“It should surprise you when it goes off.”

That’s always seems like bad advice to me. I’ve been surprised when the hammer falls, and it’s usually called a ‘Miss.’

When we train, we should train to the point of knowing exactly when the hammer is going to fall. No surprises. In order to reach this point, proper repetition is paramount. To achieve proper repetition dry fire is necessary. Not the kind of dry fire where you are simply going through the motions, but deep practice and meaningful repetition.

We should work to the point of automaticity.

Automaticity is the ability to do things without occupying the mind with the low-level details required, allowing it to become an automatic response pattern or habit. It is usually the result of learning, repetition, and practice.

Of the fundamentals, one that is sometimes neglected in teaching is presentation. Especially important in pistol fundamentals, the presentation is how you present the pistol from a ready position to your firing position. As part of your draw stroke, the presentation should lie as flat as possible for as long as possible mitigating arching or scooping. In a perfect world, the hammer should fall right at the apex of your presentation.

Only through deep practice dry fire to the appropriate amount of repetition, can one achieve automaticity. When you’ve reached this point, with flat presentation and trigger preparation the dreaded ‘surprised shot’ will surprise you in that it will be an ‘A’ zone hit.

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.

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.

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.

I recently started to re-incorporate ‘Calling Your Shot’ drills into my Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM) curriculum.

Knowing where the sites are when the hammer falls is not only good marksmanship training but a liability concern and a tactical necessity. We must know whether the shot is good or not, before the rounds impacts the target.

One should perform this drill at a distance where he cannot see the impact of the round register on the paper target. So,…50-100 yards.

One should also reduce the amount of stability in one’s shooting platform to increase his wobble area. There for, prone position is out. Use an alternate position like sitting, kneeling or standing.

Use a marksmanship data book or a simple notebook with your target drawn in it. Fire five rounds. After each round, annotate on your drawn target where you believe that round hit your target.

After the five round group, compare your note pad to your target. Your notes and target do not have to be an exact match. For example; if you called two high, two low and one left, and if your target’s feedback mirrors your notes, you have succeeded in this drill.

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.