The Mexican and Yaqui Defense Courses (1964)

Another find from my Historical Handgun research team: a 1964 Guns magazine article written about two self defense shooting drills. Back in that era they were likely shot using the classic Colt target (NRA B-21). Jeff Cooper wrote about both of these drills, and Bill Wilson created an IDPA-ized version of the Mexican Defense course that we shot at the Practical Pistol Reunion he hosted in 2019.

The original article is here:

Shooting the Mexican Defense Course

I put on my 1911 .45 ACP with Gordon Davis 1970’s era competition holster and set up the Mexican Defense Course, using the ShootSteel cardboard target. The ShootSteel target is my current favorite, since it has a smaller “best torso hit” zone than the IDPA or USPSA, a larger “acceptable hit zone”, and a head with an actual neck and ears. The “acceptable hit” C zone is smaller than the K5 zone in the old B21’s used back in 1964. Somehow when I made these videos I was thinking that the article was from 1961, not 1964.

The Bill Wilson IDPA variant of the Mexican Defense Course is as follows:

Mexican Defense Course (PPR)

Type: PAR time standard exercise

Targets: 6 standard IDPA silhouettes spaced 1 yard apart edge to edge, 10 yards downrange

Scoring: 5 points, 4 points and 3 points. Complete misses and/or overtime shots are -5 points each

Time limit: 6 seconds for each string of fire

Possible score: 180 points (36 rounds)

Procedure:

Each stage starts with the shooter standing with their back to T1 (left target) approximately 8 yards from the target. On the command “walk” the shooter begins walking to the 10 yard firing line, once the shooter steps across the line the timing buzzer will sound and the shooter will turn, draw and engage the targets.

String 1: Fire 6 rounds at T1 (left target) from behind the 10 yard line

String 2: Fire 1 round at each target T1 – T6 left to right from behind the 10 yard line

String 3: Fire 1 round standing behind the 10 yard line, then advance a fire 5 more shots at T1 while moving forward (shots 2-6 MUST be fired while moving)

String 4: Fire 1 round standing behind the 10 yard line, then advance and fire 1 shot each at T2 – T6 while moving forward toward T1 (shots 2-6 MUST be fired while moving)

String 5: Fire 1 round standing behind the 10 yard line, then move laterally to the right and fire 5 more shots at T1 (shots 2-6 MUST be fired while moving)

String 6: Fire 1 round standing behind the 10 yard line, then move laterally to the right and fire 1 shot each at T2 – T6 while moving to the right (shots 2-6 MUST be fired while moving)

Shooting the Yaqui Defense Course

In the 1964 article the Yaqui Defense Course was also discussed. I set that up and shot it.

Thoughts

The Mexican Defense Course, particularly in the Wilson-ized version, shot on an IDPA target, includes skills commonly omitted from “modern” drills that are mostly designed for convenience when running a large static firing line. Turning draws and moving cross range, engaging targets at directions other than “perfectly squared up to me in my lane” are good skills to practice, either in dry fire (if you don’t have access to a range that will allow drawing, turning draws, or cross range movement) or in live fire. IDPA competitors might find this vintage standards course, from one of the IDPA founders, useful as a stage that could be run at a local match.

Ronin Colman 1988 class video

When I first got started in USPSA competition, one of the local club members let me copy a bad quality copy of a video he had of PACT timer inventor and firearms trainer Ronin Colman teaching in 1988. Ronin had been an IPSC shooter since the early days, had attended some of the earliest classes at Gunsite and shot major matches in the late 70’s and early 80’s. He started teaching defensive handgun classes in Texas, mostly in the Dallas and Austin area, living with Chip McCormick for awhile in Austin.

He and Chip developed a standards course of fire to use in their own training that they called the “Texas Standards”. It was passed from them to professional shooter Jim Griggs, who shared it with me in the early 1990’s. That course of fire is available here on the KR Training site.

https://www.krtraining.com/IPSC/Information/Central_Texas_Standards.html

It’s a very demanding 125 round par time, multi string test that incorporates every skill in common use in IPSC matches of the early days: from 7 yard speed shooting to 50 yard prone shooting, turning draws, 1 handed shooting, reloads, target transitions and much more. When they developed the course of fire, there were no shooting timers the way we know them now, just a par time box that used thumbwheels to set fixed par time. I’ll set up and shoot the test for a future blog post.

Using video and audio AI tools I was able to restore the video and audio from the VHS tape good enough to share with others. It’s a great snapshot of what was commonly taught in the mid to late 1980’s, heavily influenced by Jeff Cooper & the Gunsite material of that era. I’ve broken the video up into 8 segments based on the topics being covered, and trimmed out all the video of students shooting the drills.

Opening Remarks

Reloads
Part 3
Turning Draws
Malfunctions
Mindset and Match stories
Low Light Shooting
Pacing and shooting under pressure

Ronin and the PACT timer company are still around, making timers and other products for the competitive shooting and training market.

FBI Practical Pistol Course (1946)

A definitive article, from the FBI’s newsletter, explaining their Practical Pistol Course in detail. I’ve written about that course of fire in multiple previous posts

Thanks to Chris Baker of Lucky Gunner for finding this gem and sharing with me so I can share with you!

The FBI PPC course was widely used in law enforcement training from the 1940’s through the 1970’s. It’s one of the most difficult, mainly because of the 50 and 60 yard strings, but also because of the hip shooting and loose-rounds revolver reload required at the 7 yard line. The classic target used for the FBI PPC is now called the B-21, and it’s still available for purchase. The course of fire requires a barricade, and an outdoor range where drawing, shooting from prone and hipshooting is allowed. If you are shooting the course of fire with a semiauto pistol, to simulate the loose rounds revolver reload, put loose rounds in your pocket and refill your empty magazine with the loose rounds, on the clock. (This is what the FBI required Jeff Cooper to do in the 1960’s when he was trying to convince them to switch to the 1911.)

Is the FBI PPC course particularly relevant to defensive handgun skills? Modern law enforcement training typically stops at 25 yards, and includes a lot more aimed fire shooting at intermediate distances from 3 to 15 yards. Testing your skills at 25, 50 and 60 yards is valuable for those concerned with long range active shooter response in schools, churches and public areas.

KR Training February 2024 Newsletter

2024 UPDATE

This newsletter includes information on a lot of classes we’ve added to the schedule for March, April, May and June. Waiting for a particular class? Let us know and we’ll try to find a date for it in our remaining open dates!

PRIVATE LESSONS

I am available for private weekday training. Doug Greig is also available for private weekday and some weekend sessions. Contact us for details.

REFRESHER DEALS

Re-take any class you’ve taken before for half price! Contact me to get the alumni discount code. Firearms skills deteriorate without practice. Most ranges don’t allow drawing from a holster, shooting quickly, moving or shooting from cover. If you don’t practice the skills you learned in class, they won’t be there when you need them.

OHIO CLASSES

I will be in Ohio at Mushin SST teaching 3 classes April 12-14: Force on Force Instructor, Tactical Scenarios (all FOF), and Advanced Handgun. Slots are available in all 3 of those road courses.
https://www.mushinsst.com/

2024 CLASSES Upcoming Texas classes with space available:

MARCH

APRIL

MAY AND BEYOND

Courses marked with *** are classes that count toward the Defensive Pistol Skills Program challenge coin.
Prices and registration links are at www.krtraining.com

Click HERE to register for any class.

AT-2 Force on Force Scenarios March 17, 1p-5p

The AT-2 scenarios course is the most important course we offer in our Defensive Pistol Skills Program, but it’s the hardest to convince people to attend. The course is traditional scenario based training: gun, pepper spray, communication. It is not “combatives” style training like you may have seen in videos. No wresting, no grappling, or unarmed fighting skills are required or even allowed. You don’t need to have a one second draw or any special skill level to attend.

Think of the class as a full dress rehearsal for an actual incident: live roleplayers you have to interact with. You have to make conversation, decide if or when it’s appropriate to de-escalate or use deadly force, communicate with 911 dispatchers, responding officers and bystanders. Students in the class will participate in more than a dozen different scenarios, some with the SIRT laser guns and some with Airsoft and Simunition gear. You will get to “do what you would do”, be the bad guy, and other roles.

The most common mistakes armed citizens make in defensive gun use incidents are not related to draw speed or shooting accuracy. They are errors in judgment: deciding to “go to guns” at the wrong time, muzzling an innocent person, saying the wrong thing to a potential threat, bystanders, or responding police. Being good at shooting does not automatically make you good at the other skills. You can’t learn the non-shooting skills in a pure shooting class. That’s why we offer the scenario based training — and we are one of a very few schools in Texas (and in the country) that offer true armed-citizen-focused scenarios.

We only offer the scenario classes twice a year – once in the spring, and once in the fall. I encourage everyone to take advantage of the upcoming AT-2 class. If you need more motivation, you can’t earn our Defensive Pistol Skills Program challenge coin without attending this class.

March 17 Low Light Shooting 1 – new session added

We added another session of Low Light Shooting 1, to be offered the evening after the AT-2 scenarios course. The low light class will be live fire. We won’t offer this class again until fall 2024.

Church Security Podcast and April Conference

I was a guest on the Church Security podcast earlier this month. Listen to the episode here

The podcast hosts are putting on a 2 day conference in Austin in April I will be speaking at the conference and the Sunday Church Security Shooting Skills class is an optional part of the event as well.

The cost of the conference is very reasonable and they have a lot of great speakers lined up.

https://churchsecurityessentials.ticketspice.com/church-security-essentials-2024-austin-texas

PALISADES TRAINING GROUP CLASSES IN APRIL

We are hosting Palisades Training Group for 3 one day courses in mid-April. Lead instructor Steve Moses and Doug Greig (who is an assistant for PTG and KR Training) will offer these classes:

3D Approach to Defensive Shooting (Friday April 12, 1p-5p)
Defensive Carbine (Saturday April 13, all day)
Defensive Shotgun (Sunday April 14, all day)

If you’ve taken our courses on these topics, they would be a great refresher from a different perspective, and of course they are suitable for those that have never taken courses in these topics before.

DISCOUNT CODES

I have collected up all the discount codes we have set up with vendors we recommend. Alumni of KR Training classes will find them in the monthly e-news email. You’ll have to actually open the email and scroll to the bottom to find them. It’s a reward for actually opening and reading the email!

BLOG O RAMA

All the articles you missed if you don’t follow the KR Training Facebook page and Instagram feed.

SONG OF THE MONTH

Back in November the Black Cat Choir played a Sunday afternoon show at the Vintage Hideaway near Round Top, Texas. It was our 3rd show that weekend, and the band was in great form. We recorded multitrack audio, but nobody recorded any video (sorry). I’ve been making some music visualizer videos from those tracks. This one is our cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Leave My Little Girl Alone”, featuring me on organ and John Holmes on guitar and vocal.


FOLLOW US ONLINE!

