Drill of the Day: 25-Second Barricade

Need to work on transitions from cover? Yeah, we all do. This drill will place you under stress, get the heart pumping, and lets you identify any deficiencies in your gear on the square range, before you find out in the real world.

Distance: 50m
Target: Steel torso or B/C zone
Weapon: Carbine

Procedure

Set up your barricades at 40 and 45 meters from your target. Don’t get hung up on not having a perfectly painted, immaculate VTAC barricade — you aren’t Martha f*cking Stewart. Use whatever you can scrounge up; range tables stood on end, tires, chairs, you get the idea. Set up a cone or other marker at 50m. Set the par time on your timer to 25s.

On the beep, place two hits on steel from 50m, offhand. Sprint to the 45m barricade and place two hits around the rights side of cover, then two hits around the left side of cover. (Note: You must transition to your support-side shoulder, whichever that might be.) Sprint to the 40m barricade and place two hits from the kneeling position from left and right of cover, with your outside knee up each time, making sure to transition shoulders also. Sprint back to the 50m line and get your last two hits from standing, offhand.

The reason for shooting from a raised outside knee will be readily apparent as soon as you start working with a partner. The very first time you peel out behind your buddy and wind up with your face in the dirt due to tripping over his foot will be enough to convince you.