Behind Cover

Make sure you spend time practicing behind cover when you are at the range.

On your next range trip, set-up a simple ‘barrier’ to work on positions that will help you properly use cover. Learning to shoot from various positions behind cover will help you think about your stance, footwork, positioning, and movement so that using cover becomes second nature.

A few tips:
• Make sure your muzzle clears the cover when you are practicing
• Don't crowd your cover. At least arms reach, or end of the muzzle is a good rule of thumb
• Don’t be afraid to cant the gun if needed depending on what you are standing behind so that you can aim properly
• Use something that is safe for you to use as a barricade – wood, paper, plastic so that if/when you make a mistake, it’s as safe as possible for you
• Practice reloading behind cover and coming back out from a different location – vertically displaced to a different height or move to the opposite side of the cover if possible
• Think about your stance (weight in the front foot) IE: typically if shooting around right side cover, your right foot will be forward and if shooting around the left side of the target, your left foot will be forward.
• Practice drawing and moving into a proper shooting position behind cover