Keep up with the interesting articles, links, and stories we share in real time. Follow KR Training on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Subscribe to this newsletter or follow this blog (right) for more frequent posts and information. Send me an email to schedule your private weekday training session.

We look forward to training you!
Karl, Penny and the KR Training team

The Wisconsin LEO Pistol Qual Course

Someone recently sent me a copy of the current Wisconsin state law enforcement pistol qualification course of fire. The summary version of it is here

I shot a reduced version of the course and put the videos out on Instagram.

Analysis and Discussion

I like a lot of things about this course of fire. The full document can be downloaded here

The discussion in the course description document is very detailed. For example, the limitations of the course of fire are addressed:

This course merely evaluates an officer’s ability to perform basic psychomotor skills in a controlled setting, testing whether an officer can accurately operate a handgun in a low-stress environment. This course does not indicate whether officers have received recent, relevant, and realistic training necessary to perform their job. It does not train or test an officer’s ability to perform psychomotor skills in a rapidly-evolving, dynamic, and realistic work environment. This course does not evaluate whether an officer can recognize pre-assault indicators, select and implement appropriate tactics, or determine what level of force—if any—is appropriate. It does not evaluate one-handed reloads, drawing with the reaction hand, drawing and shooting from a seated position, low-light or flashlight-assisted shooting, multiple assailants, shooting while moving, shooting at moving targets, etc. Law enforcement agencies are strongly encouraged to provide firearms and deadly force training at least three times per year.

Training Standards

The evaluation includes more than simply getting the required hits in the allotted time. Their course of fire description includes a list of all the behaviors instructors must see performed correctly during the shooting test.

The shooter must consistently perform all of the following to qualify:

  • Handgun is always handled in a safe manner.
    o Trigger finger is on frame outside trigger guard at all times, except when firing.
    o Weapon is always pointed in an appropriate direction and never sweeps the officer or others.
  • Proper draw.
    o Does not sweep reaction hand, self, or others during the draw.
    o Punches gun straight out towards target.
  • Exhibits acceptable stance and firm, high grip.
  • Verbalizes appropriately/as directed.
  • Uses cover effectively whenever it is available.
    o Moves towards cover and/or sidesteps while drawing.
    o Maintains at least one arm’s length distance from cover/does not “crowd” cover.
    o Uses cover to protect self as much as possible.
  • Maintains peripheral view of suspect when reloading or clearing a malfunction.
  • Performs autogenic breathing and a 360-degree scan for additional threats following each string. Does not reholster until completion of 360-degree scan.
  • Uses one hand to reholster. Does not sweep self or others and does not look at the holster.
  • Safely and appropriately follows all range directions and instructor commands.

That’s a very detailed list that includes a good mix of do’s and don’ts.

Target

The preferred target is an IALEFI 23″x35″ target that’s been modified to have specific scoring zones, A, B, C and D. The A-B-C zones are anatomically relevant. Note that the C zone stops at the bottom of the lungs, at the sternum/diaphragm level, and hits below that region are considered “D” hits. D hits are only considered acceptable for shots fired at 15 and 25 yards. (In a perfect world, they should not be considered acceptable there either. Changing that scoring requirement is the only major change needed to this course of fire.)

If you want to modify a standard IALEFI target, or any other target to have the correct scoring zones, the dimensions are

Any life-size photo target with target zones of 4½” diameter (head), 3”x14” (CNS), 8” diameter (chest), and short “bowling pin” (5½” head zone tapering to 12½” wide chest zone, 17” high).

STRING BY STRING ANALYSIS

3 yards

  1. Side step, draw and fire 3 rounds in 4 seconds using both hands. (2x)
  2. Standing still, draw and fire 3 rounds in 4 seconds using strong hand only (2x)
  3. Score target to verify that all 12 hits are in A/B/C zone. Repair target
  4. Draw handgun and transfer to ‘reaction’ hand (aka support hand, aka “weak hand”, aka “non dominant hand’).
  5. On signal, fire 3 rounds, one handed. (2x)

As the difficulty level of the shooting increases (from two handed to strong hand only to support hand only), the amount of gun handling that has to be done between the signal and first shot is decreased. Step & draw, vs draw vs present from ready. This allows the time limit to remain constant across all strings, which is convenient for those running the timer or turning targets. (I am a fan of minimizing timing changes between strings.)

Scoring the target after fewer strings makes it easier to track shooter performance and identify areas that need improvement. It’s hard to figure out which shots went where when analyzing a target with 30-50 shots on it. A shooter incapable of putting those first 12 rounds into the C zone at 3 yards within the fairly generous time limits probably needs additional coaching or instruction.

The assumption with this test is that some kind of retention duty holster is being used. Non-LEOs shooting this test should be drawing from concealment for the time limits to be relevant. Those wanting to run the test from an open carry/gamer/’I only wear this to training classes” rig should drop the par time for all the 4 second strings down to 3 seconds, and make similar reductions in other strings.

7 yards

All the 7 and 15 yard strings use a barricade, or a stack of two 55 gal barrels, or a cardboard target mounted on a target stand beside the shooter as cover that must be stepped behind and shot around. If you don’t have a way to set up cover to move to, cut the par times for each string down by 2 seconds, and challenge yourself to put all your shots in the B, rather than the C, zone, as compensation for the advantage you get by not moving and not having to lean out from cover.

  1. Load pistol with a total of 3 rounds (1 in chamber, 2 in mag).
  2. On signal, sidestep to cover, verbalize, draw and fire 4 rounds, performing an out of battery reload (aka emergency reload aka slide lock reload). 12.0 seconds. (2x).
  3. Load pistol with 4 live and 1 dummy round. 1 live round in chamber, at least 3 live in magazine, dummy as the top or 2nd round in the magazine.
  4. On signal, sidestep to cover, verbalize, draw and fire 4 rounds, fixing the malfunction using phase 1 (aka tap-rack). 10.0 seconds
  5. Load pistol with 1 live round in chamber and 3 dummy rounds.
  6. On signal, take at least one side step to cover, verbalize, draw and fire 2 rounds. Attempt to fix the first malfunction using phase 1 (tap-rack), perform phase 2 (double feed/full reload) when phase 1 fails. 24.0 seconds.

These strings all involve a lot of non-shooting skills – movement to cover, verbalization, reloads, clearing malfunctions. The time limits are generous (could probably use 10 seconds for both of the first 2 strings) but the additional cognitive load on the shooter makes getting acceptable hits at the 7 yard line more difficult. This section of the test does a good job at incorporating all the skills a competent handgunner should be able to perform.

Those trying to run this part of the test in a single lane at an indoor range may find it difficult, as dummy rounds falling to the range floor may be difficult to recover, and shouting verbal commands at targets may have to be modified to simply mouthing the words or speaking them softly. However, don’t omit that step, as the time limits for the strings were designed to include time for those non-shooting tasks. Similarly, don’t cheat the double malfunction on the last string. Even though you will know that the tap-rack is going to fail, perform that technique before continuing on to the phase 2 clearance – both because the time limit was chosen to give time for both but also because starting with tap-rack as an immediate response to a malfunction is the correct mental programming.

The target should be scored and repaired again after all the 7 yard strings are completed, to identify problems and make it easier to assess performance for the 15 and 25 yard strings.

15 and 25 yards

The 15 yard string tests ability to shoot from both sides of cover, from standing and kneeling – skills that many people rarely practice. Practicing those skills in a single lane of an indoor range is basically impossible. Dry fire practice at home, using doorways and scaled targets, can be done to develop these skills. Older or less physically able shooters that have difficulty getting up and down from standing to kneeling should at least switch barricade sides for each pair (right side, left side, right side, left side). That does not mean changing what hand or eye you shoot your pistol with. Keep the gun in your normal two handed grip, and keep as much of your body behind cover as you can (without crowding it, as noted in the official instructions).

If you shoot poorly on this part of the test, the way to get better at it is to remove the barricade and alternate dry and live practice (at the range). 5 dry shots, 5 live shots. Or use the live & empty drill (one round chambered, no magazine in the gun, fire two shots, where the first shot goes bang and second one goes click). The live/empty (or live/dummy if you load your magazines to alternate live and dummy rounds) will expose all the unwanted movement of your hands pulling the gun off target as you press the trigger.

  1. From ready position behind cover (gun is drawn off the clock), fire 4 pairs of 2 rounds (standing left, standing right, kneeling right, kneeling left, in any order). 24 seconds.
  2. Perform an in-battery reload (aka ‘speed’ reload, or administrative reload) off the clock.
  3. Move to the 25 yard line or move targets back to 25 yards.
  4. Draw to preferred shooting position (off the clock).
  5. On signal, fire 4 rounds in 20 seconds.
  6. All of the hits at the 15 and 25 yard have to be in the D zone or better to pass.

Realistically, all the hits should be in the C zone or better. Under stress, ability to put all hits in the C zone becomes ability to put them all in the D zone. Ability to only keep them in the D zone means that under stress, some shots will fail to hit the intended target at all. That’s why the ability to keep all the hits in the B zone, in a slow fire test, is preferred. Under stress someone with that ability is likely to keep them all in the C zone, which will produce a much better outcome.

Those running this test as part of their own training should strive for A/B hits ONLY from 3 and 7, and C hits or better from the 15 and 25 yard lines.

SUMMARY

Shooting this course of fire requires special gear: a barricade, dummy rounds, a spare magazine in a mag pouch. Incorporating it into a typical range session is going to be more complicated than simply standing in one spot firing all shots from two handed standing. However: if you eliminate the repeated strings, it becomes a very compact 30 round course of fire that tests the full spectrum of handgun skills a competent handgunner should be able to perform: drawing, drawing while moving, moving to cover, shooting from cover, one handed shooting, reloading, clearing malfunctions, shooting from kneeling, and getting acceptable hits from 3-25 yards. The string times and target scoring areas are well chosen with each string of roughly equal difficulty level. I’ll be using this course of fire in some upcoming classes and in my Top 10 drills course at the 2024 Rangemaster Tactical Conference.

The Shirt Target from 1929

Another find from my historical handgun research team. This is an article from 1929 about a “shirt” target designed to look like a buttoned uniform shirt. It’s still a basic bullseye design but with scoring zones having more anatomical relevance than a classic circular style. The 6 point zone in the middle is almost like an X ring – a bonus beyond the “acceptable hit” 5 ring.

The article didn’t provide a clean copy of the target, which is supposed to be 12″ x 8″, but I used Photoshop to make a usable clean version of the basic design. I didn’t do the same with the variant with the narrower 6 point zone. I think the original design is more appropriate for defensive pistol training.

This version is cropped so that it fits on 8.5×11 standard paper with correct dimensions.

