mass gun safety course Archives

Hitting Your Target: One Big Tip To Up Your Accuracy

So you did the right thing and registered for a gun safety course? Nice job. I’m proud of you. I bet you learned all sorts of important fundamentals about handling, cleaning, and firing a gun. So, just to add some depth to your newfound skills, let’s talk about the one secret that will change your accuracy game for life and help you hit your target with greater ease: Aim small.

Hitting your target is about more than just lining your arms up. You've got to take your time.

Hitting Your Target

It’s one thing to practice shooting at a gun range or a virtual simulation. It’s another thing entirely to go out into the open and let one rip from your new glock. If you’re going to shoot it properly, you’ve got to know the proper technique. Hitting your target is not as simple as just lining up your shot and taking it; it’s about aiming small. It’s about hitting small.

But what does that mean?

Imagine you’re out hunting with your pops (or your son or your daughter or who the heck ever). And after hours of diligent waiting, a deer appears in the glade. Now, the key to hitting that deer is clear: aim small, hit small.

That is, if you aim for the target as a whole, you are likely to miss. But if you aim for a small section of the target — maybe a single spot — you might miss that spot but you’ll hit the target.

Aiming Small

If you go to a range or a gun show or anywhere with trained gun owners, and you ask them, ‘what’s the secret to better accuracy?’ — they’re all going to tell you something similar.

Take your time. Aim small. Hit small. And for God’s sake keep your eyes open.

These veteran gun users all know the advantage of aiming small. There’s just something about zeroing in on a tiny part of your target. Try it out at a range and you’ll see for yourself. Place a target out at 100 yards and fire the whole magazine as fast as you can. You’ll probably miss a few.

Now replace that target with a new one and this time, go slow, breathe, feel the gun as an extension of yourself, get your aim right, and fire a new magazine. Big difference. Now, do the same thing, but this time place a one-inch red sticker at the target’s center and concentrate your aim on that. Carefully fire three rounds and check how close you get. You’ll be surprised at your improved accuracy with just that small, but important adjustment.

One Last Thing

As you might have learned in your required gun safety course, taking time and care to properly handle your firearm is of the utmost importance. A gun should be treated with respect. The same thing goes for a target: whether it’s a paper target at a gun range, an aluminum can on a barrel, a duck in the forest, or an intruder in your home, knowing the nuances of your gun will go a long way. Aiming small and hitting small is not just about hitting your target; it’s also about cultivating focus and seriousness.

Guns are nothing to mess around with. If you learn to aim small, you’ll improve your accuracy, your confidence with your gun, and you’re also way less likely to cause any undue harm to your environment.

So remember:

Breathe deeply
Line it up
Aim small
Shoot with intention
Hit small

If you make sure to do all these things without rushing to the next step, you’ll soon find you’re putting your newly acquired gun license to good use.

Where Did Gunpowder Come From? Humanity’s Most Ironic Mistake

Have you ever wondered where gunpowder comes from? How it’s made? How it was invented? Would you believe me if I said it was an accident? Well, it was. A rather ironic accident, actually. You see, it all started in ninth century China. But first…

The strange origins of gunpowder

Let’s start with the ingredients

Gunpowder consists of three primary ingredients: Saltpeter, sulfur, and carbon. Saltpeter, also known as potassium nitrate, was first found as a white crystalline on rocks or cave walls where there was an abundance of decaying organic matter. Caves and sheltered structures were ideal for the formation of saltpeter. Large deposits have been found in ancient lake beds and deserts. And in the southern region of China, where climes are warm and tropical, Saltpeter was abound.

For hundreds of years prior to the discovery of gunpowder, the Chinese used saltpeter for a number of reasons, including the oxidization and transformation of ores and minerals and the curing of meats.

As for sulfur, it is unclear as to how the Chinese obtained it. Records on the subject are scarce, and those that do exist are ambiguous. We do know the Chinese began to make use of sulfur as early as the Zhou dynasty (sixth century B.C.). They were interested mainly in its medicinal potentials, its flammability, and its reactivity to other minerals. Sulfur and its compound vitriol — when combined with other elements like mercury — could be used for a number of pharmacological purposes, such as the treatment of skin diseases, malnutrition, and other ailments. Vitriol was also used as a dye for clothing. So it was for more than 700 years that sulfur found its place in Chinese society. As well as carbon, which is found in common coal.

But it wasn’t until Chinese Taoists began combining the three compounds that things got… shall we say, hot.

Where gunpowder came from…

It is normal for humans to make mistakes. LSD was discovered accidentally by Albert Hoffman, while trying to create a new respiratory stimulant for a pharmaceutical company. For a long time, everyone believed the Earth was flat. And just the other day, I drove on the highway without realizing I’d left my shoes on top of my car. Fortunately, they were still there when I returned home to look for them. But the point is, humans have been making mistakes since the dawn of time. So when Chinese Taoists set on the quest to create the elixir of immortality, we’ll just have to forgive them for accidentally discovering gunpowder.

