What’s the difference between advanced skills and just skills? Not much. It’s more of a mindset than anything else. People want to feel that they are advanced, but like most people, I’m still learning everyday.
I can tell you what the difference is when I teach. Entry-level skills are being able to run the gun and make hits on demand. Entry-level skills include:
- Loading/unloading/clearing the gun
- Drawing and holstering
- Reloading
- Being able to identify and clear malfunctions efficiently
- Being able to make a reasonable hit on a target at a reasonable distance.
As we get into advanced gun fighting, it’s the tactics that make it advanced. We still have to run the gun and make hits but we start putting ourselves into actual scenarios and have to incorporate movement, problem solving, obstacles, and different shooting positions.
Tactics are the most important thing to learn when it comes to advanced gun fighting. The most important tactic a civilian gun fighter can have is move, draw, and fire while moving. Making a hit while moving is no small task and is an advanced skill that doesn’t take long to learn, just a little practice and an area that will let you try. Having an instructor will just make the learning curve faster.
One of the next things you will hear people talk about advanced skills most people call tactical priority. Tactical Priority is shooting the most dangerous person first and then every one in tactical sequence. Correct sequence would be near to far or everyone gets one shot and then you come back and finish whoever is still fighting. The majority of people are taught this thinking and it’s BS. It will get you killed. If there is more then one attacker, you need to be moving. Move to get all the attackers in line so they have to shoot through each other to get to you. It’s your best hope of winning the gun battle. Too many “advanced fighting” schools teach you to stand there and shoot at all three of them (for some reason in a firearms course, it’s always three) giving you a false sense of being able to win.
When I teach advanced multi-target techniques, I start with a man-on-man drill to prove how bad an idea this is. Then I teach movement to hopefully create an opportunity to win the fight.
Other advance skills are fighting from different positions. Most schools I’ve been to, we only fight on our feet facing the target in a good standing position. While I would much rather be standing in a gunfight so I can move, I might be on the ground. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be there at all. As you get more advanced, you need to learn those different positions and learn to fight from those different positions.
If your advanced classes aren’t teaching you this stuff, you need a new school. Try someone else until you can get someone that will teach you to win. I’m teaching an advanced course here in San Antonio September 14 and 15. If you want to learn how to win a fight, come train with me for a couple days. You can find all the details here Advanced Beyond Concealed Carry.
As you check out teachers and ranges, don’t forget your survival instincts when it comes to fighting. If you instincts tell you to move instead of standing touching your target, you should probably be moving. It’s easier to work with those instincts than to train them out of you. The best advice I can give on how to find a good trainer is by asking why questions. Why do you shoot on the move? Why do we stand in front of three bad guys and try to out draw them? If the instructor can explain why they are doing something so you can understand it, they are probably worth your time, effort, and money. If they can’t explain why, go somewhere else.
Stay Safe,