Shooting the Shirt Target

Back in 1929, everything was one handed, slow fire bullseye shooting done at longer ranges, with 12 yards considered “close range” and 20 seconds considered “rapid fire”. The double action drill mentioned in the article was 5 shots in 5-7 seconds. Being a fan of the 5-5-5-5 drill (5 shots, 5 seconds, 5 inches, 5 yards), I shot a simple 6 shots, 6 seconds, 6 yards drill on the shirt target, in honor of it having a 6 point center scoring zone. This was done starting from the ready, but two handed using my Glock 48 w/ Holosun 507 optic. For the full vintage experience, shoot it one handed with a .38 revolver with fixed sights.

I also shot this month’s Rangemaster “drill of the month” using the shirt target, mixing 2024 drills and gear with a 1929 target. Tom’s 7 yard standards is shot at 7 yards using a B8 target, where hits outside the 7 ring count as zero (misses).

Rangemaster 7 yard standards

  1. Draw and fire 5 rounds in 5 seconds
  2. Start at ready, gun in dominant hand. Dominant hand only, fire 4 rounds in 5 seconds
  3. Start with gun in non-dominant hand. Non dominant hand only, fire 3 rounds in 5 seconds
  4. Start with one round in the gun, at the ready. On signal, fire 1 round, conduct an empty gun reload, and fire 2 more rounds, all in 7 seconds.

The drill is 15 rounds total, 150 points possible. 135 pts or better to pass (90%).

I actually started my range session with a cold run on this drill before I shot the shirt target. That run is here

Score on that is either a 146/150 or 144/150 depending on how you score the line-breaking shots.

After shooting the 6x6x6 on the shirt target, I re-shot the 7 yard standards using another shirt target.

Out of 180 points possible, I shot 175/180, with the 3 and 4 point shots happening on the non dominant hand string. The low shot in the 4 point zone by the bottom button might have fallen outside the B8 7 ring and been counted a miss. Target design matters and can influence the way you train and the effort you put into correcting errors.

The Interesting 20’s

In my ongoing dive into the history of handgun training I’ve found that the era between WW I and WW 2 (basically the 1920’s to mid 1930’s) to be full of interesting treasures and good ideas that somehow got lost or forgotten after WW2 in the 1945-1965 era of hip shooting fast draw and bullseye target shooting. The shirt target target is yet another example of shooters of that early era thinking about defensive shooting and trying to come up with new targets and drills that were more relevant.

Moving Targets for Better Shooting (Guns magazine June 1956)

From my historical handgun research team: an article about moving targets for pistol training from Guns magazine, June 1956. The whole issue is still available online here.

This article discusses what is essentially a USPSA-style “combat pistol” match in a jungle walk format held in Scandinavia in the mid 1950’s.

KR Training January 2024 Newsletter

2024 UPDATE

Lots of classes in January, February and March have already sold out. We still have some weekends open in March-May, so more classes will be added to the calendar. Due to winter weather we rescheduled our Home Defense Shooting Skills (outdoor, live fire) and Personal Tactics Skills (indoor) to Sunday, January 28th. Plenty of slots open in both of those basic level courses. Both are perfect for family members that aren’t “gun people” but want to learn basics of home and personal defense.

Waiting for a particular class? Let us know and we’ll try to find a date for it in the spring when shooting weather is perfect!

PRIVATE LESSONS

I am available for private weekday training. Doug Greig is also available for private weekday and some weekend sessions. Contact us for details.

REFRESHER DEALS

Re-take any class you’ve taken before for half price! Contact me to get the alumni discount code. Firearms skills deteriorate without practice. Most ranges don’t allow drawing from a holster, shooting quickly, moving or shooting from cover. If you don’t practice the skills you learned in class, they won’t be there when you need them.

2024 CLASSES Upcoming Texas classes with space available:

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL AND BEYOND

Courses marked with *** are classes that count toward the Defensive Pistol Skills Program challenge coin.
Prices and registration links are at www.krtraining.com

Click HERE to register for any class.

Home Defense Shooting Skills / Personal Tactics Skills – Jan 28

On Jan 28 we are offering a pair of courses that are the essentials for the armed citizen that has a firearm at home or in their vehicle for personal defense. Home Defense Shooting Skills is a 3 hour short course (100 rounds pistol, 20 rounds optional long gun) teaching skills for retrieving a gun from a lockbox or table, moving to cover and getting effective hits at home defense distances. It will include one run in the shoot house.

Personal Tactics Skills teaches situational decision making, pepper spray and tactics for specific common personal defense situations. There is more to successful defense than “have a gun”. This indoor lecture course includes interactive scenarios with inert pepper sprays and non-firing replica guns. The Personal Tactics Skills class is a required class for those wanting to earn their KR Training Defensive Pistol Skills Program challenge coin. Students often ignore this valuable course until it’s the last one they need to finish the program: it’s actually designed to be one of the first courses students should take, since good decision making under stress may prevent the need to use a firearm or give the student an important tactical advantage should use of force or deadly force be required.

DISCOUNT CODES

I have collected up all the discount codes we have set up with vendors we recommend. Alumni of KR Training classes will find them in the monthly e-news email. You’ll have to actually open the email and scroll to the bottom to find them. It’s a reward for actually opening and reading the email!

BLOG O RAMA

All the articles you missed if you don’t follow the KR Training Facebook page and Instagram feed.

SONG OF THE MONTH

From the late 1990’s to the mid 2000’s I was a regular guest with Austin’s Java Jazz, often when they were the house band for the Sunday jazz brunch at the Nutty Brown Cafe. Sax player and songwriter Jessie Bradley Jr., passed away January 11, 2024 and I’ve posted multiple videos to my youtube channel of live and studio performances featuring Jessie. The video below is for a studio recording Jessie and I did of his original instrumental jazz song, “I Wrote It About You”.


FOLLOW US ONLINE!

Keep up with the interesting articles, links, and stories we share in real time. Follow KR Training on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Subscribe to this newsletter or follow this blog (right) for more frequent posts and information. Send me an email to schedule your private weekday training session.

We look forward to training you!
Karl, Penny and the KR Training team

Sloppy Gun “Carrying” Is A Real Problem

Year end statistics are out on gun thefts from vehicles and guns found in carry on bags by TSA at airports.

From TSA: A new record for firearms discovered at TSA checkpoints was set in 2023. This means more people are carrying guns, at least off body, and the 93% loaded means that most of them are actually properly ready for defensive use. (If I recall correctly, TSA’s designation of “loaded” does not differentiate between a chamber that is loaded or empty, so it’s possible that some or many of the “loaded” guns did not have a round chambered.)

The bad news is that three Texas airports are once again in the top 10 worst offenders in the country.

Similarly, gun thefts from unattended vehicles in major Texas cities are once again a major problem.

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/01/10/local-law-enforcement-leaders-to-hold-news-conference-on-prevalence-of-gun-thefts-in-san-antonio-area/

In Texas’ largest metropolitan areas — San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston — more than 25,000 guns were stolen over the last three years.

Last year, one of our vehicles, parked in our driveway, was broken into by someone looking for guns. In a rare case of cops being at the right place at the right time, multiple Bryan Police Department officers were already on our block, responding to 911 calls from neighbors about car burglaries. BPD actually rolled up on the guy as he was digging around in the truck looking for things to steal. One officer took off pursuing him, another rang our doorbell to let us know what had happened. His first question was “were there any guns in the vehicle?” Our daily carry guns stay with us, on body, and are never left in a vehicle unless we are out somewhere and have to enter a facility where the penalties for illegal carry are a class A misdemeanor or higher. So no, there were no guns in the vehicle.

The officer explained that car break-ins, specifically looking for guns left in vehicles, had increased. This didn’t surprise me as I’ve been following those stats for several years. Houston and San Antonio have been particularly good about putting the data out with public press releases.

I’ve written extensively about the gap between the 99% of gun owners whose commitment to self defense consists and ends with taking the state mandatory permit course. The people that are having guns stolen from vehicles and are forgetting them in carry on bags at airports are in that 99%. It happens because their mindset is that carrying on body, even in a pocket, is “too hard” or isn’t necessary because they have a gun in their bag or in the car. It’s the half measure that allows them to think they are well prepared and equipped for a potential deadly force situation, exempting them from the need to actually carry the gun with them. There’s a whole industry dedicated to feeding this delusion, particularly the “car holster” companies that advertise heavily on Facebook.

The false appeal of the car holster

From reading comments online and interacting with 99%ers on this issue, I put together a summary of the common reasons why they think they need a car holster, or why having a gun in the console, glove box, map pocket or under the seat is “just as good” as carrying on body.

  • I am concerned about carjacking and road rage attacks. (This concern is justified, particularly in urban areas.)
  • The best response to both is to use my gun. (All the instructors teaching the multiple vehicle defense courses I’ve taken recommend driving away as the best response. I worked a case in a rural Texas county as an expert witness where a permit holder ended up taking a felony plea deal for a road rage shooting incident that could have been avoided by driving away.)
  • Carrying in a belt holster is uncomfortable when I’m driving. (Most of those having this opinion are carrying using a holster they bought at a gun store or from Facebook – usually low quality, often worn in an awkward position. These folks typically have never taken a formal course in holster use, and never practice drawing from concealment from standing or sitting positions.)
  • Wearing a holster is just not something I’m going to do. (Sometimes this attitude comes from restrictive dress codes at their workplace, or prohibitions against carrying at work, but it also comes from refusal to modify any aspect of their normal wardrobe to accommodate carrying. It also comes from those that haven’t considered alternatives to belt holster carry – the PHLster Enigma, a belly band, a fanny pack or even a Sneaky Pete — all of which would be preferable to leaving the gun in the vehicle.)
  • I pocket carry a small gun and faster access to it when I’m driving. (The real solution here is to switch from pocket carry to a method that allows faster access not only when driving, but any time. Unless the person is wearing cargo shorts or tactical pants, the pocket openings are often too narrow to facilitate a very fast pocket draw. Pocket draw from a jacket, vest or coat pocket is going to be faster than pants pocket carry.)
  • I understand that I need to get the gun in my hand quickly to be effective, and drawing from concealment wearing a seat belt is slower than the open carry car holster. (That statement is true, but it often turns into an excuse for not wearing a concealment holster, or not bothering to transfer the gun from the car holster to the concealment holster each time the user exits the vehicle. The temptation to just leave the gun in the car holster because “I’m just going in the Stop and Rob for a few minutes” is high, and the risk of negligent discharge or unwanted attention resulting from frequently moving the gun from belt holster to car holster is higher than other measures, such as routing the seat belt behind the gun (for appendix carry), or folding the concealment garment out of the way, essentially open carrying when driving.)
  • If something happens to me as I’m getting into or out of the car, or within a few steps of the car, getting the gun out of the car holster will be faster than drawing from concealment. (We run hundreds of force on force scenarios every year in classes. Those that are wearing their gun have much better outcomes than those that have to dash back to a vehicle, or turn their back on an attacker to lean over into a vehicle to retrieve a firearm. Those that believe drawing from concealment is slower are very likely those with no practice and/or no training in drawing from concealment, using substandard carry gear and/or carrying in awkward ways and positions.)
  • I don’t believe that the gun will go flying out of the holster in a car accident. (None of the companies marketing car holsters have done impact testing with their products. This is purely wishful thinking on the part of the car holster user. Any holster (particularly a magnet) holding the gun loosely enough that it can be drawn quickly is unlikely to resist the significant forces that occur in a high speed collision.)

