Concealed Carry Corner: How to Train for Carrying

Welcome back to another edition of Concealed Carry  Corner. Last week, we took a look at some of the best items to make carrying a concealed handgun easier. If you happened to miss that article, be sure to click the link here to check it out. This week, I want to talk about how some of my favorite drills help not only my shooting ability but help me problem-solve on the fly. So many people just focus on their shooting ability when the real issue is the lack of ability in problem-solving. Having to pull your firearm in an emergency situation and fire on a threat can not only be stressful but you’ll also be fighting your body for the fight or flight responses. Being in a self-defense situation is drastically different from shooting quickly at the range.  Let’s take a look at how to train for carrying a concealed handgun.

Problem-Solving Versus Shooting Skills 

When we talk about being proficient when it comes to carrying a concealed firearm, oftentimes we think about bettering our shooting skills and becoming quick when it comes to our drawstroke, and getting rounds onto the target. While this is absolutely true, many don’t recognize the hardest part about being in a self-defense situation is the inability to problem-solve when your adrenaline dump hits your body. It can be incredibly difficult to fight this since that’s the body’s natural response but working on your problem-solving skills while you are training can help train to critically think while you’re shooting.

Having the ability to accurately make shots and quickly make your hits is no doubt a vital component when carrying concealed, but we really need to start talking about problem-solving on the fly rather than just hammering shooting skills. There becomes a point where we become proficient and need to start challenging our problem-solving skills rather than just continuously hammering the basic shooting skills or just shooting static targets. Luckily, there are several drills out there that can not only push your shooting abilities but also start to challenge your mind when it comes to problem-solving.

Drills to Focus On 

When it comes to drills, there are an unlimited amount of choices to work on anything from accuracy, fundamental drills, or racing against the clock for the fastest time. When I personally go to the range, I switch from static drills where you focus on accuracy based on a time limitation to more dynamic drills where it’s a problem-solving drill rather than a straightforward shooting drill. I will give you a brief rundown of some of the drills I use on a regular basis to help train not only myself but shooting friends who go to the range with me as well. Here are a few drills I will typically use on a given range session.

Bill Drill

When it comes to warming up and having a straightforward shakedown on skills, there are few things as good as a simple Bill Drill. The Bill Drill is designed to draw your carry gun from concealment and fire 6 shots as fast as possible into the target while remaining accurate. It should be all shots in the A zone of the target. Typically these are fired on full-size targets but if you don’t have those you can use a simple white 8X12 piece of paper.

A good goal to draw and fire 6 rounds into the target is right around 3.5 seconds with the expert time being anything under 2 seconds. The most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to the Bill Drill is finding the sweet spot where you can accurately make your hits while still meeting the minimum time requirements. This drill doesn’t force you to think on your toes or use much brain power at all truthfully. The Bill Drill has always been known for being a really straightforward drill but in terms of a warmup drill to get your mind clear and ready to work, it’s one of the best out there.

Alphabet Soup

One of the most challenging but effective drills you can run is called the Alphabet Soup drill. This drill has a number of targets posted around the firing area of the range with various letters spray-painted onto the targets. This drill takes two people where one stands behind the shooter and yells out commands while the other person engages the targets called out. You can make it simple with a single shot or make it more challenging with double taps.

If that’s too easy, you can also do Mozambique style where you have to fire two rounds into the body and one into the head of the designated target. The main goal of this drill is to force your mind to focus on the correct target teaching you over time to have problem-solving skills while focusing on your shooting skills. Being able to work through problems and quickly engage the correct targets will help you train for a stressful situation where you have to focus your head instead of being overwhelmed by the stress.

Color and Shapes

You can take the Alphabet Soup drill even further by doing various colors and shapes adding even another layer to target identification. I typically have people try out and become comfortable with the Alphabet Soup and then add in colors and shapes. The person behind the shooter yells different color and shape combinations like “Red Square" and then "Blue Circle.” As challenging as Alphabet Soup can be, the addition of colors and shapes makes an already challenging drill even tougher.

In my experience, these are some of the best drills for slowing down a bit and problem-solving instead of just picking targets and firing without much thought. Static drills are fantastic, but adding in the ability to have critical thinking skills while manipulating a firearm really does add value.

Overall Thoughts

There’s no question that shooting static targets and working on your fundamental skills are an important part of building your shooting skills. At a certain point though, it’s important to start pushing yourself when it comes to problem-solving and forcing yourself to focus on various details other than just shooting. Most people will hit the range and just solely focus on building their shooting skills whereas practicing the problem-solving aspect of shooting is just as important as actually shooting and practicing your critical thinking skills can be the reason you survive a self-defense situation.

What are some other drills you guys like to do to challenge your mental skills when at the range? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. If you have questions about drills or firearms in general, feel free to shoot me a message on Instagram @fridgeoperator. Stay safe out there and we will see you next week for another edition of Concealed Carry Corner.

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