Turning to Face a Target
Dry-Fire · At Home
Verified clear. Start facing ninety degrees away from your target. Turn your head first, then your feet, and only then start the draw, so the gun never comes out before you are facing the target. Ten reps turning left and ten turning right.
Live-Fire · At the Range
Only if your range allows facing movements: eight strings at 7 yards, turn, draw, and fire two rounds in the box. If turns are not permitted, shoot the strings facing the target and do the turns dry at home.
Service Pistol
Your holster and the gear around it change how you turn. Find out how.
Concealed Carry
Trouble is rarely standing directly in front of you. Practice finding it and then facing it.
Carbine
With a carbine, turn with the muzzle down and bring it up only after your feet are set.
AUX (when ready): turn and draw to a first hit in under two and a half seconds.
Look first, then turn, then draw. The order is what keeps the muzzle safe.
Your Daily Callout — By Archetype
You will want to draw while you are still turning. Finish the turn first.
Your head turns first because seeing comes before everything else.
People may be standing beside you. A gun drawn in the middle of a turn sweeps across them.
Head, feet, hands. Keep the same order for every direction.
Layer: dry only, turn a full 180 degrees.
- 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.