Car Carrying and Gun Theft

If leaving a loaded gun in a glove box, in the console, under the seat or the driver’s side map pocket is bad, leaving it in full view of anyone walking by the car, mounted in a car holster, is worse. The opportunistic criminal may not bother to break a car window to see if there’s a gun in the glove box, unless the vehicle is covered with pro-gun stickers, but expecting a thief to walk by an unattended vehicle with a gun conveniently placed for rapid access is unrealistic.

Trainer Tom Givens has had 68 students prevail in justifiable shootings. The most common location of these incidents to occur has been in transitional spaces — between the vehicle and a building. Having a gun stored inside the vehicle, no matter how rapid the potential access is to the driver, is still the wrong solution. The gun has to be on body, even if that means some form of off-body carry.

The right way to carry in the car

The only time a gun should be left in the vehicle is when the user is going someplace it is illegal (or against employer policy) to carry it. In those situations, what is needed is a locking box large enough to contain the pistol stored in its holster.

The picture above shows a VLine locking box. The picture below shows an inexpensive box from Harbor Freight Tools.

The most common car carry method, among the untrained and undertrained, is to carry the gun without a holster, with the trigger guard exposed, typically with a magazine inserted but no round chambered. Those that carry like this don’t go to the range and practice every drill starting with a slide closed on an empty chamber. They just chamber a round and shoot. That means under stress, they have no repetitions of quickly racking the slide as they bring the gun to the target.

Car-carrying the gun in a holster allows for safe carrying with a round chambered, and allows the user to wear the gun safely when it’s legal to do so. The half measure of just sticking the empty-chamber-carry gun down the pants, with no holster, is a two-wrongs-don’t-make-a-right situation. Now the gun is at risk of moving around, falling out of the pants, leading to a slow draw that still requires a slide rack to get the gun into the fight. Even a low quality holster would be better than no holster in this situation.

We need to do better

More than likely anyone reading this article, particularly those that have read this far, isn’t the problem. But most serious gun carriers have untrained/undertrained friends and family that need to be reminded that sloppy carrying can lead to terrible outcomes: from stolen guns to Federal charges to failing in self defense incidents.

Annual Maintenance Tasks

Each year I like to do some annual maintenance tasks on my guns and gear to start the season off with everything ready to go.

Batteries

Replace batteries in optics, flashlights, smoke detectors, and anything else that uses batteries. It’s easier to do all of them in one pass instead of being surprised by a dead or dying battery later. That includes emergency gear that uses batteries in the car get-home bag, and batteries in other devices like outdoor security cameras, motion activated lights, weather stations and other sensors.

Full Pistol Cleaning and Inspection

Take the gun as far down as you know how, or spend some time learning how to take it down beyond simple field cleaning. Extractors and strikers need particular attention. If you don’t have a spare striker string or whole spare striker assembly and a spare extractor on hand, this is a good time to order them to have in your range bag. Also shown in the pic is a magazine cleaning brush and a squib rod – two more items that should be in every shooter’s range bag.

Magazine Maintenance

Find all the magazines you have for that particular handgun. Take them apart. Inspect the followers for wear. Followers are plastic and the features of the follower, for example the shelf that causes the slide lock lever to work properly, can wear out from use. In some cases, the manufacturer may make modifications to the spring and follower design to solve problems in older version of that model. What’s shown below is the difference between an older M&P spring and a newer one. Note one variant of the spring has an additional hook at the top that engages with the new follower design. Last year I ended up replacing all the springs and followers in all of my M&P magazines to bring them up to current specs.

I mark and number all my pistol magazines so I can tell them apart. Otherwise, if you start having malfunctions, particularly with feeding and slide locking and magazines ejecting properly, it’s difficult to troubleshoot whether the problem is gun or magazine related. What I did for the picture above is check all 6 magazines, looking for springs that were short (3 coils should be sticking out).

If you run +1 or +2 base pads on your magazines (for example, to give your magazines the maximum length allowed for a particular competition division), the factory springs may not be long enough or strong enough for the additional capacity.

Magazines springs do wear out, not from being compressed for an extended period (if the mag is left loaded) but from being cycled as rounds are loaded and unloaded during normal use. If you have mag springs that have fewer than 3 coils sticking out, those should probably be replaced.

I prefer to load magazines that hold more than 10 rounds down 1 from the factory “marketed” capacity. When mags are loaded to maximum capacity, that last round often causes the magazine to have no “give” at the top. The rounds don’t push down easily from the top. This can lead to feeding problems, and most commonly, difficulty getting the mag to insert and lock in. This can catastrophic when doing a speed reload, changing magazines with a round chambered (gun not at slide lock). I’ve seen people at matches and in classes insert the mag, using the same force they would for a slide-lock reload, fail to get the mag fully seated, and have the mag fall out of the gun under the recoil of firing the first shot after the reload. And I’ve seen guns fail to feed the first round out of the ‘overloaded’ magazine.

Particularly when new magazine springs are used, I’ve seen far fewer problems running a 17 round mag with 16, or a 15 round mag with 14, and I lose no sleep over trading one less round in the gun for better reliability and reduced risk of the problems that I’ve seen occur with overfull magazines. Very specifically, everyone that I’ve heard malign the Shield Arms S15 Glock 48 magazines as ‘unreliable’ has admitted to running them jammed full with 15, and no one that has taken my advice to run them with 14 has reported any feeding or reliability issues with them.

Checking Zero After Reassembly

After the gun is cleaned and resassembled, particularly if optic screws are tightened, it’s a good idea to reverify the gun’s zero, with carry ammo or match ammo or whatever ammo is going to be used for the gun’s most important application. Most people attempt to “zero” their pistol from a two handed standing position, which introduces every possible user-induced error. I prefer to use an MTM pistol perch that supports the muzzle end of the gun. This provides the most stable platform and eliminates almost all user errors from the zeroing process. Resting the butt of the gun or your arms or hands on sandbags is not as good, if the muzzle end is left free to dip and move.

I prefer to use targets with lines or other features that give me a way to very precisely aim the gun at the same spot for each shot. The 5.5″ black blob of the B8 bullseye target works fine for red dot zeroing, for for irons, it’s easier to align vertical and horizontal edges of rear and front sights with a big plus sign, like we designed into the KRT-3 target (print on 11×17 paper)

The group below was shot with the dot covering the letter “A”. I find it helps to turn dot intensity down when shooting groups. For this group, the dot was turned down so the “A” was visible through the dot. In this case the group showed that the gun was zeroed low and right after it was resassembled and tested with carry ammo.

This was the final verification at 25 yards, using the small circle on the KRT-3. I prefer to zero my guns at 25 yards, using 10 shot groups, rather than the 10 yard zero favored by some red dot trainers. The 10 yard zero is easier and faster to run for a large firing line (or multiple relay class), and hides user errors from two handed standing better than a 25 yard zero. 10 yards is a good place to start but a high-confidence zero comes from properly benchresting the gun and shooting 10 shots from 25 yards.

Those that want more math and science related to group shooting should read this article.

Replace Your Carry Ammo

Using the ammo that’s been in your carry magazines for zeroing not only verifies that the gun is dialed in with that load, it also verifies that your gun runs reliably with it. After you shoot up the old carry ammo, it needs to be replaced with the same brand and exact load, otherwise anything you learned from shooting the old ammo and zeroing with it is no longer relevant. There are non credentialed “experts” online and a gun shops that will recommend bad ideas like mixing brands and bullet weights, and ball and hollowpoint rounds in your carry magazines for a variety of unproven, untested reasons. What professional gun carriers have done for decades is use one load in all their magazines.

Before the zeroing process is complete, another group or two should be fired using the practice load you intend to use most often. Because I carry 124 gr carry ammo, I prefer to run 124 gr practice ammo.

Matching your practice ammo to your carry ammo (or match ammo) gives you the best odds of actually hitting what you aim at, for longer distance or higher precision shots.

Digital Maintenance

Backups matter. Annual maintenance for your digital devices should include full backups of hard drives and phone contents. Do these before you run any updates for apps or operating systems that might fail and corrupt your data or ability to back the device up. Laptop batteries and phone batteries also need replacement from time to time.

Documentation

Most serious shooters keep a range notebook where they log changes to gear. In the digital world, that may be as simple as taking pictures as you do the tasks, since the pictures will be tagged with time and date in your phone. These can serve as documentation of when you zeroed and when you did the other tasks. Luck favors the well prepared.

1960 Hipshooting Target Design

Another article rediscovered by my Historical Handgun research team. This one, from Guns magazine in 1960, discusses a new target design developed specifically to aid shooters in improving their hipshooting skills. It discusses one- and two-handed hip shooting techniques. While most ranges don’t allow this type of practice, those with laser dry fire gear (SIRT pistol, laser “bullet”, or similar) might find it fun to try some hipshooting. Those with private ranges could give the live fire version of this a try. Keep your target close to the backstop and start any live fire hipshooting drills close to the target (3-5 yards).

You can use a KRT-3 target (print on 11×17 paper) as your “cross target”, or make one using duct tape on any cardboard backer.

I used the KRT-3 for some SIRT pistol laser dryfire hipshooting practice, and then went to the range to do some live fire hipshooting. My intention was to paint a big black stripe down the pepper popper I was going to use as my hipshooting target, to simulate the design of the 1960 target, but the black paint can I grabbed only had a little. So you’ll see the start of a black stripe at the top of the steel target.

Hip shooting was still a part of traditional handgun training up to the 1980’s. This pic shows trainer and world champion shooter John Shaw demonstrating his hip shooting technique in one of his books from that decade.

KR Training December 2023 Newsletter

END OF 2023 UPDATE

November and early December was busier than expected, with weekday & weekend classes training armed teachers from 5 different school districts. 2023 was a busy one for KR Training, with more than 1000 student registrations for courses, 140+ days on the range for staff, teaching classes at the A-Zone and host ranges in Nebraska and Louisiana. I managed to earn multiple new instructor certifications, including First Responder Instructor (DPS), Red Dot Instructor (Modern Samurai Project), Texas Law Enforcement Firearms instructor (TCOLE/Cornerstone Performance), Sure Fire Surgical Speed Shooting instructor (SureFire/Andy Stanford).

Even though January is not the best for live fire training, we have schedule a few live fire classes and many other indoor, weatherproof training opportunities. We still have some weekends open in March-May, so more classes will be added to the calendar. Waiting for a particular class? Let us know and we’ll try to find a date for it in the spring when shooting weather is perfect!

PRIVATE LESSONS

I am available for private weekday training. Doug Greig is also available for private weekday and some weekend sessions. Contact us for details.

