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How Do You Learn To Run With A Gun


Bart Solo

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My wife was having issues moving quickly. We trained with .22s moving from target to target with explosive movement. What made her finally get it was imagining she was dodging a ball. Everyone has the instinct to move quickly, its just tapping into that movement.

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My biggest issue to over come was where to hold the gun and I found that keeping it at eye level worked best for me. Just mind the 180 like everyone else said and if you have a stage you have to move plan your moves during the walk through. That always helped me.

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Well 2 years ago I was introduced into the wonderful world of 3-gun. It took me nearly a year to be so comfortable with moving with the gun that I could easily run with my pistol. I walked stopped and shot, I was also really slow doing that. I started running with the gun held across my arms (I dont know if any of you understand, But i held the gun across my chest). When that got ok for me I started letting the gun come up, and then tward my targets. Now I can fairly easily run n gun. Hope this helps.

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I have been practicing running back and forth across my basement. Tonight by simply running from point to point I was able to knock 10 seconds off my stage time, and moved to the top of the Limited 10 division, but I made a couple of mistakes related to moving faster. At a couple of points I came close to but didn't break 180. The TO talked to me after the run. He told me I have to do better, but I didn't break 180. If I had he would have stopped me. That is going to require more practice. The second is I dropped a mag at an inopportune time and had to make an extra reload to complete the run. The point is, with practice I can run. I just need more practice. I noticed that my alphas dropped some tonight, probably because I haven't yet had enough experience to calm down quickly after transitioning fast to a new position.

I am really beginning to have a good time at this game.

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Interesting, I hadn't thought about the mechanics of this before. I just did what felt right, eyes facing my direction of travel and weapon basiclly kept at a 90 degree angle to my direction of travel.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I came to USPSA from CAS as well. I had a variant of this trouble. I've always been a pretty aggressive CAS shooter, and would draw and run, or load a shotgun on the run. Just as long as you don't cock the hammer, or close the SG, you're fine, unless your club has extra restrictive rules.

Where this caused me trouble with USPSA was less running with a gun in my hand, I could do that just fine, but rather with shooting and moving. I always wanted to plant my feet, then shoot.

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I spent years playing tourney level paintball. I think that helped me out tremendously. Now I just use an airsoft gun to practice with.

This was it for me too. I spent 10 years playing paintball across the country and I think it has been a big help for me. I have also suggested it to a few shooters to try and most have said it helped. You gotta play against some good players so it forces you to run and gun.

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You have to walk before you run. Dry fire at home is a great method of reinforcing muzzle awareness and trigger control. In USPSA the is a blend of accuracy and speed. If you shoot all Alpha's but your time is slow you will not win. If you are blazing fast and shoot C's, D's, and M's you won't win. My first match I did not run at all. More of a fast walk. I shot well but finished poorly. Next match I tried shaving time by shooting faster. Very bad idea. Times came down very little and my scores suffered. What I have learned is to move fast and shoot slow. Hold the gun at eye level whenever you move. It will get you back on target faster and in the unlikely event that you slip and fall you won't fall on to the gun.

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I spent years playing tourney level paintball. I think that helped me out tremendously. Now I just use an airsoft gun to practice with.
This was it for me too. I spent 10 years playing paintball across the country and I think it has been a big help for me. I have also suggested it to a few shooters to try and most have said it helped. You gotta play against some good players so it forces you to run and gun.

This point seems to be a common progression here in Southern California also. Transitioning from paintball to practical shooting, myself included. To compliment that further, the same competitive roots and sponsor jerseys transfers over at a high level too!

A friend also played at the tournament level and learned practical shooting 2 years ago and proclaims, "How come I didn't know about practical shooting till now?!" I said, "So, you are doing it now!" hehe

I'm sure you all agree and read on this thread... practice , practice and more practice.

Enjoy the journey.

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I go to my local HS football field and use something (anything tats not shaped like a gun) and practice running in different directions with it. Run liners while keeping the gun in my work space or close to it, eye level. The liners really helped me.

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I learned by just doing it. I didn't think too much about it, they said keep your finger off the trigger and don't break the 180 and that's what I've done so far. It still took me about 6 months meaning 6 matches at that time to where I could feel comfortable enought to start thinking about going all out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think I am just going to focus on my procedures and techniques, and making good shots. I am not going to listen to the guys who tell me I have to accept a certain number of charlies in the name of shooting faster. I suspect that over time I will gain confidence moving quickly between targets, my target to target transitions will improve, my times will drop and my scores will improve.

