akv
06-15-2010, 17:06
I attended the Rogers Shooting School intermediate/advanced reactive pistol course from June 6-11, 2010 in Ellijay, GA. Rogers Shooting school teaches reactive shooting, tactics are mentioned but the focus is on pure shooting skills. Bill Rogers is a former FBI agent, competition shooter, and holster designer. We were told the effective range for reactive shooting with a pistol and rifle is 25 and 150 yards respectively. The school’s philosophy of reactive shooting shares a few fundamentals in common with precision shooting, specifically an emphasis on the front sight, and follow through. However, it differs significantly in areas such as trigger techniques and the concept of time. While he clearly emphasizes the value and utility of precision shooting in situations and particularly beyond a certain distance, they believe when shooting at live targets you must shoot to a spot on the target’s timeframe, not your own, thus there is no time for a surprise trigger break. A live target will not be exposed for long, and will not wait for you. Flinching can be overcome by a firm consistent grip and the positive reinforcement of seeing the target hit in practice. Think of a field goal kicker, he would never learn if he couldn’t see the result of his kicks. In addition you must learn to shoot with both eyes open, since the targets are spread laterally enough that you need your full peripheral vision to succeed/survive. Finally, the school emphasizes training of the subconscious mind via correct repetitions under pressure conditions, they feel this is what will be retained in live shooting situations when the subconscious mind takes over. For this reason the course is deliberately high pressure, you either sink or swim from day one, and you must shoot a qualifying percentage test score to pass, it is quite possible to fail, for those who haven’t passed the pressure builds daily, you do not get a certificate for just showing up for the week. For those who do pass with a Basic rating, the challenge is to achieve an Intermediate or Advanced rating, or to a pass with a larger caliber. Less than 5% of all students achieve the Advanced rating.
The targets range from 7 to 20 yards, all targets are steel, two torsos, and the rest pop up 6" steel plates, some partially, others fully exposed and attached either to a torso or a wall. The targets go full speed from day one each being exposed for only .5 to .75 seconds, adapt to this pace or fail. Tests are shot from an extended ready position, a transition position (high ready, single and weak hand as well) and the holster. The concept of time is structured into “minimal human reaction times”. A minimal reaction time is .25 seconds. There is a chart for the minimum number of reaction times necessary to complete each test, you must acclimate to this pace to succeed. One test for example is from an extended ready with the pistol pointed at the base of a 7 yard torso target, at the buzzer, place a round in the chest, a round in the head, and then hit a separate partially exposed head plate behind a wall at 10 yards, all within 1.5 seconds (6 reaction times, though it can be done in 5). To be clear, this is not point shooting, if you point shoot here you will fail miserably, by the end of the week if you have been diligent you will get a sense of what “ just enough front sight” to get a hit looks like. The concept of speed is also clearly addressed, while target exposure is brief, there is no substitute for accuracy, if you follow the initial instinct to rush and spray and pray it will be obvious and embarrassing, you will hit nothing, you will fail. You have just enough time to get a sight picture and follow through each time before engaging the next target. Given the size and brief exposure times of the plates, you rarely have time to pull the trigger once the front sight is aligned. Since the decision to shoot is made from the ready position, you are instructed to begin pulling the trigger as the pistol is traversing towards the spot your eyes are focused on so the trigger break coincides with the arrival of the front sight on target. You should also be locking up your body on the shots to control muzzle flip. In addition they use a trigger technique known as “ flip and press”. After a shot the trigger remains held back against the guard, unless a follow up shot is needed, or you are engaging the next target. For the next shot the trigger finger is then released flips forward (in my case often striking the front rear of the trigger guard) before being pressed back for a second shot, and so forth. This technique took a while to get used too, but cut back on trigger jerking significantly. The idea is an object in motion is smoother than an object moving from rest, which results in net smoother trigger pulls, and has the additional benefit of helping reinforce follow through as you reacquire the front sight after the first shot. If you are focused and seeing the front sight the follow through allows you to correct and “steer in” follow up shots if needed. Finally, reloading technique and target sequence are also ingrained, you must step off the X to reload or clear any malfunctions, if you forget to do so under pressure, you forfeit any subsequent points on that test, also regardless of order of appearance, all targets must be hit in ascending order from near to far to count. The closest threat must be dealt with first.
