Itโs been interesting watching the social media accounts blow up with various renditions of the โDicken Drill.โ Along with some not-exactly-โG-ratedโ-memes, it lightened the blow of another criminal outrage perpetrated โ very likely โ by yet another nameless idiot with a grievance.
The interesting part of this one is that he nearly immediately took fire. His response, according to one nameless source that has to be at least as credible as anything in the โnewsโ media, was to try to get to the menโs room.
By: Rich Grassi, The Shooting Wire
If someone was shooting at me, the need for a โuniform changeโ would be quite in order, but I digress.
The source said that, according to a video none of us can see, the first two incoming rounds from the defender caused the perp to turn, then go to the ground. Still moving about โ trying to get his rifle going, or to find a target? โ he continued to take incoming rounds.
The distance has been called โ43 yardsโ and โ40 yards.โ The hit ratio was called 8/10. The coroner got to โscore the target.โ
Life goes on.
The din from the โ3 rounds, 3 yards, 3 secondsโ crowd suddenly ceased โ even though that likelihood is still far greater than the spaced-out whack job shooting up a public venue. Even greater than the howls of outrage from the โfalse-flag, heโs a CIA-designed monster designed to create an outcry for infringementsโ has been the videos from the โlook at me hit this target from forty yards in fifteen secondsโ group.
That sounds disrespectful, but itโs really not. Itโs more admiring โ seeing it as a range challenge tells me that the masses just want to know if they can do it โ on a square range, with a timer and camera, not in a public venue with โno-shootsโ all around and no significant backstop. I watched Rhett Neumayer go 7/8, I believe, from forty yards with a Ruger LCR-22 (2โ, if it matters), in a timely fashion โ left-handed. His dominant hand is mostly out-of-service due to an injury.
Well done.
Likewise, I watched a youngster who Iโd never heard of try it with three different guns โ all with optics. I concluded, from watching, that heโd do about as well without the glass. He seems to be that good.
Friend Dave Elderton, always capable, set up a B/C zone steel silhouette and put his ten-shot group from forty yards all on steel โ with a Ruger LCP II in 22 LR.
The problem is that we really donโt know what happened in that mall for sure. They say fifteen seconds โ but that was from the time the mope-in-question exited the menโs room and started shooting to the time the shooting stopped. It stands to reason that Mr. Dicken had to (1) figure out what was happening, (2) where it was happening, (3) remove his companion from the fracas, (4) move to his supported position (which was alleged by two sources, sadly one is unnamed) and (5) engage the target. It’s likely his shooting activity lasted ten seconds or less.
Let that soak in before you move on โฆ
To think that I followed Michael Baneโs lead (from his series The Best Defense) about a drill I call the Asym Drill โ asymmetric as in โirregular;โ the non-โ3 rounds in 3 seconds from 3 yardsโ drill โ starting back in around 2016. My modification was fifty yards, usually on a B/C zone โ but often done on any old target that was around the range. Itโs straight forward, no frills โ pass or fail.
I require only three hits on the chest-area of the target, followed by a single hit inside the headbox from 25 yards. Scoring? 100% shot accountability, zero misses. Itโs not like thereโs a timer, or someone watching or someone shooting at you. Itโs just โ shoot it cold, three center hits from 50 yards, a single head shot from 25 yards.
Not complicated. Not always easy either. You see herein pictured efforts from a Gen4 GLOCK 19, the โSummer Specialโ of 2017, a hell of a shooter that was on loan, that I let go back โฆ Also, there are the results from a S&W 9mm Shield and a Ruger American Pistol.
The Summer Special had faced the NRA TQ-21 law enforcement training silhouette on my second range trip with it. Iโd used spray paint and a โbullseyeโ stencil from Patriot Stencils to put an aiming spot on the target. From fifty yards, I held on the right side of the silhouette and put two rounds on the right-side scoring line of the target โ in spite of my left-hitting GLOCK bias. The third round smacked the left side at the bottom of the aiming point.
At 25 yards, I made the head shot, but it was a bit high on the head box. I wasnโt complaining.
Still, it seems we always โprepare for the last war.โ Itโs not good to be caught by the same old trap, but it makes one wonder what is next.
I think itโs time to examine ways to acquire the skills to make such shots. In that way, instead of preparing for the war already won, we can open the focus and strive to win the one thatโs coming. And Iโd happily take suggestions from the floor as to ways to prepare for that unlikely long shot.
Weโll keep you posted.
— Rich Grassi
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