REFRESHER DEALS

Re-take any class you’ve taken before for half price! Contact me to get the alumni discount code. Firearms skills deteriorate without practice. Most ranges don’t allow drawing from a holster, shooting quickly, moving or shooting from cover. If you don’t practice the skills you learned in class, they won’t be there when you need them.

2024 CLASSES

Upcoming Texas classes with space available:

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL AND BEYOND

Courses marked with *** are classes that count toward the Defensive Pistol Skills Program challenge coin.
Prices and registration links are at www.krtraining.com

Click HERE to register for any class.

Home Defense Shooting Skills / Personal Tactics Skills – Jan 13

On Jan 13 we are offering a pair of courses that are the essentials for the armed citizen that has a firearm at home or in their vehicle for personal defense. Home Defense Shooting Skills is a 3 hour short course (100 rounds pistol, 20 rounds optional long gun) teaching skills for retrieving a gun from a lockbox or table, moving to cover and getting effective hits at home defense distances. It will include one run in the shoot house.

Personal Tactics Skills teaches situational decision making, pepper spray and tactics for specific common personal defense situations. There is more to successful defense than “have a gun”. This indoor lecture course includes interactive scenarios with inert pepper sprays and non-firing replica guns. The Personal Tactics Skills class is a required class for those wanting to earn their KR Training Defensive Pistol Skills Program challenge coin. Students often ignore this valuable course until it’s the last one they need to finish the program: it’s actually designed to be one of the first courses students should take, since good decision making under stress may prevent the need to use a firearm or give the student an important tactical advantage should use of force or deadly force be required.

Who Wins, Who Loses (John Hearne) – Jan 19

Federal law enforcement officer John Hearne of Rangemaster and Two Pillars Training will be visiting Jan 19-21 to offer his one day indoor lecture course on “Who Wins, Who Loses…” on Friday and his two day Cognitive Pistol (sold out with a wait list) course on Jan 20-21. John’s lecture course is an information-rich presentation full of knowledge and insight into what training level and psychological characteristics are typical of those that succeed and survive in armed encounters. Suitable for armed citizens and law enforcement. John was a guest on the American Warrior Society podcast discussing this course.

Skip the Line – Franklin’s BBQ (Paul Martin) Jan 25

Every year Paul Martin organizes a “Skip the Line” event at Franklin’s BBQ in Austin, and KR Training donates books and class certificates to this event. All money raised goes to the Capital Area Food Bank, feeding hungry Central Texas residents. For these events, Franklins closes to the general public and ticket holders get to “skip the line”, getting a generous BBQ plate sampler without the typical 4+ hour wait to get in at Franklin’s BBQ.

Tickets are $300 and are available here.

Armed Citizen Carbine Fundamentals – Jan 27

Doug Greig will offer a full day Armed Citizen Carbine Fundamentals course suitable for students at all levels. Focus will be on application of the defensive carbine in realistic situations. This is the ideal class for new AR-15 owners that need instruction in basics of use, zeroing, maintenance and advice on upgrades.

First Aid CPR AED Bleeding Control – Jan 28

Doug Greig will offer a Red Cross First Aid, CPR, AED and Bleeding Control course, indoors, on Jan 28th. Those that don’t need the Red Cross official certification can attend for $50. Official documentation from Red Cross adds another $45 to the class price. This meets workplace requirements for bi-annual CPR/AED recertification.

DISCOUNT CODES

I have collected up all the discount codes we have set up with vendors we recommend. Alumni of KR Training classes will find them in the monthly e-news email. You’ll have to actually open the email and scroll to the bottom to find them. It’s a reward for actually opening and reading the email!

Glock 48 backstrap

After Sandstorm Tactical stopped making their Glock 43X/48 backstrap, nothing was available until recently. To get one of the new ones email wahrergriff at gmail. $25. I’ve found it makes a big difference for me in changing the way the gun points, which makes finding the dot on the presentation from ready or holster much easier.

Grip Keeper

I recently learned about a new grip product called the Grip Keeper. It’s a great tool for developing grip strength and finger independence. Tim Herron made a great Instagram video explaining how use it. KR Training’s discount code is “KRT” from the Grip Keeper Store

BLOG O RAMA

All the articles you missed if you don’t follow the KR Training Facebook page and Instagram feed.

DEEP CARRY (PRIVATE TRAINING)

I recently took a private video lesson with Rhett Neumayer of Demonstrated Concepts. He specializes in teaching how to do “deep carry” using the PHLster Enigma, where the gun sits below the belt line. Rhett is extremely fast from this position, but the real benefit of it is being able to minimize printing and carry with a tucked in shirt. Rhett’s online coaching was excellent and I recommend an online session with him for anyone wanting to explore deep carry skills.

SONG OF THE MONTH

Each November and December, one of the bands I’m in (The Texas T-Birds), puts on our holiday costume of Doc Tictock and the Mistletoe Medicine Show, and performs multiple shows each week at Santa’s Wonderland, the largest Christmas theme park in the US, located on 150 acres south of College Station, Texas. Last year the facility had more than 300,000 visitors, and since our stage is located by the entrance everyone passes through, a lot of people heard our music. Our cover of Alabama’s “Christmas in Dixie” is the song we use to close our show, and it features our 3 part vocal harmonies. The audio for the video was recorded to multitrack during one of our live shows. As with all the videos I share in this section of the newsletter, I do all the audio and video production. Give this great holiday song a listen!

Santa’s will be open through Dec 30. Austin’s Trail of Lights is small time compared to the 4.5 million lights in Santa’s hayride trail, plus it has a real snow hill for sledding, ice skating, walking trails, Santa, 4 stages of live entertainment, 7 restaurants, movie theater, fire pits for cooking smores and hotdogs, shops, wine and beer, and other activities. Truly a unique holiday experience worth the drive. (Our band plays Tues-Thursdays and I’ll be performing solo on the evening of Christmas Day.)


FOLLOW US ONLINE!

Keep up with the interesting articles, links, and stories we share in real time. Follow KR Training on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Subscribe to this newsletter or follow this blog (right) for more frequent posts and information. Send me an email to schedule your private weekday training session.

We look forward to training you!
Karl, Penny and the KR Training team

How Far To Extend Your Arms?

The social media/youTube era has given the average shooter many benefits – specifically free access to thousands (millions?) of videos and pictures of top shooters using match- and gunfight-winning technique. It’s also led to some odd artifacts: behaviors that weren’t common before youTube became the most influential firearms training source.

For the past 100 years, top shooters and trainers extended one or both arms to full extension. John Shaw in the 1980’s, for example.

Eldon Carl in the 1960’s:

The NRA in the 1950’s:

UK military trainer/combat veteran C.D. Tracy in 1917:

During the 1980’s, the locked elbows Isoceles technique was widely taught (and adopted by former Weaver-technique shooters who discovered that they shot better and faster that way). By the start of the 1990’s, top shooters in USPSA had transitioned to fully extended arms with unlocked elbows, which remains the dominant technique used by top shooters.

From 1970 to the 2020’s, there’s been a steady migration of shooters from .45 ACP to, to .40 S&W to 9mm pistols. Full power .45 ACP ammo has a USPSA “power factor” of 190+ (230 grain bullet at 800 fps = 184,000 = 184 PF). Full power .40 S&W ammo has a 180+ power factor (180 grain bullet at 1000 fps = 180,000 = 180 PF). Full power 9mm ammo is typically 140-150 power factor (147 grain bullet at 1000 fps = 147,000 = 147 PF). The full power .45 and .40 ammo were blamed for causing tennis elbow in locked-elbow shooters, typically those that fired a lot of rounds training for USPSA matches where major/minor scoring motivated most to shoot the major power factor ammo. Particularly for major power ammo, holding the frame securely, so the slide can cycle properly, is critical. The problem was commonly called “limp-wristing”, even when the cause might not have anything to do with wrist muscles.

In modern USPSA, 9mm ammo is the most popular, as most competitors are in the Production, Carry Optics, Pistol Caliber Carbine and Limited Optics division. The demand for speed, both in competition and for show-off videos for Instagram and youTube, has led to some shooters trying to speed up their draw (typically on close targets, since you get better video by having the target and shooter in frame), by shooting before full extension of the arms is reached. Less grip strength is required to hold the frame of a 9mm pistol securely enough to prevent “limp-wristing” malfunctions, so those pushing for speed by not extending can get away with it, if the targets are close enough and their grip is strong enough.

As a result, this seems to have led some internet-trained shooters (typically those under 40) to hear trainers say “don’t lock your elbows”, and see online gun celebrities shooting from partially extended arms, and thinking that shooting from 75% of full extension is the ideal technique. I don’t think it is.

The context is missing for many that have embraced that idea, though. In some cases, those shooting that way have significant upper body strength and grip. Those two factors minimize the importance of technique. Some that spend a lot of time in the gym trying to get “swole” end up with limited flexibility in their arms, particularly after a workout. Older shooters, and those with a variety of neck, back and shoulder problems (also common in veterans), find it painful to fully extend. Vision issues related to focal length (a problem for older shooters and those wearing progressive or bifocal lenses) and getting the front sight in sharp focus may affect where the ‘sweet spot’ for arm extension is. And for those shooting the ultra-heavy-frame-plus-weapon-mounted-light pistols currently popular in USPSA (particularly those that don’t have a lot of upper body strength), holding a big heavy pistol at full arm extension can be fatiguing. In all those cases, the presentation of not-fully-extended arms may not what is desired, but all that is possible.

Awhile back the USPSA magazine “Front Sight” (no relation to the now-closed training institute) ran a lot of pictures of top shooters in action from various national championships. There are not people who only shoot 5 yard targets for social media clickbait videos. They are folks that shoot tens of thousands of rounds annually, trying to maximize speed and accuracy to win major matches where the margins of victory are often very small. Thus I think it’s valuable to observe their technique, and note that their arms are fully extended, likely with unlocked elbows. I share a gallery of those pictures here to encourage those that are capable of, but choose not to, fully extend their arms when shooting a pistol to explore that issue more deeply — not just by shooting 7 yard Bill Drills for clickbait content, but by shooting a wide variety of drills, from 3-25 yards, with target transitions, movement and other tasks incorporated.

The New and Improved New Jersey Carry Permit Shooting Test (2023)

Back in August 2023 I shot the New Jersey carry permit shooting test (aka the “Civilian Carry Assessment and Range Evaluation”, or CCARE), and documented it with video and in this blog post.

The test was complicated and poorly designed, including many skills that were essentially irrelevant to concealed carry, with time limits that were inconsistent in difficulty level from one string to the next.

In September 2023, New Jersey revised the shooting test (click here for the official document) to a much simpler process that only tests 4 skills:

  • Demonstrate the safe handling of weapon.
  • Demonstrate proper loading and unloading techniques.
  • Demonstrate the techniques of a proper concealed carry draw.
  • Demonstrate the techniques of good marksmanship.

