Ok, I'm strapped. Now what?

August 2024

Now starts the journey into the lifestyle and mindset of an armed person. Part of this is the study of the legal, ethical and tactical consideration of use of force and other tools and skills like medical, de-escalation and more. It's wise to attend quality trainings and courses, and a lot can be learned from online resources.

After learning some proper firearm handling, it’s time for at-home unloaded practice, a.k.a. dry fire. Responsible firearm owners dry fire regularly. Great shooters dry fire frequently.

The following is a list meant to give a big picture of the skills and knowledge useful for unloaded practice. It contains keywords to be helpful in online research.

- 7 Fundamentals of Handgun Shooting (indicated throughout with underlines)

- dry firing (with a large focus on trigger control and follow-through)

- draw and grip (Four Step Draw, the Combat Grip, shooting from one-handed and two-handed retention firing positions)

- stance (understand the Isosceles, Modified Isosceles and Weaver Stances and why most people prefer a version of the Isosceles)

- acquiring sights (bring sights up to the eye with no "diving" or "bowling" of the gun) (find your dominant eye using a couple different exercises before this, and know how to adjust if you're cross-eye dominant)

- aiming (sight picture, sight alignment, “front sight focus”)

- intuitive aiming often called "point shooting" (cannot be done without a laser training cartridge ($20 dim generic ones on ebay, or $45 Pink Rhino))

- reloading (Emergency, Tactical and the "CCW Reload" by John Correia)

- malfunction practice with inert cartridges (Tap, Rack, Reassess (for FTF, FTE and stovepipes) and clearing double feeds)

- medical trainings (first aid/CPR/AED, Stop The Bleed, Wilderness First Aid, TECC, TCCC, Street Medic, Wilderness First Responder)

When training a new skill, the slower the better at first. Speed will come when you make careful, perfect repetitions thousands of times, and your slow, perfect practice will make you faster and more reliable when the time comes to deliberately train to increase speed. Training too fast prematurely can lead to sloppy fundamentals and training scars.

Get 200 reps of your draw before you carry a loaded firearm in public, and carry your firearm concealed and unloaded around the house to identify any glitches with your equipment. Get 10 reps per day after that for awhile, and then keep up with a few a day. Never waste a rep, so if you unload your gun because you're about to dry fire, clean it, or hit the shooting range, do a slow, perfect 4-step draw. Start back at 10 reps a day if your skills perish, if your wardrobe changes (e.g. seasonally), or if you buy a new belt, pants, coat or unique top.

for rifles

With defensive rifles, dry fire is a lot about presentation (acquiring your optic and aiming), stance, reloading, Immediate Action Drills (tap, rack, reassess), Remedial Action (SPIR, SPORTS, double feeds, FTE, FTF, etc.), shoulder transitions and sling operation. Special attention should be paid to “remembering the mechanical offset” for close range shooting and to reliable, fast and smooth reloads from all of your magazine carry locations.

From there comes getting into and shooting and reloading from various body positions (kneeling, sitting, prone, braced, and all variations of these) and while moving (walking, jogging, running). Then it comes together in the form of engaging targets from multiple different positions, and then doing so in a rapid fashion.