When to teach tap, rack, bang?

[Coach]

So at what level of instruction or training should tap, rack, bang be incorporated?

I think I want to know what ingo thinks. But I have been wrong before.

 

[eldirector]

I am guessing somewhere after safety, after basic handling, and after basic marksmanship. About the time where the student is putting some number of rounds downrange, and will start having the occasional malfunction. May as well learn how to clear it yourself at that point.

 

[ECS686]

We teach (my Agency) right after the marksmanship part. The whole Crawl, Walk Run approach. Some would probably be good to go all at once other types won't get it no matter how many times they run through a drill.

On civilian ranges it could probably get introduced sooner ad most civilian shooters want to be there. Again depends on a person by person basis. Gauge your audience as they say!

 

[Trapper Jim]

Ability driven course. When the shooter has proven it’s time. A one size fits all in mechanical clearing has its drawbacks.

 

[cedartop]

Do you mean tap, rack, asses?

 

[VERT]

Do you mean tap, rack, asses?

Smack ‘Em, Jack ‘Em, Whack ‘Em. But we spent time with this guy before the PC crowd set in.

Coach I don’t spend time with clearing stoppages until some sort of introductory skills based course. Most people I talk to are still working on safety and marksmanship. Although if they learn to load and unload the gun properly clearing the gun is pretty easy.

 

[bwframe]

Do you mean tap, rack, asses?

What's this got to do with donkeys?

 

[cedartop]

When I first learned it in the Police academy it was tap, roll, rack. Don't really remember when in the training it was introduced but that was almost 30 years ago. I would say as bottom feeders have become more reliable, it is not as important to introduce this so early.

 

[Trapper Jim]

Too work on a module before the student has mastered finger on frame the result is what we see every day. The shooter with the T shirt up to his elbow in trigger guard trying to manipulate poor equipment. Just saying.

 

[rosejm]

I'd say right around the time you start to plan shooting more than one round at a time (IE: bang-bang, not just more than one in the mag).
That should cover the safety, handling and marksmanship aspects.

When you hope/need to fire more than once, the risks of managing a malfunction go up.
Even if that's only against a shooter's panic during a drill.

Erase the habit of "<click>.... Huh, wonder what happened?" and replace it with something better.

 

[GIJEW]

I think learning to clear malfunctions is appropriate for a class like "defensive pistol 1".

it would be good info in a basic pistol class except for info overload

 

[NHT3]

I'm going to say 50% of people I see in the range don't have any idea how to clear a jam or what might cause it. Maybe one size doesn't fit all but when you feel the student can grasp the concept mechanically of what they are trying to accomplish and why. When they have basic safe gun handling skills and manage to keep their finger off the trigger while manipulating the slide would be a good time to start working on it.

[FONT=&amp]NRA Life Member / [/FONT]Basic Pistol instructor[FONT=&amp] / RSO…[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]"Under pressure, you don't rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. That's why we train so hard" [/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Unnamed Navy Seal[/FONT]

“Ego is the reason many men don't train or shoot competition. They don't want to suck in public” Coach

 

[Coach]

Do you mean tap, rack, asses?

No

 

[Coach]

I'm going to say 50% of people I see in the range don't have any idea how to clear a jam or what might cause it. Maybe one size doesn't fit all but when you feel the student can grasp the concept mechanically of what they are trying to accomplish and why. When they have basic safe gun handling skills and manage to keep their finger off the trigger while manipulating the slide would be a good time to start working on it.

[FONT=&amp]NRA Life Member / [/FONT]Basic Pistol instructor[FONT=&amp] / RSO…[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]"Under pressure, you don't rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. That's why we train so hard" [/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Unnamed Navy Seal[/FONT]

“Ego is the reason many men don't train or shoot competition. They don't want to suck in public” Coach

When many adult men at the range lay the gun down and come and get help when it won't go bang. That is a clue they have no idea how to clear a malfunction.

 

[rosejm]

When many adult men at the range lay the gun down and come and get help when it won't go bang. That is a clue they have no idea how to clear a malfunction.

True.


But, thanks to gods of safety that they've decided they're in over their heads.
I mean they're not sweeping themselves or everyone else, and they're not banging it on the bench to try and "make something happen" (not joking).

Of course, if anyone needs examples of "I know what I'm doing" we've got a thread for that already...

 

[Ruger_Ronin]

From the student POV, I began training malfunction clearances after I had established safe handling procedures on a live fire line. That has to be preprogrammed or you'll end up causing more harm then good. Muzzle and finger discipline at the tippy top of that list.

Additionally, clearing malfunctions while keeping your eyes on the target is another matter entirely. Every student moves at their own pace, but for myself when I could perform the dot torture safely, the next step is malf's followed by firing while moving off the line.

VERT is a good teacher. He helped me get started down this road....

"Take heed and bear witness to the truths that lie herein."

 

[Coach]

True.


But, thanks to gods of safety that they've decided they're in over their heads.
I mean they're not sweeping themselves or everyone else, and they're not banging it on the bench to try and "make something happen" (not joking).

Of course, if anyone needs examples of "I know what I'm doing" we've got a thread for that already...

You may be too generous.

 

[Tactically Fat]

I may think about teaching it in a basic / intro class but I'm not sure that I'd teach it explicitly. Just kind of sneak it in to students who have problems.

I'm gonna presume an 8 hour class with 2-3 hours classroom time. So maybe even the last hour of live fire you could bring everyone on board.

You can definitely tell I'm not an instructor.

 

[SmileDocHill]

Generally speaking, I like the crawl, walk, run logic. The start small and build approach kind of requires ignoring (for a short while) some real world issues. Build basic gun handling skills, safety, comfort, marksmanship... assuming everything works as designed, in fairly sterile conditions. Then introduce, "and when the gun stops working...", "shooting in a non-range environment..." and so on.

 

[Trapper Jim]

Additionally, clearing malfunctions while keeping your eyes on the target is another matter entirely.

This is an advanced skill module that if tried by less than average skill set on the street will more than likely result on the victim seeing himself kilt.