It uses the FBI Q target. Revolver shooters have to fire double action for all 50 shots of the test. Semiautos are to be fired “in the manner in which the individual weapon functions normally and are to be decocked, if applicable, when changing positions or hands”. (This should have included “when holstering or reloading” but the general idea is that every string would start with the DA/SA style gun decocked, in the holster, with a live round chambered, as it would be carried.)

To pass, 40 of the 50 shots must hit inside the bottle, and the participant must demonstrate safe handling, including safe loading, unloading, drawing and reholstering.

The test is 10 strings of 5 rounds each. For each string, from a secured and concealed holster position, draw and fire 5 rounds (untimed). Holster a safe (decocked if applicable) weapon.

2 strings of 5 are shot from 3 yards, then 5, 7, 10 and 15 yards.

My video of the 3 and 5 yard strings

Video of me shooting the 7 and 10 yard strings

Video of the 15 yard string and final target

VIDEO DISCUSSION

For the videos, I used my box stock Taurus G3 drawn from a JM Custom Kydex holster carried in the appendix position. When I did the videos, I wasn’t thinking about New Jersey’s 10 round mag limit, and loaded the Taurus mags to “more than 10”. Because each string was untimed, I chose to let the gun run dry mid string and do reloads as needed to complete the strings, to add some additional training value to the exercise. Done properly with NJ-approved 10 round mags, the reloads would occur at the end of every other string, or each time the target distance changed.

As with most of my videos, what you see is a completely cold run. No dry or live warm up. Wade and I were out at the range doing maintenance. We took a break, I grabbed a box of 9mm practice ammo, 2 mags, the G3, a KR Training logo shirt, a holster and a Q target and handed the phone to Wade to record my runs. He’s the one giving me start commands in the videos.

Because the test was untimed, I just shot at the pace I felt allowed me to keep my shots in a 6-8″ circle. I could have shot it at B-8 bullseye speed (slower) to show off and shoot a smaller group. But the goal of the videos and my evaluation of the updated qual was to shoot it like a more typical carry permit holder would. My observation of people running the Texas carry permit test is that basically everyone shoots faster than the time limits, except for (maybe) the “1 shot in 2 seconds at 3 yards” string. Most have not internalized the concept of adjusting shooting speed as target distance changes, so they shoot the “5 shots in 10-15 seconds” strings at 3, 7 and 15 at pretty much the same speed (getting progressively worse hits as the distance increases. So that’s sort of what I did for the 7, 10 and 15 yard strings – shot at roughly the same pace each time. That resulted in one round from the 15 yard line not hitting inside the bottle, ruining my perfect score.

Comparing this test to the Texas LTC qualification

In 2018, I modified the Texas LTC qualification to include more skills (drawing from concealment & movement) and suggested using an IDPA target instead of the too-large and anatomically-wrong B-27.

The history of why the B-27 exists and why it’s awful is here

In our book Strategies and Standards for Defensive Pistol Skills, John Daub and I write about Minimum Competency and qualification standards. The updated New Jersey test is very simple in design, and defines a very reasonable minimum performance standard, answering the question “what skills and abilities should someone have to be competent enough to safely carry a pistol concealed in public and use is effectively for self defense?”

Capabilities, competence and rights are different things. Many in this country have the right to vote, but would not be able to pass the 10 question citizenship test drawn from this pool of 100 questions. Similarly, one can have the right to carry and still not meet practical minimum standards. Our discussion of minimum standards is intended to aid gun owners and trainers in identifying a baseline that benefits those that aspire to it, not in defining a minimum that would be used to restrict the rights of those not yet at that performance level.

The FBI Q target offers a smaller scoring area than the B-27, but larger than the 0-ring of the IDPA target. It’s narrow bottle is slightly better, as a defensive target, than the A/C zone of a USPSA target or 0 and -1 zone of an IDPA target. The 80% hits to pass standard is the same one used for FBI agents, who also have to draw from concealment, in a more complex test with timed strings.

The Texas test is strings at 3, 7 and 15 yards, of varying lengths (1, 2, 3 or 5 rounds), but doesn’t include drawing from concealment. From an instructor perspective, the test is complicated to run. The trainer has to change par times frequently, and remember how many times they have run the 1 and 2 shot strings.

This sounds easy but when your brain cells are busy watching a firing line and making sure everyone is ready before starting the next string, it’s easy to lose your place and get into Dirty Harry mode, asking yourself “did they fire 5 strings or only 4?”.

5 shot strings evaluate the shooter’s consistent grip on the pistol, recoil recovery and concentration. The test includes 10 concealment draws and 4 reloads, all untimed. Removing the time pressure makes the test safer to run, as the primary safety concern related to drawing from concealment is risk of negligent discharge caused by the shooter going too fast. The NRA takes a similar approach in their CCW course, with an untimed shooting test using a similar scoring area that includes drawing from concealment, slide lock reloads and one handed shooting.

Including the skill of drawing from concealment in the shooting test also raises the standard for instructors, who will have to teach that skill (and be certified to teach it). This could potentially make the NRA CCW instructor certification, not the NRA Basic Pistol certification (for example), the minimum standard for instructors in New Jersey. While I’m sure it’s an unpopular view with 2nd amendment absolutists (and instructors who aren’t certified beyond the NRA Basic Pistol minimum level), carry permit students would get better training from instructors capable of meeting that higher standard (and passing the NJ test at 90% or higher level, or better yet, passing the full FBI agent shooting test at the 90% level.)

I’ve been using untimed, points-only tests in several classes recently, as a bridge between teaching the skills and testing the skills under time pressure, and I think this approach has great value — particularly as a guide to practice for those limited to indoor-range-only practice, where a shooting timer’s buzzer may be a distraction to others in adjacent lanes, or not heard over the gunfire from other shooters. It aligns with a basic training philosophy:

  • Understand correct technique
  • Perform correct technique with no time pressure
  • Perform correct technique within acceptable minimum time standards
  • Perform correct technique within time standards indicating automaticity

This article discusses what those time standards are for automaticity.

It’s a good test

The new New Jersey qualification course is a good one, possibly better than the Texas LTC test, because it uses a better target and requires drawing from concealment. As a simple, easy to remember course of fire, it makes better use of 50 rounds of ammunition than the typical gun owner’s “shoot with no plan until the ammo I brought is gone” practice regimen. Given the strongly anti-gun policies of New Jersey’s state government, the test is a nice surprise – better than Hawaii’s updated test or the earlier New Jersey requirements.

My suggestion to readers is to give the NJ test a try next time to get to the range. If you are a higher skill level shooter, leave the timer off, but push to get acceptable hits as fast as your sights and the gun allow. Removing the timer will help you focus on process, rather than outcome, which is useful in skill development, particularly in calling shots…even when you make the occasional bad shot.

1957 Robot Target Article

My historical research team (Craig, Gaston and Jay) recently sent me a scan of a 1957 Guns magazine article about a robot quick draw target that could shoot blank firing sixguns at the human opponent. Spell check tells me that “Dueller” should be “Dueler” but I have used the author’s original spelling and use of hyphens and quotes from the original article in the transcription below. – KR

The Target That Shoots Back (Arthur C. Ross)

A lot of people talk about quick-draw combat shooting, but only a few men ever really match their draw-and-fire speed against a shooting-back target. Now you can do just that-without risking anything more important than some personal embarrassment. You can do it by shooting it out with the Robot Dueller, the mechanical man who matches your reflex time and your gun speed and accuracy against bis electrical impulses-and shoots back if you fail to beat him.

Many factors enter into the actual man-to-man shoot-out of the type made famous by old time western gunfighters, of the type experienced all too frequently today by law enforcement officers and sometimes by combat soldiers. Success in such an encounter – and in this instance success means survival – means far more than mere speed in getting a gun out of its holster, pocket, or any carrying position selected, and blasting a shot through the barrel. It means (a) how long does it take you lo get into effective action after you are warned of danger, (b) how fast can your muscles perform the !unctions of the draw-and-fire. and (c) how accurately can you place that first shot on a target. No one of these tests – nor even any two of them is enough if you are pitted against a man who will kill you unless you kill him first.

There is another factor in this equation-the most important factor of all, perhaps in the business of combat shooting. That factor has been called “the will (or willingness) to kill.” The Robot Dueller is willing, his nerves are cold metal, and there is no emotion in him. Your willingness to ‘kill’ is not really tested when you shoot against him, because you know that he is a man of metal and gadgets, not flesh and blood. But it is odd how real he seems when you face him. Particularly when you have faced him before
and know that he will shoot back if you fail to beat him.

Mechanical Gunman Offers Next Best Thing to Real Duelling Conditions as Test of Quick-Draw

The Robot Dueller was built to simulate as nearly as possible the conditions a shooter would face in an encounter with a fairly fast gunman. It was and is the belief of the robot’s inventor that shooting against this kind of competitive target would be not only interesting and fun, but that it would be of very real value in the training of low enforcement officers and military personnel. This belief is borne out by enthusiastic testimonials from every such shooter who has tried, or been tried by, the robot. And it is fun. It is the most fascinating form of shooting competition I have experienced and I have tried them all.

The specifications we set up for ourselves in building the Dueller were these: he would be a target of man size and appearance, electrically operated so as to give out a starting signal and then time the interval between the starting signal and the completion of the test. He must be so designed that he would actually draw and shoot if not stopped, and so that he would stop if hit by a bullet within specified time
limits. He must have a timing device that would show expired lime in terms of hundredths of a second, and a bell that would ring when a killing hit is scored on the robot. Killing hit means a hit that would make a live gunman harmless to his opponent.

The Robot Dueller fills all of these specifications, and fills them in a manner true to the code of the old West. He stands facing you at a distance of ten, twenty, thirty or more feet; it’s your option. When you are set, a button is pressed and the robot’s eyes light up. You don’t know exactly when this is going to happen, any more than you would know exactly when a gunman might make up his mind to kill you. The lighted eyes are your cue to “go for your gun.” You draw, fire. The robot’s timer is set to touch off his shots exactly 1.3 seconds after the starting button is pressed to light his ‘eyes. ll you hit him inside the killing area in less than 1.3 seconds, a gong sounds, the robot cuts off, you’ve won your battle. If you’re too slow, or if your shots miss the killing area, he fires. And since he is Mr. Dead-Eye Dick, you’re dead.

A lot or people who have read the current claims of various quick-draw shooters – and some who have been practicing quick-draw at home, timed by a friend with a stopwatch-are due !or a rude awakening when they face the Robot Dueller. They start out by saying. “‘One and three-tenths seconds? Why, that’s slow. A good man can do it in a quarter or a second, or less. Why, only yesterday, Jim held a stopwatch on me and I drew, fired, and busted a half gallon jug at twenty paces in just two-tenths of a second!”

