Village Praxis: Quarantine Dryfire and Other COVID19 Ramblings by John Meyers

“Prepare for war, since you have been unable to endure a peace.”

– Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major

Publisher’s Note: I was a middling saber fencer in college; I’ve always been intrigued with Western martial arts after a flirtation with Eastern martial arts in Aikido. I have tremendous respect for the Asian swordcraft but it is curious that they simply can’t compete on the world stage. It has its place. Kodawari is certainly a key to me mastering the red dot on my weapons.

You will note that MMA is dominated by non-Eastern practitioners. The Greeks gave us western wrestling which is a large component of the successful grappling ground game.

Excepting the Orthodox factions today, there is no muscular Christianity in the West; all the Protestant and Catholic factions have been in a race to feminize their congregations to the point of the weak-kneed and morally anemic flaggots that people the American churches from sea to shining sea. They fly national flags in their worship halls and the prevailing government supremacist interpretation of Romans 13 is illustrated no better than the prostrating positions and keening wail of obeisance during the mass house arrest of the Peking Pox.

Starting in the eleventh century the Crusades began against the Muslim foe for hundreds of years; this set the tone and honed the temper for the creation of martial chapter-houses, brotherhoods and the knight ideologies that created the notion of bladed and close-combat training salons where adherents refined the martial arts of the west to a very high degree.

There are probably hundreds of training manuals in Latin and German yet translated from those eras. Before the advent of firearms in the common use, the blade was the choice in close combat and private instructors were abundant. monastic orders literally provided warrior muscle for the Crusades. You can find many of these translated text here courtesy of Wiktenaur.

There are already organizations out there exploring this like the Historical European Martial Arts community. You may have a studio near by where you can see what training is offered.

This is not the cosplay LARPing of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), these are real bladed training venues.

This is in no way to be construed to substitute for firearms training, simply expanding one’s martial portfolio to be prepared.

It may be time to revive these martial monastic orders to perfect the way of the gun aligned to a philosophical mission apart from government service. Much like the Flinters in F. Paul Wilson’s La Nague Federation or the Freehold universe of Michael Z. Williamson.

I will explore this in a future essay.

“Agesilao had his rivals even in Italy, chief among them Eugenio Pini from Livorno, who could be just as short-tempered. When he fought Rue “The Invincible,” the French master who, hit twice in succession, failed to acknowledge being hit as etiquette dictated, Pini pulled the button from his foil and with his next attack ripped open Rue’s jacket. He then tore off his mask and shouted, “I suppose that one didn’t arrive either?”

― Richard Cohen, By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions

I am of the firm belief that everyone needs at least one thing in their life where they can pursue perfection. We need that to balance and center our lives. It doesn’t have to be something grand, but even something simple as making what you consider the perfect cup of coffee in the morning, or mastering rifle or pistol, hell even parking in your spot perfectly centered, something. Everyone needs at least one thing in their life they can have pride in. Pursuing perfection does not imply you’ll ever achieve it, that’s the main realization: it’s the effort you put into that goal that grows you as a person. There is no destination of perfection, there is only a journey.

In other news, I recently received a sample of a Faraday Bag from a reader who produces them. I normally use a Mission Darkness Faraday bag but this one not only performed on par with it but had the unique feature of actually being able to view the device in the bag to confirm visually it was still “locked out” of service. I highly recommend them.

Bryan at Billfodl embraces the Mises ethos with vigor:

 “It is irrelevant to the entrepreneur, as the servant of the consumers, whether the wishes and wants of the consumers are wise or unwise, moral or immoral. He produces what the consumers want. In this sense he is amoral. He manufactures whiskey and guns just as he produces food and clothing. It is not his task to teach reason to the sovereign consumers. Should one entrepreneur, for ethical reasons of his own, refuse to manufacture whiskey, other entrepreneurs would do so as long as whiskey is wanted and bought. It is not because we have distilleries that people drink whiskey; it is because people like to drink whiskey that we have distilleries. One may deplore this. But it is not up to the entrepreneurs to improve mankind morally. And they are not to be blamed if those whose duty this is have failed to do so.”

― Ludwig Von Mises, Interventionism: An Economic Analysis

I recently read one of the most edifying books on Vikings called “Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings” by Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey, highly recommended. And Charles’ review is scintillating.