The story goes that in the ninth century, Chinese Taoist alchemists in hot pursuit of eternal life combined saltpeter, sulfur, and coal in a near-fatal concoction. The result was explosive — literally. The entire house in which they’d been working burned down.

That’s right. People searching for immortality instead found gunpowder.

The rest is history. By the eleventh century, an official formula for gunpowder was written. And the Chinese used it for everything from fending off the Mongols to making fireworks. 12,000 years later, we’re still combining saltpeter, sulfur, and coal to fill our bullets, to make bombs, fireworks, etc.

Gunpowder has been one of the most pivotal inventions in human history, and if it wasn’t for one happy accident on the part of some eternity-hungry alchemists, it might’ve never come to be.

Do You Have the Training You Need? And How Do You Really Know?

Buying a guitar does not make you a rock star. Likewise, buying a gun does not make you a Navy SEAL. There are more than 100 million legal gun owners in the U.S. and I’ll bet less than half of us are properly trained to do what we think we can do with a gun.

What do you think you can do with a gun? And how do you know? Have you completed training prepared and presented by an experienced professional? Do you have a gun license? Have you visualized the scenario you think you can overcome so that your every move is already thought through, and when something does not work, you’ve visualized an alternate action as well? Have you practiced enough that you can load, reload, clear a malfunction and reload again in the dark, operating entirely by feel because you know your gun so well?

Tom Gresham of GunTalk Media describes it in a way I like very much. In my own paraphrase, he says we ought to be able to operate our guns with the same level of familiarity as we operate our cars. When we get into our car, we buckle the seat belt, put it into gear and operate the steering wheel, accelerator, brake, clutch and turn signals all without ever looking at any of them. We know it by feel and we don’t even think consciously about the actions we’re taking. We just do it. Can you operate your guns like that? If not, perhaps some training is in order.

Chris Sajnog, Navy SEAL Firearms Instructor (retired), literally wrote the book, and the rest of the program, on firearms training for our SEAL Snipers. He would tell you, again in my paraphrase, that top performance comes from completing an action correctly so many times that your neural pathways have created a groove so that when you take the action, your body follows that groove without having to think through it. You just do it.

Consider the five training levels outlined below that follow a training path along the line of practical handgun shooting. If we define “functional” as able to perform consistently well without having to think about it, at which level do you start to think, “I’m not so sure I’m really functional at that level?”

1. Basic Firearms Safety: I am functional with a proper understanding of how my guns operate, I can properly load and unload, I understand proper storage of my guns and ammo, I know the four fundamental rules of safe firearms handling and practice them consistently.

2. Fundamentals of Shooting: I am functional with the key aspects of shooting; a proper stance, draw, grip, sight picture, breathing, trigger control and follow through. (Yes, all 7 count! And Chris Sajnog would add an 8th of sight refinement following sight picture!) I do dry fire training. I practice visualizing what I want to accomplish with a firearm (the body won’t go where the mind has never been…).

3. Practical Handgun Shooting: I can identify a threat. I can identify cover and concealment (and know the difference). I can move then shoot. I am functional with tactical reloads. I am functional clearing a malfunction.

4. Advanced Practical Handgun Shooting: I can function when confronted with multiple threats. I can shoot while moving to cover. I am functional communicating with an armed team-mate during a gun fight. I am functional shooting with my support hand.

5. Scenario Based Training: I have participated in live force-on-force training. I am functional in a number of practical shooting scenarios due to live training experience and/or visualization through scenarios such as; a mass murderer in a church sanctuary, a parking lot kidnapping, a home invasion by two armed would-be murderers and other life threatening scenarios.

At what level are you able to perform consistently well without having to think through each action? Be honest.

OK, now you know where you are. Congratulations! So, where do you want to go and how do you get there? Since you’re reading this article you’d probably like to be a Level 4 or 5 shooter. Let’s walk through the different training approaches to consider and then I’ll offer my personal recommendations for the best training material from Level 1 to Level 5.

Books, Videos, Live Instruction and the Discipline of Practice

Books & Videos

A lot can be gained from books and videos. A well done book or video can teach the principles to help us “get it” when we enter a new territory of learning. Please keep three things in mind however, when it comes to books and videos.

1. Someone who can do it is not necessarily a good teacher. We need teachers who can help us understand and develop the skills we need. A good demonstrator and a good teacher are not always the same.

2. Don’t be a YouTube Commando. We can pick up some interesting tips here and there along the YouTubeisphere but much of what’s posted is just someone showing off. That is not a learning event – it is entertainment. Be cautious of the difference.

3. Books and videos by professionals are generally well worth it. Amateurs post videos to share their knowledge (or entertain) but professionals write books. Many professionals then also create videos to supplement their well thought out written material with helpful visuals. Stick with the pros.

Live Instruction

While a lot can be gained from books and videos, nothing beats live instruction. Where books and videos can help us understand a concept, live training makes it tactile and, let’s face it, shooting is extremely tactile. Our level of functionality increases exponentially when we get our hands on the gear and have a professional observe and correct us.

