Question of the Day: Do You Train Like You Fight?

Do you fight like you train? That’s the real question. Followed up with, ‘Do you even train’ (brah) and ‘Do you even fight’.

[More] Seriously – I don’t know. I try to treat every handling of a weapon as some sort of training, but is it? Maybe? Is my training even training? If I get “real training” how long is the shelf-life if I don’t do it every day?

yes. either way, i go first.

“Question of the Day: Do You Train Like You Fight?”

That’s a REALLY stupid question, because nobody can know what they’re going to run into, nor do they know who they’re going to run into…IF I “trained like I’d fight”, I’d be carrying a select fire M16A4 and perhaps some other “toys”, but because I’m NOT in syria, afghanistan, iraq, etc, I can’t very well do that…Having said that, I shoot every day, and that’s about all I can do…

what a horrible video

The first mag is always very slow.
A perfect grip, with a perfect draw, proper sight alignment, slow press.
All done while standing squared away at the target. One shot at a time.
Follow up mags are quick. Moving, shooting then moving. Shooting while moving.
Our range is a great place with big pits and lots of props.

I learn how to be fast and accurate with a gun so I don’t have to fight.
Learning to be alert and situationaly aware is something you can train all day every day.
As far as “gunfighting” goes, sight picture and trigger press is all that really matters. Everything else is just DON’T GET SHOT. And if I have to practice that then, I don’t like my chances.

I train with my Mossberg in the manner that I’d likely fight with it: butt naked in the dark and without earpro.

I work very hard to fight like I train.

Yes, I have trained in similar environments. It is monumentally important. And it really boosts your confidence.

I’ve been looking for a range set up like:
Walmart
Gas Station
Rest Area
Restaurant (but not a French Sandwich Shop).

Still looking. Until then I’ll move my target stands around and shoot from around my truck, trees, etc.

When it comes to guns no, because quite frankly it’s not actually possible and even if it were the price would be astronomical.

I don’t expect ever to need to get into a “gunfight,” but you never know. As someone said above, I have no idea what specifics to “train” for regarding a gunfight, since the possibilities are pretty much infinite. What I do is practice situational awareness and conflict avoidance all the time, and do some form of dry fire exercise every day. Then, when I go to the range each week, I test my dry fire experience with live fire exercises, including moving and use of cover, various positions, two and alternating one hand firing practice, and a few other things. I seldom fire more than a dozen rounds each range trip. If I need to fire more to verify my dry fire practice, I know I need to do more dry fire…

I’ve tried to find a decent link, but I encountered (somewhere) something that said that your first 5 rounds in a firefight are expended before (even the relatively ‘trained’) are able to truly engage an enemy / target. I don’t suppose that means for point-blank employment of a weapon, but, I guess it still m i g h t.

I was trained to train that way. Dump a mag into the target as fast as possible, at the maximum ‘engagement distance’ for the pistol (40 meters) and at minimum ‘engagement distances’ with the rifle (7 meters), then work on the minutia.

I don’t know if that’s a good thing, but it felt like the right way to go about it, at the time.

Not everyone lives in a rural area with a large property to shoot on like that, or a big outdoor range near by that lets you run around inside the firing line. Unless you own a big property in a rural area, i dont see how anyone could realistically train like this on their own.

I don’t fight with trains.

I train to stay off walls and avoid sticking my gun or anything else through holes in a wall, too easy to get it taken away and bullets love to travel along walls. Other than that I fire to verify my guns are still zeroed and train firing on the move to and from cover with at least one transition between guns(rifle or shotgun to pistol and vice versa), one reload (tactical and emergency), and one malfunction drill (whether the gun malfunctions or not) takes maybe 60 rounds for a short session. 20 to verify zero (I usually do that with 5 then spend the other 15 plinking around) 10 for the first stage (from out in the open to cover), 10 for the 2nd stage (from one covered position to another), emergency reload rifle ran dry, 10 rounds (behind cover), tactical reload, 20 rounds moving back to start position, malfunction drill, transition, 7-11 rounds (pistol) on multiple targets moving to cover, transition, 10 remaining rifle rounds on targets from a stationary position. Probably over training for the most likely scenarios I face.

I don’t know, I’ve never been in a gunfight. Hopefully I’ll never find out.

I’ve been in a lot of sh!t, and recently at that, to say that I’m grateful for my training. I’ll also be supervising training coming up soon, so I’ll have a lot of opportunities to help train young cops coming in, as well as a few disgruntled veterans. Thankfully I’ve got a good crew to help me out.

I train like I fight.

I was at the trap range with my buddy the other day. He’s an old guy, but usually does pretty well. Anyway, he said “pull” to the RO and I had to correct him. I told the RO to release the clay pigeon and then yell either “threat” or “contact.”

My friend and the RO seemed puzzled. I told them that we had to “train like we fight” and “avoid training scars.” That didn’t seem to clear it up so I said that some experts from the internet insisted that we do it this way.