Sunday Night
The class begins with a mandatory lecture at 7pm on Sunday night. The school shooting philosophies and techniques mentioned above are addressed, safety guidelines are stressed, and students are told of the Cooper color chart. Students are told what physiological conditions to expect in condition yellow, orange, and red, and warned many folks find the first two days to be very rough, stressful, and confusing, but the course has a 90% pass rate if you work hard, keep a positive attitude, and leave your ego at the door. The class was composed of 18 individuals. All but four were military, contractors, or experienced law enforcement from regional SWAT teams. If possible stay in the school lodge for the week, you will get a bunk and three squares a day and can just focus on learning. The curriculum entails drills and instruction and a qualifying test daily, you have 6 opportunities to pass the course. There are two tests and a night shoot on Thursday, the course ends at noon Friday. Instruction begins at 9am daily with a break for lunch at noon, and ends 4pm. Dinner is served at 7pm, then there is mandatory homework and dry fire practice every night, this practice is vital for improvement.
Monday
Any delusions of adequacy or ego are forcefully tested on Monday. A great number of students, even very experienced shooters spent at least part of the day in condition red. The combination of the new techniques, the pace of instruction, speed of the targets, and Georgia humidity are hard to describe. I am a civilian, and not qualified to speak on combat stress. All I can say is a number of the LEO and military students who had been in gunfights said the stress levels were very close. Under these conditions, to be frank I didn’t see my front sight all day, I was spraying and praying (they weren’t shy about letting me know this) and the poor results were obvious. By day’s end I was mentally exhausted and wondering how 90% of people pass this course? After the homework that night I was resolved no matter what, pass or fail I will see the front sight tomorrow.
The Week
The format for the rest of the week was consistent, drills in the morning, lunch and then the qualifying test in the afternoon. Drills included shooting at extreme close quarters, on the move, and at night. Somehow a front sight miraculously appeared on my pistol early in the drills Tuesday. At the risk of stating the obvious it is amazing what you can do if you can force yourself to maintain composure, and calmly focus on the front sight and follow through. Some of the targets are patterned, but others are random, in some ways the course was rougher on experienced shooters with bad habits who couldn’t or wouldn’t adapt. I was easily among the least experienced students, my take away was to force myself to slow down and be deliberate with my shots or risk severe embarrassment and failure, also I tried focusing on adding one thing a day, see the front sight with both eyes open. Then “flip and press” and follow through. If you can stifle your ego and follow instructions things seem to slow down and you begin servicing multiple targets. You learn there is always enough time to be calm when shooting, this is the constant mental challenge IMHO. Eventually you shoot a drill or test “dialed in” and your body learns what it feels like when you are doing things right. Your progress will advance after this point. The greatest challenge for most students was the single hand shooting, particularly weak handed only shooting and reloads. Half the course and tests are shot single handed, and a quarter is shot weak handed only. If you are focused it is amazing the improvement you can make with your offhand shooting skills over the week. For some reason I actually shot better with my weak hand than my strong likely because I was even more deliberate. You also learn to clear malfunctions and reload with either hand quickly and efficiently. By Thursday everyone is getting consistent hits weak handed, and conditioned to step off the X and weak handed only reload and re-engage in less than 7 seconds.
(continued in next post)
The targets range from 7 to 20 yards, all targets are steel, two torsos, and the rest pop up 6" steel plates, some partially, others fully exposed and attached either to a torso or a wall. The targets go full speed from day one each being exposed for only .5 to .75 seconds, adapt to this pace or fail. Tests are shot from an extended ready position, a transition position (high ready, single and weak hand as well) and the holster. The concept of time is structured into “minimal human reaction times”. A minimal reaction time is .25 seconds. There is a chart for the minimum number of reaction times necessary to complete each test, you must acclimate to this pace to succeed. One test for example is from an extended ready with the pistol pointed at the base of a 7 yard torso target, at the buzzer, place a round in the chest, a round in the head, and then hit a separate partially exposed head plate behind a wall at 10 yards, all within 1.5 seconds (6 reaction times, though it can be done in 5). To be clear, this is not point shooting, if you point shoot here you will fail miserably, by the end of the week if you have been diligent you will get a sense of what “ just enough front sight” to get a hit looks like. The concept of speed is also clearly addressed, while target exposure is brief, there is no substitute for accuracy, if you follow the initial instinct to rush and spray and pray it will be obvious and embarrassing, you will hit nothing, you will fail. You have just enough time to get a sight picture and follow through each time before engaging the next target. Given the size and brief exposure times of the plates, you rarely have time to pull the trigger once the front sight is aligned. Since the decision to shoot is made from the ready position, you are instructed to begin pulling the trigger as the pistol is traversing towards the spot your eyes are focused on so the trigger break coincides with the arrival of the front sight on target. You should also be locking up your body on the shots to control muzzle flip. In addition they use a trigger technique known as “ flip and press”. After a shot the trigger remains held back against the guard, unless a follow up shot is needed, or you are engaging the next target. For the next shot the trigger finger is then released flips forward (in my case often striking the front rear of the trigger guard) before being pressed back for a second shot, and so forth. This technique took a while to get used too, but cut back on trigger jerking significantly. The idea is an object in motion is smoother than an object moving from rest, which results in net smoother trigger pulls, and has the additional benefit of helping reinforce follow through as you reacquire the front sight after the first shot. If you are focused and seeing the front sight the follow through allows you to correct and “steer in” follow up shots if needed. Finally, reloading technique and target sequence are also ingrained, you must step off the X to reload or clear any malfunctions, if you forget to do so under pressure, you forfeit any subsequent points on that test, also regardless of order of appearance, all targets must be hit in ascending order from near to far to count. The closest threat must be dealt with first.
