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May 2008
In This Issue
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- Letter From The Editor
- LMS Defense News
- Training Topics: Enhancing Performance Through Dry Practice
- CQB
- Gear Review: Rifle Bug Out Bag
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Letter From The Editor
Yancey Harrington
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Friends and associates we are living in trying times, and I don’t use that phrase lightly. I am greatly alarmed at what I am seeing in the news, outside of the American mainstream news outlets because they don’t report much of it. Throughout the world, the rising cost of oil and other main stays of life are having adverse effects on our most basic necessities of life - food. During the month of March food riots broke out in Egypt, Yemen, across Africa and even to our neighbor to the south, Mexico. I am of the belief that nothing will cause more wide spread panic more than people believing they cannot get food. Wholesale stores in the United States, to some extent, have started rationing sales of bulk rice and beans.
As we have said during our classes, our philosophy at LMS Defense is to prepare you to be the last man standing. Folks, I do not want to be a spreader of panic and dismay, but I do firmly believe that our country is in for some very tough times in the future. In this case, for our own sakes, I certainly hope that I am wrong.
It is time to broaden our skill sets. If our core competence is solely in weapons handling and manipulation, it’s time to learn some medical skills, land navigation and, yes, perhaps some agricultural skills as well. If we have no training in Close Quarters Battle, then that needs to be addressed as well. After all, you owe it to your family and yourself to be the Last Man Standing.
Last, but far from the least is the current political campaign for our nations next president. I cannot stress how important it is to know your candidates, what they are saying, and, more importantly, what they are not saying. Take the time, dig deeper, and know the issues they are supporting.
Until we meet again, keep your musket clean, your hatchet scoured and your powder dry.
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LMS Defense News
John Chapman
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Spring has sprung, and it’s time to get out of the house and train! I would like to encourage you to train outside your comfort zone this month. Perhaps learn to land navigate if you don’t know how, or get out for a long hike? While we all love to shoot, please remember there is more to being prepared than shooting.
We are pleased to announce two new partnerships with professional trainers. First, we will be hosting Mr. Bennie Cooley for his first open enrollment pistol / rifle course in Las Vegas. We are excited to be hosting Bennie’s fast paced brand of rifle fighting, and can’t wait to train with him.
Secondly, we have forged a strong relationship with the new melding of SDI Tactical and Magpul Industries, Magpul Dynamics. We will be hosting Travis and Chris for several courses in 2008 and 2009, including their Advanced Carbine course in Reno, Pistol course in San Jose, and a Critical Infrastructure Assault course at our facility in Reno.
Our strong partnership with Mr. Larry Vickers continues as well, with several of his world class courses on our schedule this year. Please check out the schedule page at LMSDefense.com for dates and registration information for all of our course offerings.
We continue to keep our friends at Cavalry Arms in our thoughts, and ask that you do the same. Please check them out at CavalryArms.com, and consider them for any purchases you are contemplating. Cavalry Arms’ customer service is 1st rate, and their products are second to none.
Our Pro-shop, at LMSDefenseOutfitters.com continues to evolve. While we do not stock large numbers of products, you can find some mission-essential items we recommend for class.
Remember, push yourself this month; you will not regret expanding your training horizons.
Stout Hearts
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Training Topics
Ernie Beckwith
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Enhancing Performance Through Dry Practice
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
-Aristotle
Dry practice: Firearms training or exercise that does not involve ammunition. All drills must be done with an unloaded firearm. Just the thought of countless hours performing technique repetitions with an empty firearm without ever firing a shot does not exactly inspire one to practice. We’re shooters right? Shooters like to shoot. However, like most, my schedule and my bank account do not allow me to get to the range as much as I would like. With the cost of ammo ever on the rise, we need to make the most of our practice time. Dry practice allows the shooter to maintain and build upon skills that were learned at the range.
Shooting skills are inherently perishable. A good shooter works out regularly just like any other athlete. Constant maintenance is required to keep skills sharp. Under duress, marksmanship skills degrade significantly, roughly 40-50%. When translating that to hits on target, groups tend to double in size. Add to that infrequent or non-existent dry practice and you might be in for a shock the next time you visit the range. If you carry a gun daily for self-defense you will more than likely be called upon to utilize your skills cold with no warm up. As upstanding citizens we are often put behind the curve tactically. Action beats reaction. This fact further reinforces the need for quality training and constant honing of ones skills. Building solid shooting skills is achieved through repetition of the correct techniques. Practice perfect techniques perfectly. It is only through repetition of perfect technique that one will be able to execute it properly on demand. Practice makes permanent whether it be the right or the wrong way. Changes to techniques you have already learned will feel foreign and take a significant amount of time until it feels comfortable. Evaluate the technique: What is there to be gained by the change? Is it simple? Can it be repeated under stress? If you can answer all of the questions and still feel the technique is valid, committing it to your training regimen is justified. Always incorporate new changes by performing them dry. Perfect practice is extremely important as repetition of an incorrect process or technique will ingrain the hardest thing to break, a bad habit. Most shooting skills, with the exception of sight tracking and recoil management can be practiced with an empty gun. Live fire range sessions are used to simply verify that your dry practice has been effective. Through executing techniques perfectly in practice, the goal should be to make the principles of marksmanship, gun handling, and manipulations a subconscious act.
