Training with dummies

Training with dummies

Low tech, low budget drills with big rewards

This month, we are training with dummies. If we use dummies while training for combat, we can enhance our combat ability by drawing on these skills when confronted with the real thing.

These drills are deliberately low tech and low budget. They don’t require anything more than a standard “square range” and inexpensive supplies.

Setup and cleanup is simple, and range masters everywhere can modify these drills to meet the needs of the agency.

Ball and Dummy

The Ball and Dummy Drill is used universally by trainers worldwide. I didn’t invent it and don’t know where it comes from.

Training is simple: Have a friend load your magazines for you. He should load one third of your magazines with dummy bullets. That is, for a 15-round magazine, five cartridges should be dummies. When you use the magazines you should not know in which order the dummy rounds will appear.

If your gun of choice is a revolver, either have your training partner insert two dummy rounds into the cylinder or leave them empty. There is no TRT for the revolver. Shooters should simply squeeze the trigger again. The revolver is discussed here so trainers can ensure shooters are seeking and using cover during stoppages.

Now that your gun is loaded full of ammo and dummy rounds (hence the name of the drill), use them to complete your regular training. As the dummy rounds are chambered, respond appropriately.

The ball and dummy drill takes the fine points of dry fire training a little bit further. There are two training goals to this drill. Foremost, the purpose is to teach the shooter not to cause the muzzle to dive when pulling the trigger. The other purpose is for the shooter to respond appropriately to a misfire.

If you were with me last month, you’ll know “respond appropriately” means TRT. That is, Tap the magazine, Rack the slide (rotating the gun toward the ejection port), and resume the response on the Target. This will clear many, but not all misfires.

Shooters are minimally proficient at TRT when they can clear and accurately engage a stoppage faster than they can draw and fire from the holster.

The Ball and Dummy Drill is an extension of dry fire practice that confirms the shooter is using good technique to shoot. Done correctly, the shooter learns to pull the anticipation of recoil out of the shooting cycle. The more a shooter does dry fire and Ball and Dummy Drills, the more he creates a steady shooting platform.

The way to gauge training progress in the Ball and Dummy Drill is to shoot a standard timed qualification target. For this, I generally use a B-27 (police training) target and a timed 36-round qualification. This is similar to the qualification standard for many police agencies, and what we use for POST (Peace Officers Standards and Training) in California:

12 rounds/ 3 yards in 30 seconds

12 rounds/ 7 yards in 30 seconds

12 rounds/ 15 yards in 45 seconds

The shooter must score 29 of 36 rounds in the 7 ring of the B-27 Target. Please note that this is a minimum standard and should be treated the same way we buy equipment from the lowest bidder. You want the officer who backs you up to be able to shoot 100 percent under stress after running Code 3, then sprinting to your aid. We owe it to our brothers and sisters in the badge to exceed the standard.

Measure training progress by shooting a standard qualification without dummy rounds. Look for vertical stringing, or a tendency of the shooter to align their shots on the target vertically. The Ball and Dummy Drill, used correctly, should reduce it.

One of the issues I have seen with shooters with horizontal stringing this qualification is finger position on the trigger.  A simple fix is to ensure the shooter keeps the trigger finger bone between the 2^nd knuckle and third knuckle parallel to the barrel. That is, if this part of the finger points straight at the target the combat shooter is probably keeping the correct amount of finger on the trigger, provided the gun fits the hand correctly.

Weight training for shooting

Most weight training for shooters includes increasing strength and endurance. This drill is designed for practicing rescuing and shooting. It makes sense, but we really don’t think about it: If your training session is average, you have extended your arms in front of your body, holding the weight of a paperback, for about 15 minutes. If that doesn’t sound like much, take a 15-minute break and try it now.

One strategy toward becoming a better shooter (or a better law enforcement officer altogether) is to lift weights regularly. Fitness level means being able to work at improving a perishable skill for longer, thus increasing officer safety.

This is a rescue drill. It is done on a static range for a training session that will later include a dummy drag. The training objective is to practice moving weight while shooting systematically.

Begin with a backpack filled with weight. Start with about 10-20 pounds. I use a 5.11 Tactical Rush 24 backpack and bags of sand. I don’t recommend that you fill it with loose sand. Rather, fill with a couple of loosely filled sandbags.

The 5.11 Tactical Rush 24 is a little more unique than other tactical backpacks because the denier nylon and webbing, combined with the compression straps, will handle the abuse of adding weight and swinging it around.

The weight training drill is simple. Use a pair of torso shaped steel plates like Action Target’s PT IPSC Torso, when possible. If you can’t do steel on your range, use a torso shaped target like an IDPA practice target. You’ll need two of them, please one yard apart.

The shooter stands facing away from the targets, holding the weight filled backpack in the non-firing hand. On the “threat “command, the shooter turns, draws, and fires two shots into both targets, center mass.

The first thing a shooter learns when training with this drill is that one cannot hold the backpack full of weight at arm’s length and turn 180 degrees smoothly. This is a core strength and balance drill and the shooter will realize quickly that weight should be carried closely to the chest.

The second thing the shooter should learn is the efficient way to do this is to hinge the turn on the holster side. Turning on the non-shooter side will cause the gun to swing almost the entire arc before the shot. Turning on the gun side will put the gun into play faster.

The third thing the shooter should learn is how to engage multiple targets. Although I like the el Presidente drill, I modify it when I shoot it. Here’s why: When confronted with multiple targets of “similar” or “equal” threat, every threat gets a bullet first. That is, if the standard is to engage each target with two rounds, I recommend every targets gets a round, then every target gets another, until there is no threat.

Abusing Leeroy

The training goal here is to fight to disengagement. It is done with a full-sized, body weight, dummy opponent.

Every firearms training organization has a mascot. At NorCal MedTac of Aptos, Calif., Leeroy Jenkins isn’t really a mascot … but participants drag him around anyway. Leeroy has his own Facebook page.

Leeroy is actually an MMA grappling dummy with his own personality. Students at NorCal MedTac drag him point to point, and shoot while dragging, which is what officers should do with training dummies…often.

In one drill Nor Cal MedTac trainers have students mount Leeroy and fight him for 30 seconds, then engage a series of targets. When it comes to police training, fighting to disengagement, then shooting is a very realistic scenario.

This training needs a slight increase in shooter/safety officer ratio, no less than 1:5, and ideally 1:1. Begin with the shooter straddling the dummy. At the command to fight, the shooter punches the dummy for 30 seconds. When the trainer announces the time is up, the shooter engages three targets downrange. The targets can be similar to the el Presidente set up to start, but eventually officers should have “no shoot” targets inserted for force decision making.

Finally, shooters should start with Leeroy on top. Trainers hold him in place, while students fight him off, then engage targets.

Leeroy Jenkins does not win in these scenarios. He shouldn’t. There is no second place prize in deadly encounters.

Training should be strenuous-mentally and physically.  Be safe!