Okay, so Mr. Robot will be a cinch for you. But don’t be surprised if be beats you, even at the “slow” time of 1.3 seconds. Because the times he gives you are true times, starting from the warning and running to the impact of the bullet. He includes the time you require to react to his warning — just as a living gunman would do. That plus your draw-fire-and-hit time is what the clock shows against you. And you have to kill him to stop him.

The Electrical Robot Dueller consists of a series of pipes and springs supporting a bullet shield which resembles the vital area of the human body. He has a control mechanism and a time-indicating device. The legs and backbone are of two inch galvanized pipe, using two 90-degree elbows and two close nipples as hips. These are centrally connected to a two inch T for the backbone support. The movable relay contact points are on the spring-mounted bullet shield, while the stationary contact points are on the stationary backbone. The bullet strikes the spring-mounted bullet shield, forces it back, closes the relay points, and causes other control circuits to be disconnected, stopping the Robot’s action and indicating victory for the contestant.

If these bullet-shield relay points are not closed after the signal and before 1.3 seconds have elapsed, the machinery will operator which will cause the dueller to throw up his guns and fire. From the instant the push button is pressed, all circuits and actions are completed automatically.

The contestant checks his gun and makes ready for the contest with the dueller. He presses the push button and stands by for the signal. Two, three or more seconds may pass before the Robot’s eyes light up as the ‘go’ signal. On the signal, the contestant draws and fires as quickly as accurately as possible. Win or lose, the dueller’s control mechanism returns to the ready position for the next contest.

If the contestant gets over anxious and fires before the signal and his bullet strikes true, there will be no signal, no time indication, no victory bell and no firing by the dueller. This makes a cheating contestant feel like a true bushwhacker. However, should the contestant’s premature bullet fail to strike the vital area, the dueller will draw his guns and fire as scheduled. The dueller is fool-proof. He cannot be cheated.

The cost of construction of this operating model is about $500 (estimated cost $5500 in 2023, due to inflation/devaluation of US currency since then – KR). The right utilization of scrap pipes and other metals should bring mass production of these robots into the approximate price range of $600 or $700 retail. (For reference, handguns in the 1950’s cost roughly $40-50 – KR)

The control circuits are actuated by slight modifications of existing standard electrical equipment, which includes two fractional horsepower motors, speed reduction gears, and a few standard Allen-Bradley magnetic relays. The control circuit is somewhat complicated, but does not constitute any staggering new discoveries.

The feeling of a contestant who duels with this training instruments is one of strong compulsion to be first with a bullet. There is a very real sense of competition, similar to that which would be felt in an actual duel. Here, there is a double incentive: to beat the dueller, and to break previous time records. A policeman is likely to see the dueller as an armed robber that he has caught red-handed. He knows he must shoot fast or be killed. A sportsman might feel the keenness of the contest and try over and over again, merely for a new time record. The gun enthusiast will shoot time after time, for it is the type of target he has always wondered about and wanted to try. He enjoys handling that old favorite pistol and the dramatic violence of the explosion when she bucks to life in his hand.

To the thrill-seeking adventurers, the Robot Dueller is a substitute for the spine-chilling thrill of a death duel. Even to the novice the Electrical Robot Dueller is a fascination. I have had people who hardly knew the dangerous end of a gun insist upon testing the Dueller. The people are especially interesting, because they are a picture of confusion and hopelessness when the duel ends and they are defeated.

Under careful safety regulations, this instrument could be adapted to multiple use for combat training of military personnel. It requires nobody behind the targets in the butts, and no scoring of targets, thus offering a saving of personnel. The robot could be made to appear from behind a tree, from a foxhole, or the windows of a house, pause for a brief time, then fire a gun and disappear. If a combat trainee is alert and fast and can shoot straight, he can kill the robot. If he fails to see the robot or fires and misses, the trainee would be considered a casualty.

It is the opinion of this author that this device could improve the present training methods, save time in combat training, reduce instructor personnel, and provide a much more certain method for screening and eliminating undesirable combat people.

The general opinion of police officials is that this Electrical Robot Dueller should NOT be displayed at amusement centers for the general public. This is certainly a point for consideration. Quick draw can be dangerous to the contestant and is not for children in amusement parks.

(By the 1960’s, a version of this idea became a “light gun” game in amusement parks, and in the 1980’s, an updated version was on the market. – KR)

More about the 1961 Taylor arcade game here.

This next one is the Mr. Quick Draw game made in 1961.

“To survive, the badman needed something besides a quick draw and accuracy. Some would call it nerve, others the psychological edge over the opponent …” Men stood before mirrors practicing the draw for hours at a time and yet found themselves greatly inferior to another untrained man with the mental edge. Again a Wild Bill or Billy the Kid was born, not made. Another thing – a post or tin can will not “sass-back” but an angry, desperate man with a sixgun will. So it is partly a question of mind over mind. Indeed, the victor of many a gunfight was the inferior pistol-artist, but the superior duelist merely by force of his nerve or personality.”

George D. Hendrick writes in “The Bad Men of the West”

Hendrick also cites the two instances when Wyatt Earp advised Cockeyed Frank Loving and Bob Cahill who stood challenged by different aggressors, “You take your time, aim and hit.”

It is obvious to any student of Wyatt Earp’s career that he did not mean that a dueller should calmly day-dream while an aggressor spewed hot lead at him from a six shooter. He meant “go for your gun in a hurry, get a firm grip upon it, bring it to bear with all possible speed, aim for certain death, then pull the trigger.” Earp may or may not have been the greatest gunfighter of them all, but he survived to die in bed at a ripe age, which a lot of them didn’t. Was he lucky? Perhaps. But it is my personal opinion that his success and his survival were due to to his superior intelligence and his most unusual reflexes.

What are reflexes or reflex actions? How do they figure into a gunfight? And how can they be tested and improved? To determine the answer to those questions, the author turned to mechanics and science. The Robot Dueller is his answer. With it, it is easy enough to determine the part human reflexes play in shoot-outs of this description.

The shooter’s problem in the draw-and-fire duel is about as follows: (a) recognize the starting signal (b) grab the gun, (c) draw (d) cock (e) aim, (f) fire. Let’s say your best time through those steps is 0.7 of a second. (Keep in mind that the “aiming” the author refers to here is hip shooting, and the drawing was being done from a low slung open carry cowboy holster. Fast draw to first hit times from this type of set up, in modern competition, are down in the 0.3’s.- KR)

Tests with the electrically timed robot prove to our satisfaction that a man this fast can perform the physical movements of the draw-and-fire in about 0.2 seconds, and that the remaining 0.5 seconds is the time that he takes to grasp the situation and direct his actions to meet it – in other words – his reflex time. No quick-draw claim which fails to account for this reflex-time factor can possibly be credited as a fair appraisal of a man’s true gun-fighting ability.

It is possible, however, for a man to capitalize on this very factor that hampers his own gun-speed. He can do this by increasing the reflex time of his opponent – and this can be done by complicating the situation. For example, a gunfighter who steps or jumps to one side as he draws forces his opponent to add new steps to his reaction problem. The opponent must identify the movement, decide how far it will carry and how fast, and move his own gun to cover the new position of the target. (In modern terms, the author is describing the Observe Orient Decide Act loop and what some call “Getting off the X” – KR) The moving shooter, having his movement figured out in advance, gains an advantage. If he can still shoot accurately during or after his movement, he should win. Providing, of course, that he is facing a human opponent. The Robot Dueller is not affected by such tactics.

Nevertheless, to face this machine is to come as close as anyone will ever come to the fighting or a pistol duel without gambling life on the outcome. Here is the man of steel facing you, a gun in each hand. His intentions are to kill you. You know that he is a dead shot and lightning fast. You know that there is only one way in which he can be stopped, and that is to shoot first and strike true. You strain every nerve and muscle as you watch for that death signal. It comes, and you explode into action. Then you look at the clock and read – bad news. It shows 1.3 seconds, the maximum time setting for the dueller. You either missed or were too slow. You picture yourself being carried off toward Boot Hill, and you can’t understand how the hell it happened. You’re fast with a gun, surely faster than 1.3 seconds!. Something must have gone wrong.

(The author’s choice of 1.3 seconds as an acceptable minimum draw to first hit time is interesting. By current standards for strong side and/or appendix concealed or retention holster duty carry, 1.3 seconds at 20 feet is a very reasonable par time goal for a shooter that has developed enough skill to reach “automaticity”, as John Hearne calls it. More about performance goals and automaticity can be found in this earlier blog article – KR)

Fortunately, with the dueller you can try again, and after about a hundred attempts you begin to get the idea. You relax and watch for the signal. You are hardly aware of the signal when you see it. You are almost complete unaware of your actions. Chances are you will hear a loud gong and your time reading will be around 0.9 seconds. You have won. Now you can expect to win occasionally against this man of steel.

There are a few notorious gunfighters today, but the gun-toting criminal is still with us. Armed robbers, escaped convicts, kidnappers, dope peddlers, impulse killers, sex fiends, protection peddlers, extortionists are all potential killers. A glance at the casualty list of any police department will give conclusive evidence that the American badman is an even greater menace to our policemen than was the killer of yester-year. He is sneaky, lives and fights by no code, and is likely to shoot without warning.

Against this hoodlum is pitted the police officer. What sort of man is he? He is usually a level-headed man, a good family man, with no “killer instinct”. He is marked as a target by his uniform, his badge and obvious display of his gun. His ability with the gun is often neglected because he may have no convenient place to practice, and in most cases he must purchase his own gun and ammunition. We further handicap him by teaching him that he must warn before he shoots, or even give the criminal the first shot. The results are all too often fatal – not to the crook but to the policeman.

With practice against the Electrical Robot Dueller, the police officer can so improve his skill with the pistol that he can meet even this one sided challenge. Through the courtesy of Police Chief G. B. Douglas of the Port Arthur, Texas, Police Department, the Robot Dueller was demonstrated on that department’s very fine pistol range, and the patrolmen and police officials who tried it were obsessed with the desire to try it again, until they were able to gain a victory over the robot.

That spirit of competition is, in itself, the best possible stimulation to shooting practice. Given that incentive and the very practical combat experience of facing a “shoot back” target, the effectiveness of law enforcement officers against armed enemies could be improved tremendously — to the benefit of police for protection, and to the benefit of all in the saving of police lives.

(The Lee Weems podcast linked below features discussion from Dustin Salomon, John Hearne and John Holschen – three trainers using new equipment with visual start signals and shot timing in their courses, the modern extension of the training principles the inventor of the Electrical Robot Dueller was pursuing in his work. KR Training hosted John Holschen’s class last year, and John Hearne’s Cognitive Pistol course, scheduled for January 2024 at our facility is sold out with a wait list. John’s “Who Wins, Who Loses…” lecture coming up January 2024 still has slots open for registration. – KR)

1941 Pistol Combat Course

My historical research team sent me this article from a 1941 issue of American Rifleman magazine. It details a “pistol combat course” shot using a silhouette target w/ center bullseye and a scoring system that is a distant cousin to the Time Plus scoring using in IDPA and the Comstock scoring used in USPSA. The stage design is very similar to the Steel Challenge stage “Five To Go”.

