Heavy Clothes Change Everything
Dry-Fire · At Home
Verified clear, wearing the coat you will wear all winter. Twenty draws from concealment under the heavier layer. The garment clear you refined in September may not work through a parka.
Live-Fire · At the Range
Fifteen rounds at 7 yards from concealment under a winter layer, three rounds per string. Adjust your technique until the clear is reliable and then do the reps.
Service Pistol
Duty outerwear over a retention holster is its own problem. Solve it before the weather forces you to.
Concealed Carry
Your summer draw and your winter draw are two different skills. Train both, in season.
Carbine
A heavy coat changes where the sling sits and how the stock indexes on your shoulder.
AUX (when ready): draw through a winter layer to a verified sight picture in under two and a half seconds.
The clothing you wear for four months of the year deserves more than one practice session.
Your Daily Callout — By Archetype
The bulk will slow you down. Better to learn that now than in a parking lot.
Notice exactly where the extra layer catches and fix that specific thing.
This is the season your family is with you in cold parking lots after dark.
Set up your winter carry once, deliberately, then practice it rather than adjusting it weekly.
Layer: run five reps with a zipped coat rather than an open one.
- Treat every firearm as if it is loaded — always, no matter what you think you know.
- Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
- Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you have decided to fire.
- Be sure of your target — and everything beyond it.
Dry-fire: no ammunition in the room. Verify the firearm is clear — twice. Use a safe backstop. When you finish, say it out loud: “Dry fire is over.”
The Four Universal Safety Rules
Non-negotiable. Every drill, every rep, every time. This applies to live fire and dry fire.
- Treat every firearm as if it is loaded — always, no matter what you think you know.
- Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
- Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you have decided to fire.
- Be sure of your target — and everything beyond it.