If your primary reason for owning weapons is for self or home defense, you have no doubt wondered about
better ways to self-train. Now most shooters would love to spend a week or two at one of the premier
training schools, but reality being what it is few of us would be willing to part with a chunk of cash big
enough to buy a fine Weatherby rifle.

The road to improving tactically is to first recognize that our own methods of training may have
shortcomings. Although there is are few things that will improve your sight alignment better than running
500 rounds through your favorite .22, mastering a static shooting stance is only one third of the training
regimen to becoming proficient as a tactical shooter. To become well rounded in the art of defense your
training would need to address the three following workouts

Basic target practice (static training)

Redundant training (quarter speed)

Applied Tactical practice (dynamic training)

Basic target practice (static training): The first area is a no brainer. We all do it. You just step onto
the firing line and plink paper targets from either a Weaver or Isosceles stance. That does bring up another
one of the long running debates in the gun community (tastes great-less filling, isosceles versus Weaver,
yada yada yada.) If you are a participant in this foolish debate, best of luck to you. As for me, I make a
point of practicing (and transitioning between) both stances as well as other modified grips. The reason
being, unless you are Dionne Warwick of the psychic hotline, you have no idea how a potential attacker
may approach you. Limiting yourself to a single stance also limits your options.

Redundant training (quarter speed): This aspect of your training regimen consists of performing basic
movements such as draws, sidesteps, retreats, and emergency action drills at a reduced speed. Where
people often go wrong with this aspect of their training is by working at full speed before they have the
movement perfected at the slower speed (or even skipping straight to overdrive.) If you do not master the
technique at the slower speed first, you will become very fast at sloppily drawing your weapon. Add a little
stress and it all comes apart.

Now this is the part where you separate the serious shooter from the Hollywood's. Basic redundant training
is exactly what it sounds like, a regular workout little different from a trip to the gym. Each new skill must
be practiced not only at slow speed, but as a repetitive series on a regular basis. Even after you have
mastered these movements, you will need to go back frequently and perform regular reps to maintain
proficiency. No, it is not like riding a bicycle and it does involve some rather dull work but as I learned in
the army, it is far better to sweat in peacetime than to bleed during war.

Applied Tactical practice (dynamic training): This is the part of your training that is actually fun.
Basically applied tactical practice is scenario shooting. Not to be mistaken for competition shooting such as
IPSC or IDPA, tactical practice has no scoring system, winners, or losers. Shooters are judged either dead
or alive. There are a number of basic guidelines designed to keep the shooting as realistic as possible:

Rules of tactical practice

1) No restarts. If you are not ready, you are dead.

Overcoming adverse situations is why you practice defensive tactics. If you blunder your draw or forget to
load, too bad. suck it up and solve the scenario.

2) If it is available in the scenario, shooters must go for cover FIRST.

A fast draw against an adversary that already has their weapon drawn is foolish. Denying your opponent a
target is the only priority higher than drawing your defensive weapon.

3) No scoring, no timers, you either live or die, as judged by your peers.

Scoring systems ultimately pollute any tactical sport and the gamers take over. This is defensive practice
for the average Joe, not Nintendo.

4) Never stop the fight until you are either ruled dead, successfully fled the area, or neutralized all threats.

Judges are encouraged to rule shooters dead for stopping the fight early. Nature and criminals are brutal
and unforgiving. Adapt.

5) Never shoot the same scenario twice. It must always be new and unfamiliar.

People who master El Capitan are spending way too much time on a scenario where the true tactical
solution would be to flee from superior numbers. Nature and criminals are random and unpredictable.
Expect anything.

6) Shooters may solve the scenario in any tactical manner.

The ultimate goal of a gunfight is to survive it by any means possible. There is an infinite number of ways
to complete any task. However, attention still needs to be paid to ensuring that only the minimum amount
of force necessary was applied. Survival is best enjoyed out of custody.

The way this works is simple enough. When I shoot with a group of friends, we each take turns designing
scenarios, then each shooter completes the shoot while being judged by the other shooters. I can only
stress the importance of not viewing these tactics in any sort of a win/lose perspective. Once you do you
lose impartiality regarding your performance and the learning stops. I frequently rule myself dead because
I felt that I had exposed myself too much, or failed to deliver a shot that would have been a fight stopper.
Don't take it personally, learn from it and evolve. Pride is a small thing, death, now that's an issue.

Now we enter the scenario design phase. This is where you can really become creative. So long as you are
in training mode, train for everything. When I run drills with friends on the range I use all manner of
disturbances to rattle them including screaming, pounding on a metal drum, shout Spanish obscenities,
throw firecrackers, and even short-load their magazine. Just to show that this type of training is not new,
the military has long had the classic craw under tracer fire exercise in basic training since before my great
Aunt Laura did it in in World War Two. My father tells me of shoots at Quantico in the '60s where they were
ordered to climb three flights of stairs (quickly) carrying buckets of water. Now these were the big five
gallon buckets and they were forbidden to spill any water. Once they arrived at the top floor they would
set down the buckets and begin the course amidst screams, flashes, and recorded gunfire. I have
replicated the same tactic by having the shooter pound out twenty or thirty push-ups. The net effect is the
same and is the best simulation of a high stress environment short of injecting ephedrine. To me, no dirty
trick is out of bounds during practice sessions. I've even gone so far as to switch guns on the shooter and
leave them with a totally unfamiliar weapon Train for everything.

Man Down: Scenario starts with the shooter on the ground. Typically I specify an injury or limitation on the
shooter such as "shot through the left shoulder" or "shooter must stay flat on their back." Typically I have
the shooter lay on an old cardboard box and change their position from scenario to scenario (on their back
or face down, etc.)

Knock-Knock: Using a large piece of cardboard, I simulate a (fall-away) door. The scenario starts when the
door is opened revealing one or more bad guys at various ranges. For added realism I prefer to have the
shooter start with their weapon remotely located at least 3 feet from the shooter so they have to pick it
up.