We guys are notorious for practicing what we are good at. It gives a warm and fuzzy. I’ve made mention of this in the past and have encouraged folks to include more strong hand training in their range time. It is an elusive way to bridge the gap and to sneak off of a plateau.
I have modified the National Match course of fire and have included it in my current curriculum. This is a great bang for the buck drill.
The course of fire is as follows; Use an IPSC target. Firing lines are at 50 yards and twenty five yards.
Course of fire is shot in three strings.
String one is slow fire five rounds from the 50 strong hand only
String two is timed fire from the 25 yard line. Five shots, from the holster, strong hand only in twenty seconds
String three is rapid fire from the 25 yard line. Five shots, from the holster, strong hand only in 10 seconds.
It is a 75 point course of fire.
The scoring system I use is to deduct one point for ‘C’ zone or head shots. Deduct two points for ‘D’ zone hits. Deduct five points for misses.
Way more forgiving than the National Match course of fire but works well for varied skill sets. Good use of fifteen rounds.
Patrick McNamara
SGM, US Army (Ret)
Patrick McNamara spent twenty-two years in the United States Army in a myriad of special operations units. When he worked in the premier Special Missions Unit, he became an impeccable marksman, shooting with accurate, lethal results and tactical effectiveness. McNamara has trained tactical applications of shooting to people of all levels of marksmanship, from varsity level soldiers, and police officers who work the streets to civilians with little to no time behind the trigger.
His military experience quickly taught him that there is more to tactical marksmanship than merely squeezing the trigger. Utilizing his years of experience, McNamara developed a training methodology that is safe, effective and combat relevant and encourages a continuous thought process. This methodology teaches how to maintain safety at all times and choose targets that force accountability, as well as provides courses covering several categories, including individual, collective, on line and standards.
While serving as his Unit’s Marksmanship NCO, he developed his own marksmanship club with NRA, CMP, and USPSA affiliations. Mac ran monthly IPSC matches and ran semi annual military marksmanship championships to encourage marksmanship fundamentals and competitiveness throughout the Army.He retired from the Army’s premier hostage rescue unit as a Sergeant Major and is the author of T.A.P.S. (Tactical Application of Practical Shooting). He also served as the Principle of TMACS Inc.
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Pat McNamara sweats motivated attitude! Drill added to my drill book. Thanks!
Another awesome post from Mac.
Can anyone explain why a deduction for head shots?
Because it’s a miss……unless you were aiming at it
With strong hand only your point of aim at 25 is the chest. If you hit the head its a miss based on POA/POI. If you are making strong hand headshot at 25m maybe its time to do the drill weak handed.