Have a Plan
How Do I Shoot Better?
Don’t Just Go Shoot: Have a Plan First!
Many shooters go to the range, shoot some holes in paper targets, and walk away. Some may do this repeatedly, but they wonder “why don’t my groups get tighter”? “Why am I not faster and more accurate”? The reason is often deceptively simple: they just didn’t plan on how to get better.
Think about the last time you went to the range. Did you simply hang your target and start blasting away, or did you come to the range with a thought-out plan for how to improve? Did you measure your progress in any way at all? Did you record that info anywhere? If you didn’t do any of these things, how do you expect to improve? How can you tell if you have improved? Don’t get me wrong, it’s better to go to the range and do some shooting (even unorganized shooting) than it is to do nothing, but the truth is that if you just go plink at targets, you really shouldn’t expect to get meaningfully better. Improvement at any skill takes planning, measurement, and work… but it starts with a plan. Most people will admit that. Interestingly, many shooters never really apply that to their shooting skills… and then wonder why they shoot about the same today as they did 5 years ago.
OK, you’re sold… you know you need a plan, if you want to learn to shoot better. But what exactly does that mean? A dictionary definition of the word “plan” is ‘a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something’. With that in mind, let’s talk a little about how to make a plan to become a better shooter.
The first thing you need to do is determine your specific goals… and to do that, you need to think about what you are trying to accomplish. Are you practicing to learn to defend yourself? If that’s the goal, are you planning on concealed carrying, or is this for home defense? There are some different skills you’ll need to practice for each case, and defensive shooting entails some specific training elements and scenarios that you need to consider. If personal defense is your primary goal, things such as holster draw (or drawing the weapon from wherever it is stored at home, such as a drawer or safe), instinctive/reactive shooting, and ability to fire multiple shots quickly and accurately (albeit from relatively short ranges) are all skills that are needed and should be planned for. Certain tactical considerations, such as the ability to “make space” from an attacker if they are too close to allow drawing the weapon should also be planned for and practiced.
If your interests and goals involve competitive shooting, then what kind? There are different skills, techniques and practice plans that are needed for precision shooting, versus IDPA-style “move and shoot” competitions. Aside from differences in target sizes and shooting distances, consideration of holster draw (relevant for IDPA and steel shoots, but not for precision shooting), ability to move through a course safely (and according to the rules), target transitions, and other skills are needed. These have to be planned for and consistently practiced if they are to be mastered. While some aspects of ‘move and shoot’ competitions are also relevant to self-defense shooting, some are different and need to be practiced differently. Others may simply want to improve as recreational shooters, so that they are completely safe but have fun at the range. General marksmanship and good, safe gun handling practices will form the basis of practice plans for these folks.
Once you’ve determined what your overall goals are, think about the elements of what is needed to accomplish your goals, and break it down into small pieces that can be worked on. In all cases, fundamental elements of marksmanship will play a role; look at ways to incorporate work on the basics (stance/body position, grip, sight picture, trigger control) into your plan. Depending on what your shooting goals are, there may be different levels of emphasis on each of those; for example, defensive shooting puts more emphasis on institive ‘sighting’ than it does on a stable sight picture, which is very different than what is needed for precision marksmanship, while ‘move and shoot’ (IDPA style competition) calls for a different approach to the sight picture than either of those. Still, the fundamentals of shooting will always apply in one form or another, and your practice plans need to include work on those fundamentals. In some cases, this may be as simple as ‘reminding yourself’ to focus on a specific skill… but even that has to be planned.
When making your plans, try to quantify the plans as much as possible. This makes measuring and recording results a little easier, and more effective. Set a specific duration of time to practice, or a specific number of reps. Also, plan how often you are going to practice (for example: “‘practice 25 holster draws per day, three times per week”). For things that aren’t easily measured, you may need to grade yourself subjectively; for example, if you are working on your grip, even though there is no numerical “grip measurement”, you can grade your performance subjectively, whether it was good or bad, needs more work, etc. Be as specific as you can when doing these ‘subjective’ grades on your performance.
Whenever performance is measurable, always use that measurable info! If possible, set specific, measurable goals that you are going for with each drill. For example, you can measure your shot group size at a specific range, or what percentage of your shots hit within a given ring on the target. When working on timed skills (such as holster draw, or follow up shots), set specific goals, such as “two rounds within 6 inches of point of aim, at a range of 20 feet, within 3 seconds”. For timed practice, you may need to engage a training partner, or ask someone at the range to help you out. Working with a personal shooting trainer or coach can help as well, in terms of pointing out things you need to work on, as well as helping with timing, and also with personal accountability (making sure you are following your training plan and motivating you!).
One of the important elements that relatively few shooters ever do (even those that go to the range with some form of practice plan in mind) is to log their results. This is important for several reasons; first, it provides a sense of personal accountability, to show you if you are sticking to your training plan. Equally important, having written, quantifiable results allows you to track your progress over time. Are you improving? Your written results will tell the story. If you aren’t improving over time, then perhaps an adjustment in your training plan is needed. Buy a notebook, and record everything you do for your training, whether its dry fire practice, holster draws, live fire, or whatever. Log it by date, write down what you did, and write down the results. Ideally, you will have quantifiable data to add, but even if not, write down your subjective (but honest) opinion of how you did, and what happened… including any problems you detected or insights/improvements you discovered. Over time, review that log, and look to see how you are doing.
Once you have determined your training plan, the next important element is to establish a baseline test. The baseline is essentially how you perform at the beginning of your training plan; to measure improvement, you have to have something to compare to. Largely, this falls out of logging your data, but establishing a baseline goes a little beyond that. You need to determine an overall “test” of your skills (in whatever way makes sense, for your training goals), and record that. While your training sessions after that may be composed of specific skill drills that are different from your baseline test, you should go back and re-perform the baseline test periodically (perhaps every 2-3 months) and re-evaluate your overall skills to make sure you are improving. After a couple of cycles of doing your baseline test, then practicing specific skills for a time, then re-doing the baseline, you should be able to see where your shortcomings are. Then think about your plan and adjust it to improve in those areas. For example, if your groupings aren’t as tight as they should be, add some specific drills to work on trigger control (such as balancing a dime near the end of the barrel and dry firing without dropping the dime) or grip improvement.
So, to summarize… make a plan! Start off by deciding what you’re trying to accomplish and formulate specific plans on how to get there. Do that by breaking down the skills you need (to accomplish your goals) into specific parts that you can measure, and plan for drills that you can practice that will help you achieve that type of improvement; many such skill drills can be found in books on the subject, or through work with trainers, and even in YouTube videos that some trainers and pro shooters post. Set specific, measurable goals along the way, and measure your results. Record those results and compare them to a baseline ‘test’ of how you did at the beginning of the plan. At regular intervals, re-measure your baseline skills, and see how you’re doing. Review your results log along the way, to make sure you are staying on track and carrying out your plan. If you do this, you will see results over time!
Thanks for reading this article… check out previous articles on our website, http://webbynsm.com/sftc240731/posts/, and come visit Select Fire for all your firearm, training, and range time needs!
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