Home Defense Handgun Drills at a TIR
Andy LoefflerDescription
If you’re stuck in a static position inside a booth at an indoor range, this drill is useful for practicing home defense handgun tactics. PDN Contributor Andy Loeffler demonstrates the lock-box drill, in which the shooter pictures himself being under attack in the confines of his home. The shooter must take the gun out of a locked box, load it, and make accurate shots.
Another drill that we like very much, that we take advantage of the fact that we are stuck in the static position here inside the booth, inside the indoor range, is sometimes referred to as lockbox drill, or a home defense style drill. Which takes advantage of the situation. Not so much that we envisioned being out in a public setting or we're out where we're being attacked by the bad guy, you know in a parking lot, in dark alley, something like that. But now we're envisioning the confines of our home maybe a hallway, or maybe even behind that piece of furniture. You just rolled out of bed. So what the drills intended to do is simulate your response. You've gotten yourself awake. The gun is in a box. In order to do the drill. We keep the gun in a gun case that's going to simulate, you know the way that it would be stored in a lot of homes and it's actually unloaded. And the point of the drill is going to be to get to the box, get the gun out, loaded and get a shot. Rapid, rapid string of fire into the high center chest of the bad guy. So the setup is extremely simple. The gun is already already in the box. The gun is unloaded. There's a loaded magazine inserted in the box with it. And all I'm going to have to do is step up from the carpenter, actually into the firing point, keeping my eyes oriented toward the target. I'm going to get the box open, retrieve the gun, get it loaded, drive out and get some multiple shots into the high center chest of my threat. So let's take a look how this looks. Placing the gun in the box requires us to do something that we're normally not doing, when we're practicing with the gun. We step up into the firing point on our normal range visit, when we're coming out to shoot the gun or even during some of our training practice, we've already got the gun available to us and the gun's already loaded. Loading the gun as rapidly as we can. And keeping the eyes fixed on the target is something we don't always get an opportunity to practice and putting it in the context of maybe doing that from a fixed position inside this narrow hallway, or maybe on behind the dresser. I just rolled out of bed and I had to grab the gun, doing it from here takes advantage of the fact that I'm pretty much stuck in this booth to begin with but I can still utilize what I've got here to get some reasonable home defense practice out of it.
Are self-defense weapons stored unloaded in a closed box? You are already dead.
If the intruder has gun in hand, you are a dead man!
This is a great idea! I will definitely do this with my son at my range tomorrow.
I think this could be a good drill for someone with limited access to any type of training facility that offers little more than what is displayed in the video. The problem I have with it is having the firearm in a quick access box that is unloaded. My personal opinion is that if you have a personal defense firearm that is used as in this example for your home defense firearm it should be in a quick access box as seen here but should be loaded with one in the pipe along with having a loaded spare mag there as well. If you can have your cell phone and a flash light in close proximity to this setup is even better. I would always rather have a plan of action and have practiced a drill than just put the firearm in a box and hope I will know what to do when the time comes. Thanks for letting me share my humble opinion.
I really liked this video because the contributor did exhibit a practical example of what he was talking about....as opposed to a video that only offers dry theory or philosophy.