Competitive shooter Bruce Piatt was asked: What’s the best advice you could give someone for how to practice for defensive shooting?
“Once you’ve settled on your gun and holster you intend on using for concealed carry, it’s time for a progressive practice regimen. Your initial training should get you proficient with presentation and making accurate hits. This should be done slowly and safely, becoming comfortable with your gear, gradually working on your speed. Once you are confident with the “basic mechanics” of shooting your gun, now it’s time to get serious about ‘defensive training,’ which includes a mental aspect that a casual range session does not have. You need to load and make ready, then mentally place yourself in a ‘shooting situation.’ All you need is one or two targets in front of you. Now, you can practice using your carry gun with a purpose. It doesn’t take a whole lot of shooting, just a few rounds will do for each ‘mental scenario’ but you will be achieving so much more than just if you just shoot your carry gun at a bullseye target.”
Bruce Piatt’s shooting disciplines included Action Pistol, Tactical 3-Gun, USPSA/IPSC, Steel Challenge and Sportsman’s Team Challenge. A highlight of Bruce’s competition career was getting married in 1993 and spending his honeymoon competing at and winning his first Bianchi Cup in Columbia, Mo. Bruce is the founder of Bruce Piatt Training Concepts, LLC and provides R&D consulting to firearm industry manufacturers, shooting instruction and is a valued industry spokesperson.
