Originally appeared on The Tactical Hermit. I’ve got a Fighting Kalashnikov Course coming up in January. Come out and train! -NCS

Been hitting the range lately and wanted to drop a few notes.

This is a guideline. Find what works for you and build your own list.

1. Learning to control the weapon is key. Forget in front of the magazine hold (as seen above) Adapt a full front hand guard grip with a torqueing or twisting motion. Adapt a stance that spreads the recoil evenly.

2. On Reloads, forget retaining empty mags. Underneath charging is the most efficient but work with all of them. The environment, or better yet, how disruptive the environment is, will determine that.

3. Using fresh mags to work the mag release lever can deform mags over time, using your thumb in the same manner will work if you drill on it.

4. If using a Red Dot on your gun, work on “Snapping the Dot”, or learning how/when/where your gun settles (and thusly your optic settles) after the shot is broke. Learn how tension in your core muscle groups effects this as well.

5. “Work out” your red dot to 300 yds. Know hold overs for your load type and gun.

As a sidebar, make sure your irons are on at this range too so in a pinch you can fall back to them.

6. Drill on Clearing Malfunctions while on move.

Failure to Fire, Failure to Extract, Failure to Feed. If it cannot be fixed quickly, find cover and fix it. If situation does not allow, transition to pistol, eliminate threat, then fix it.

7. Transitions

This is made way too big a deal of IMO, but do it however is most efficient for you. I favor two point slings for this very reason. Drop the chunk of wood and sheet metal that is not working and go to something that is.

8. Positional Drills

Making yourself a smaller target can never be drilled on enough.

Learn to shoot from every possible position and be able to reload and clear malfunctions from these positions as well. Always consider in a dynamic fight, MOVEMENT IS KEY.

Never place yourself in a position you cannot spring out of QUICKLY.

Finally, I have been hearing the term “Massive Consistency” a lot lately and I wanted to say something on that.

Never get too tied up with accuracy (as it relates to consistent PATTERNS in combat training) There is no such thing as a “NICE GROUP” in combat!

Consistency should be how we set up on the target and our fundamentals; this will deliver the best results. Your drills should strive to balance these two things: SPEED and ACCURACY, but you must always remember, shooting is a continuum where sometimes one thing is more needed than the other, learning to balance the deviation is our goal.

Never strive to be fast or accurate but a nice mix of the two. In reality, the more accurate you need to be, the more time you will take. In your drills you will see this.

You are MUCH faster at 15 yds than 75yds because you have to be!

Execute the fundamentals Consistently.

Stay Alert, Armed and Dangerous.