Went shooting with an instructor friend today. Was working on movement drills. 15 seconds draw to 3 shots. Target at 10 yards, 45 degree angle of sway. 2 to the chest 1 to head. Got great shot placement but I accidentally hit the mag release button and dropped my entire mag, when he saw me drop my mag he started yelling 2 more targets incoming and starts the target reeling in.
Needless to say I didn’t get the other 2. First one would have been in a not bueno condition. Other 2 would have had a nice Glock 41 to argue over.
Good instructor, he was paying attention to your situation and adapted the drill on the fly. Its why we should have a spare mag, not for more shots, but because S happens. Also, that was one of those rare training moments that an instructor who is on top of it can attempt to create the stress that is all to often hard to impossible to create on the range in a controlled environment. Kudos to your instructor and thank you for sharing.
I had a Marine GYSGT Range Master on a moving target range that slipped me a “Mickey”, with a preloaded magazine that had nothing but duds after the first 3 rounds. Same drill but I didn’t have a bench in front of me and the ultimate failure was if the target touched you. So I’m into the second mag and “click”, tap, rack “click”, tap rack “click” target is getting closer, I pulled the pistol in and rack"click", rack “click” at about two feet I muzzle punched the target off the bulldog clips and then boot stomped it.
Gunny was staring at me through his sunglasses with a HUGE wad of dip in his lip, hands on his hips when he heard the Marines laughing behind him, he didn’t miss a beat and turned on his heel.
WHAT ARE YOU F’ers LAUGHING AT?!?!?!
I HAVE DONE THAT TO EVERYONE OF YOU SORRY A$$'d P*&^K’s!!!
IT TAKES A GOD$^&N’d CORPSMAN TO SHOW YOU HOW TO HANDLE IT CORRECTLY!!!
They all got quiet.
“Here are two more mag’s Doc we’ll do it again.”
Me: “F U Gunny I’ll load my own!” The marines lost it all over again, he just shook his head and ALMOST smiled.
Wes is a great instructor. I learned a valuable lesson. Part of the problem was the mag hit the floor and bounced just a touch to the front of the bench (I have a fusion in my back from L1 to S2) so I don’t bend at all.
So I am sort of hanging from the bench trying to fish the mag with my foot when he starts telling me 2 targets Inc so I let go of the bench hit the ground grab one of the two mags on my side and am about to shoot from underneath the bench when he reminds me I can’t shoot from that position. So while I am getting up from my butt to standing I get up just in time for the target to be gently swaying a foot away.
The thing about it that made it such a good training was I forgot all about being at the range and that’s why I was going to take the shot from under the bench.
I did shoot the target anyways, once I stood up. Plus Catenary shooting is fun.
No animals were harmed in this training evolution.
Shoot one danged cow cause all the responsible adults kept you up all night talking about man eating Grizzly on the loose, and yes it was big , brownish , black and it WAS COMING STRAIGHT FOR ME. You get labelled for life.
It is one of my favorite posts on this site, LOL… You know back then the lesson would have been the cost to replace the cow, these days it would be the cost of the ammo wasted shooting a cow.
You almost lost me on that one. It’s a well known fact that Marine Gunnery Sergeants do not smile and if they do run screaming into the woods for a SERE evolution of training. Nothing good happens after a Marine Gunnery Sergeants smile. Especially during training.
Are you adding emergency reloads to your next training session? It’s a great thing to know how to do under extreme stress if there’s ever an issue with your mag/ammo! Your situation is a great example of where it would have come in handy!
I actually had 2 extra magazines on my waist, I even had my pistol reloaded and in battery in time to take the shots. But I was at the range and they don’t allow shooting from the floor.
The reason I thought it was such good training was because I completely forgot I was at the range, and was going to shoot the targets from underneath the range bench.
I broke my back in 2005, so to go from floor to standing is hard. I have to basically chin up til I can get my legs underneath me.
I have another back surgery where they are removing some cysts that have calcified in my back and are impinging my spinal chord so I wanted to tune my shooting up.
I got the first triple tap off on a target with 45 degrees of sway, dropped my mag, he called 2 more targets inc. I stopped fishing for the dropped mag and reloaded from my 2 mags on side, was going to shoot the 2 Inc “targets” from" underneath my target bench. He reminded me I couldn’t shoot from underneath the range bench.
So by time I got to feet target was in my face, so no I did not get the shots off.
But I learned a valuable lesson . To do a tactical reload regardless where I am.
He had me doing so many different scenarios that I completely got into the scenarios and forgot I was at the range. So it was great training.
I could picture the look on your face when you realized you couldn’t shoot from under that bench brother. We would’ve been laughing on our way to Starbucks.
When he said that I was like "fudgeI’m drt. I’ve even mentioned in another thread about how I would get off the x is to fall so I knew I could have made the shot.
But now before I go fishing for a dropped mag I am reloading first even if it was training. So even failing can make great training.
One other thing I learned is I’ve been working so hard on speed of draw and accuracy that my off hand has really suffered. I have a messed up left hand, so I may have to buy a smaller caliber for it.
I didn’t do til after I posted but I cut the targets head completely off and another cut at chest height with my Kerambits. I told him “you know danged well I could have made those 2 shots from below but there was no way I was going to make it from my feet to make it”. He said “yeah I know but I bet you will do a tactical reload from now on if you drop your mag”. All I could do do was " yeah your right"
I was pretty dangedproud of the shots those targets we’re moving back and forth in about 45 degrees of angles and I was feeling myself til I dropped the stupid mag.
Lesson learned…
