First Day of Shooting

So we finally ventured out of the classroom where we have spent the last two weeks sitting behind computers going through lessons on burglary, abuse, report writing, courtroom testimony, etc., etc. Anyway, after eight hours a day, five days a week of that, any change was a welcome change. Monday we showed up in the morning at the Boise Police Association's gun club and firing range. We all had our duty belts, sidearms, and enthusiasm for this new adventure. The instructor came in and had us introduce ourselves in terms of how much firearms experience we've had. I was the only one to admit having BB gun experience and received quite a laugh. Most of the people in the group are either ex-military or from hunting/shooting families, so I was a bit nervous about how I was going to do.

We first went through gun safety, assembly/disassembly, cleaning, loading, and a bunch of other stuff. I was fortunate enough to be sitting next to a kid who has already been through this training but due to a paperwork foul up couldn't go forward with his group so he got lumped in with ours. Anyway, he helped me with a few rookie questions that were hanging me up. Once we had the basics down, we got up to practice the basic maneuvers. This instruction was all about economy of motion, practicality, and maximum effectiveness/protection. I was going to make a video, but I figured I'd wait until I'm a bit more polished before I show the whole routine. It was pretty cool stuff to learn and frankly a lot more complicated than I ever would have thought. Our instructor has been on the force for 27 years, with 9 years in the SOU (Special Operations Unit) and he has attended firearms training seminars all over the country and has taught almost everyone in the department at one time or another.

Anyway, after we learned all of this stuff we had lunch and then went out to the range. We started out with just "kata" style repetitions (the ritual movements you see people practicing in Karate and other martial arts used to build muscle memory by doing them "the right way" over and over again so that they become your instinctive response) of drawing, firing a single shot, and holstering. We then moved on the drawing, firing a single shot, scanning the room, protecting the weapon, and checking behind you, and then holstering with one hand and no looking. Holstering may not sound difficult, but when you consider that you have a couple of safety mechanisms on your holster that you have to disengage in order to draw your weapon, and then reengage in order to secure it back in the holster, the whole operation becomes much more demanding.

On the first series of drills the instructor wanted us to pull the trigger as slowly as possible so that we were surprised every time the gun eventually fired. This was an especially interesting point because he told us that when you anticipate the firing, you tend to consciously or unconsciously compensate for the firing action and your shots go off target. I did this four times over two different drills and the shots were almost on top of each other right at the bottom of the target - way off of the central grouping created by my "surprise" shots. I found a lot of parallels between shooting and golf. Whenever I think too much about the swing, or anticipate the contact with the ball, I grip too tight on the club and end up driving grass in stead of the ball. Anyway, I don't have time to go into all of it now, but it was amazing to see how well I could shoot when I followed his instructions.

At the end of the day we started to work in some time drills. This was hard for me because I was almost always the slowest on the trigger (but not on the draw) during the no-time drills. However, I was also one of the more accurate shooters in the group, although most people did pretty darn well for the first day. After the time drills, our last shoot was a competition shoot in which we all aimed for a mark on the center of the head and the person with the tightest grouping of shots (regardless of whether or not they were on the mark, as long as they were on the head somewhere) won. I tied for the bragging rights prize! It was a pretty exciting way to end the day. Anyway, here's the picture (including my sunburn):