On to John’s terrific essay on keeping one’s skills honed during the Beijing Bug crisis, wholly manufactured and brought to you by big government planet-wide. -BB

 

“Blow up your TV, throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home.
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an find Jesus, on your own”

– John Prine

 

“Party politics today is a race to the boxcars; first team there gets to make the other team ride.”

– Tamara Keel

The Holocough has engulfed the nation. Unemployment is easily at its highest rates since the Great Depression and will soon dwarf the record.  Hippie moms have traded in their elderberry syrup and organic patchouli cleaning solutions for narcotics and bleach.

Local governments have locked their citizens down across the country. North Carolina estimates that half of the small businesses in the state will be no more on the other side of quarantine.  The bottom has fallen out of oil and topped out at -37$ a barrel. We are seeing gas prices we haven’t seen in 20 years. Grocery store shelves are bare. The economic fall out and government “solutions” will undoubtedly lead to greater catastrophe than the Coronavirus itself.

The initial response from the political Right was that Kung-Flu is merely an election time charade orchestrated by the socialists and George Soros to crash the stock market and take away Trump’s chances of re-election.  The political Left continues its grasping to engage in partisan theatrics in an effort to gain favoritism with the populace. Despite the polemics, both sides are united on unseen debt and enslavement.

A theme in my musings has been the hypocrisy of the various political factions and current epizootic offers us no shortage of material.

The Republican government has completely removed any façade of honoring their supposed principles of limited government, fiscal restraint and stemming the tide of Leftism by enacting a six trillion dollar Keynesian “Stimulus” racket financed entirely by deficits and money printing. The FED has all but removed interest rates completely. Wall street got its Corona-package. The helicopters dropped 1200$ per adult and 500$ per child into the laps of the American public, making Andrew Yang, the object of previous Republican scorn, grin from ear to ear. It merely took a crisis to remove the Emperor’s clothes and show the entire country Trump is a commie, something the well informed already knew. When a democrat proposed such levels of economic intervention, Republicans would have none of it, allegedly. When Orange Man does it, he is literally the second coming of Jesus. Bernie cannot nationalize the economy if Trump does it first, eh?

The President declared himself dictator and said “when somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s gotta be. It’s total.”

The Right cheered. The left sneered. If the rolls were reversed and a democratic president said this, an entire militia movement would have formed to institute an overthrow of the Offal Office, and the left would have defended unlimited executive power till the death. What’s new? Each faction has no issue with total power they just want to be the ones wielding it.

Peter Schiff, who predicted the housing market collapse in 2006-2008, pointed out that the national debt clock just ticked past 24 trillion, and is up four trillion, since Trump took office. Trump ran on a platform of eliminating the debt. He added more debt in four years than Bush did in eight. If re-elected, he will add more debt than Bush and Obama combined. Instead of draining the swamp, Schiff said, “he is draining the nation.” Trump supporters, Republicans and conservatives cast no more illusions that they are merely progressives with an R suffix.

All you have to do is look at the treatment of poor Tom Massie and how Trump attacked the libertarian minded congressman from his bully pulpit for daring to have the audacity to question the wisdom of a six trillion pork-package for Wall street, the Airlines, the Special Interests, the statist pet projects, and a UBI bone tossed to the American people to keep the masses from going absolutely ape shit.

Anthony Gregory pointed out on social media “It’s a good thing Trump hasn’t squandered three years of unprecedented prosperity by avoiding deficit spending.” There is a strange silence from the Trump fan base about the unprecedented unemployment and stock market crash. If he gets credit from them for the ‘prosperity’ (merely a bubble) to be logically consistent he should get credit for the crash.

The freedom movement is also rife with discontent. Previously plumb line liberty folks have come out in favor of national shut-downs, government interventions, forced quarantine and quasi-martial law in favor of combatting the crisis. Arguments and discussions are made that not only can the state shut down the entire country, it can also forcibly quarantine anyone simply for having a common cold (or being healthy without a facemask on) and that entering public space is necessarily aggression against the innocent that has a mens re and legitimate criminal intent to prosecute.

