Training for Malfunctions

I had a conversation with one of the directors at LCPCPC earlier in the week and he said something to me that sparked my desire to do this quick write-up.  As I write this, we are about to hold another Rifle Marksmanship Foundation Series - Day Three class.  This class is dedicated to teaching the student how the rifle functions and how to fix all kinds of malfunctions.  This is the third day of training for our basic rifle instruction, and it closely mirrors our Day Three for Pistol Marksmanship.  Basically, right after we teach you how to properly put holes in paper where you want them, we want you to learn how to keep your firearm up and in the fight. 

We do a deep dive in this class, showing you a multitude of malfunctions -- from the most common to some that you don’t see as much, but are catastrophic if you’ve never seen them before.  Around 6 months ago I posted a picture of me, in this same class, demonstrating how to fix a bolt override in an AR with only one hand.  LOL, it does take a little work to get that one up.  A few individuals gave me some flack over it, saying it was unrealistic and other such nonsense.  I feel it’s quite realistic.  Plus, working these hard problems in class helps the student to keep going until it’s solved. 

Ok, back to the conversation I had with one of the directors.  He was talking about one of his friends who was just injured in a gun fight.  Where do you think his injuries were?  In his hands.  As well, his pistol was damaged in the fight.  As anyone who has spent time doing real force-on-force training can tell you, where will you get hit? Statistically, unless you are running away, it’s the hands.  Most people, unless trained, focus their attention on the scary thing, i.e., the gun.  I have written multiple articles about training yourself out of this fixation, and actually placing hits where they should be. 

This reality is why it is so important to understand how your firearm functions, and to train to fix the malfunctions.  It is the reason why it’s important to learn techniques using both your strong hand and your weak hand to fix these malfunctions and get your firearm back up in the fight.  You don’t want the first time you see a type of malfunction to be when you’ve just been injured in a fight. 

I hate, I absolutely HATE when people use the excuse, “Things would have to be really bad if I had to do that,” to avoid new or difficult training.  You’re not just cheating yourself, you’re cheating those around you that you might be able to save.  This is the reason why we dedicate a whole day of training to working malfunctions and not just a 15-minute mention in class.  I highly recommend you make fixing malfunctions a part of your normal training regime.  It’s one of the reasons we have the Level One - Day Three classes available as a stand-alone class.  We have plenty of students who completed Level Two and Level Three classes that keep coming back to this day of malfunctions. 

Jared