I went to the range to shoot the course of fire. Step 1 was figuring out what target to use. Here is a military L bullseye target that was in common use in the 1940’s.

It has a 4″ center, roughly 8″ 9 ring and roughly 12″ 8 ring…very similar to the modern NRA D-1 tombstone target used in the Bianchi Cup and the Glock Shooting Sports Foundation matches.

The D1 looked closer to the targets drawn in the article, so I used some previously-used targets for the video. Some of the D1s have little stickers in the X ring, others do not.

I got out my classic 1911 in .45 ACP, loaded it up with full power .45 ball ammo and ran the course of fire using the vintage one handed technique described in the article. After the first couple of shots, the fiber in my front sight came out (apparently I didn’t cut the fiber long enough and when I melted the ends there wasn’t enough to hold it in place under recoil). Since they didn’t have fiber optic front sights back in 1941, I left the fiber out and shot the course without the fiber insert.

Vintage 1911 on the 1941 Pistol Combat Course.

As the video shows, my score was 27+26+28+29+28 = 138 out of possible 150 points

String times were 4.68, 3.66, and 3.61 for a total of 11.95, 3.05 under par of 15.

Using the scoring method from the article, I got 138 pts plus 30 pts time bonus for being faster than 15 seconds, for a total of 168 points.

For comparison I reshot the course of fire, using modern technique and gear (my Glock 48 with Holosun 507C green dot optic).

For that run I shot 30 + 29 + 28 + 29+ 29 = 145 points

Times were 3.51, 3.14, and 2.82 for a total of 9.50, 5.50 under par of 15.

Total score was 145 plus 55 points time bonus = 200 points

All the drills you see on video were my first runs not only on this drill but cold runs with no dry fire or live fire warmup. The targets had been used for other drills in the past, thus the pasters and stickers. I have no doubt that if I had done multiple runs, faster times and better hits were likely.

The difference in score was not surprising. Switching from .45 major to 9mm minor ammo, and using two hands vs one made a big change in speed, and switching from irons to a dot improved accuracy.

The historical significance of this course is that it introduced multiple ideas that became commonplace in handgun training during the Modern Technique (Jeff Cooper) era.

It simulates a threat moving toward you, requiring you to fire one round per target at a pace roughly equal to the time it would take for someone to run that distance. It requires consistency (3 runs), similar to the “best 4 out of 5” approach taken in the Steel Challenge decades later. It uses a scoring system that rewards those that shoot with both speed and accuracy, not just a static par time (as was used in bullseye and later, PPC matches). It rewards the use of double action firing for revolvers, in an era where almost all revolver shooting was done single action at a much slower pace. The change in par time for .22 vs .45 is a precursor to major/minor scoring in IPSC & USPSA. It even introduces the concept of a minimum acceptable time standard (5 sec par) and could have easily been expanded to include a minimum acceptable score, if hits outside the 8 ring were counted as misses and passing score of 150 points was used.

My run times in the 3.0-3.5 sec range align with the article’s discussion of what “most shooters” could do, although from the example published my points were quite a bit better than the author’s, even one handed with iron sights. Given that the article was for a general interest magazine (American Rifleman), it’s possible that a low score was used as an example for editorial reasons.

The author’s final comment: “it’s just what the draft army needs, instead of puttering months away trying to hit a little black spot with a gun that was never intended for anything but to hit a big, nearby target, and to hit it quick” was exactly correct, although the military and law enforcement training world, and gun culture generally, didn’t actually put it into mainstream use until wasting decades with close range hip shooting and long range slow fire. The author’s concept of using quickly aimed fire, incorporating target transitions, a more relevant target and a scoring system rewarding speedy accuracy was visionary for its day.

IPSC World Shoot 1983 Match

Lloyd Harper, who was the assistant match director for the 1983 World Shoot, recently scanned the 1983 IPSC World Shoot match booklet and shared it with others. The match was held at the Lafayette Gun Club near Yorktown, Virginia. The scanned copy is missing a few pages. What I have posted here is what I have and the pages are presented in the order they were organized in the original match booklet. The sections in italics are my observations about the stage designs and how they compare to stages at current major USPSA events.

There’s also an article about the match in a 1984 issue of American Handgunner, still available online

Click here to download the American Handgunner issue about the 1983 World Shoot (

The Stages

When I started shooting USPSA in 1988, it was common to have stages that required shooting at distances beyond 25 yards in every major event. This standards exercise includes shooting at 40 meters, and one handed shooting at 20 meters. It also includes turning draws – something that was very common in defensive pistol classes in the 70’s and 80’s but is no longer popular (likely because of potential safety issues with shooters on adjacent targets muzzling each other during the turning draw.) Since most shooters were running single stack 1911’s in .45 ACP, 8 round strings were common. The Milpark target had a 10″ circular A Zone inside a (roughly) 13″ x 18″ C zone.

Back in the 1980’s, an impact sensor attached to a “stop plate” was often used to record the total time for a stage.

This tradition still exists in the Steel Challenge stages, but impact sensors are no longer used. Awhile back I wrote an article about shooting timers from the 1980’s. You can find it here.

Moving target systems were another popular stage design trend in the 1980’s. The best known mover is the one that is part of the Bianchi Cup each year.

Other stage design features that faded away as USPSA evolved from its early days were shooting over walls and swinging out from a wall holding a rope to shoot one handed – both included in this stage.

This stage included climbing some stairs to shoot from a platform. That sort of thing was common in major matches (and regional matches in Texas) in the 1990’s, but as with climbing walls and other obstacle course challenges, seems to have faded away as the sport focuses on ability to shoot quickly while on level ground. I suspect that the “retirement” of the more physically demanding elements of stages coincided with the growth of the sport and safety risks associated with those more challenging movement.

This stage required the shooter to open several doors. Knowing how to properly open a door with pistol in one hand and doorknob in the other was one of those skills anyone planning on shooting major matches had to learn, as there were always some safety related disqualifications at the big matches when people either hadn’t practiced (or considered) muzzle direction and techniques for door manipulation and quick target acquisition. Doors were also an easy way to activate mechanical movers and other reactive targets, so they were common at big matches.

This stage included a different obstacle course-style challenge: a fence that had to be climbed or crawled under. Twine, rather than barbed wire, was used for part of the fence, and penalties were assessed for breaking strands as noted in the stage description.

Surprise stages are great fun to shoot, but difficult to manage, particularly at a major match. In the early days of the Rangemaster Tactical Conference, the entire match was surprise, shot in low/dim light, with no stage description other than “do what you would do” against an array of reactive shoot and no-shoot targets. This worked because the event was small, access to the stages was tightly controlled (through the airlock of the indoor range bay), and people generally didn’t share any details about the stages with others. That match format also let one shooter into the bay at a time, so there was no way to stand around before your shoot time ogling the stages. When the event changed venues and some stages moved to an outdoor bay, it was difficult (aka impossible) to keep people from seeing the stage in advance. The last year any attempt at including a surprise stage was when TacCon was held in Tulsa, OK, and the shoot house was used for one of the match stages, with the rest being published in advance, much like what occurred at this World Shoot.

lso an article about the match in a 1984 issue of American Handgunner, still available online

Click here to download the American Handgunner issue about the 1983 World Shoot, or read the article in the images below. Thanks to American Handgunner for having their entire magazine archive online. (Subscribe to their magazine here. Great photos, great articles.)

1918 Pistol Shooting Article

Fellow handgun historians Craig, Gaston and Jay have been going through old issues of “Arms and the Man” and American Rifleman looking for historically interesting articles to share. This one, from 1918, details the failures of pistol shooters using “point shooting” techniques to hit targets. The author of the article was the secretary of the Shanghai Rifle and Revolver Club.

KR Training October 2023 Newsletter

OCTOBER 2023 UPDATE

We have finalized our schedule for the rest of 2023. All the classes we plan to offer through the end of 2023 are listed below. We are already working on winter/spring 2024 plans!

PRIVATE LESSONS

I am available for private weekday training. Doug Greig is also available for private weekday and some weekend sessions. Contact us for details.

REFRESHER DEALS

Re-take any class you’ve taken before for half price! Contact me to get the alumni discount code. Firearms skills deteriorate without practice. Most ranges don’t allow drawing from a holster, shooting quickly, moving or shooting from cover. If you don’t practice the skills you learned in class, they won’t be there when you need them. Fall classes will have cooler weather – but they often sell out, so don’t wait until the last minute to register!

2024 CLASSES – REGISTRATION LINKS SOON

In 1st half 2024 we have multiple trainers scheduled: John Hearne (January), Ben Stoeger (February), Greg Ellifritz (February), Ed Monk (March), Tom Givens (May). Some of the registration links for classes are available here. Others will be posted in the next few weeks.

Upcoming Texas classes with space available:

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Courses marked with *** are classes that count toward the Defensive Pistol Skills Program challenge coin.
Prices and registration links are at www.krtraining.com

Click HERE to register for any class.

Advanced Handgun – Oct 21

Advanced Handgun is a challenging class full of scored drills and shooting tests, to give the student a full evaluation of their shooting skill, and identify the areas where they need to improve. This is the same course I offer on the road. The level of this course is appropriate for graduates of our DPS-3 course, USPSA and IDPA competitors, and graduates of any higher level shooting program.

Low Light Shooting Level 2 – Oct 22 (evening)

We only offer this course once a year (and we didn’t get enough interest to teach it last year). LL2 goes beyond what is taught in Low Light 1. More building search, more challenging drills. This is a pistol-only course but skills taught can be applied to long gun as well.

Comprehensive Defensive Carbine – Oct 29

Doug Greig will offer a full day AR-15 course suitable for students at all levels. Focus will be on application of the defensive carbine in realistic situations.

Active Shooter / School and Church Safety – Nov 18-19

Due to the recent change in state law, more school districts are training armed teachers under the Guardian program. This two day session was scheduled at the request of a school district, but a limited number of slots are available for open enrollment. This is the DPS-designed course intended to teach anyone fundamental skills for protecting themselves and others (mainly in a school, church or office environment) from an active shooter. This will include 300 rounds of live fire in the afternoons each day. (We got the OK from neighbors to violate our deer season quiet time for this course.)

DISCOUNT CODES

I have collected up all the discount codes we have set up with vendors we recommend. Alumni of KR Training classes will find them in the monthly e-news email.

BLOG O RAMA

All the articles you missed if you don’t follow the KR Training Facebook page and Instagram feed.

SONG OF THE MONTH

In October, the Black Cat Choir plays a lot of shows during Round Top’s Antique Week. Lead singer Johnny Holmes teaches the audience how to have moves like Jagger in our version of “Miss You”, from a recent Stone Cellar show.


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We look forward to training you!
Karl, Penny and the KR Training team