Others make the argument that government checks are simply reclaiming confiscated wealth, something I can sympathize with. Although they gloss over the fact that those hand-outs are literally no different than the checks welfare queens receive that the critics deride every day of their existence as exsanguinating the state and giving up their self-reliance. Engaging in mental gymnastics to justify it all is something they always deride the other side for doing, yet here we are. The Trump voter literally sees no contradiction in Trump making the statement “America will never be a socialist nation” and the same man signing a six trillion debt-buck welfare package and sending each American family an average of 2000$ printed out of thin air.

Demo-publicans tell Republi-crats to tear up their relief checks because it’s socialism. Republi-crats tell Demo-publicans they must tear up their relief check because Trump isn’t their president. There is one thing you can count on, when it comes to the issues, Pelosi and Trump stand together when it means destruction of the nation.

The elites in the political class, the state capitols, the media, the politically connected corporations all function in a capacity similar to the WWE wrestling. It’s merely a show to entertain Mencken’s Booboisee, while keeping themselves enriched. The Rawlesian “Mother of all Bailouts” is on the horizon and is already in play. Prepare for the long haul. We aren’t getting out of this anytime soon.

Liberals are buying guns and realizing those ‘loopholes’ they always yapped about are bogus. Ammo has been panic bought (to stack in a basement with no intention of actually training with it or actually using it during spicy time, I might add) to the point of no return. What we are experiencing might be the 2013 gun panic on steroids. While most of the country is engaged in state-jingoism on their march to peak authoritarianism, we are simultaneously seeing probably the biggest unintentional times of mass non-compliance.  Much of this cannot be enforced. But that isn’t stopping people from getting arrested for watching the sunset with their kids or lone paddle borders getting arrested on the beach for ‘endangering the public’ on a barren coastline.

Despite these interesting dichotomies, I remain critical of government overreach, while using precautions to avoid contracting COVID19 itself. The long-term government response to this crisis is most likely irreversible as Robert Higgs eloquently pointed out in his seminal work, Crisis and Leviathan.

Most of this is largely out of our span of control. What can you be doing right now? Most have time re-arranged giving them opportunities to become PT studs and increase their shooting ability to unseen levels with dry fire, just for starters.

With ammo being somewhat unavailable at the moment at reasonable prices, and the thought of resupply is dismal, dry fire should be dominating your practice regimens even more now than ever. World champions have been built largely with dry fire. One of the most important aspects of shooting, the visual connection to the gun, can be drilled relentlessly with dry fire. Mechanics and manipulations can be fine tuned with it. Movement and transitions can be worked as well as draws and single hand only work. Injured shooter and malfunction clearances can be done dry as well as precision rifle work and even tactics up to team level.

Nothing that I’m going to talk about in these pages is anything groundbreaking to those that frequently train or have received instruction from reputable sources. Everyone’s situation and weaknesses are different. If you are a Grandmaster in USPSA, but things are looking a little hinky and you think maybe you ought to learn to run that home defense / preparedness rifle (to use Mosby’s term) finally, you probably should be focusing hard on that rifle versus pistol for example.

Personally I focus 80/20 pistol to rifle. I focus on pistol the majority of time for several reasons. It’s my daily carry, I can shoot a rifle better than pistol so it needs more work in general, and I’m more likely to have a pistol on me than a rifle. Pistol mechanics generally translate to good rifle shooting but rifle craft doesn’t usually lend itself to better pistol shooting.

There are several volumes of work you should be seeking out, but I’m merely throwing some things out for you to work on if you do not have access to these materials. Dry fire volumes by Steve Anderson, Ben Stoeger, and Mike Seeklander should be bought soonest.

Starting with dry practice the first thing to ensure is that the weapon is indeed dry. It has to be empty. Jeff Coopers first rule of gun handling is that “All guns are always loaded.” Other versions are “Treat all guns as if they are loaded.”

Better.

Yet the problem remains dry fire breaks the rule as it is worded. I prefer:

“Know the status and condition of your weapon at all times.”

When it needs to be loaded, it absolutely needs to be loaded. When it needs to be unloaded, it absolutely needs to be unloaded.

I verbally say “dry fire” at the start of each session. I then remove the magazine from the weapon and lock the slide/bolt to the rear. I visually inspect the bolt face and chamber, then the magwell, then back to the chamber and bolt face. I close the action up declaring its empty and commence.

