What fun things do you do at the end of your practice sessions?

[lugnut]

When I'm practicing with friends we usually work on specific drill or drills at a given session. Although it's shooting- sometimes the drills are hard and frustrating. At the end of each practice- I usually try to come up with some fun games/challenges. Here is just a sampling of what we do, with 2-4 people at a practice- it's always a fin way to end the session.

- Go to 25 yds or farther. Head shots only, misses are 5 secs. Fastest time wins. (Can do the same drill with weak hand only body hits)

- Run 10 Mozambiques- the fastest run with all down zeros wins. (Today I did a 1.61 with my SSR gun which I thought was decent since it was 30 degrees out and my fingers didn't want to cooperate)

- See who can shoot the best smily face from 7 yds.

- One practice we set a 9mm case on the top of the target at about 7 yds and tried to who could hit it first. This was my result after 2nd attempt:

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss120/daveso/2010-08-18073025.jpg

I find doing these things makes practice a little more interesting. You guys do anything like this?

[outerlimits]

I prefer large amounts of IPA...

[glocklover]

I like trying to shoot shotgun hulls at 10 yards.

[Matt Cheely]

Fastest draw / reload with a hit on the target at 3 yards.

Man on man steel.

Using a plate or etc, start at 20 yards each guy gets a shot. Back up 5 yards and shoot again, if you miss you're out. Last man standing wins. Usually gets up to 60+ yards.

[kimmie]

I want to try setting up pool balls like they did on this seasons Top Shot. That looks really cool.

[lugnut]

I want to try setting up pool balls like they did on this seasons Top Shot. That looks really cool.

Now that would be fun!

[Dan Burwell]

- One practice we set a 9mm case on the top of the target at about 7 yds and tried to who could hit it first.

That funny you mention we did that just today, after three misses I decided to go weak hand only and got it on the second shot. Unfortunately I couldn't find the case.

we will often do some sort of "trick" shot at the end, shooting is supposed to be fun.

[pjb45]

When I was young and field training labs, a professional trainer told me, the dog is going to remember the last exercise the best. You always want to leave the training session with a successful element. Never ever leave with the dog making a mistake. They will remember that mistake as being permissable. Do not let that happen. He seemed to produce a bunch of Champion Field Dogs.

The mind is going to remember the last thing you did at practice, that is what is going in your subconcious. Do you want to leave on a less than perfect execution of a technique?

BE and Burkett often talk about at the end of their pactice they shoot groups.

I would offer that do the fun shooting early and end on a serious positive note.

[Kyle O]

I go back in the house, and have a beer.

[lugnut]

When I was young and field training labs, a professional trainer told me, the dog is going to remember the last exercise the best. You always want to leave the training session with a successful element. Never ever leave with the dog making a mistake. They will remember that mistake as being permissable. Do not let that happen. He seemed to produce a bunch of Champion Field Dogs.

The mind is going to remember the last thing you did at practice, that is what is going in your subconcious. Do you want to leave on a less than perfect execution of a technique?

BE and Burkett often talk about at the end of their pactice they shoot groups.

I would offer that do the fun shooting early and end on a serious positive note.

When I do these I always leave on a positive note- that shooting is always fun and it's often amazing what you can do when you push things. I'm not saying I end the practices this way all the time.

[GrumpyOne]

It's not a fun thing to do at the end of a session, but I pick up brass.....ALONE.

[alpha-charlie]

man on man steel

50 yards shooting at a plate rack

50 yards shooting at 2 plate racks. 12 plates with 12 rounds loaded in the gun. Strong hand only and then weak hand only. Excellent drill to focus on front sight focus and trigger control. First time I did it weak hand only I hit 8 out of 12 plates. I was really surprised.

[pjb45]

Now that is a drill I can identify with!

[JimmyZip]

After all the pistol shooting, I like to take out my M1A and ring the 250 with irons. I just love the way it feels to shoot that thing. It is accurate, and balances well in the hands.

[Team Amish 1]

It's not a fun thing to do at the end of a session, but I pick up brass.....ALONE.

Yep! Same here.

[Bsbllrooster]

I usually practice alone so not a whole lot of competition going on there. I do love to shoot at spent shotgun shells though. Boo for picking up brass alone.

[CHA-LEE]

I always end my practice sessions with some kind of accuracy shooting. I never have a precision drill set in stone but always come up with something challenging and fun to shoot. I think that being able to make very precise shots builds a ton of confidence in your marksmanship. For example, If you can pick off 6 inch plates at 100 yards using a normal freestyle grip/stance doing the same thing at 25 - 50 yards is child's play.

[maineshootah]

We shoot for pushups.

Non A hits are 1, misses are 10 and NS hits are 20.

We might not shoot any better come summer, but some of us will be racked!

[Erik S.]

I shoot at the 8" steel plate at 25yds. When I hit it, I go home

Only kidding. I usually shoot groups to finish off or do some slow, form-focused drills.

[dsmw5142]

I usually sling a few at some old acetylene tanks we have hanging up from 100-125 yards toward the end of practice...

....then I too, pickup brass... alone (usually in the dark by headlights) lol

[Pelican82]

Chase the Dot.

A shooter takes a shot anywhere on a target at any distance, and the next shooter sees how close they can get to the first hole, then the original shooter sees how close they can get to their original shot. Closest shot to the original bullet hole wins. The next round is started by another shooter. Sort of the same concept as horse.

[benos]

Tawn Argeris and I ended most practice sessions with this drill - Showdown. It can be played with two more shooters.

Put one USPSA target at 3 yards. Before you start the game, each shooter must establish his par time. From a hands at sides position, the goal is to draw and fire one shot that hits the head box (A or B zone) in the quickest time possible.

Go as fast as you can just hit the head box, 75% of the time. Drawing and shooting at a speed you can call the shot at is not acceptable. You are getting after it: Beep - Bang!

So each shooter does 10 or so one shot draws, until each shooter knows how long it takes him to hit the target approximately 75% of the time. Remember you are hauling ass. Each shooter's "75% hit average" time becomes his par time.

The Drill: Each shooter draws and fires on shot at the head box. Each shooter's shot must "score" (either an A or , and be at or below his par time in order to count for score.

The winner is decided by a series of decisions:

• If just one shooter has a scoring hit - either A or a B - he is the winner.
  
• If two or more shooters have scoring hits - an A beats a B.
  
• And here's where it gets a bit tricky - if two or more shooters have A's, the shooter with the bullet hole closest to the "letter A" is the winner.
  
• If all shooters have B hits, the shooter with the bullet hole closest to the "letter A" is the winner.
  

Edited March 3, 2011 by benos
Remembered name of drill

[Erik S.]

Nice! Definitely going to try that drill with friends this weekend.

[lugnut]

Yeah- interesting feedback. I don't always end practices in the same way- sometimes I do some accuracy drills, some times I do "let em rip" drills and sometimes I just like to wrap things up with some good ole fun. Seems like many folks mix it up as well- keeps me wanting to go back for more...

[Reshoot]

Drink beer and burp loudly.