Meet the Bullet Magnet Brigade and a few thoughts on combat marksmanship.

   This will be a semi-long blog as I'm trying to incorporate as many possible lessons/thoughts as I can.
   Again, I'm NOT trying to start a fuss-fest or piss people off, but trying to open some eyes and maybe help someone learn something useful. Here goes:

   I knew I was going to have a VERY light day at work, so I planned a stop at the range on the way home.
   It's been a month and a car accident since my last trip. As I had a concussion from that, I figured zeroing my sights should be the first order of business, just to make sure nothing changed.
   My personal "mantra" is "Train right, fight right."
   When I go to the range, I try to make my shooting as REALISTIC as possible, consistent with RANGE SAFETY REGULATIONS. That's why I zero from the prone (though I wimped out with a shooting mat to stay somewhat clean and comfy), with my webgear (you read that right) because it affects your body position.
   Six rounds later, my sights were still on, so I waited for a cease fire so I could put up a new target and have a little fun. I put my gear on my table and chilled. Couple of tables down, there was a group of guys, mid-30's to 50+, most in camoflage, watching one guy fire from the SEATED and SUPPORTED position.
   Seated and supported means you're sitting in a nice chair, your rifle is supported (usually with sandbags) to the Nth degree in order to set/check your sights. It's a comfortable position, and most commonly used to set/check sights, but not as stable as the prone supported position, but it works well enough.
   The shooter was blasting away from the seated-supported position and the brass was flying. Obviously, he wasn't zeroing his sights, maybe he had a bet of some sort going.
   I went back to my table, brought out my handy-dandy scope (broken crosshair, but the 4x12x40 scope does what I need it to do) and watched the guy lay down a fist-sized shot group at 100 yards. What shocked me was the cheering after the guy cleared his weapon. "Way to go!" "You qualified!"
   What. The. Fuck.
   Qualification for what?
   Turns out they were forming a militia and this was their "monthly qualification." Out of curiosity I asked what their standards were.
   "Hitting a man-sized target at 100 yards." Unsaid was the "from the seated, supported position."
   Failing to train is TRAINING TO FAIL and these guys were doing just that. I pondered how to tell them they're training wrong without looking like a know-it-all 'range god.' Fortunately, a cease-fire came before I spoke and it was time to change targets.
   While changing targets, I decided to ignore them and get on with my program. The range went hot and I was doing my thing.
   I'm NOT bragging, but explaining what I was doing so you understand "context.".
   As fast as you can, fire 20 rounds prone unsupported, first fire at the 150 meter target, then at 300. Repeat until empty.
   The drill gives you practice moving from near to far targets and engaging quickly. Most people tend to go for perfect aim when doing this drill. This drill is NOT about "precision accuracy" but "combat accuracy" (getting hits center mass, between shoulder and navel is the goal, not the size of the shot group). Change mags and do the same drill sitting, kneeling and standing. Total of 70 rounds of ammo.
   Here's the catch: Each magazine had two "snap caps" or "dummy rounds." As I didn't look when I loaded the mags last night, I didn't know WHEN the dummy rounds would come up. When they did, I had to apply immediate action. Doing this under pressure is hard enough. Doing it in the shooting position then resuming the position adds a greater degree of difficulty.
   Meanwhile, the "bubbas" contented themselves with their concept of "practice." Yes, indeed, they were having a great old time on the 100 meter line. I finished my shooting for that cycle then watched two of them repeat their supported shooting qualification.
   After the last guy finished, one of the group came over to me and asked me what "sorry assed loads" I was using because I was having so many jams. When I explained the dummy rounds, he got that "deer in the headlights look" while concept of immediate action went right over his head.
   "Good ammunition doesn't go bad," was all he had to say.
   While that is true 99.99% of the time, there's always that one round that always manages to make it past quality control. We've all had misfires. Common causes include no powder in the bullet. Heavy charged ammo (yes I survived finding a double-charged round with a Iver Johnson .30 carbine). Bad primers, deep-set primers, the list of possible issues goes on and on, but I digress.
   5.56 mm/.223 is one of the most popular rounds in America. Military and police love the round because it's lightweight and hard-hitting.
   While I'm confident my ammo (I only shoot handloads in my guns), will work, I can only carry so much. In time, I will run out and have to use ammo I've acquired from other sources. Can I absolutely guarantee that ammo will be as reliable as mine? No. That's why I practice immediate action.
   After a reset of targets, I went to the "weak eye/hand" drill. Not too intensive, just 20 rounds AIMED fire at 100 meters. Using different eye/hand changes where your bullet hits. While that PHd trigger finger on your dominant hand might know when the trigger is gonna break, your idiot finger on the other hand doesn't. Easy becomes difficult.
   Why practice weak-side shooting?
   Urban fighting. Imagine you're at the corner of a building, with that building on your right side. If you lean out far enough, you can use your right eye and hand--and make yourself one hell of a big target. Using the weak hand makes you a much smaller target.
   Once I finished my weak-hand shooting, I decided to go as fast as I can between two 100 meter targets, see how fast I could get head shots, 15 weak hand, 15 strong. My time was not impressive. Almost two minutes to fire thirty shots. They were all hits, but the goal was to do that QUICKLY. I packed my gear, policed my brass and waited for a cease-fire so I could reclaim my target.
  That's when the ranking member of the Bullet Magnet Brigade came forth and said I needed to "stop playing around and learn to shoot." Then he offered to teach me how to "really shoot" if I joined.
   I politely declined because dumbasses like those guys are known as bullet-magnets. Bullet magnets don't WANT to train, think they know it all and we should pay homage to them. 
   The world does have need for bullet magnets. They attract the bullets and carry the ammo those who trained will shoot.