Chuck 43 had asked me if I could give a few tips to our members who are senior citizens. What I will say in this post are a few tips, and methods to help you train for anything that may come your way, that also doesn't require a of exhausting training. Also a few things you can do at home to keep up when you cant get out to the range or your range wont let you train the way you want to. We all need to practice to the best of our abilities and as a NRA Defensive Pistol Instructor I figured Id throw up a post of things that can be very useful.
Practice in your own home.
Unload pistols and practice drawing from sitting positions, standing, from a wheelchair , even laying in bed.
Pick up one of these.
LaserLyte ? Trainer Pistol Cartridge
Basically a laser cartridge that goes in the chamber of your gun, when you pull the trigger the firing pin will activate it and emit a red dot on the wall.
Perfect for practicing grip, stance, and trigger control at home without the need for a range. Whatever happens with that little red dot is exactly whats going to happen when you drop the hammer on a real gun minus the recoil so its an amazing training aid and well worth the money, i believe cabelas sells a more cost effective model as well.
Another cool trick you can do on the couch even is try to balance a dime on your fright sight.
Then using snap caps practice trigger pressure and pull. Pull the trigger as many times as you can evenly and smoothly without letting the dime fall off.
When you go to the range this will translate directly into live fire shooting.
For in home defense pick the room that you spend the most time in. Notice the windows, entry ways and angles of vision that one coming into the room may have. Find blind spots and areas where you can see them but they cant see you. Honestly defending your home should NEVER be a person getting ambushed in their castle, it should be them doing the ambushing.
Draw training you can practice at home but if you belong to a range that doesn't allow drawing from a holster. try this out :-)
Stand or sit at your range stall and muzzle the bench in front of you, bring your sights up and let go of a round or two, then bring the gun back down. and repeat. as you do this slowly pick up a speed that is comfortable for you to go as quickly as your allowed to. This helps with target acquisition without violating rage rules. when you get back home do the same thing but incorporate the draw motion into it. Eventually the two will join together and your muscle memory will take shape.
Practice reloads at home as well. As many times as you have energy to do so. Muscle memory is not biased and no matter where you practice it will have the same effect.
For members who dont have the range of motion to easily rack a slide a way to make it easier is to not try to pull the slide back with your weak hand. But to hold the slide with your weak hand and push the frame forward with your gun hand. This uses the muscles in your entire arm and shoulder to cycle the weapon instead of just your wrist and forearm.
Wheelchair bound users can also use the tire on the wheelchair to hook the rear sight of the weapon and push the frame forward with their strong hand, this will cycle the weapon in itself and the rubber from the wheel will get a good grip on the rear sight :-)
Users with bad eyesight can use point shooting to gain accuracy when using sights is no longer an option.
Use your pointer finger along the frame rail to simply point at the target, then drop the finger and squeeze the trigger. Generally speaking where your index finger was pointed is where the round is going to end up :-)
Also try to remember the difference between cover and concealment. You can lay down cover fire to get where you need to be no matter how fast or slow you move, however if the mode of cover cannot stand gunfire you're just putting up a sheet between you and the attacker.
Cover is things like Stoves, Engine blocks of cars, Heavy wood furniture*real wood not laminate*. Steel doors or anything that can stop or outright slow a round and remove 90% of its energy.
Concealment is anything that hides your presence, drywall, curtains a bed, couches , thin walled doors etc.
Make sure to train with both in your own home and look for opportunities for both when you're out and about. rule #1 for entry into any public place is an exit. Seconded by cover third by concealment. if you keep those as your top priorities you will stand a much better chance should something go wrong.
Practice not sitting with your back to any exit or entrance, your CCW is your surprise tactic, you dont want to be surprised by them.
And always remember dont train beyond your own level of comfort. You need to have these things be second nature to you. If you're straining your failing. Keep it simple, keep it natural. If you have to try hard its not worth it, using a pistol in self defense should be as natural as brewing a pot of coffee, you shouldn't be thinking you should just be reacting. Train at your level of comfort until you dont think anymore, you just do :-)
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