Skills Check: A Hot Time

Murphy’s Law states “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” When Murphy appears at the shooting range—and he most certainly will—you’ll have one spicy disaster. Rather than melt down, tap out or worse, possibly lead to unsafe firearm handling, being prepared for this eventuality is the best option. Fortunately, barring a catastrophic failure of the gun, we have a predictable list of challenges that can occur and relatively simple solutions to solve them. Where does it get zesty? Toss in a semi-complex shooting pattern across multiple targets, a shot timer and your singing skills to discover how much heat you can take.

This drill requires knowledge of safe and effective fundamental skills, including failure-to-fire malfunction clearing, possible double-feed clearing and slide-lock reloads. No problem, right? Where it gets spicy is cultivating the mental plasticity of not only problem-solving in real time, but also continuing like nothing happened. 

Remember, this drill is all about problem-solving and task recovery. By the end of it, you’ll be more than prepared to handle any spicy disaster that comes your way. For this drill, you’ll need three NRA Official Pistol Target B-8s spaced 1 foot apart at a distance of 5 yards from the firing line. It requires a minimum of five magazines for your pistol, snap caps or dummy rounds and a shot timer. A shooting buddy isn’t required, but can help provide moral support and/or heckle you to add to the challenge. If you don’t have a shooting buddy with you, set up your phone to record video of you shooting. Simply knowing you’re on camera might be all the spice you need.

To create unpredictable reloads, load all magazines with one to three rounds fewer than total capacity. To induce unpredictable malfunctions, mix two to three randomly loaded snap caps into these magazines. Keeping track of the total number of live rounds and snap caps in your loadout is essential.

Here’s the Drill:

Low-Heat Version
No shot timer, scoring zone equals all hits within the seven-ring.

Load and make ready. Fire one round into the left target, two into the center target and three rounds into the right target. Return to the far-left target and repeat cycling through all magazines until all are empty. Resolve malfunctions as they arise and reload when needed without breaking the pattern of the course of fire outlined above. Score your hits, assess your technique for areas of improvement and try it again.

High-Heat Version
Shot timer, shooting buddy to hold you accountable, scoring zone equals all hits in the black.

Load and make ready. Fire one round into the left target, two into the center target and three rounds into the right target. Return to the far-left target and repeat cycling through all magazines until all are empty. Resolve malfunctions as they arise and reload when needed without breaking the pattern of the course of fire outlined above. Score your hits, record your time, assess your technique for areas of improvement and try it again.

While it goes without saying, safety is paramount at all times. The shot timer and a witness are enough added stress for most folks to make their eyes water, and for many, that’s as hot as we can safely get. However, for the seasoned shooter  who is cool as a cucumber, unfazed by the beep and ready for more, try singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” loud enough for your buddy to hear you while performing the drill and navigating all of its challenges. You are now using all of your brain. Prepare to feel the (mental) burn, while savoring the zesty knowledge it conveys. In the end, you will be a more seasoned shooter with a refined palette for the unexpected.