Holster draw consists of the act of removing your firearm from the holster and accurately aiming it at your target in a safe, competent, quick and swift manner. While drawing from a holster can seem intimidating, it’s an important ability, especially when it comes to concealed carry.
Centennial Gun Club’s Pistol 301 training was designed to help shooters advance their shooting skills while using a holster, teaching you the different types of holsters, how to safely draw and shoot from your holster, how to perform a magazine change from a magazine pouch and effectively fire repeatable rounds on target.
In The Holster Draw Classroom
The holster draw training begins in the classroom where your instructor will go over safety rules and fundamentals, discuss the different types of magazine pouches and holsters and where they can be placed on your body for the easiest and quickest access when drawing, go over the 3 essential positions for drawing from your holster, proper magazine changes, and finally discuss the re-holster and the importance of safety during this time to avoid a negligent discharge.
You will be able to practice your holster draw fundamentals during your time in the classroom and under the guidance of your instructor by running through draw cadence drills. The instructor will call out each drawing position and assess your skills to ensure you have the correct stance, form, and hold on your firearm. This is especially important when reholstering the gun, as the most negligent discharges happen during this phase of a holster draw.
As intimidating as drawing from a holster may be for some students, Centennial Gun Club ensures that you’re able to practice your skills in the comfort of the classroom before you begin your range training and makes safety a priority by using a plastic gun for practice that is meant to resemble and replace a real firearm. It’s during this time that your instructor will make certain that all students are comfortable with the holster draw techniques before you head to the range and begin live fire holster draw drills.
On The Range
After establishing the fundamentals of a holster draw and running through the necessary positions in the classroom, you will head to the range to complete your training with live fire drills. Your instructor will aid you in displaying what you have learned through shooting drills on range that begin with one full run through of each step of drawing from your holster; the holster draw, fire, and re-holster.
After running through these a few times over to ensure that you’re comfortable with the process, you’ll begin to add in your magazine changes, allowing you to go through the entirety of your holster draw. You’ll spend about an hour on the range running through these drills, enabling you to perfect your holster draw skills and gain familiarity and confidence with the whole process.
My Experience
There’s always an abundance of new skills and information to learn in each level of my training, but the tricky part is having to incorporate the new fundamentals while continuing to remember and utilize the old ones. While this might sound overwhelming, Centennial Gun Club makes the plethora of skills that you learn easy to remember. Each training class that I’ve had the pleasure of taking at this facility has made sure to incorporate every fundamental that I learned in the very beginning of my shooting journey, allowing me to create habits in my shooting that allow me to be a safe, accurate, and confident shooter.
Pistol 301 was my turning point between simply remembering the skills that I had learned, to truly being able to understand and incorporate each one into my shooting. Thanks to CGC I can now confidently operate and understand my pistol. I know that when it comes to my safety, I’ve established the necessary skills to always feel confident in my ability to protect myself.
