The Ordinary Citizen

Here I'm just working that first shout out of the holster, with as quick a draw from concealment as I can manage. I'm pushing the limits of my speed here, so there are a couple of misses, which are inevitable out there on the edge of my ability. That's training.

In this drill I'm pretending to get shot in my primary arm, then I have to get to cover and apply my edc tourniquet one-handed and then get back into the fight, one handed. Today I dropped my EDC Glock 19 a few dozen times. I've dropped G19s thousands of times in training and this one hundreds of times. It's fine. For this video I'm running dry before I drop it, but a Glock can be dropped from any height fully loaded and chambered and it will not fire. Do not worry about a dropped modern pistol. I'm reaching with my left hand into my left pocket here, but I've confirmed that I can reach into either pocket with either hand, no problem. You should adjust according to your abilities and training.

Just a quick update on the Barrett Rec-10 that I took my first shots with last week. I've made some important modifications, including replacing the ringing flash hider with a VG6 Precision Gamma muzzle brake and replaced the milspec trigger with a CMC 3.5lb flat triger. It all makes a huge difference in the stillness, recoil, and drivability of the gun. I'm lovin it.

According to the round count, it's time to replace six (6!) parts on my EDC G19. All but one I've replaced one or more times already on this pistol, but this'll be the first replacement of the magazine-catch spring.

This is a simple drill that works from a prone, "hostage" position. Moving quickly to cover, clearing garments, and getting the gun up and putting critical hits on target at 20 yards in just a couple of seconds involves a lot of kinetic skills. Good practice. I did 50-ish reps of this one today. When I replace the magazine, I just rack the slide and don't worry about the lost round. It's best to chamber a round regardless of whether or not there's one already in the chamber. I just had a gunfight and likely have no idea how many rounds I fired. Gas it up and chamber a round to be certain.

In this drill I'm pretending to get shot in my primary arm, then I have to get to cover and apply my edc tourniquet one-handed and then get back into the fight, one handed. Today I dropped my EDC Glock 19 a few dozen times. I've dropped G19s thousands of times in training and this one hundreds of times. It's fine. For this video I'm running dry before I drop it, but a Glock can be dropped from any height fully loaded and chambered and it will not fire. Do not worry about a dropped modern pistol. I'm reaching with my left hand into my left pocket here, but I've confirmed that I can reach into either pocket with either hand, no problem. You should adjust according to your abilities and training.

In this drill, my buddy John plays the part of my wife, where an active shooter attacks folks in public. As the defender, I have to physically move my panic-striken and fronzen-up wife to safety while returning covering fire and getting a couple of hits on the bad guy. Once secured behind cover, I ambush the assailant, ending the threat. Tough to get good hits while running away and encumbered by a frightened loved one, but it's a good drill to practice.

This is just a drill to practice manipulations and garment management while moving.

This is a left-hand-only drill from concealed at 12 yards on an 8" plate. The key manipulation element to this drill is the left-hand draw from a right-hand holster and position. It requires that I change the pistol's orientation in my hand. I use my body as a backstop to effect the proper grip on the pistol.

These pistol drills are what I'd call compulsory for everyday carriers. You don't want your attempt to save your life to be the first time you try shooting from your stomach or side or back. Train first with a competent instructor and then practice on your own so that you know what you're doing should the need arise. Training works! Not training works, too, but rather in a bad way.

This is a demonstration, not instruction. Be sure to seek professional instruction for any firearm drills you plan to run in your own practice. This is a very contextually specific drill, as it is not always safe and appropriate to take lower-percentage shots like this in public; bystanders may make it wholly inappropriate. However, I think it is important to develop a high skill level for shooting accurately while moving quickly. And, yes, it's galling to watch that first-shot miss over and over, but that's why they call it training. I still have plenty left to do.

A review of G-Code's INCOG Eclipse and Eclipse Shadow holsters. I've been using these holsters for years and wouldn't trust my life to any other model.

Today's drill was the same one from this early-winter-2018 video. I'm shooting at 20 yards onto 6" steel (today's was on 4" steel), doing a soft breakfall to my back then drawing from concealment to put one round from both right and left sides around cover from my back, then up to kneeling over the cover, the going prone for 1 shot from both right and left sides. Marksmanship is a bit more challenging when you're on your back/side and prone on your sides. This drill challenges my ability to remain accurate while using cover from the ground. The kneeling shot is just to practice rising to a knee from my back, facilitating the transition to prone.

This is a drill to work one-handed manipulation after drawing from concealment and getting shot in the primary arm. Secondary arm takes over and finishes the fight.

Two rounds from concealment on 6" steel at 20 yards. From this distance I try to get them in under 1.75 seconds. Sometimes I'm able to.

For this drill you've got 5 targets setup at 10 yards--three 6-inchers, a 10", and a milk bottle. At the beep, draw from concealment and put one round on each, starting from the middle and then clearing the rest. In this case, I'm going left, then cleaning up the two on the right. This was my fastest clean time today. Had plenty sub 2:60 times with one miss. :-/

This drill supposes you're running away from an armed assailant, then a second cuts you off and you must defend. Draw from concealment and put 2 on the 8" plate at 10 yards, you run empty so perform a reload and put 1 round on the other bad guy while advancing on him. I did this drill about 20 times today. This run was toward the end. Good workout!

Here I'm just working on ensuring both hands, strong-hand only, and weak-hand only are all viable for defense and reloading. Hard to tell, but I've got a wall of cover that I'm using to hide behind during the reloads. Yeah, I didn't catch that my pistol was not really concealed. :) Stuff happens.

Just a pistol disassembly/reassembly video. Not a how-to. Could be pleasant to watch.

Just working on drawing from concealment and getting first hit on target at 10 yards. Uncharacteristically had a couple of fumbled draws here, but got the job done anyway both times. That's why they call it training.

Got to play with some Triumph Systems pivotal trainers today at Proactive Defense. The targets were 2-sided and I was shooting only Target Side #2. The action was random and the timing was set to 5 seconds, so it was super easy, but having to monitor both targets made it interesting. This is just a small clip of what I got to do.

From 2017- Spent the entire morning doing left-hand drills today. Never once touched the gun with my right hand; not to draw, re-holster, reload, or fire. This has to become a regular feature of my training and I highly recommend it to other trained shooters.