Training

In the majority of civilian personal defense incidents fancy moves are not used. You're going to get into an in-your-face argument with somebody who suddenly decides he wants you either dead or in the hospital, weapons are drawn, and it's all over a few seconds later. Shooting while moving, El Presidente drills and all that stuff is good practice, but you likely won't have a chance to show your stuff against an aggressor. The biggest single thing you can do is train yourself to think of finding cover first. Unfortunately most shooting ranges require people to stand there like a stick man and slow-fire into paper targets. My local indoor range forbids people from using the lane dividers or table to support either themselves or the firearm. If I want to try anything resembling combat-style shooting I either have to do it out in the woods or practice indoors with air guns.

So to answer the original question, even when taking CCW guns to the range they're usually shot slow and boring style like all the others.

I was in the business for quite a while. Largely, it is matter of semantics so please don't take my view as claiming someone is either right or wrong, but as a matter of perspective (there are may routes to the top of the mountain) 😆

To me, every thing you do either on the range or in dry fire is "training". To be sure, there is "formal instruction" (often lead by a professional instructor) and there is "structured motor skills repetition" which might be lead by an instructor/coach but can also be done solo.

Everything you do repetitively can become a habit - so be very careful - what you don't practice becomes a habit also! For instance. If you perform 10,000 draws standing still, while not wearing a cover garment then when you have to draw on the move while clearing a cover garment becomes a "novel" (or different) operation. This is one of the challenges of formal classes. I'm all for taking professional instruction, but a lot of people on a square range limits mobility, due to safety concerns. In addition to formal instruction, one needs a serious training venue where he can move when he presents his weapon and can shoot on the move as well! Very few people can afford one on one instruction with a professional trainer. Some venues allow one student at a time - these are called "simulators" - the best are live fire with actually full powered firearms but there are uses for both non-firing and for Force-on-force training with non-lethal projectiles - all have their place.

Now I'm not saying you should always move on the draw - but most of the time it is a good idea (I've had two students who survived their gunfight unscathed who had bullets pass through the spot they were standing as they drew - the first step to the presentation ("Grip") was performed while they took a side step (we know this because on one the bullet passed through an object he was standing behind and one was caught on film).

Be careful how your train - it will likely become a habit; "Old habits make us die hard"

Be careful what target and range you shoot because you are learning to shoot groups and they will end up in the real world about 3X as large as the ones you shoot in practice.

Riposte

Levian, I understand. It is sometimes hard to convince Range owners/operators about these things.

I and a good friend (also an instructor - who also happened to be an Attorney) were asked to do a safety program for a new indoor range. Try as we might, we could not persuade them to accept holsters on the range nor allow fairly rapid fire.

So, while they took some of our program they didn't take some important parts. They went bankrupt in about three years.

I ran a public outdoor range for a few years - we not only allowed folks to draw, we held practical competitions - and allowed others to do so. We never had an injury.

Then again, I ran military ranges for more than a decade - we ran a "Hot" range from day one - we graduated 15,000 military folks (all of whom did combat tours) and hundreds of Law Enforcement officers and never had a ballistic injury (we did have our share of heat casualties, sprains etc)...at during the same time there were Army bases 100 miles in each direction - they had three fatalities on their "cold" ranges during that time.

It isn't all fun - I've left military ranges at 0200 after doing a white light class in January in a cold sweat! But we got away with it! It's like herding cats, teaching two 20 pack lines and having 5 assistant instructors and trying to keep track of everyone when the lights go out!

Riposte