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Defensive practice

4K views 37 replies 13 participants last post by  ken grant 
#1 ·
Due to my old eyes (79) , shakey hands and not so good balance , I have changed my way of defensive practice and no longer use paper targets.

I scatter fired shot shells on the berm and shoot at them at different points from the hip up to chin level at 3-10 yds. from the draw and one hand only .
I hit a few , move a few , miss a lot but always close enough to defend myself from them. YES , I do pick them up afterward and save them for the next time.
I mostly use my G19 and a lot of times with a AA .22 kit on it. The last two times I used it with the .22 kit.
210 rds. the first trip with Rem. G.B. and had one dud rd. that fired after being turned a little. Plus started a blister on my middle finger.
Second trip with the kit I fired 210 Mini-Mags and had one failure to feed( nose caught on top of the chamber) and a worse blister. The trips were only a couple days apart.

I have been working on under cutting the trigger guard to cure the blister problem and it has worked until I tried to draw too many times on these two trips.

You might ask why 210 rds. but I have 21 magazines and at 10 rds. ea. that I load the night before my trip.
Several years ago I found a guy that had a bunch of new ones he wanted to dump and I bought them at a good price. Also in the deal I got 4 mags for a 17 kit and 1 25 rd. mag.
I only used them enough to know they work and set them aside as I am pretty tired after 210 draws and shoot.
 
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#5 ·
Reminds me of a drill we did at Brownie's course. :grin
 
#9 ·
My eyes are not my worse problem , my shakes are .Anytime I try to do something , they start .
It showed up first in my left hand and then over several years it has got into my right hand.

I was told the problem was called "Focused Tremors"
It now shows up even when shooting a rifle on sandbags . A even worse problem with a handgun because it tends to make you snatch the trigger a lot. That is why I have changed my way of practice with one
 
#13 · (Edited)
YEP ! They would work great but sure would be expensive because I usually throw 10-15 shells on the berm so I have to shoot targets at different levels , distance and directions. I never shoot the same one twice in a row unless I double tap it and that is not very often.

Just another thought I had , While looking around at Good Will I will look for rubber balls about the size of baseballs or softballs and cut them in half for targets.
 
#14 ·
darn, that's expensive, Brownie. I've used shells, soda cans, plastic bottles.... but the cut tennis balls sounds good. Wally sells 3 for $3 and even have them in pink :grin
 
#17 ·
:thumsup, we've had some great times on the range and in the sparring room, seen some great shots made on demand like your exhibition of prowess with a handgun that day.. Memories, it's about all I have left in me now :rofl
 
#19 · (Edited)
Plans go astray , loaded all my mags for my 19 and 26 AA .22 Kits this PM for my range trip tomorrow and then injured my trigger finger afterwards. A good cut on the pad , no stiches but still sore.

Range trip is still on but will have to try shooting with the middle finger. Trying it tonight with a laser cartridge and it seems to work OK but having a little trouble with the draw and keeping two fingers off the grip instead of just one.

One bright side is I won't worsen the blister on my middle finger that my normal draw would do.
The bad side is I won't be able to tell if I cured my blister problem with the under cut on the trigger guard.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Well the range trip turned out to be OK . Pulling the trigger with my middle finger worked out better than expected and almost as well as the normal way , More practice may improve that.
The only problem I had was drawing . I kept getting my normal grip instead just my ring and pinky fingers.
Had to slow down and think before drawing and after awhile I was doing much better . Will work on that at home with my laser cartridge.

Maybe my trigger finger will be OK after a few days and I can go back to my normal way of pulling the trigger but it is nice to know I have another option in case something should happen like this again.
 
#21 ·
I also like shooting clay pigeons. Place them at different levels on the berm After they break I will shoot at the pieces. I usually take about 10 pigeons. I will also shoot paper for bulls eye shooting. White flyer brand is supposed to be biodegradable.

I have taken other things as targets to the range. One of my favorites was a pumpkin.
 
#22 ·
I envy all you shooters who are close enough to a good outdoor range where you can do this. I have a paper target that has 4 rows of 5 half dollar sized colored circles on it that I place out to about 15 yds. The goal is to hit each circle in one row shooting across, then move to the next row. Some days I am better than others, but I am better today than I was when I started. Thanks Brownie.
 
#24 ·
a fun thing to do with multicolor targets is to have a buddy calling a color on you, with or without timer. ignoring the sights while at it, is still better.
 
#35 ·
I remember the soda can at 20 yds. Warrior princess and I hit it 2outta 3 times. I started doing the instinctive shooting practice last weekend. Then I joined up on the bowling pin shoot trying it but did miserably with it. Last round I took the 45 shield for a ride. Interesting how fast those pins flew off the table with a slow moving 45 even in a small pistol. Like the OP, this is going to be my practice sessions from now on. After 5 yrs of not shooting much it's time to get the skills back.
 
#37 · (Edited)
Well , tennis balls cut in half didn't work so well. They still rolled down the berm when you tossed them on it.
Tried laying them on the berm cut side down instead of tossing but if you made them move , most rolled down as well.

I have not thought of anything else to try except flat soda cans and I will try that next .
If they don't work , clay birds will be my go to .
 
#38 ·
Tried the soda cans smashed end to end and made into round disks . They worked great with my .22 conversion and didn't suffer much damage . I believe I can use them many times before dumping them.

Have not tried them with 9 m/m yet but believe I will have to dump them much sooner.
 
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