Hard Shoot Target Review

Gear Review: Hard Shoot Target
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The kind folks at Clarksville Guns and Archery have kindly donated this Hard Shoot Target for demonstration purposes.  This is a unique target as it is a photo, with dye packs instead of scoring lines.  You can hit this target over and over, but you are not successful until you hit the dye.

I think this is a really good idea, and quite useful on a training range, however, the dye is very thick, and if you are not careful it can make a mess.

Because of this some ranges do not allow the use of hard shot targets, which is a shame, because I feel that when used properly, they make wonderful training tools – as they teach to shoot until you get a stop – watch the background for innocents (their are several innocent bystanders printed on the various targets), and to make situationally appropriate shots.

It was pretty fun shooting this target, and the realism is pretty good for a static target.  I am sure the argument could be made that the dye packs and the photographic targets without obvious scoring rings, and bystanders in the background make this a very effective training target.

Army Pro Tips: Shotgun Reloads

 

Army Pro Tips: Shotgun Reloads
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Robbie and Daniel with the United States Army Marksmanship Team show you how to be faster with shotgun reloads.

Like the Army Speed Reload video, the key to this is first understanding the motions and the practicing them perfectly.

There are two types of reloads taught in this video.  The side saddle reload and the weak hand reload.

The weak hand reload the Staff Sergeant shows in the video is functionally very similar to the combat load that I learned from the Department of Correction.

I like it better because it allows for more situational awareness and you keep your dominant hand on the gun.

However, the side saddle reload may be a little faster.

To me, I think a few thousandths of a second difference is not as important as keeping your head up and the shooting hand on the gun.

I also don’t think the differences in either method of shotgun reloading are as important as a good combat mindset and the willingness to practice a shotgun reload method diligently enough to get it down to an unconscious effort.

Practice makes perfect, perfect practice makes a shot-guner fast.

If you want to see what practice can do, look up Clint Smith’s video on his shotgun technique.  He runs an old double barrel like these soldiers run their semi-autos.

Army Pro Tips: How to Call Your Shots

Army Pro Tips: How to Call Your Shots
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Obviously this is not my video, this is a video from the US Army Marksmanship team and it shows an amazing first person look at what Travis’s sights look like when he breaks a shot, a course on how to call your shots from one of the best.

Knowing how to call your shots is a vital skill that you need if you want to improve your shooting skills.

What this does is allow you to know what you were doing at the moment you fired the shot, by knowing this and the shooting fundamentals you can instantly know where your shot went so you can make adjustments to get the next one where you want it to go.

As a young marine, the ability to call shots was emphasied to me on the rifle range, to the point that I (along with every other Marine recruit) was issues a small ledger that allowed me to copy down how my sights were set, the wind,  where my shot landed, and where I thought it would land.

Proper use of this book would allow me to grow in my shooting skills and become a better marksman.

Like that book, listening to the shooter in the video below will help you become a better shooter.

Army Pro Shooting Tips: How to Speed Reload a Pistol

 

Army Pro Shooting Tips: How to Speed Reload a Pistol
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This YouTube video is of Corporal Travis Tomasie of the United States Army Marksmanship Unit teaching the speed reload.

I have shared other videos of Tomasie performing a speed reload.  His speed seems amazing, and it is pretty impressive, but it is doable if you have the same drive and devotion to practice that he has.

There is nothing fancy or impossible about his speed.  It is simple the result of perfect practice repeated repeatedly.

Learn From the Best – Practice What You Learn

If you want to know how to speed reload a pistol watch the video and learn from a great shooter.

If you want to speed reload quickly apply that knowledge with hours of practice.

One thing I would add to this video concerns practice.  I like to stand over my bed so that my magazines land on the bed.  I don’t do this because I am afraid of hurting them when they hit the floor.  I do that because it saves me time picking them back up so I get more practice in a single session.

I load up my belt with all my magazine holders and go through each magazine and then pick up all the magazines and restart.

It is also helpful to ensure at least one dummy is in the magazine.

Practice Constantly: It is the Cost of Competency

Practice over and over until you get your speed to where you want it and then practice more because you won’t function perfectly under stress.

If this sounds like overkill in discussing the need for practice then practice until you get it.  I cannot stress enough how speed like this is achieved only though dedicated practice that is done perfectly.

Don’t slap dash through it and try to get speed by sloppy action.  It won’t happen.  Go slow and be precise in your movements. A thousand half speed repetitions will build speed faster than anything else you can do.  Whereas sloppy repetitions done under what you think is extreme speed will make you perform worse.

Bob Munden

Bob Munden
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Bob Munden is a legendary trick shot.  He can do things with a revolver that will blow your mind.

I love watching this trick shot, and even though I know how he did it (and think its cheating) I cannot replicate it.

Before he passed in 2012 he was a world-renowned exhibition shooter with handguns, rifles and shotguns and held 18 world-records for fast draw techniques.

Guinness World Records even named Bob Munden the “Fastest Man with a Gun Who Ever Lived”.

In the video above Bob Munden is using a Colt .45 single-action revolver to shoot two balloons eight feet apart in less than a tenth of second.

That is pretty amazing no matter how he does it.

Wikipedia mentions that when he was on the Stan Lee Superhuman’s Program it was tested and found his hand sustains 10 Gs of force as he draws the handgun.

That is pretty neat in my book.  I like to show this video to my students so they can appreciate what you can do with devotion to practice.  Bob is the fastest but I also like to show Jerry Miculek shooting fast AND accurately as well as Tomasie with the world’s fastest reload.