received Administrative Disapproval. Negligent Discharges are one category of Negative Outcomes https://store.payloadz.com/details/2617872-ebooks-true-crime-serious-mistakes-gunowners-make.html and we obviously want to avoid them.
Four of the five involved preparation for dry practice. The cause of all four was the same. Not all five rounds were ejected from the cylinder when the revolver was unloaded. One round remained in the cylinder when the other four ejected. At some point during the dry practice, a loud noise occurred when a click was expected. That universal cause reinforces my concept of how to prepare for dry practice with a revolver.
https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2020/08/21/dry-practice-safety-part-ii/
Since that article was posted, Zeta6 and I teamed up to create the SafeSnap Training Disc.
https://zetasix.com/product-category/safesnap
I now keep a SafeSnap Disc in my storage box, along with an empty HKS speedloader, to make my dry practice even safer. Although I don’t carry an HKS, I find it’s the easiest of all speedloaders to put ammunition in.
I rotate the revolver so the muzzle is pointing straight up, eject the live rounds from the snub, place them in the speedloader, and then put the SnapSafe in the revolver. Holding the revolver completely vertical is an important aspect of ejecting the live ammunition. Holding it at angle and catching the rounds in the palm of the other hand is a dangerous technique and is “cruisin’ for a bruisin’.” Sooner or later, doing that will bite you in the ass; hard.
This procedure makes the possibility of having a Negligent Discharge during dry practice fairly remote. I also have a Zeta6 K-PAK2 https://zetasix.com/product/k-pak2/ with dummy rounds for reloading practice in the box. It is set up with a Retention Ring https://retentionring.com/ to mimic my EDC reload.
All the live ammunition stays in the box and the box gets closed while I’m practicing. When I’m finished practicing, I rigidly follow the post-practice safety protocols described in the above linked article.
Dry practice is a key component of learning how to shoot well. When doing it, we want to avoid having the Negative Outcome of “causing damage to equipment or injury to personnel,” which was a graded aspect required to pass the Special Forces Weapons Qualification Course that has stuck with me for the past 44 years. Having the right training aids and following safety protocols in a disciplined manner is how we can avoid those Negative Outcomes.
FTC Note: I have a relationship with Zeta6 and Retention Ring but receive no compensation for mentioning their products.
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