In your search for firearms training ensure you have an objective or goal you want to attain and choose a firearms class that provides you the basics and techniques on how to analyze your performance. I’ve been to a lot of schools both self-funded and at government expense and they all involve sending thousands of rounds down range but miss the mark on the proper techniques of marksmanship. Once you obtain an acceptable skill set then it’s time to seek gunfighting skills. Lots of courses out their jump right into their version of gunfighting and survival skills; you end up trying to play catch-up and develop bad habits or continue to validate bad habits through repetition. You indicate you’ve tried several techniques and yet you still produce the same results on target.
Next time you go to the range focus on the three elements below and analyze each behavior and how they impact your performance.
1. Mental—what’s your goal you want to attain for that practice day. Is your mindset ready for constructive practice are your expectations obtainable and within your current skill set to obtain your expected goals for that training day. While operating the firearm are you focus at the tasks at hand before moving on to another task. How to you identify cognitive thought and subconscious ability while performing your gun handing skills. Are you focusing on just one element or are you letting yourself just perform in real time and playing out your performance and analyzing your results.
2. Physical performance—while operating the firearm what physical feedback is occurring and how can you improve. What does it feel like and what physical inputs or behavior are you deploying to improve. Are you focusing on just physical ability and not focusing on what you feel?
3. Visual input—What are you seeing and how are you seeing your sights? Are you just using one sight reference or getting caught up in the 3 focal planes of the sight picture? How do you recognize sight focus, target focus, and finally the 3 focal plane sight picture to achieve your accuracy. Distance to target, difficulty of the shot and the terrain are going to dictate those uses of the proper sight picture.
Theses are just a few considerations on what to look for while searching for that school that will offer you what you want to learn and how to deploy your firearm when needed to save your life and others or just to plan have fun enjoying your 2nd Amendment rights in our free state of Arizona!
Good luck and I would recommend Travis Haley, Pat McNamara, Bruce Gray; they’ll aid in getting you to develop the skills you desire.