Sadly, I cannot train like I fight. Its very hard to find people willing to have their organs cut out while watching me stomp them into a muddy mess. I don’t screw around.

Do I train like I fight? Well, I train all the time but I haven’t killed anyone I train with, so no. Besides, I hear that they arrest you for that even if you don’t do it on purpose.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Police-Corporal-Charged-in-Firearms-Training-Accident-That-Killed-State-Trooper-291432491.html

I went to the range to train like this – it took forever for the background music to start. Kind of threw me off my dramatic slow motion action moves…
maybe next time

Pro tip: Lace up your boots.

Slow may be smooth, but it aint never fast. I wish we could bury that stupid trope. Slow is just frickin slow. You wanna shoot fast and accurate, then practice and train shooting fast. If you are getting all A’s in practice, then you are training too damn slow. Only fast is fast.

Let’s back up here a bit and think about the intent , or what I believe is the intent , of this post . OK , what I think should be the intent of this post . Train with your carry weapon , with what you have to bring to the fight . Are you are a first class sprinter or an average Joe , i.e. a 5’10” , 220 pound man with beer gut , bad knees , poor vision , and most likely suffer some disorientation under stress . How do you overcome these obstacles if and when you’re confronted with a bad guy or more than one bad guy that is prepared to cause you physical harm ?
I have developed several drills for REGULAR people that I personally train myself with and others .
First , let me acknowledge that I am blessed to own land that is secluded and remote that affords me the resource to create the training course I use . This is a resource that you should seek out if you do can .
I walk with 2 canes now , bad back , surgery not an option .
I have changed ( adapted ) my personal training over the years to reflect my transition into middle and late in life physical changes , if you are honest with yourself you have too , or you need to . You may also need to change your tools that you use for defense to offence .
I have gone from a 357 revolver , to a 9mm , to a 45 , back to a 9mm and now to a PMR 30 ( 22 WMR ) for my everyday carry . Each one of these were , by good conscience , fully reasoned choices on my part . My decision to switch to the 22 WMR took well over a year and I am now fully comfortable in my decision to do so and it all revolves around my training . Let me explain .
I now train myself to shoot in three ways . 1. One handed , both left and right , while balancing myself with a cane . 2. While falling backwards , I use industrial rubber mats and 3. From a seated and sometimes lying position . These are more than likely the positions I will be in if confronted by a bad guy with ill intent .
I feel better protected with 30 rounds that I can accurately place inside a pie pan size at 25 feet and closer under stress , from my ass than with 17 rounds that I miss 50% under the same conditions or 7 rounds that I may only get 10% hits . I also feel more comfortable with the idea of facing multiple assailants with my PMR 30 , it is a large gun , it is loud , it produces giant scary fireballs , it stays on target very well and very quickly can inflict 1200 grains of lead where I want them to go . Do I feel a rim fire 22 WMR is 100% reliable from a semi auto pistol format ? No , but I have found the ammo this pistol likes , it is very reliable , it expands well , it’s fast and has a tendency for a ever so slight tumble . It produces sufficient energy at defensive distances on tissue and bone and is known to bounce around inside a human in a manner that creates multiple sources of blood loss . The 22 WMR has enough velocity to penetrate layers of many different materials and is a flat enough bullet to give decent range accuracy if called for .
I have also been an advocate of stress training for decades now , and this can be achieved simply by introducing competition into your training , and preferably competition that offers rewards to the winner and loss to the loser , is under timed conditions and is unusual and entertaining . I believe the drawing of your weapon from your carry holster should be ‘ on the clock ‘ and always best 2 out of three .
My latest training exercise uses 10 helium filled balloons , tied to strings that range from 5’ to 6’5 and arranged randomly by stapling to a 10 foot 2×4 , 12 inches apart and laid on the ground . You make two of these and get your shooting buddy , mine usually being my wife and you have 15 seconds to draw and shoot as many balloons as possible . I practice this under the conditions I described above so my wife , not having to drop a cane , or shoot from her ass , has routinely beaten me on this drill but I’m getting better and even though I won’t say what we play for , I think I win either way .

A fight is like remodeling an old house, you never know what you are going to run into.

I train like I fight:
Dressed as a nun with a bullwhip on my hip, love and hate tattooed on my knuckles,
with a bottle of Steinhager gin

too old to practice all the un armed drills, keep whacking up the targets accidentally when doing Kurkri drills , usually run out of ammo before I can get into training mode, trigger finger gets stiff after a couple thousand rounds or so. some fancy gun trainer about half my age tells me that I’m doing old school stuff and it does not apply in today’s world, guess my understanding of a gun fight is out dated, so now I just practice blowing up empty beer cans being tossed of the porch then dance them on the ground giving me time to finish another one, yup porch shooting training at it’s best

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