Box Drill

[EricW]

Shamelessly and ruthlessly ripped off from:

Saul Kirch

and

The Good Dr. Anderson

and

Doug Koenig

Place two shooting boxes (mine are 3/4" PVC pipe) approx 4 to 6' apart. Place a target approx. 10 yards in front of each box.

Drill: From within a box, draw and shoot the target in front of the box. Move to the opposite box and shoot the other target from within the box. Normal "box rules" apply. Do you break your freestyle platform between the boxes? Should you?

Variation 1: Shoot both targets from within one box, then transition and re-engage.

Variation 2: Perform a reload between the boxes. Practice reloading before you move as well as during movement. Which is faster? Which is more reliable?

Variation 3: Move the boxes 12 to 15' apart (or more). What happens to your freestyle platform moving box to box?

Variation 4: Arrange the targets and boxes so that the boxes are on the outside of the targets. What happens to your freestyle platform as you move into the second box?

[EricW]

Little things I learned from this drill:

- Lead off with the foot you want to land first in the opposite box. If I'm going L to R, leading off with the left foot gets me into the right box on my left foot.

Don't ask me how this works, but it works. Weirdly enough, it's fairly independent of the box spacing. Knocking a box over 1 1/2 feet still has you landing in the box with the correct foot. Obviously gettting into a new position is dependent on getting the proper start.

- if you have two left feet like me, starting with your leading foot forward helps.

=====================================

Current dryfire par time is about 3.0 secs for a 5' spacing.

Edited April 21, 2006 by EricW

[Flyin40]

How big are your boxes???

I was doing box drills last weekend and I grabbed some boxes at the range and they were 18" or maybe 24" wide. It made it much more difficult to with these small boxes

After shooting awhile I think these small boxes might of helped, it required me to have more awareness of my feet. If I was alittle off I would be outside the box when I stepped in with my following foot.

I was using 2 plate racks, boxes were around 15ft apart and I was about 4.5secs shooting 2 plates leaving(but within) the first box and entering(but within) the second box. I started at about 5.25 seconds but improved after some practing.

I broke my platform everytime, boxes just to far apart. Found the lower I ran(not super low but not high) the easier it was to slow up and setup up for the shot entering the box.

It was a short sprint for me, I never considered keeping my platform while moving. I had atleast a good 4-5strides and 2-3 slow down strides while slowing up. Now that I think of it the boxes might have been 20' apart.

When the boxes were outside the plates(I was using 2 plate racks) I had enter the box and my momentum wanted to carry to through the box but I had to go against my momentum and shoot the plate against my body movement. I was moving one way and had to shoot the plate the other way. In this situation it was critical to slow up enough and be low enough to control you body movement and setup smoothly. If I was standing to high I made an unbalanced and usually unaccurate shot. Being too high let my momentum control me. Being to low left me in control but caused me to be to slow. Doing this drill really makes you aware of your movement.

Flyin40

[XRe]

Couple of thoughts on that 4th one... As you're moving, keep the gun pointed towards the target you're going to engage next. Step into the box w/ the leading foot (left, if moving right, or vice versa) as you're bleeding off energy, staying low. Let the toes of that foot point at or slightly inside the target you're going to engage, and float into the box over that foot (ie, be low and in control). Have the gun on target, and seeing the sights sometime in that last stride, and as soon as the trailing foot leaves the ground, you're ready to fire.

The trick for this arrangement, for me, is getting that entry foot (the "leading" foot, I called it above) pointed in such a way that my hips and shoulders can orient at the target without being at a real awkward angle.

For short movement, my platform tends to stay intact. For things longer, where I end up in a run (vs. a "shoot on the move" type of movement), the platform breaks, and then reestablishes a couple of steps out, as I'm bleeding off speed, and lining up as the initial part of position entry.

I'll play around w/ this next time I get to practice, and post some more thoughts...

[EricW]

F40,

My boxes are 36"x36" - which is pretty close to the "standard" we use at the range. No clue what the "official" box size is supposed to be.

For 5' spacing, I don't break my platform. For anything over a couple steps, I definitely drop my gun and haul ass. But take advice from a C-class shooter with a grain of salt. er...make that a shaker.

Edited April 21, 2006 by EricW

[ParaJoe]

I set this up in the garage this evening but I used tape on the ground for boxes. The boxes were 5 yards apart and the targets were half sized IPSC targets at 12 feet. This is a good drill. I have been trying to work on the crossover and roll ala Dirtypool and this really helps.

Reloading within the first two steps seemed to be more consistent for me. I like consistancy. Once I can get that then I will work on the speed of it.

I couldn't really move the boxes too much further out. I tried to just lower my freestyle platform to a more relaxed state when moving but if it were any further I would be dropping the platform and running.

Again, space was limited so instead of moving the targets to the outside of the box, I just shot the opposite target. This was hard for me as I had my momentum going one direction and needed to shoot the other way. I learned I need to work on the entry a lot more.

Good Drill.

JOe