Also note that you will be breaking other rules of pointing guns at things you normally wouldn’t want to destroy such as targets on walls in your house. Refer back to knowing the status of your weapon at all times.

These dry fire exercises can be executed with a timer to start or not. Probably over 50% of my dry fire reps are without a timer. I generally perform 3 sets of 5 of each exercise.  It’s a good general starting point until you are able to dial in exactly how long you can maintain the focus and the proper grip needed to get good dry reps in.

I generally employ a progressive overload methodology in much of my dry practice. I’ll start at a slow or moderate speed, and slowly increase over the session, to a failure point. This can be done with a shot timer and progressively increasing the speed by .1 or .2 per set. It can be important at various times to push yourself past your failure point in order to overload your system and push yourself. It allows you feel what it will feel like when you reach that level.

Be advised some of these drills are heavy on mechanics. Mechanics only do one thing for you. They allow you to get the gun back up in front of the eyes and score points whether that’s a gunfight or just casual shooting in the backyard.  Most of the focus and bulk of the dry work should be focused on the visual connection needed to make the shot at hand. It is extremely important to have determined in live fire what you can get away with as far as a sight picture for a certain shot and repeat that in dry fire. If you are tossing the gun up and mashing a trigger to meet an arbitrary par time, but you are not even seeing the gun/sights at all, you are doing it wrong.

One last note about micro drilling; determine your weaknesses and work to improve them. If you are shooting the FASTest for example, which requires a draw and 2 shots to a horizontal index card at 7y, a slide lock reload, then 4 rounds to the body, and you determine you are not making the visual connection on the small target to make the shot, you need to work that. If your reload sucks and takes 6 seconds, work on that. If your draw is bumbled every other time, because you cannot establish a proper grip on the gun, work solely on moving your hands to the gun and getting that grip for several sets.Do not cheat yourself on your grip. If you are not feeling physically tired after 10-20 minutes of dry fire exercises, you are not gripping the gun hard enough and/or not mentally focused enough.

1. Draw to sight picture/first shot

Its important to practice the draw stroke in a variety of manners, particularly if this practice is for defensive use. You must be able to get the gun out as fast as you can while achieving a proper grip and “seeing what you need to see” with the sights/dot to make the appropriate shot. You should be training to pull the gun out of the holster, achieving a sight picture with your finger indexed on the frame, other times with the finger on the trigger, other times with the finger on the trigger and prepped and still other times with the gun coming out of the holster with the decision to shoot already made and the shot breaks as soon as you see the proper sight picture.

Whipping the gun out of the holster and mashing the trigger every single time can create a very bad training scar.  You do NOT want to do that when in a self-defense context that is rapidly evolving and while you are cognitively processing and problem solving the situation and shoot when you have not make the decision to.

The other thing to watch with the draw stroke is ensuring that you see the sight picture you need to see, in the appropriate aiming area of the target, every single time. Pressing the trigger when you do not have a sight picture in order to meet a par time is not beneficial.

Work on those different sight pictures. With optics you will be using a target focus and super imposing the dot on the aiming area. Precision rifle may require more of a focus on the reticle itself.

Work on your index. Upon extension the sights are lined up automatically. Work on seeing a soft sight focus where appropriate, a hard sight focus for those small targets or precision shots, and even seeing gross or flash sight pictures for up close 3 yard and in type targets, such as just seeing a set of sights (with or without good alignment) in the aiming area or just the slide of your gun in the aiming area. You don’t need sharp front site focus and perfect alignment to get hits on an A-zone at 3 yards for instance and you are wasting time if doing so.

If a trigger is pressed, you must watch and manage the sights while maintaining that visual connection and note any movement of the sight picture before, during and after the trigger press. If the gun is moving around, be sure to correct the problem. Most of these problems can be corrected in dry practice.

A common technique I use when working the draw is progressive overload by using a timer. I’ll perform 5 reps or so at a given par time. I generally start slow to moderate speed with times I know I can hit with little effort. After 1 or 2 sets of perfect reps, I’ll increase the time by .1 or .2 seconds. I’ll perform 5 more reps. I’ll continue this to I meet a par time where I see failure about 25% of the time. I’ll then focus on this time frame for 3 sets of 5. I’ll usually then push the time .1-.2 second faster to overload a bit. Then dial it back for at least one more set at my working par time.

