How to Cope With the Ammo Pandemic

Have you looked at ammo prices lately?  Dang, son! 

If something doesn't happen soon, we're all gonna be in the poor house.  Never fear, I've got a plan I'm going to share with you to help you keep your skills sharp during this ammo pandemic.  But first, let's look at how we got into this mess.

There are several reasons that account for the higher prices and ammo shortages:
 
1.  Record numbers of new gun owners.  Guess what, they also bought ammo.
 
2.  As more people work from home, the flexibility in their schedules are allowing more time for the range.  Guess what, that means they buying more ammo too.
 
3.  It’s an election year, so guns and ammo prices go up anyway.  Why?  Because guess what…...[you can finish the sentence.]
 
Shooting is a perishable skill. With civil unrest and security concerns mounting, you need to be training now more than ever.  But how do you do that without going broke?  Well, let me tell you what I'm doing.

Right now, I’m following a 90/10 training regimen - that is 90 percent of my time spent on dry-fire practice with the remaining 10 percent of my time spent shooting live rounds. 

First, let’s talk about dry fire practice.  Dry-fire practice is just that - it's doing all of the motions with the gun minus the ammunition.  Every skill you need to hone and develop with the gun (except for recoil management) can be done through dry-fire practice.

Whenever dry fire practicing, you need to check, then re-check to make sure there’s no ammo in the weapon or magazines.  Always make sure you're following safe handling practices.
 
Here’s a sample list of things you can dry-fire that won’t cost you a dime:

DRAWING:

• Standing
• Sitting
• Walking

SHOOTING POSITIONS:

• Standing
• Kneeling
• Sitting
• Supine
• Prone

ONE-HANDED 

• Strong hand only
• Support hand only

TURNING MOVEMENTS

• Right
• Left
• 180 Degrees or to your rear

WALKING MOVEMENTS

• Forward
• Laterally

RELOADING

• Standard reloads
• Reloads with one hand only

IMMEDIATE ACTION

• Jams
• Malfunctions

So far so good, but we can't stop there.  Let’s face it, as important as dry-fire is, we want the stick to go BOOM, right?  So, here's how to incorporate the live-fire into our program without breaking the bank. 
 
Here's what a sample range session could look like:
 
Take a box of 50 rounds and head to the range.  Start out somewhere between the 5-7 yard line.  Draw from the holster for each course of fire:
 
· Single shot ready-ups: 10 rounds

· Controlled Pairs:  10 rounds

· Strong hand only- 10 rounds

· Support hand only- 10 rounds

· Freestyle shoot - 10 rounds
 

For the freestyle shots, work on whatever you want:  speed, precision shots at distance, or shooting from the prone, etc. Just refer to the dry-fire list for ideas.  Change up the routine each time to keep it fun and engaging.

The key to making this plan work is you have to log the time on dry-fire. That’s where you hone your mechanics and weapons manipulation.  You don’t want to waste your time and money burning rounds on exercises that can be developed during your dry-fire sessions.

A great example would be reloads.  I can reload all day during my dry-fire practice.  I'll also be reloading during my live fire practice between my other drills, so there's no reason to dedicate ammo specifically to a reload drill. Make sense?

 
A quick note about training classes: if you look on our registration pages for upcoming events, you'll notice we are keeping the round count the same as in prior courses. 

Don’t let that discourage you from coming to class.  We can adjust the round counts down per drill, so that you will shoot less, but still get the full value of the instruction.
 
How are you coping with the ammo shortage?  Hit the reply button and let me know.