Always take the time to try different weapons- pistols, carbines, etc. This makes you a more well rounded shooter and allow as you to make informed decisions and provide sound advice to others that might seek input. This is part of your ‘gun education’ and is a critical and often overlooked part of becoming more savvy with firearms.
This was brought home to me once again at the class I just taught with Rob Leatham. Rob is an incredible shooter of course and widely considered the greatest handgun shooter of all time (I agree completely) but one thing Rob does very well is the ability to pick up any handgun you can think of and shoot it – and in most cases shoot it very well.
This comes from not only having a solid foundation of handgun fundamentals but a genuine interest in learning about different types of pistols. He is in his heart a gun guy just like me.
One of the things I did in this class was offer to demonstrate a drill known as ‘The Test’ (also known as the 10-10-10 drill) using a student’s pistol. ‘The Test’ is a simple drill and a very good one; 10 shots from the ready in 10 seconds at a B-8 bullseye replacement center from 10 yards. Each shot in the white outside the black is one second added to your score and each shot off the white paper is 3 seconds. So in order to pass with one shot out of the black and in the white your raw time must be under 9 seconds, with 2 shots out under 8 seconds and so on. It’s an excellent drill and one I do in some form or fashion in every two-day pistol class I teach.
I passed ‘The Test’ easily regardless of the students pistol I used (in this case a Glock 35, Glock 41 and a DA/SA SIG P226) – how did I do this? Simple – I shoot as many different handguns as possible to form a mental ‘data bank’ on how one pistol might perform vs. the other. The only way to accomplish this is to try different weapons whenever you can. Hell you might even find something that you like better than what you currently shoot (M&P shooters I’m looking at you; try an HK VP9; a far better pistol)
Hope this helps and as always be safe and keep shooting!
-Larry Vickers
Vickers Tactical Inc.
Host of TacTV
Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical is a retired US Army 1st SFOD-Delta combat veteran with years of experience in the firearms industry as a combat marksmanship instructor and industry consultant. In recent years he has hosted tactical firearms related TV shows on the Sportsman Channel with the latest being TacTV of which Bravo Company is a presenting sponsor. Larry Vickers special operations background is one of the most unique in the industry today; he has been directly or indirectly involved in the some of the most significant special operations missions of the last quarter century. During Operation Just Cause he participated in Operation Acid Gambit – the rescue of Kurt Muse from Modelo Prison in Panama City, Panama. As a tactics and marksmanship instructor on active duty he helped train special operations personnel that later captured Saddam Hussein and eliminated his sons Uday and Qusay Hussein. In addition he was directly involved in the design and development of the HK416 for Tier One SOF use which was used by Naval Special Warfare personnel to kill Osama Bin Laden. Larry Vickers has developed various small arms accessories with the most notable being his signature sling manufactured by Blue Force Gear and Glock accessories made by Tangodown. In addition he has maintained strong relationships with premium companies within the tactical firearms industry such as BCM, Aimpoint, Black Hills Ammunition, Wilson Combat and Schmidt & Bender.
Larry Vickers travels the country conducting combat marksmanship classes for law abiding civilians, law enforcement and military and has partnered with Alias Training to coordinate classes to best meet the needs of the students attending the class.
Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer us some words of wisdom.
Tags: Alias Training and Security Services, Larry Vickers, LAV, Vickers Tactical
The 10-10-10 drill is awesome. I’ve been using it ever since the Vickers classes I took with LAV last summer. What I particularly appreciated about the class is how I went home with a toolbox full of drills and dry fire techniques I can easily use on my own.
Great stuff.
Larry, did Rob shoot a Springfield xd in class. I know you call it a buba gun but I watched Rob shoot the hell out of one. He is one of the reasons I bought an XD several years ago.
He shot a 1911 most of the time
And why is TGO so good at shooting? His base of knowledge comes from his years of participating in USPSA. Something Vickers loves to bad mouth over and over and over.
Hey clown I shot USPSA way before you even knew what it was – I placed in the top 10 of the first two limited Nationals in 1993 and 1994
You have no idea what you are talking about so why don’t you crawl back under your rock troll
Oh man, come on …now I am confused cause I was always told to “Fear the man with one gun!” or “Shoot one gun, know it well”
Hey Larry, I am gonna go buy some more guns so when the wife gets all up in ‘my bizness’ bout that I will tell her you said I should do this.
Do it and blame it on me !!
I’m still not sold on how complex the HK VP9 is (comparatively)–but then, I’m used to Glocks that only have like 28 main parts–no weird spring in the grip. I’m waiting for a smaller version (a G19 size) to try one out and see how I shoot it (I hate the grip of glocks but I shoot them better than other guns I’ve tried).
Excellent advice. I have one hand grip style and body position that I find works for any handgun I pickup. The only way I could have figured that out was by shooting every style of pistol I could get my hands on. The best group I have ever shot to this day was with a hi point 9mm!
Thank you Larry! Hope you are doing well.