One Box Workout™ for Rifles: Part 1

If you are fan of the Student of the Gun TV show, and shame on you if you are not, you should be aware of our One Box Workout™ for handguns. I put together the OBW program during season one of SOTG before the current ammo crisis. Now that the crisis is upon us, the program seems to be even more practical.

For more than six months, as this is written, we at Student of the Gun have been offering the One Box Workout™ written report free of charge to the subscribers to our electronic newsletter. All you have to do is sign up for the newsletter on the main page and you get the report for free. You are welcome.

OBW: Rifles

Building on the success and popularity of the One Box Workout for pistols, we came up with one for rifles. We used a semi-automatic .22 LR rifle in the show, but these drills will work with any rifle you choose.

The primary purpose of the OBW is to provide a repeatable baseline practice regime that allows the shooter to work on the fundamentals of marksmanship and gun handling. Before any dynamic shooting exercise is undertaken, your fundamentals must be rock solid.

A good friend of mine, a former Special Forces soldier and now professional shooter, once said, “There is no such thing as ‘high speed’ shooting. It’s all about the complete mastery of the fundamentals.” Keeping all of the previous in mind, the OBW for rifles is a building block, fundamental course that will give you a baseline upon which to build your practice program.

Step 1 Prone

We begin the exercise with a rifle and a single box of 50 rounds of ammunition. Our first ten rounds will be fired from the prone position. This is an unsupported prone. That is, you will use only your elbows for support, not a range rest or pack. Use the range rests to ensure the zero on your sights.

Fire ten rounds, slowly, from the prone position. Take your time and focus on the fundamentals of rifle marksmanship. Your target can be steel or paper, your choice. As for distance to the target, it should be close enough to actually hit, but far enough that you need to apply yourself. Remember, speed will come later. Take your time and make every shot count.

Step 2 Sitting

For our second ten rounds we’ll move up into the sitting position. A standard cross-legged sitting will work. If that is uncomfortable you can use open leg sitting but it is not as stable. Again, take your time. There is no time limit in the OBW. Focus on fundamentals.

Step 3 Kneeling

If you haven’t felt your age yet, the kneeling is the point where it shows up. Depending upon how well you’ve taken care of your knees throughout your life, the kneeling position might be comfortable or a torture.

Again, settle into the most comfortable kneeling position you can and fire ten rounds slowly and meticulously. You will also notice that gravity is not as friendly as it was when you were prone.

Step 4 Standing/Off-hand

The standing or off-hand position is the easiest to get into and the fastest position from which to address a target. It is also the least stable of all positions and most susceptible to the forces of gravity. As we have up to this point, fire ten rounds slowly, focus on the fundamentals. Resist the urge to rush your shots.

Step 5 Second Chance

When you have reached step 5 you’ll have ten rounds left of your original fifty. This is where intellectual honesty comes into play. Everyone likes to do what they are good at, now is the time to do what is difficult. Examine your performance and whichever position was the most difficult, take the last ten rounds and do it again.

We don’t improve by repeating steps we’ve already mastered; we improve by working on the areas that are difficult. Anyone can do the easy stuff. If you want to be exceptional you need to practice that which is difficult.

Parting Thoughts

The One Box Workout™ is presented as a baseline practice routine to allow you to get the most out of your available time and ammunition. Practice is not the same as training. Training is conducted under the watchful eye of an experience instructor. You cannot “train” yourself.

If you’ve never been trained to use bone support, natural point of aim, sight alignment and sight focus or any of the four basic shooting positions, you should seek out a qualified instructor. Please take the time to check out www.StudentoftheGun.com for more training and practice tips. You’ll discover a wealth of information for a small investment. Specific and directed lessons can also be found on our DVD: “Black Rifle Boot Camp: An Introduction of the AR-15″.  http://www.studentofthegungear.com/blackriflebootcampdvd

Paul Markel © 2013
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2013-03-25 22:02:13

Source: http://www.StudentoftheGun.com/blog/96-one-box-workout-for-rifles-part-1.html