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
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.
Rifle Marksmanship Standards for Everyday Marksmen
Today we're defining the Everyday Marksman minimum rifle standards. This is a two-part test of both speed and marksmanship fundamentals. I want to outline the test itself, why I defined this requirements, but also what I left out.
Terminal Ballistics: How Bullets Wound and Kill
In this article, we're digging into terminal ballistics: the science of what happens when the bullet impacts a target. In particular, we're going over the history of the research and what we know today about how bullets wound and kill a target.
Are You a Tactical Minimalist?
The longer you're in this community, the more you realize that there's almost an overwhelming number of skills to learn. One of the biggest traps people fall into is trying to become a master of everything. Often that looks like learning infinite variations of each skill. I think this ultimately becomes a distraction, and prevents us from thinking about the bigger picture.
Quick Hits: Lessons Learned from My First USPSA Match
Skill development is a cycle. Competition shows you what skills you need to work on, taking you back to learning a skill that then gets refined. Besides the "software," or the skills that you personally have, competition is a great place to test your gear. After way, way too long, I finally went and shot a USPSA match. Let's talk about lessons learned.
Minimum Capable Handgun Skills Challenge
During last week's live stream with USPSA Grand Master Josh Shaw, I broached the topic of standards that every capable citizen should aspire to. He provided two simple tests, and now I'm turning them into a challenge for you.
Exploring the Road to Handgun Mastery
In this session of Marksman Live, I talked with Josh Shaw of Green Ops Inc about handgun skills. Josh is a USPSA Grand Master and teaches courses for Green ops in the Northern Virginia Area. We cover the importance of handgun skills, misconceptions, gear selection, and a training plan to propel your success.
Five Things I’m Focusing on in 2022- You Probably Should, Too
I dislike the whole New Year's resolution ritual, but that doesn't mean I don't do some self evaluation and pick some new things to focus on. In this episode, Allison and I discuss my primary focus areas for 2022, how they will affect the site, and why you should probably consider focusing on these things too.
How to Prepare for the Tactical Games with Mike and Pascale Green
The Tactical Games are part of a growing trend with combining physical fitness with marksmanship in competition. I've seen them talked about quite a bit over time, and I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Mike Green and his wife Pascale to talk about how the games started and what to look out four while you prepare.
Lessons Learned from Arklatex Multi-Gun Match Part I
Alex, AKA Diceman, recently competed in his first multigun match at the Texarkana Gun Club. In part one of his lessons learned, he breaks down each of the four stages, his performance, and what you might take away from that experience.
MRAD vs MOA: It’s About the Angles
Buckle up, because I'm about to talk nerdy. This post is all about the two most common marksmanship measurement systems, how to use them, and which one you should use. Be warned, I will be dropping some math on you. I'll be gentle, though.
Getting Started in Tactical Biathlon
In this guest post, Erik talks us through a new type of tactical biathlon going on down in Texas. Are you up for this combination of endurance and shooting prowess?
The MEC Marksman Challenge: Better Think Fast
This marksman challenge is something I'm calling the "Make Effective Choices" challenge. Like the pistol shooting drills that inspired it, you must balance speed against precision and decision making. Let's dig in.
Lessons Learned From My First PRS Rimfire Match
I recently competed in my first PRS Rimfire match, and it was a great time. I also came away with several observations and lessons learned. Let's dig into what I would do different for next time and what you might consider for your first match.