Sunday Night
The class begins with a mandatory lecture at 7pm on Sunday night. The school shooting philosophies and techniques mentioned above are addressed, safety guidelines are stressed, and students are told of the Cooper color chart. Students are told what physiological conditions to expect in condition yellow, orange, and red, and warned many folks find the first two days to be very rough, stressful, and confusing, but the course has a 90% pass rate if you work hard, keep a positive attitude, and leave your ego at the door. The class was composed of 18 individuals. All but four were military, contractors, or experienced law enforcement from regional SWAT teams. If possible stay in the school lodge for the week, you will get a bunk and three squares a day and can just focus on learning. The curriculum entails drills and instruction and a qualifying test daily, you have 6 opportunities to pass the course. There are two tests and a night shoot on Thursday, the course ends at noon Friday. Instruction begins at 9am daily with a break for lunch at noon, and ends 4pm. Dinner is served at 7pm, then there is mandatory homework and dry fire practice every night, this practice is vital for improvement.
Monday
Any delusions of adequacy or ego are forcefully tested on Monday. A great number of students, even very experienced shooters spent at least part of the day in condition red. The combination of the new techniques, the pace of instruction, speed of the targets, and Georgia humidity are hard to describe. I am a civilian, and not qualified to speak on combat stress. All I can say is a number of the LEO and military students who had been in gunfights said the stress levels were very close. Under these conditions, to be frank I didn’t see my front sight all day, I was spraying and praying (they weren’t shy about letting me know this) and the poor results were obvious. By day’s end I was mentally exhausted and wondering how 90% of people pass this course? After the homework that night I was resolved no matter what, pass or fail I will see the front sight tomorrow.
The Week
The format for the rest of the week was consistent, drills in the morning, lunch and then the qualifying test in the afternoon. Drills included shooting at extreme close quarters, on the move, and at night. Somehow a front sight miraculously appeared on my pistol early in the drills Tuesday. At the risk of stating the obvious it is amazing what you can do if you can force yourself to maintain composure, and calmly focus on the front sight and follow through. Some of the targets are patterned, but others are random, in some ways the course was rougher on experienced shooters with bad habits who couldn’t or wouldn’t adapt. I was easily among the least experienced students, my take away was to force myself to slow down and be deliberate with my shots or risk severe embarrassment and failure, also I tried focusing on adding one thing a day, see the front sight with both eyes open. Then “flip and press” and follow through. If you can stifle your ego and follow instructions things seem to slow down and you begin servicing multiple targets. You learn there is always enough time to be calm when shooting, this is the constant mental challenge IMHO. Eventually you shoot a drill or test “dialed in” and your body learns what it feels like when you are doing things right. Your progress will advance after this point. The greatest challenge for most students was the single hand shooting, particularly weak handed only shooting and reloads. Half the course and tests are shot single handed, and a quarter is shot weak handed only. If you are focused it is amazing the improvement you can make with your offhand shooting skills over the week. For some reason I actually shot better with my weak hand than my strong likely because I was even more deliberate. You also learn to clear malfunctions and reload with either hand quickly and efficiently. By Thursday everyone is getting consistent hits weak handed, and conditioned to step off the X and weak handed only reload and re-engage in less than 7 seconds.
(continued in next post)