“Albert Einstein” Drill
I’ve got a new drill that I run on line and it’s been tough for me to put the proper vernacular to it. The drill is prefaced by asking where we should stand, time-wise, as far as single shot from the holster at 10 yards.
Opinions and answers vary, as they should. I then propose to set up timers on a par of 2.5 seconds and ask shooters to pick a zone on an IPSC target where they know, without a shadow of a doubt, they can maintain consistency. The zones are ‘A’ Credit Card Head, ‘B’ Head, ‘A’ Body, ‘C’ zone, or entire target. I tell shooters to outline their zone with a sharpie and stay in it for five consecutive, 2.5 second, single shot draw strokes.
The objective is not only to stay in it, but to strive to achieve better.
Thanks to Albert Einstein for assisting me in amending the verbiage for this course of fire; “One must develop an instinct for what one can barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts. Mark the boundary of your current ability, and aim a little beyond it.”
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.
