Dynamic Deviation Control Drill

In this shooting tips video, Rob Pincus demonstrates the dynamic deviation control drill and the important lessons it teaches to defensive shooters. Dynamic deviation control means that when shooting while you, the target, or both are moving, your sight alignment and sight picture won’t be perfect. And that’s ok.

Moving the Gun

Rob teaches this in his handgun training courses by having students shoot while moving the firearm in a small circle or even a figure eight. Any hits in the chest area of a human-sized target are acceptable.

Rob gives kudos for these shooting tips to trainer Ken Hackathorn, who introduced Rob to the idea of moving the gun relative to a static target. Ken uses it to get students used to shooting on the move — walking or running to or from a target — and getting comfortable with the fact that sight alignment and sight picture aren’t going to be perfect in this situation.

In a defensive scenario, both the attacker and defender may be moving.

Smooth Trigger Press

The other part of the dynamic deviation control shooting drills Rob teaches is that students should strive for a smooth trigger press instead of breaking the shot. Again while moving the gun in a small circle, Rob presses the trigger straight through and lets the gun go off. He doesn’t need to hold the gun perfectly still.

Going Smaller

Rob then switches to an even smaller target and applies the same principles. He moves the gun while pressing the trigger straight to the rear — he just moves the gun less than he did when aiming at the bigger target.

You don’t need to hold the gun perfectly still. You just need to hold it still enough. You don’t need to have a perfect sight picture. You just need to have a good enough sight picture to make a combat accurate shot. These are the lessons and shooting tips of the dynamic deviation control drill.