There are also lots of benefits from starting cold, at your fastest time standard and seeing where you stack up. This is more of an evaluation rather than something you do every session. For beginners I recommend starting your dry practice with slow, deliberate execution of the fundamentals of grip and sight picture, and making sure you are doing everything right, every single time, before upping the par time. There is also benefit for intermediate and advanced practitioners in doing this periodically.

You can do the work from concealment, duty/tactical/combat rig, or competition rig.

A typical work out might look like:

Combat rig with ALS retention on holster. 2 empty magazines on belt.

1.5 par time on pro timer

Perform 1 set of 5 reps. Ensure perfect sight picture, grip, presentation and trigger manipulation if you are pressing triggers for these iterations

1.3 Par:

1 set of 5

1.0 Par:

3 sets of 5

.9 Par:

1 set of 5

.8 Par

1 set of 5.

After missing some at .9 and some at .8, I’ll then dial back to either .9 or 1.0 and work another 3 sets of 5 at that time. Or if time is short, I’ll just hit 1 set.

Also, alter your start position from hands at sides, arms crossed, surrender index/wrists above shoulders, etc.

To give everyone an idea of par times, the nationally recognized standard for competency in the draw is 1.5 seconds to a realistic size target at 7 yards. Most police departments have a qualification time of 2.0 seconds. Even just moderately good shooters are doing 1 second draws from an ALS holster to a 7-10 yard target all day. Competition shooters live in the .8-1.0 second range. 1 second concealed draw is the holy grail for most.

2. Draw to 2 shots or multiple shot strings

Pay important attention to what the gun is doing when you press triggers. For instance, if the sight is moving left, you may have to tighten your support hand grip more or stop squeezing with your whole firing hand instead of isolating the trigger finger during the press. If your entire wrists are breaking and the gun is going a foot low or low left, you need to stop breaking your wrists or elbows. It’s a mental problem. I suffer from this problem to a small degree if I do not keep up on my dry and live fire sessions.

Per running the trigger multiple times in dry practice: Glocks go dead after the first trigger press. You can either break your first shot, then press the dead trigger the appropriate amount of times for the exercise you are doing, releasing your finger the same amount you would on the trigger during live fire. Another trick is to put a zip tie through the chamber of the gun, with the locking head sticking out to the side @ 2 o’ clock therefore breaking the action between the slide and breach of the barrel. This will give you a trigger that you can work and feels mushy during the entire press. It isn’t perfect but it works. You’ll probably get more use out of a technique like this than running the trigger only once and stopping with a Glock.

DA/SA (double action/single action) guns: On multiple shots, you can either just run the trigger in double action twice (or however long your string is) or more realistically you can run the trigger in DA for the first shot, then instead of releasing the trigger all the way out, only release halfway then press it again, imitating the shorter SA pull.

3. Draw to Multiple Target Transitions

On timer beep or your decision to start, draw, ‘fire’ 1-2 shots per target, and run through the targets. Be sure to see what you need to see for each shot. Make sure the gun isn’t moving off the aiming area on the trigger press. Dry firing target arrays in dry fire will do worlds of good for your transition game. You must learn to call your shots, ensure you got a ‘hit’ before twitching the eyes to the next target. Eyes lead, gun follows. Set up various arrays and run them. This can be done on the move as well. A classic example of a multiple target drills is 3 targets about a target or two’s width apart. From the draw, engage each target with 2 rounds. You can also practice transitions without even touching the trigger and simply running the gun to the targets and getting the correct sight picture

To test this out, you can run exercises like Blake Drills or El Prez and take note of your times and work the skills needed to get better.

A key skill to work on during these iterations is cadence.  If you count a cadence in your head, your trigger should be breaking on every number you count. Your goal is to get the target to target split times to be the same as if you were shooting those same 2 shots on a single target for reasonably close together targets. This really helps target-to-target transitions. It’s also probably the most realistic way for the average Joe to train moving targets. Keep in mind this rhythm across target transitions is only really applicable to targets that are close together. The distance between targets in the real world, coupled with your ability to see and track your sights will dictate shooting cadence. Run the sights, not the trigger. You can only shoot as fast as you can see and process.

