The Importance of Being Able to Shoot on The Move

This week Instructor Zee takes us through “Shooting While Moving.” While Zee comes across as just another guy on the internet, MSG Zee Durham was the Team Sergeant of a Special Forces A-Team, and not just any A-Team; but a CRF Assault Team. What’s that you ask? Those are the guys that do assaults for a living… The best of the best. So, when he talks about assaulter skills like working around obstacles and shooting while moving… well, this guy knows what he is talking about and he has done it “Real World” all over this fine planet of ours.

First and foremost, master the basic fundamentals of marksmanship. However, once we have a good grasp of the shooting fundamentals and safe manipulation of weapons, we need to introduce other complexities into our training. Moving does not only adding complexity, it is adding a necessary ingredient for survival! We cannot sit still and hope for the best when someone is sending bullets our way. Even if you never trained a day in your life, I guarantee that you will move in some manner if you hear the zing of a bullet by your head. Since that is true, we should deliberately train to move in a fashion that sets us up for success, don’t you think? We want to move aggressively and also employ our weapon system accurately so we must have a method that allows for a steady sight picture. That is what we show here. Heel to toe, knees bent for shock absorber support, upper body stays as level as possible. While that sounds easy, it really takes practice. Watching a video is not going to make you a master of shooting while moving.

 

You need to practice this and you need to practice this a lot. Now, we are big on dry-firing at home. You can also “dry-fire” moving drills at home. However, you wandering around the house with a weapon in your hand may freak out the pets and neighbors. Zee mentions in the video that you can actually use a two-thirds full water bottle in place of your pistol. Turn the bottle over, and grip it like you would your pistol. The water level should be high enough so you can see the level over your hands or the label. Now, just float through the house focusing on heel to toe, knees bent, and trying to keep the water level from splashing around. Trust me, while it sounds silly, this training technique really helps.

From a competition standpoint, it will always be more accurate to plant your feet, engage the targets, and then move to the next array. However, assaulters don’t have the option of stopping when they see a threat, because they have a whole group of other assaulters behind them wanting to get through the doorway. So, they have to keep moving. Likewise, if you are involved in a real gunfight, you too will want to keep moving. Close the distance to the threat. Speed is security, as you are harder to hit when moving.

That said, you are just wasting ammo if you don’t practice it. Wasting ammo and missing in competition will cost you points and positions at the prize table. Wasting ammo and missing in a real gunfight, costs you needed ammo and, more importantly, you are responsible for wherever those missed bullets go. They are going to hit something.

So, once you are done watching the video, go drink some water. Then, when you’re ready, get out to the range and practice shooting while moving. The life you save may be your own.  Thanks for watching.

I hope you enjoyed the video. We put out a new Tactical Rifleman video every Friday. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you next time.

Strength & Honor, TR.

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