Dry Fire Drills for Movement

[saibot]

I had a great time at Nationals and learned a ton, as it was my first, but I noticed that I am losing a ton of time standing still. As a Production shooter I've been running to each array, setting up, then shooting, then moving to the next array...rinse and repeat.

 

Now that I see the error of my ways, I was hoping to dry fire the bejesus out of this to learn the "techniques," then apply them to my live fire. So with that being said, I'm looking for some dry fire drills to setup and practice. I'm very uncreative, obviously.

 

Any favorite dry/live drills to get this down? I really want to be shooting as I get to a position.

 

Thanks, all!

[CrashDodson]

The goal is really just to be doing everything sooner.  As your coming into a position your gun is up, using your knees to be low and stable, and shooting as soon as your sights tell you that you can.  Want to make sure your not coming into position low and then standing up, then shooting.  Your shoulders should not really change elevation as your entering, shooting and leaving.  The difficulty of the targets your shooting dictate how you have to setup in a position.  Easy targets your weight may continue to move in your direction of travel as you shoot and then get out of there, or your feet may never stop moving at all.   If your coming in on hard steel or partials or whatever, you will likely have to get setup in the position but you should come in, shoot and then do your hard exit (split step or whatever).  Just make sure your not coming into position, standing up, then shooting.  

 

When leaving a position the difficulty of your last targets dictate how you can leave.  Perhaps its a wide open target and you can actually be taking a step as your firing your last shots, or if its not as easy you can begin leaning in the direction your going or maybe just loading up on the foot your going to push off with.  Shooting on the move doesn't always mean actually taking steps, it can be just the shifting weight.  

 

Depending on the room you have to dry fire in you should be able to setup scenarios for easy/hard entry and easy/hard exit work.  You also need to figure out how low you need to be for your sights to remain stable enough to shoot while moving.  If you dont already have dry fire books I would pick up some for ideas.  

[perttime]

You need some space to practice moving and shooting, or shooting while moving. You might start by shooting while walking towards - and away from - a target.

 

One thing that seems pretty common now is where you need to take some shots standing, but can start walking away from some targets while shooting.

[MemphisMechanic]

Until you’re at least an A, what you want to work on hardest is arriving with the gun up six feet or more before you have a clean shot at the target.

 

You likely aren’t losing as much time as you think by not shooting on the move. It is both handy and simultaneously very overrated.

 

You’re almost definitely pissing away a full second per position by stopping your feet then beginning to extend the gun as you halt... while Mr M class already has a sight picture as he rounds the end of the wall, and his feet are bringing him to a stop.

 

Alex Gutt won Production Nationals in 2016. Mute the audio (it’s a severe distraction) and just watch his gun. Particularly as he enters the 2nd position of stages 3 and 6. Without a load to make him bring the gun back, his sights are already up and hunting for brown things halfway across the wall:

 

Edited October 11, 2017 by MemphisMechanic

[saibot]

Great stuff guys! This is exactly the stuff I was hoping to get from you experts.

I went to the hardware store for 1x2's to build some vision barriers/walls, but they were all out so I'll get some this weekend and get to work creating some drills to work on this.

 

And wow, Gutt is fast!