Acclimation Drill Range Exercise #2

PURPOSE OF THE EXERCISE: To acclimate our body to live gun fire,

and to develop the awareness of if our body is reacting to the gun in a
negative way (blinking eyes, moving away from the gun).

WHERE YOUR FOCUS SHOULD BE: Focus should be kept on how your
body feels and reacts while shooting your handgun.

TARGET: Berm no target

ROUND COUNT: 15 rounds/1 magazine or until no noticeable reactions
are felt.
DISTANCE: 5 yards from the berm

EXERCISE - Build your stance, and then load your firearm. Build your grip
and present the firearm to the berm naturally like you would if there was a
target in place. Slightly lower the handgun out of your eye line, so that you
can watch the gun while NOT looking through the sights. Not observing
your sights while you are shooting will help you pay better attention to how
your body is reacting and feeling.
Now you will proceed with firing the gun at the pace of one shot per one
second. As you are firing slowly into the berm you will calmly watch the
gun. Watch the gun from each side, do this by moving your head slightly
around the gun slowly. Do not focus on anything but your body's reactions.
Take notice of any reaction that your body may be making, such as eyes
blinking, head or body wanting to pull away, tendency to jerk the trigger due
to tension in the body.
Or are you not reacting? Body is returning naturally after firing the gun,
eyes are not blinking unnaturally when the gun fires, pressing the trigger
soft with no increase in speed at the end of the press.
While you are observing the gun going off you will easily be able to
convince your brain that the recoil is not going to hurt you. Your body will
relax and you will acclimate to the gun fire. This phase is critical for your
body. Your body must learn to accept the recoil and accept that it will not
hurt you. This is one of the most important factors in learning to shoot a
handgun proficiently. Everyone can learn to shoot a handgun, but not
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Acclimation Drill Range Exercise #2

everyone can learn to shoot it well. A high level of awareness must be kept
at all times. Always be aware of how well your body is accepting the recoil
energy from the gun.
Our goal as shooters is to have zero negative reaction to the gun.
However our human instinct would love to take over and tell us to react in
several ways.
Here are a few examples: 1. There is an explosion going off in front of our
face, so your brain says “you need to pull your head away.” 2. The gun is
pushing back on you due to recoil, so your brain says “you are going to
lose your balance, so you need to push back so that you do not fall.” 3.
The gun fires and lifts, our body says “Lets force this thing into submission,
force it down and make it behave, I want to shoot fast so I will force this to
happen.”
Our instincts kicking in are what make shooting a handgun so difficult. All
of these examples are counterintuitive to what we need to do as effective
efficient shooters. Ron Avery, my mentor, taught shooters for over 30
years, and he always told his instructors “the hardest thing to teach your
students is to hold still!” So while you may be thinking originally that this
acclimation exercise sounds a little silly, it is actually the secret to
performance shooting. Acclimate to the gun so that you can hold it still
while it fires, let it lift without fighting it, and accept the recoil energy into
your body without reaction.

Conclusion: I highly recommend that every shooter begins their live fire
range session with this exercise. It is always a good idea to remind your
body that the handgun and recoil is not going to hurt you, and that you can
comfortably shoot, no matter how much experience you have. This
exercise will also help you become more aware and perceptive to how
exactly your body is reacting and feeling while shooting. Comfort when
shooting is critical! Comfort and acceptance of recoil is the only way that
you can stay relaxed, and being relaxed is the key to efficient fast shooting.
Acclimation and acceptance is instrumental in progressing as a great
shooter. To avoid frustrating practice sessions in the future, start with this
acclimation exercise to set yourself up for success!

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Acclimation Drill Range Exercise #2

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