I watched a short video on target to target transitions. Are their any longer videos or books?

You are dead right. When starting in USPSA or IPSC there is one thing you need to do well.

BE SAFE.

First and most important things are these 2:

Be conscious of your muzzle direction at all times (the guy who mentioned keeping the gun up high when moving between targets gave a good tip)

Trigger finger, it should come in and out of the trigger guard naturally. basically if you're not taking a shot it should be well out of the trigger guard.

Whilst thinking about that stuff also work on shooting A's.

Once you have the safety stuff to the point where you no longer have to consciously think about muzzle and trigger finger then it's time to start bringing up the pace.

As you shoot more you will get more comfortable and start to move quicker.

but as always safety is what's important.

it's much easier to be an accurate shooter who needs to work on speed vs a fast guy who gets mikes here and there. so work on the other techniques and the speed will come up when you're ready. :)

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The 180 rule usually comes into effect running let or right and doing so while attempting a reload. It was suggested to me , as a right handed shooter , I rotate my wrist clockwise running to my right or strong hand. The opposite should be used running to the left or weak hand. Hope this helps. It has helped me.

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This is something that I practice at the gym. I am a member of a 24 hour gym and typically later in the evening no one is there. So what I do, is I grab a 5lb dumbbell and use it for transition drills. I pick two or three targets and transition between them. Then to work on footwork, I will make a "course" out of yoga mats. This helps with footwork coming into position and exploding out. Treat the dumbbell just like you would your gun, with trigger finger out when moving. The advantages of doing this in the gym is that you have all the mirrors where you can watch to make sure you are not breaking the 180.

It also can help you train to think on your feet, because inevitably, someone is going to walk in wondering what the heck you are doing and you are running around carrying a single dumbbell with yoga mats all over the place.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is what I tell new shooters to practice at home. Make figure 8's clockwise and counter clockwise around two tables with your practice gun not breaking 180 with what ever they choose to be the imaginary back berm. That way your moving left, right, forward and backwards.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I also play paintball, though I've done scenario tournaments, all my play has been in woods/CQB with pistols. For 27 years now :-). I not only recommend paintball, but the Tippmann TiPX. This is a pistol that uses a 7rd paintball magazine in the grip. It can run off of a normall paintball Co2 tank or use 12gram Co2 cylinders like a BBgun..

1001155_203970693089484_602169845_n.jpg

Edited by HumbleSmith
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I just came back from my weekly practice match. As I have said before I am very new at USPSA, but I have a lot of experience at CAS. In CAS you rarely, if ever, move with a loaded gun. Occasionally you will carry an unloaded shotgun from one shooting station to another. You certainly don't run with a loaded gun.

I have pretty much discovered that I can shoot with the other guys in the club, but I have a hard time moving fast with a loaded gun.

I just can't bring myself to move at more than a brisk walk. They are running and gunning. Did anybody else ever have that problem and what did you do about it? Are their any drills?

At first I started with crawling then moved to walking before running with a gun. Lol.

pat

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Before I retired, I was usually the first to enter the building at work. After getting a cup of coffee I had a distance of maybe 600 feet from the break area to my bench. I used my cup of hot coffee as a gun and practiced my run and gun back to the bench. If I didn't have a good sight picture [ level cup] and smooth step, I instantly got a reminder from the coffee.

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Common tip for this given at my club is to always keep the gun up, at or near neck level and in your vision/peripheral vision at all times. As soon as you start to let the gun dip, bad things can happen like sweeping yourself and 180 busting while rounding a corner.

I am a big fan of giving yourself verbal reminders also. Before you move just say it out loud, doesn't have to be a he-man scream but just say it.

Finger.

Berm.

Run.

Eventually it will just be run. :)

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Try this. Set up a course of fire and shoot it as you normally would. Do it again but without the pistol and just focus on moving through the course as quickly as you can (i.e flat out). Feel the difference between the 2. Now try again but blend the 2 making sure your safe and your getting your hits. Video is your friend. Another (preferably more experienced) shooter can also help with an on the spot critique.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Pick a consistent spot on the firearm you are moving with and apply a bit of additional pressure with your trigger finger (finger straight and don't choose the trigger as a spot), this will give you a bit of additional safety when on the move. Be aware of your muzzle at all times, keep you gun within your sight as you move, and go for it

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