4. Draw to SHO or WHO shots

Draw to Single Hand Only or Weak Hand Only to me is more about simply mastering the mechanics of the gun and not necessarily training you to be a wiz bang trick shot. It also sets you up for contingencies in case you are shot or injured in the hand in the real world in a violent encounter.

Pay particular attention to the trigger press and ensure the gun isn’t moving when doing so. WHO is a weak point for me personally and I’m sure most others as well.

5. Reloads
   

There are as many ways to work reloads as Carter’s got little liver pills, but a classic is the one, reload, one. (1R1) I tend to do most of my work from the draw, because it simply gives me another draw stroke.

Draw, 1 round, perform reload then another shot. It’s important to get back with a proper grip after the reload is performed. Reload mechanics are pretty simple once learned. A few key take a ways; it helps to see in the inside of the magwell when making the magazine insertion. In an ideal world, the magwell is pointed toward the source of the magazine, i.e., at your mag pouch. Achieve a proper and repeatable grip on the magazine and a visual shift from target to magazine well upon insertion is critical in my view. It doesn’t absolutely NEED to be done, but the fastest and most efficient reloads will be the result if you use the visual shift technique.

One way to measure reload speed or ‘split time’ with a timer in dry fire is to start with the gun on target, on timer beep, execute the reload, and press a shot before your preset 2^nd par beep goes off. This will give you the actual time it took you to reload.  I practice slide lock reloads mostly with ‘reduced capacity reloads’ done secondarily with my defensive guns. Sport guns I’m mostly spending time on ‘reduced capacity/IPSC style reloads.’ (gun is loaded and in battery, partial magazine is dumped and new mag is inserted)

Its been said the best slide lock reload is a reduced capacity reload, and I cant argue with the logic, however for defensive usage slide lock reloads still need to be repped. (Even though the likelihood of a civilian needing to reload in a gunfight is statistically 0. Then again, no one ever heard of COVID19 till a couple months ago, eh?)

Another good reload drill is “4 Aces” which is simply draw, fire 2 shots, reload, fire 2 shots.

The best way to work on perfecting the reload is something called a “Burkett Reload” named after pro shooter Matt Burkett. It’s simply a micro drill of the reload and it teaches you to slightly pause upon magazine insertion to ensure you do not dork it up.  Start sight picture on target, finger on trigger. On timer beep, drop the mag in the gun while the trigger finger indexes on the frame, bring the new mag to the gun but stop right as the magazine enters the mag well. Do not insert, you are merely lining it up to be inserted. It helps to have your timer set for a second par beep. For instance set the par for 1 second. Once the first beep sounds, drop the mag and bring the new mag to the insertion point before the second beep. I’ll generally run this with a .7 or .8 par. It will do wonders for you if you are having trouble getting the correct magazine insertion.

6. Malfunctions

With the use of ST dummy rounds, you can set up and clear any number of malfunctions. This is pretty self-explanatory however an in depth overview of malfunction clearance methods isn’t suitable in this article. Get professional instruction if you have not learned these techniques yet.

In short, set them up, fix the gun. Time pressure can help simulate a type of stress that some might find beneficial.

Rifle Work 

Most of the exercises outlined in the pistol section can be applied to rifle as well. A few modifications are in order however. Instead of a draw, we have the presentation of the rifle. Ensure you are achieving a natural point of aim on presentation. Work presentations from the various ready positions. Do not just work one, as the real world situation dictates which one you will be using. Be sure to rep high ready, low ready, patrol ready and the variations.

Achieve the visual connection with the target and sight relationship. If you are using a dot, see the target clear and impose the dot where it needs to be to make the hit happen. If using irons, ensure proper alignment and placement. If using an LPVO (low powered variable optic) or other magnified optic, ensure you are seeing a clear focused reticle and proper placement on target. I prefer a day light bright red dot in my LVPO’s and will not be going back to any models without it. You must call your shots when any trigger is pressed. You must achieve ‘hits’ not just simply tossing the gun around and mashing triggers.

