If you carry a firearm daily, you owe it to yourself, your family, your community, and more to be skilled with that firearm. One of the best things I read in this book states that firearms training is a PROCESS, not an EVENT. Training is continuous for concealed carry, and you should seek to improve. That quest for knowledge brought me to the book Concealed Carry Skills and Drills by Claude Werner. Clauder Werner, aka the Tactical Professor, is a former Special Forces A-Team commander, a shooting instructor with Rogers Shooting School, and a consummate seeker of firearm training and knowledge.
He’s written more than a few books on firearms, concealed carry, and defensive firearms usage. This book is aimed at concealed carry enthusiasts starting at zero and looking to build their skills. The book isn’t aimed at the high-speed operator or police officer, as Claude states in the book; what they do is much different from what the average personal defender needs to do. It’s specifically designed for self-study and to help your average person ready themselves for something like a concealed carry qualification and even beyond. It helps bridge the gap between a CCW class and more professional teacher-led instruction.
Concealed Carry Skills and Drills – From Top To Bottom
Mr. Werner is an interesting professional who doesn’t just teach how to shoot a firearm but has an uncanny ability to gather and present data in an easy-to-read and understandable format. Claude presents information he’s gathered through the observation of tons and tons of civilian-involved shootings. He illustrates this data and why it’s important to know early on in the Concealed Carry Skills and Drills.
He then covers firearm safety and goes beyond the four basic safety rules. Claude explains how to safely draw and reholster and teaches you how to conduct a variety of techniques safely. It’s a brief but important section to read. The book does not cover any legal aspects, and it seems wise to avoid legal talk in a book based on skills. The legal aspects of self-defense are too complicated to shoehorn into a book based on skills.
How To Use the Concealed Carry Skills and Drills
The book is designed for newbies and isn’t designed to be overly stressful. The book breaks down into Skill Builders Evaluations, Decision/Thinking Drills, and Standards. Some of the drills are live, and others are dry fire. A day of training won’t exceed 100 rounds in most cases.
For each practice session, shooters are supposed to fire one Skill Builder and then either a Standard, Evaluation, or Decision/Thinking Drill. That would end a practice session, and either of these can be done within 100 rounds. Claude Werner proposes that most new shooters will be tired and receive less training after about 100 rounds fired.
Concealed Carry Skills and Drills advises you to fire the Defensive Pistol I Pro-Marksman Evaluation from the NRA to see your level of competence. It’s also advised that you shoot this qual every so often so you can track your location.
The various Skill Builders Evaluations, Decision/Thinking Drills, and Standards increase in difficulty throughout the book. The best part of the Concealed Carry Skills and Drill book is the book’s slow growth and essentially a guide to getting better written in a linear fashion.
A Bill Drill is a great piece of training if you’re ready for it. If you’re not ready, it’s difficult, hard to understand, and potentially unsafe. With Concealed Carry Skills and Drills, your skills are built and continually challenged.
Worth A Spin
I won’t go too deep into the drills and skills, but they are varied and change quite a bit in their difficulty. They start fairly easily, as do the qualifications and standards. Things like the Thinking drills break you away from being focused on the gun and focus more on the task. The quals are largely taken from various police quals and a few NRA quals.
If you shoot every Skill Builder, Eval, Thinking Drills, and Standards, you’ll fire a total of 746 rounds. That’s a lot of ammo, but if you take the time to complete the entire book, you’ll become a better shooter. When people ask, “Hey, how do I shoot better?” My answer is always the same, “Go shoot more.”
This book allows for a structured, progressive program that gives you guided live fire. Concealed Carry Skills and Drills also incorporate dry fire practice sessions so you can practice without spending the money on ammo.
A series of appendices offer you a few tips to make a dry fire magazine. We also have targets and more for the training. You’ll need not and want not.
For less than ten bucks, this book is well worth the investment. It’s my goal to shoot my way through it. It’s available here, so give it a look.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine gunner who served with 2nd Bn 2nd Marines for 5 years. He deployed in 2009 to Afghanistan and again in 2011 with the 22nd MEU(SOC) during a record-setting 11 months at sea. Travis has trained with the Romanian Army, the Spanish Marines, the Emirate Marines, and the Afghan National Army.
He serves as an NRA-certified pistol instructor and pursues a variety of firearms-based hobbies.
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