I spent October 23-24, 2010 with Tom Givens of Rangemaster taking his Combative Pistol 2 course, hosted at KR Training. While my general AAR is here, there were some things that came up in class that I wanted to speak about in greater detail. What follows is inspired by something Tom said or we did in class, but is ultimately my take on things and how thoughts gelled in my head. I would encourage you to train with Tom Givens, if you ever have the chance. Reading my blather is no substitute.

Previously I wrote about The Grip. This is relevant to…

The Ready

There’s a position called the “Ready Position.” It doesn’t matter what you’re doing: playing tennis, throwing a ball, shooting a gun. There’s a ready position. What is a Ready Position? That position you’re in so you are ready to do whatever you need to do. If you’re playing tennis, it’s the position you’re in so you are ready to return a serve or volley or hit a groundstroke. If you’re shooting a gun, it’s the position you’re in so if you need to shoot, you are ready to do so.

There are many types of ready positions in shooting. One had the gun extended at arms length but pointed low, say at the target’s belt-line. Another has the gun pulled back, in draw position #3, and may call this a “compressed ready”. Other shooting disciplines can have their own variants. But the bottom line remains: it’s the position where you are totally ready to go.

Why does grip enter into this?

Is your grip ready to go when you are in the ready? Be honest. Mine always wasn’t. What would happen? I’d be in the ready, then when it was time to shoot I’d bring the gun up/out and tighten my grip at the same time, which would cause the sights to shift, and if you look at the correction chart you’ll see how that grip tightening will cause you to not hit your target.

Your grip must be all the grip you need to have from the get go. There is no time nor chance to correct it. When you go to draw your gun, you get all the grip you need on the gun before you remove it from the holster. Do not remove the gun from the holster until the grip is solid and correct. Get the other hand on the gun, grip it fully, then proceed.

But it’s even more than grip, it’s mindset.

All through the CP2 weekend you hear Tom Givens say “DRAW TO READY!” and he means that. But it’s not just “move your gun into the arms out, pointed down position”; in fact, that’s really the least of the concerns. It means you need to move yourself into a Ready Position and everything that means. It means the gun is out in the proper place. It means your grip is solid. It means your eyes are looking in the right place. But most of all? It means that your mind is ready to do the job. You need to draw like you mean it, draw like your life depends upon it because it does. You need to have the mental focus and readiness to handle the situation. If that means to assess, assess. If that means communicate, communicate. If that means move, move. If that means shoot, shoot and shoot well.

The Ready Position is far more than just placement of arms and gun. It’s a whole mind and body state of preparedness to tackle the job before you.