Shooting on the Move

What I’d like to demonstrate for you is a technique I use when I advance on a target. What I like to do is stand a little bit more square to the target. You notice my feet are about shoulder width. The reason for that is, as I advance, I have less tendencies for one foot to hit the other which is kind of important, so you don’t trip.    Mount the rifle like this. And you want to remember, you want to take the least amount of strides as you can to get to the target. So you want to lower your center of mass, you want your strides long and low, and you want to roll your feet heel to toe. The reason for that is that it’s a good smooth transition from step to step. So, it would look something like this.     Things to avoid when you are moving and shooting is standing tall and short choppy steps. So, what I’d like to do for you is load up and show you what it’s like in real time. You notice how when you lower your center of mass, and you make long smooth strides, it really helps to keep the end of the gun from oscillating. It keeps it right in the middle of the target.  In some courses of fire, you may have to shoot while you’re moving backwards, and the key safety aspect here is that you want your feet maybe little bit wider than your shoulders. And that is really to prevent your feet from getting caught on one another. Same aspect here, when you retreat you want to have your lower center of mass. And instead of going from heel to toe, you want to go toe to heel. Same thing, lower your mass, feet about shoulder width at least, roll your feet. Be mindful of your feet when you are backing up, you want to have them at least shoulder width. That way you have less of a tendency of getting them tied up, and maybe even trip. So always shoulder width apart.   Lateral movement for a right hand shooter, when he’s engaging targets on his left, is the same basic technique that you do when you are moving forward. You want to get your weight down a little bit, bend your knees, roll your feet. Same technique except shooting to the left. Now that was a easy way to have lateral motion and engage targets for a right hand shooter, targets on his left.  Now the hard way for a right handed shooter is when he has targets on his right. So basically what I do, I just turn almost completely around, and use the backward motion like we did earlier to engage the target. But what you want to be aware of is not to break the 180 when you finish your last target. You have to bring your muzzle back around, always keep it pointed in a safe direction.  One thing you want to be aware of on any of the movement drills is not to try to time the shots with your feet contacting the ground. When you see the sight at the edge of the target, make the shot.  Be aware that a right handed shooter shooting on his right side, like that, it could get a little hazardous there. So if you happen to find that situation on the range, just go ahead dry fire it a bunch of times. Sometimes it’s even better to just stand there and shoot the target, flat footed, like you would regularly, and then accelerate through the stage. So, that’s a option open to the shooter. With those techniques, you should have the advantage over the other guys. So, I’ll see you on the range.    CLICK HERE FOR PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION