I’m always trying to change up my training so that I don’t create training ruts (think of an old dirt road with tire ruts) and I like training with others on the range. So I got to thinking, how can I do something fun and different this weekend?
I’ve done the target poker (shooting to make the best hand on a target with cards) and a variety of other fun things. But there aren’t always card targets available. So why not try a “game of horse”? Shoot a variety of shots and see if your training partner can match them?
You can vary how precise the shot has to be based on distance and the skill of your partner. Maybe you’ve got more training so you spot them 5 feet on the target.
What other mainstream “games” can you make into a fun drill on the range?
We have a version of “Tag” - At the farm, we often just use paper plates for targets. We sometimes play “shoot the hole”. One of us puts a hole in the paper plate, and the others try to shoot that hole. I want to change this up so it’s 2 shooters on the line, and we don’t say in advance which plate we’re shooting - that should help open up the focus area.
We also use a sort of “duck duck goose” … shooter walks back and forth at the shooting line to the left, to the right, to the left… At a random moment, the other person says “Now” or “Threat” or something like that and the shooter has to turn where they are (from either right or left side to targets), draw and shoot. Disclaimer: We have ducks and geese on the farm and no actual waterfowl are used in this game.
Back in my black powder days we played game called “Gentleman’s Duel”. We set up two full size silhouettes at 10 paces-roughly 25 feet. Two shooters, separated by several stations, would face away from the targets with loaded pistols held pointing to the sky. (Just like in the movies, sort of.) At the command they would turn, aim and fire. The silhouettes had scoring areas marked, with heart and head shots scoring highest. Center mass hits had descending value as they got further from the center line. A few extra points were awarded for firing first. “Low blows” had points deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct.
If we had enough shooters we would run it as a single elimination tourney with a prize for the winner. Always lots of fun.
I suppose it could be run as a draw-and-fire format when using carry guns. Probably a little safer that way.
I keep on hand a bunch of different color/shape targets, diamond, circle, triangle, square in different colors, red, green, blue, yellow also has 12 bowling pins at the bottom, opponent calls target for shooter for target transition training.
