Two things not practiced enough, or at all, on the range are proprioception and kinesthetic sense. Proprioception is the sense of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body and strength of effort being employed in movement and kinesthetic sense helps us detect weight, body position, or the relationship between movements in our body parts such as joints, muscles and tendons. In short, it is the muscle sense.
We stand too flat footed, on a flat range range, and work with a flat range mindset.
Even incorporating small movements laterally and to the oblique front and rear, will assist us in becoming more situationally aware of our body in the space that it occupies.
My Delta 7 drill is a simple fix to an otherwise mundane flat range world. Set three cones roughly a meter apart. Target is at 10 meters.
Start at cone #1, draw and engage one time to the A zone or to the steel. Move clockwise to cone #2 and #3 taking a shot from each. Once back at cone # 1, move counter clockwise to cone #3, #2 and finish back at cone #1. One step in that direction is good enough. Because visual acuity is important here too, take a snapshot look in the direction of movement including over your shoulder as you move backwards at an oblique angle before you move in that direction.
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.
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 some words of wisdom.
