by N.C., Survival Blog:
Physical Requirements
Can you stand for six hours a day in the sun and weather? Be brutally honest with yourself here. I saw one gentleman who came who could not. I felt so bad for him. To have spent all the money and time and be unable to actually complete the training would be heartbreaking. On the other hand there were absolutely people north of 60 completing the course. You don’t need to be able to run a marathon but you do need to be able to stand in the sun for several hours. Bear in mind that at even at your most tired, you are still responsible for controlling deadly force.
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If your body can no longer handle that sort of exertion, then consider where better to spend the money that you’ve earned and saved. Maybe you should spend it on a cruise for yourself. Maybe you should go on a trip to Hawaii or Florida. Or whatever it is that floats your boat. There’s a time to enjoy the fruits of your labors.
There’s also a time to invest and pass on the fruits of your labors. As an option, consider giving a loved one the opportunity to train at gunsite. As I was going through this I realized it would be a perfect graduation gift to a preparedness minded young person. As a young person starting out, you have neither your finances nor the vacation days to go spend a week training at Gunsite. The baseline skill that it would give them would be an advantage for the rest of their lives. Knowlege and skill travel free and they can always add more to the investment. If you don’t know such an individual, I would point you to the Jeff Cooper Legacy Foundation, administered by his children, which gives out scholarships to Gunsite to deserving candidates.
The following are my recommendations for preparing to attend a handgun course at Gunsite:
Marksmanship Preparation
The official Gunsite advice is “come as an empty cup” instead of entrenching any bad habits you have (or will) develop. I saw a young man come to Gunsite who had fewer than 50 rounds through his gun. At the end of it he was a competent shooter. So that is definitely an option and what they advise.
Having repeated the official position, I am going to assume that if you are reading this blog and considering going to Gunsite you already have a firearm for use if needed. You may even be a Concealed Carry Licensee. In which case, I don’t think saying “don’t train with your firearm that you may need to use” is the best advice. So I am going to make some suggestions here for things that you can practice that won’t hurt you and will make it easier for you to drink from the fire hose.
These are not Gunsite approved practices. I am not speaking on behalf of Gunsite. These are not Gunsite drills. These do not take the place of getting real training. These are just digging out the footings so someone else can pour a foundation. These are things that I wish I had done (or did actually do) that I feel would (or did) help prepare for Gunsite.
1. Practice Finding your sights or dot
One gentleman I trained with was having real trouble finding his red dot, even after 2 days of training. Evening of D ay 2, I shared with him the advice from Ben Stoeger that fixed me when I couldn’t find my dot:
- Look
- Point
- Dot/Sights
That simple. It’s so stupid it boggles the mind. Yet. Just a little bit of time practicing that protocol on different targets and you won’t be fighting to find the dot. First: “sanitize” that firearm: triple check that it is completely unloaded. Use visual and tactile methods to make sure the chamber is empty. Ensure there is no ammo in the room. Then: don’t overthink it. Look at the target. Point at the target. See the Dot. Repeat with a different target. You’re teaching your brain at a subconscious level how to point this tool.
Ben Stoeger uses the analogy of a computer mouse. You don’t look at the mouse or the cursor when you are using it. You don’t follow the cursor’s path as you move it. You look where you want it to go and when it gets there you click. Apply that same protocol to your pistol.
Ben shared this protocol freely on YouTube (although I can’t recall the specific video) and it fixed me. The gentleman I subsequently shared it with? Next day he said he was finding the dot everytime too. If you show up able to find your dot, your life will be a lot better. Your trainers will be grateful. Same applies to iron sights by the way: Look, point, sights. You’re just training yourself to point with a tool.
2. Scored b-8 slow fire targets
It’s not cool. It’s not exciting. But Pat Mac (a former Delta Force and master pistol shooter) said that if he had limited rounds to practice he’d put a target at 50 yards and put them on paper. You can hear him in his own words here. Elsewhere, he expanded this to say that his logic is that he needs to align his sights and execute a controlled press of the trigger no matter the application. These scored targets show how well you are executing those fundamentals.
The first time I tried at 50 yards it was a mess. It is not easy. Maybe it’s easy for you, in which case, great, but most of us struggle. Try a b-8 at 25 yards. If you’re not keeping all the rounds on paper at 25 yards (and I wasn’t), close in to 15 yards and work there. If you’re using a dot, go ahead and zero while you’re at 15 yards, Gunsite uses the 15-yard zero for pistols. Regardless of what sights you’re using I have some hard talk: it’s not the gun, it’s you. Your gun can keep all your shots in the black. If your shots aren’t all there, then it’s you.
It’s your choice whether to use one-handed or two-handed grip. I use a two-handed grip because I want to get good at one grip first. But slow controlled single shots with scored b-8s will help you. The progression of goals I heard was: All on paper, All in the black, All 8+. That’ll keep you busy for a long time, certainly til you get to Gunsite.
3. Low ready to Target
This is one I certainly slept on and have not put nearly enough practice into this technique. It’s dead simple. You can do it at pretty much any range. Point your pistol at the base of the target. Your job? Quickly and smoothly coming up and putting a round on target. Doing this on command would be best but even without a command or beep it’s worth doing.
