Setting shooting goals and having a solid plan is key to building marksmanship skills, and we have something to keep you on track. Each month, we bring you a skill-builder exercise designed to be as indoor-range friendly as possible. This month, we’re tackling pistol presentation and carbine low-ready presentation.
Our intent at War HOGG Tactical is to supplement your firearms training program and help you become more efficient and effective with your firearms. Remember our mantra is Be 1% Better Everyday!
How The Skill Builder Works
Start the monthly skill builder shooting exercise at the beginning of the month.
After shooting the skill builder you will need to record your data in your copy of The Firearms Training Notebook. From that, you will develop your dry fire training plan to work throughout the month.
Around the end of the month, reshoot the skill builder and see the improvement in your shooting performance.
Last month’s shooting skill builder exercise was the War HOGG Self Eval. Let’s look at shot one based on your performance from the self-eval. This will be either a pistol, a carbine, or possibly both, depending on the platform you used.
December Skill Builder: Presentation
This month’s Skill Builder focuses on the pistol presentation from the ready, low-ready carbine presentation, or both. We will also be talking about reaction time and how to improve it.
Head out to the range and conduct 10 presentations from the ready position with either pistol, carbine, or both. Remember, no warmup. Just shoot the 10 rounds.
Record your time, marksmanship data, target used, and distance in The Firearms Training Notebook. Don’t forget to use the note section at the bottom of the page to annotate any information you learned during that range session. For example, the red dot always comes in from the left side of the optic.
Before you leave the range, work on improving your reaction time.
Equipment Needed
- Your normal range and firearms equipment
- Live Fire Range
- Dry Fire Training Area
- Shot Timer, we recommend the PACT Club Timer III. Click the link to learn how to use a timer effectively in your marksmanship training.
- The Firearms Training Notebook – available on Amazon
- Recording device and tripod or holder
- 3×5 and 4×6 index cards (your targets)
Improve Your Reaction Time
This is an area where a lot of shooters lose time. If you wait till the end of the timer’s beep, that is half a second wasted. A simple drill to work on your reaction time involves heading to the range, either with your shooting “CREW” or by yourself.
Start with your firearm pointed at the target, your weapon on fire, and your finger on the trigger. As soon as you hear that first note of the timer, fire the shot.
Most shooters are typically around 0.3-ish for a reaction time. You can easily trim this time down into the teens as your ear gets in tune with the timer. This reaction time drill can start to improve your overall performance time by getting your firearm to start moving to the target sooner.
Make Your Dry Fire Plan
For this month’s drill, take your 10 shots and figure out your average time. Title a new page of The Firearms Training Notebook Pistol Presentation or Low Ready Carbine. Using your average time, I would suggest adding anywhere between .10 to .25 seconds.
As you start making good dry trigger presses and sight on the target at or below the par time, you can start setting your par time lower at either .05 or .10 seconds. The idea is to keep reducing the time until you are at the best time for your performance.
Remember, don’t get wrapped up around what others are doing for time. This is your firearms journey and you will get there if you put the time into your dry fire training.
The Pistol Presentation
The red dot pistol presentation can be difficult if you don’t have a proper pistol presentation technique.
To start, have the pistol in a ready position where you can see the front sight post out of your periphery sight and the muzzle orientated down range.
Your head should be in that neutral position where you are seeing out of the center of your eyes. Every person is going to have a slightly different ready position based on their body type.
The concept is to present the pistol as flat and in a straight line with the eyes. Some shooters will present either above or below that line of sight, thus reducing efficiency to get the red dot on the target and fire the shot.
As the pistol is being presented out, look for your reference points. Point 1 is the front sight post out of your periphery, next is the body of the optic, then the glass of the optic, and the red dot should be there.
It’s always a good idea to record your range session and review the footage as you are developing your dry fire plan. The video will pick up things that you might not realize you are doing right or wrong.
Glock shooters with a red dot sight have to do a slight wrist roll to pick up the dot because of the pistol’s grip angle.
Carbine Low Ready Presentation
The start position for the carbine low ready is with the carbine stock seated well in the shoulder and muzzle pointed at a 45-degree angle, roughly at the base of the target.
When you drive the carbine up to the target, ensure you have rearward pressure with good stock-to-shoulder contact and place the carbine on fire. Your head should not have to move to the optic, if this happens you do not have the stock in the correct position on your shoulder.
Don’t forget with the carbine there is a point of aim, point of impact difference depending on where you zeroed your carbine and on your optic mount height.
Check Your Work
Sometime near the end of the month, head back out to the range and reshoot the 10 rounds with your pistol presentation, carbine low ready, or bot,h and see where your performance is at.
You should see improvement if you have put in the dry fire work during the month.
Have Accountability
It’s important to have accountability for your shooting performance. Yes, you can do it on your own, however having a shooting partner, tribe, or group will keep you in check.
If you don’t have any accountability, you can always join us in sharing your marksmanship growth.
Go to our On The Range (OTR) Patreon “CREW” member’s page or our On The Range Podcast “CREW’ Facebook group page.
Me and my co-host/co-author Mark Kelley of Kelley Defense conduct a bi-monthly interactive Zoom call with our Patreon “CREW” members where we break down each shooter’s skill builder.
We have even reviewed videos of “CREW’ members shooting during our Zoom calls and give immediate feedback on where we see they can improve their shooting skills.
Conclusion: Put In The Work
To see improvement in your marksmanship skills you must put in the work. This means having a solid dry-fire training plan and a way to record your progress like with The Firearms Training Notebook.
Use your additional tools like a shot timer and video to take your dry fire training to the next level and see the increased performance during your live training.
Train Hard, Stay Safe, and see you “On The Range” – Rick
