I have long had a tendency to tie marksmanship to morality. The essence of good marksmanship is self-control, and self-control is the essence of good citizenship. It is too easy to say that a good shot is automatically a good man, but it would be equally incorrect to ignore the connection.
Marksmanship is the heart of everything we do here. Through marksmanship, we learn and practice discipline, focus, and self-control. As one of my podcast guests once put it over a couple of beers, “Marksmanship is the American Martial Art.”
Here you will find all of my articles, podcasts, and marksman challenges relating to the study and practice of good marksmanship. If you’re specifically looking to learn the fundamentals, be sure to check out my article series on how to shoot a rifle. I’ll soon be working on a series for pistol marksmanship as well.
If you haven’t tested yourself against a Marksman Challenge, be sure to check one of them out and lets us know how you did over in the community forum.
/// Marksmanship Archive
Introducing the Rifleman Pentathlon: A Game for Martial Marksmen
For a while, I’ve been kicking around an idea for a new type of competition. I enjoy all the various disciplines I’ve played in, but also think that each of them in isolation is missing something. Today, I’d like to tell you about my vision for a “complete” type of match that I think covers all of the foundations of Everyday Marksmen, and it does so in a way that lets all of us have an objective to train for. Let’s talk about the Rifleman Pentathlon.
Foundations of Patrol Rifle Marksmanship: Know Your Objective!
A while back, while talking about the latest revision to his sniper marksmanship book, John Simpson let me know that he had another book on the way- this one focused on patrol rifle marksmanship. Well it recently hit the shelves and we got together again to talk more about rifle marksmanship, training philosophies, and competition. Let’s dig in.
An Introduction to Sniping 4th Generation
The Swiss Sniping 4th Generation, or S4G, concept leverages ballistic arcs and volleys of fire to increase hit probability. It’s not as fancy as the American Designated Marksman Program, but it’s no slouch, either.
The 2023 West Virginia Gun Run: The Retrospective
Months of prep time, new gear configurations, and a lot of articles. I finally ran the West Virginia Gun Run this past Saturday. Here’s some notes on how it went and what I’d do differently in the future.
The Four Corners Approach to Unlocking Peak Performance
Today I’m discussing a concept that’s been brewing in the the back of my brain. While working on the book, I’ve needed a way to illustrate how different things we do relate to improving the whole and take use to new levels of performance. I think I’ve figured it out, and this is my first go at explaining it.
The Road to Victory: My Tactical Biathlon Training Blueprint
So I did it, I got my ticket for the April 2023 West Virginia Gun Run. On the request of a community member, I want to tell you a bit about how I’m structuring my training for it, and how it’s going now that I’m about half way through it. If you’re interested, you can also join up to use my full program for yourself.
WTF: You Just Have to Experience It
I sat down with a few of our community members who recently competed in events put on by Waco Tactical Fitness. I’ll be doing a similar tactical biathlon event later next month, and I was curious about equipment, training, and lessons learned from the events.
What Bench Are You Sitting On?
While reading through some of Coach Dan John’s work, I came across a philosophy for breaking your annual training cycles. It’s impossible to do everything well all of the time- something must give. Instead, we should think of our training, all of our training, from two perspectives: the bus bench, and the park bench.
Stop Stealing from Yourself
In this episode, I once again talk to my very first guest: John Simpson. We dig deeper into the fundamentals of learning good marksmanship, past Army programs, the importance of learning the right lessons in training, and more.
The Paper Plate Pistolero Challenge
I’m reposting this challenge with a few updates. In light of recent events, I think it’s an important reminder that you should regularly train with your handgun out to 50 yards. Most people are content with 7-10 yards because it’s fun, “go-fast,” and the close range often hides errors in marksmanship fundamentals. At 50 yards, though, it becomes a different proposition and you never know when you just might need to take that shot.
