‘Twas the Night Before the Range
‘Twas the night before the range, ‘twas quiet all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The guns were tucked into their bags with care, with dreams of lead in the air…
On a recent trip out to visit family in Utah, myself and some family were planning on going to the range. I found myself, the night before, after I had made sure the guns were ready and the ammo was prepped, in a very weird place. This was just a fun range. This was going out, ringing steel, and turning paper into confetti. As I laid there in bed, I should be excited, but my mind was a clatter, what could possibly be the matter? After long contemplation, I realized, Santa Claus nor the Ammo Goblin would be giving me anything this year for free. Every round that we spend on the range is increasingly more expensive. It bothered me not having a plan and specific training goals. I don’t know if this is a sign of the times or I just can’t relax. But it inspired me to write this article. The focus of this article is having a plan before you go to the range.
First thing we’re going to talk about is to identify your training goals. You need to set a watermark to show that you have achieved something or are progressing. This should be written at the very top of your plan. It’s your purpose. For example, I want to meet a certain time standard at a certain distance with a standard of accuracy.
Now that we have our purpose, we can start to come up with different exercises or drills to help us achieve our purpose. We have given you guys a lot of good drills that are designed to make you not only fast but accurate. If you don’t know where to start, take the things that we’ve shared with you in class and put them into practice.
Next, now that we have our purpose and drills identified, we need to divide up our resources so that we have the ammunition to do the drills. I am not a gambler, but I have many friends that like to go to casinos as a form of entertainment when we travel to states that have them. One friend would only take $100 with him, and leave his credit card and debit card back at the hotel with me. That way when the itch struck him, there’s nothing he could do. This is a good concept for those of us trying to conserve ammo. If you determine that you only need 250 rounds to meet your training plan, only take 250 rounds.
I’ve said it before in other articles and in classes, this training is for YOU. It’s not for anyone else at the range. If you’ve decided that you want to work on your support hand, do it. Even if you have Bubba and all his friends pointing and jeering. You’re not there for them. There’s no need to let them know that you’re “Inigo Montoya.” Remember, the goal is to be so good that you’ll only be satisfied with this gun fight if you do it support handed.
There’s nothing wrong with going to the range just dinging steel and making confetti out of paper targets. However, we live in interesting times, so I caution you, maybe you better do that with a .22. And remember that the most valuable resource that we have is our time. As I get ready to enjoy this Christmas season with my family, I think on the Christmases that I have missed, the time that I have been away that I can never get back. Ammo may become expensive, but our time is priceless. Spend it wisely.
Merry Christmas,
Chris