In regards to sight placement on the target, make sure you ‘see what you need to see.’ A part of this I haven’t touched on yet, that crosses both combat and competition shooting is the concept of ‘good enough’ to get a hit. If you determine your aiming zone on the target is a full USPSA A-Zone (alpha) for competition style training, or perhaps a 4×6” or 3×5” index card size area for defensive use in vital hit zones, assuming you can press the trigger straight and not move the gun, if you see that dot or sight picture on any portion of that aiming area, break the shot. For cases where you simply need to hit the aiming area, and you are spending your time trying to get an exact center hit and stack subsequent rounds in the same hole when time is of the essence, you are wasting time. Your opponent is going to score more hits than you all things being equal.

There is absolutely a time when you need to pick out that very specific small aiming point on a bigger target as well, i.e. aim small, miss small, and work precision shots. Its just not every pistol shot. Be sure to train both techniques.

One addition that you can do with the rifle is micro drilling getting into and out of position. Use your most used shooting positions like kneeling, prone, rice paddy/kimchi squat, etc. Determine your par times to get into position and get hits. Mosby over at Mountain Guerrilla likes to use a par time to get from standing to prone or standing to kneeling and get a precise hit at 50 or 100 yards, respectively. I’ve found that not only does this translate into the world of the Small Unit and the doctrinal concept of the 3-5 second rush, but you’ll also find if you attempt Kyle Defoor’s prone rifle qual at 100 or kneeling at 50, (or similar drills) getting into position in 3 seconds or under is critical.

Don’t’ forget about those rifle to pistol transitions.

Tactics 

There is no reason we are not dry flowing through our house and working the concepts we have learned under respectable trainers and teachers in the realm of CQB or working around vehicles. There is no reason you cannot drill your SUT in the same manner, however this article is focused on Quarantine training. Most of us are probably holed up with our families not with 10-20 of our ‘team.’ (Don’t get me started)

The ‘draw stroke’ or ‘presentation’ of CQB is the entry through the door. Dry fire this relentlessly, dig your corners, drill the myriad of different methods. This is an area where reputable instruction is critical.

Medical

There is no reason we can’t be dry firing medical skills either, assuming you have them. Got a med kit stashed away with that Bug Out Bag? Why not a drill requiring you to run to that bag and put on a tourniquet on your leg in under the amount of time a typical femoral bleed kills you? And no, you don’t get to first dig it out from under the 900lbs of junk on top of it and pre stage it, either.

In short, the national lockdown is not lifting any time soon. Many, if not a majority of Americans are laid off or under employed at present and have time on their hands. Use this time to do work. You cannot control what the clowns in the state houses, county commissions and oval offices are doing, but you can improve your own situation.

Much like James C Scott’s famed concept of “Irish Democracy” which has graced the pages of this blog numerous times, a friend brought it to my attention a concept that expands on what Scott calls “anarchist calisthenics.” For the weaker kneed readers, don’t let the name soil your drawers. The concept crosses many boundaries. While this is not a recommendation it could be a useful mental exercise. What if injustice became so great, you couldn’t take it any longer? What if you were a “Boog Boy” and after walking to the end of your driveway, you actually saw a dozen other guys with rifles and you realized it was finally ‘time,’ are you mentally and physically capable?

Scott recalls a story of hordes of people who would refuse to jay walk across a street, despite absolutely no traffic coming, but the street crossing sign still hadn’t told them it was legal for them to cross. He stated that in the course of 5 hours, only 2 had the audacity to disobey the law, all while being scolded publicly by the law- abiding public.

He expands:

“One day you will be called upon to break a big law in the name of justice and rationality. Everything will depend on it. You have to be ready. How are you going to prepare for that day when it really matters? You have to stay ‘in shape’ so that when the big day comes you will be ready. What you need is ‘anarchist calisthenics.’ Every day or so break some trivial law that makes no sense, even if it’s only jaywalking. Use your own head to judge whether a law is just or reasonable. That way, you’ll keep trim; and when the big day comes, you’ll be ready.”

You don’t even have to go so far as breaking a state edict. You could apply the same concept while on lock down. Exactly what does the freedom movement in collective terms have for excuses for not getting in shape, doing dry fire and honing skills that will be useful in the future?

Hopefully this short essay will give you some ideas.

And remember training is a journey, not a destination.

Montani Semper Liberi.