That professional instructor does require more money than any book. The financial hurdle of getting into a good training course affects most of us at some level. With this in mind I have two questions for you. How important is it to you to be fully functional in protecting your family? Can you bear having to say, “Kids, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect your Mom. I just couldn’t come up with the money to learn how to handle it any better.”

Yes, I know that’s a painful and extreme scenario but our topic is extreme isn’t it? Every time a murderer invades a home and takes a life, that above comment could be spoken by a survivor. Don’t let that be your family! Make the time. Find the money. Instead of buying another gun, buy some training instead!

A lot of training is actually quite affordable anyway. For those of us in New England, the go-to place is Sig Sauer Academy. Have you ever heard the rumor, “Oh I’d love to go to Sig Sauer but it’s like $1,500 for a course.” I’ve heard that one many times and it is complete bologna. They have multiple practical shooting, concealed carry, close quarters combat courses, and others, in which you can spend a day with an instructor in a small class for $500 or less, including the ammo! If you want to spend a week you can go from Level 1 firearms basics on Monday and by Friday you’re doing advanced drills. Now that will take you to somewhere closer to $1,500 but you blaze through multiple levels in a very short time. Personally, I think it’s better to take a one or two day course at a time because you will learn things that you need to practice before moving on to another level. This brings us to the final portion on the discipline of practice.

The Discipline of Practice

“Pave your Path to Perfection” is the concept and slogan we hear from Chris Sajnog for those of us who are familiar with his training material (and if you’re not, you should be!). When we have practiced our draw correctly and perfectly so many times that a physical pathway is developed in our neural system (sometimes referred to as muscle memory) we become functional as defined above; doing it correctly and smoothly without having to think through it. We need a functional draw, a functional sight picture, a functional trigger pull, etc. Becoming functional in these actions requires the discipline of practice.

I recently took a practical handgun, one-day course at Sig Sauer Academy and came away with a couple key things I knew needed improvement; grip and tactical reloads. Using the concepts I learned from Sajnog’s book, Navy SEAL Shooting, I worked through the disciple of practice:

Bought hand grips to strengthen my hands and forearms and solidify my grip.

Dry fire practiced with a perfect hand placement on the holstered pistol up to presentation with a focus on grip and support hand placement.

Did the above with my smart phone video at the range so I could see from an objective point of view exactly what was happening and make corrections.

Completed many slow and perfect repetitions from draw to presentation.

That was my range session that day. No ammo fired.

The next week I did all the same things but the focus was on tactical reloads. Again, just slow perfect repetition. For this I did use ammo only because I wanted to include the slide lock in my neural pathway development.

The next week, I brought out the targets and ammo to confirm my improved grip and reload skills, having also continued to strengthen my hands with the grip exercises. As expected, I experienced massively improved accuracy! I now “naturally” grip my every-day-carry pistol with greater control and stability than ever before. I don’t even think about it.

This is not a “hooray for me” boast but only an example of the effectiveness of disciplined practice under the guidance of a professional. If I can do it, believe me, anyone can do it!

How to Get There

I’ve heard it said that there is no such thing as advanced firearms training, only the basics mastered and applied to different situations. I agree with this. However, for the purposes of clarifying training recommendations at increasing levels of experience, I am going to organize recommendations into 5 levels anyway. The below resources are personal favorites and I am confident you will find them just as valuable as I do.

	Books & Videos	Live Instruction	Discipline of Practice
Level 1	New Rules of Marksmanship	Basic Firearms Safety Live Shooting w/Instructor Handgun Orientation	Memorize the 4 rules Learn your gun’s locks and levers blind folded (no ammo of course!)
Level 2	Navy SEAL Shooting New Rules of Marksmanship Chris Sajnog.com	Basic Practical Handgun Skills	Dry fire the 7 steps slowly and perfectly Visualization
Level 3	Navy SEAL Shooting Fighting with the 1911 ChrisSajnog.com	Practical Handgun 103 Practical Handgun 104	Dry fire the 7 steps slowly and perfectly IDPA competition Visualization
Level 4	Navy SEAL Shooting Concealed Carry 1&2 ChrisSajnog.com	Concealed Carry	Dry fire the 7 steps slowly and perfectly IDPA competition Visualization
Level 5	First Person Defender Target Focus Training Videos	Close Quarters Combat, Low Light, more… Martial Arts: Sport fighting is not combat but it will bring most of us much closer to where we need to be. Join a club!	Visualization of personal scenarios in YOUR life. For three days at the top of the hour ask, “What would I do if I were attacked right where I am now?

Level 5 scenarios include knowing how to fight without a firearm. We all need to know how to fight for protection purposes when a gun is not available. If it’s not in your hand, it’s not your primary weapon! This is another scenario I believe rightly fits into Level 5.

So what will you do now? You know where you are in this 5 level structure, you have multiple resources laid out for you. It is up to you to decide what is the right level for you to pursue and then to take a small step toward gaining that training right now. Click a link and buy a book or sign up for a training class. Get started right now! Go for it!

Stay safe and enjoy the training journey!

Rob Eggeman