Last December I took a combined carbine / pistol class from Pat McNamara – author of TAPS and Sentinel. During the class, we worked on an earlier version of his Grid of Fire drill. We did it with a handgun. The course works on bursts of movement – five yards at a time – in different directions, target acquisition and all of the fundamentals.

This past week, Pat posted a video showing and explaining the drill on his YouTube channel. It is a drill worth doing.

Pat’s company – TMACS Inc – and his bio can be found here: http://tmacsinc.com/

Co-workers on an indoor, square range working flashlight techniques on two dimensional targets.

Killing all of the lights on an indoor range and working various combinations of handgun / flashlight techniques is helpful in building a foundation for working in low light. It is the first step in low light training.  There should be a progression from static training in handling the light, then the light with a pistol, carbine or shotgun together on up through reduced light force on force evolutions.  One of the events should include a comparison of what you can see and what your equipment allows you to see compared to what your co-workers experienced. Continue reading →

Little that goes into one side of a car will exit the other side. You need to test what you use against a real car.

Day 2 started by de-briefing the vehicle assault / hostage rescue done by LAPD SWAT several years ago. Learning points including rehearsals, intelligent bad guys, observation skills, communication and un-expected actions by hostages.

We shot a four-door American made sedan with our duty rounds. The best performing handgun rounds were Black Hill’s 185 grain Barnes all-copper bullet and Federal’s bonded 230 grain jacketed hollow-point – both making it through the car to the exterior wall of the far door. While there are better options for vehicles, the .45ACP and full-power 12ga slugs performed decently. Continue reading →