Before we move on, safety must be addressed. Close attention must be paid to the basic firearms safety rules as dry practice will consist of manipulating the controls of your firearm in an environment that may result in property damage or injury to oneself or others should the firearm discharge.
1) Treat every firearm as if it were loaded.
Check and recheck. It is often the “unloaded” firearm that kills.
2) Never let your muzzle cover anything you don’t wish to destroy.
Windows, tables, chairs, body parts, family members, etc. This is of great significance if you have loved ones at home while you dry practice. Perhaps the best time to do your dry practice is when the house is empty.
3) Know your target and what is beyond.
This has a particular meaning when conducting dry practice. Choose the environment in which you practice carefully. You can go to the range and dry practice. If you practice at home, the practice area must be void of all distractions. Do not dry practice in your living room while you do your part in ridding the streets of Mogadishu of bad guys as the un-cut version of Black Hawk Down plays on your new 62” plasma screen television. The two most common things destroyed while “dry” practicing are televisions and mirrors. Common handgun rounds can penetrate several layers of sheetrock and stucco. Choose an area in your home that will stop a round should a discharge occur. Brick walls or a concrete garage make a better backstop than a sheetrock closet in the master bedroom. For a target, I use an old kevlar vest and tape 1” dots as aiming points.
4) Remove all ammunition from the practice area.
Dry practice is just that so ammunition needs to be stored in a place separate from the area you will be using for practice. Remove all ammunition from the firearm as well as from yourself. This includes not only the chamber of your firearm but spare magazines/loaders, pockets, and anything that transports ammunition attached to the firearm (side saddles, Redi-Mag, etc.). Place all spare ammunition in a separate room. DO NOT reload your firearm until you have declared your dry practice session over. To keep the session safe, do not use snap caps or anything that must be loaded into the chamber. Murphy will eventually have his way with you and live ammunition will find its way into the chamber. Dry fire drills are to be done with an empty chamber.
A student practicing CQB
Skills to Practice
“Do nothing which is of no use.” – Miyamoto Musashi, Book of Five Rings
Trigger Control
Trigger control is the cause of most shooter induced accuracy issues. Most shooters have a tendency to spend a great deal of time focusing on aiming the gun properly but it is the actuation of the trigger while keeping the sights steady that results in an accurate shot. The challenge comes in pressing the trigger quickly without disturbing the alignment of the sights. Because trigger control is one of the finer motor skills used in shooting, it is often the first to deteriorate with a lack of practice or an increase in the level of stress on the shooter. However, a few minutes a day of dry practice can aid in maintaining trigger control when one can’t get to the range. Developing an instinctive subconscious ability to press the trigger correctly and make accurate shots on demand will leave the shooters mind free to focus on the tactical problem or scenario. By practicing trigger control dry, the shooter is able to notice any deviation in sight alignment as the trigger is pressed. When practicing with live ammo, the recoil of the gun will often mask or make it difficult to pinpoint why the shot did not end up on the target where it was aimed. Dry practice trigger control drills will allow the shooter to become acutely aware of nuances in grip pressure, trigger finger placement, trigger stroke, trigger re-set and their effects on maintaining proper sight alignment.
Draw/Presentation
The draw is a skill that is easily practiced dry. Repetition of the five count draw will build efficiency and fluidity. Start slowly and make sure you are nailing the fundamental mechanics before adding speed. The goal is an efficient draw with no wasted motion. The only body part that should move is your arms and hands. Slowly go through the counts of the draw then do them in one fluid motion eliminating any stops between counts. Remember to bring the gun to your eye level rather than moving your eyes to the gun. Add a visual element to your dry draw practice. Focus visually on a spot on the target you wish to hit and drive the sights to that spot. As you drive the gun to the target, snap your visual focus from target to the front sight. Practicing ten minutes a day a few times a week will increase the efficiency, fluidity, and speed of your draw.
Reloads
Reloading is a crucial skill as it determines how quickly one can get an empty gun refreshed with ammunition and back into the fight. A good quick dependable reload is a fundamental of proficient combat pistol shooting. Speed and tactical reloads can both be practiced dry at home. As with any technique, start slowly and make sure you are performing the technique properly.
Some tips for completing a successful reload:
1) Gun is always kept at eye level so the shooter can look through the gun at the target/threat only changing visual focus for a brief moment to insure that the fresh magazine has found its way into the magwell and to reacquire the sights.
2) A consistent index of the firing side elbow to the torso insures that the gun is rotated to the same location every time making it easier for the support hand, fresh magazine in hand, to index the magwell.
3) The support hand should index the magazine with the first finger straight along the length of the magazine, tip of the finger to tip of the bullet.
