Injured Shooter Training

Rob started experimenting with this technique and integrated it into some of his advanced classes after he had seen other instructors, including William Petty of Centrifuge Training, use it. He encourages PDN members to try working it into your firearms training and practice.

SIMPLE EQUIPMENT

It utilizes a ball — it can be a tennis ball, racquetball, softball, or the squishy Glock balls you may have seen around the firearms industry. The smaller and squishier the ball is, the easier this training is. The larger or harder the ball is, the more difficult it is to maintain control of the ball while you’re also operating the gun.

VERSATILE METHOD

You may have seen injured shooter training or one-handed shooting where the shooter simulates a non-working hand by keeping it in a pocket or behind the head. The ball method is different because you hold the ball in your hand, and although you can’t use it for manipulations or shooting, you can press the hand holding the ball against the side of the gun to help stabilize the gun, manage recoil, and help with deviation control.

Alternately, you can place the ball inside the elbow crease to simulate an arm injury. With the ball in that position, your injured arm and hand can’t help with recoil but you may be able to use them to grab a fresh magazine when needed.

You can also put the ball in your armpit, which mimics a different type of arm injury. With the ball there, the “injured” arm can help strip and clear the gun during a malfunction, but it can’t reach a spare magazine.

UNORTHODOX YET REALISTIC?

In a self-defense situation, you don’t know if or how you may be injured, so doing this type of practice with various sizes and types of balls is useful because you can use the hand and arm in different but limited ways. This is more realistic than methods that simulate the injured arm being completely useless.