By Chris Cerino
Chris Cerino is a nationally known firearms instructor who has been training law enforcement officers and military for more than 10 years. He will now be writing a monthly “Training Tips” column for The Gun Mag.com. He has worked in law enforcement positions for municipal, county, state and federal agencies spanning 19 years. A majority of those years have been spent in tactical and firearms related fields. His skills are founded in life experience. Literally immersed in pistol training, finding new ways to get shooters to feel comfortable and perform to strict standards is what made Chris the shooter and instructor that he is today. He is the director of training for Chris Cerino Training Group LLC. Teaching the importance of fundamentals in a “do as I do” fashion is what has caused him to be a respected instructor across the country. Chris remains immersed in the firearms industry by teaching and competing nationwide.
Training is a hard commodity to sell—especially if a title or description includes the words basic or fundamentals. Most people are looking for a course that’s not basic, they want advanced. The difference between the two can be huge. Labeling training to sell may be very different from what the actual training may be. This causes confusion, frustration, disappointment and a monetary waste for attendees.
I am usually hesitant to label any course advanced for fear of disappointing the thrill seekers who come with hopes of saturating the air with lead. Bullets are too expensive and training time is too valuable to waste. I think every bullet fired should have training value. Do you?
J. Michael Plaxco, professional shooter and author of the book Shooting From Within, said it best when he said, “There are no advanced techniques, only advanced applications.” Plaxco summed up my sentiments exactly in that one statement. For the last decade I have devoted my training to a “mastery of the basics.” After all, advanced shooters are nothing more than those who can apply the basics at speed and under stress.
When you are looking to spend your hard-earned money on training you need to make a decision. Are you looking for cool drills and someone who will tell you how good you’re doing no matter what? Or are you looking for higher understanding and constructive advice? It is possible to get both. Often times, not. Instructors are different. Some can run a safe range with basic drills or training and others run ranges that are full of controversial new ideas or techniques. Very few fully understand the importance of the basics, or simply shy away from them in favor of “flavor of the day” exciting range sessions. Yet for others, the term “basics” has been dumbed down to an understanding of how a specific gun functions, how to handle it safely and discharge it in a safe direction. Most students feel this way as well, wanting to get on to the advanced applications without ever getting a grip on the basics or fundamentals. You have no idea how hard it is to sell the basics. Everybody wants “advanced training.” The basics are what will win the day or the competition. Take a serious look at yourself and your abilities when you seek training. Do you have a competent start? Can you handle your guns safely and in sound fashion? Can you load, unload, draw or present and hit what you are aiming at? You have to have a solid base before you can start to build up.
I know many of you love to test your skills. So do I. A friend and I shoot bowling pin matches at a local range on an irregular basis to vet our skills. We rarely lose despite the fact that there are some very good shooters there. Honestly, since we have been shooting these matches, the competition keeps getting tougher and I can tell you why. Most of the regular shooters watch us closely and ask a variety of questions about how we shoot so fast, so smooth or so accurately. In the beginning they seemed frustrated with our answers. “It’s all about the basics and the fundamentals,” we told them. As time went on they began to understand the truth in that statement. We focus on the basics in high speed fashion.
Another Plaxco quote is, “You will be fast, if you practice to be fast.” That statement is very true but very hard because it takes discipline and solid coaching from trainers or peers. It’s not just shooting bullseyes when you’re shooting targets against another shooter under time and ammo restraints. You do, however, need to know what it takes to hit.
A quick overview of a pin match can help to put into perspective what I mean. A pin match consists of a semi-automatic pistol (or revolver), two magazines with 8 rounds each, and 5 bowling pins set about one foot apart at 25 feet. On command, you and another shooter engage the pins, until either someone knocks all the pins down or you run out of bullets. It looks and even sounds advanced but let’s dissect the skills necessary to do this. There are several basic skills being applied at speed and under some serious stress, as this is a head-to-head race. You, the shooter, need to be able to shoot one pin at a time, not think about shooting all five pins at once and somehow, not worry about how your opponent is doing as you see his pins falling in your peripheral vision.
The basic skills needed individually broken down are these:
— Presentation of the pistol to the first target
— Sight alignment upon presentation
— Sight picture
— Trigger management (knowing how to manage your guns trigger)
— Transitioning multiple targets
— Reloading skills (if you need that second magazine)
—Follow through (maintaining all the fundamentals of marksmanship through the break of each round)
I don’t think any of you would consider any single item listed to be an advanced technique. Especially if you put it into the scenario of shooting cans off a rail in your own backyard. The key to success here will be your ability to control yourself mentally, understanding economy of motion and knowing why you miss. It’s not rocket science but it’s not exactly easy either. Have you attended training where students were pitted against each other? Have you ever been to training where an instructor told you why you missed a shot, lost a challenge or failed to accomplish a task and then corrected you so that you could win, prevail or succeed? Running a range or being a “certified” instructor is a lot different that being an actual coach. It is important to vet any trainer and training you are looking to attend. You should ask them how they view the fundamentals, weapons handling skills and gear manipulation. Ask them how this training will improve your skills in those areas?
Back to the pin match! Once on the line and ready, your skills need to be such that you can simply react to the start command. Take that whole list of individual tasks from above and throw them into a funnel, swirl ’em around and what comes out of the spout should be quick, decisive, accurate fire.
Here is something to work on.
While presenting the pistol the sights interrupt your plane of vision between eyes and target.
As those sights interrupt they align, and focus changes to the sights with sight picture happening.
When sights are acquired and coming to alignment with sight picture, the trigger finger meets the trigger and any slack comes out.
As the pistol settles and sight alignment/sight picture meets your needs, pressure builds on the trigger and the gun goes off.
Recoil is managed with proper grip (muscular and skeletal alignment) so the sights never leave your plane of vision. The gun begins to settles toward the next target as your eyes acquire the next pin and finger meets the trigger.
Slack is taken out and pressure builds until the gun goes off and the cycle is repeated for all five pins.
As a trainer I’m watching for your mental focus as you shoot. I look for unnecessary movements while transitioning targets or upon primer ignition. I watch eyes, body and hands. I watch for a loss of focus on the sights to look down range or to glance at your opponents pins. I also look for proper trigger management based on the type of gun you are shooting. These things are all basic and fundamental but done at speed and with stress added.
It is important to understand why you hit, but it is probably more important to know why you miss. So, as you seek training don’t worry about how advanced it is. Worry more about how it will test or validate your base knowledge and then elevate that base. Question your instructors. Ask why you hit, why you missed and why they do or do not do certain things. Greater performance will come to you through greater understanding.
Until next time remember: Those who can, Do. Those who understand, Teach.
Chris Cerino is an internationally known trainer of law enforcement, military and civilians. He has worked in law enforcement spanning 19 years. Most of those years were spent in tactical and firearms related fields. Contact him at chris@cerinotraining-group.com or phone 330-603-0788.