3) Reestablishing a consistent proper support hand grip is crucial to breaking an accurate shot following the reload.
Malfunctions
Instinctively identifying and clearing the three basic malfunction types should be routinely practiced as ones ability to perform them efficiently and effectively will determine how fast the shooter can return the gun to the fight. Type 1 and 2 (failure to fire, failure to eject) can both be resolved with a tap/rack. Type 3, a double feed, is a bit more complicated but the mechanics of the technique can be practiced dry.
Use of Shot Timers
Electronic shot timers that offer a second beep option are a great way to measure progress in your technique development. Adding a time requirement is a simple way to induce a small amount of stress into your dry practice. When using a shot timer, it is important to remember that technique should never be sacrificed for the sake of beating the buzzer. Do not become a slave to the timer.
A routine of practicing basic skills will develop the shooter into a more accurate, efficient, and effective warrior. All of which can be done for nothing more than the price of some free time. If your shooting skill has reached a plateau, dry practice is the key to achieving the next level in your ability.
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CQB
Bill Toy
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CQB is a fluid and continuously evolving environment, which contains a whole lot of "some times" and not very many "never or always". I once heard it described as a game of depth and angles and that works for me.
There is no single ready position that is suitable for all of the distances and angles you will be presented with while clearing a building. You should be constantly altering your ready position to the situation as it evolves. Stacking, Choke points, Open areas, etc., will require a different method of retaining and presenting your weapon. This may seem like a no-brainer to some but we have all seen officers and soldiers try and apply one ready position to all circumstances. For the most part I find myself alternating between 3 positions, (SUL, Compressed ready and a VERY slightly depressed full extension).
SUL and High Ready (sometimes referred to as the ‘Sabrina’ or ‘Charlie’s Angels’) - Best for stacking on entry or moving around team mates. I personally like the SUL and have little use for the High Ready. These give you the maximum amount of muzzle safety to prevent sweeping your teammates when in close proximity to each other yet still be relatively quick to engage from.
Compressed ready- probably best described as position two of the draw stroke, (muzzle forward, strong hand thumb flagging, wrist locked, grip along side of the pectoral muscle, weak hand in place to complete the grip). I use this as the number one man in the stack and when moving in tight areas such as approaching and moving through doorways or very small rooms (bathrooms or closets). I can engage targets at close range from here, perform palm strikes or physically move an innocent to the ground if need be and it is by far the best for retention. Since this is a position that is part of my draw, it is both natural and very quick to move into and out of.
Students demonstrating both compressed ready and slightly depressed full extension
Slightly depressed full extension- Weapon is presented in your normal firing position and slightly depressed. This is my go to position for moving in open areas such as large rooms and down hallways (remember to go to Comp Ready when nearing door ways). For me this means arms almost locked and looking over the top of the weapon. If someone was in front of me at most room distances and I squeezed the trigger I would probably strike him somewhere between just above his belly button down to about his knees depending on distance. Detractors will say that this prevents observing the target and if done incorrectly they would be right. In order to be able to practice proper target discrimination it is imperative that both eyes are focused and you are scanning your sector of fire. Looking through the sights cuts down your view of a potential threat and creates tunnel vision. If your focus is the gun, you must actually lower the gun, confirm the threat, raise the gun and engage vs. confirming the threat, raising the weapon an inch or so and engaging. When combined with proper scanning techniques and keeping your finger off the trigger until engaging a threat it is both fast and safe.
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Visit our website for upcoming classes and additional information.
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Gear Review
Rob Edwards
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Rifle Bug Out Bag
LMS Defense Outfitters offers the HawkePak Rifle Bug Out Bag.
This is a great piece of kit for anyone who carries a weapon. The bag is subtle to the eye but packs a big punch. The outside front looks similar to any messenger bag. It is offered in gray, blue, black and olive drab green. One other color option is ACU. One feature that jumps out is the ability to fasten it your leg as a sub load. The strap is durable and will hold a very heavy amount of kit.
Under the outer flap you will find three AR-15 magazine holders. On one side you will find three pistol magazine pouches. The other side will hold a large bottle of water or something of similar size. On the inside you will find a concealed document holder. This is a great place for any documents that you might need in an emergency situation. One wall of the bag is lined with Velcro. You can attach additional Velcro pouches as need be. Also in the bag is a universal holster that will carry a backup handgun. The dimensions of the bag are 9"Wx10"Hx5"D
Now that we have laid out the workings of the bag nets, let’s talk about what to put in it. We offer the bag as is and you can put anything you like inside. Another option is a full kit. All you have to do is add ammo and be ready to go. The features include three AR mags (P-MAG), one SOF tourniquet, one H bandage, 1 pack of kurlex, 1 set of sheers, two heavy-duty doorstops, and a SureFire G2 LED. This lays a great foundation for you to build from.
The stand-alone bag sells for $75. The bag outfitted with all the kit will run $225 Shipped. For more information about either of these please contact Rob Edwards at Outfitters@LMSDefense.com
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