While all of these skills are necessary, learning movement techniques that may actually save your life in a real firefight should be a capability that is placed near the top of your training priority list.
Author and United States Concealed Carry Association magazine editor Kevin Michalowski explains why in his article “Being a Good Shot Does Not Make You a Good Fighter” at USConcealedCarry.com:
“If you don’t move, you will die. Dry training that includes drawing your firearm and moving while you acquire the front sight is every bit as important, perhaps more so, than shooting a tight group at 25 yards.” (Read more at USConcealedCarry.com)
Since not everyone owns a dry training pistol, one of the first steps is to learn how to clear out your preferred carry piece for use as a training tool. First, remove the magazine and retract the slide. Let the live round fall out. Rack the slide three times and lock to the rear. Follow that by inspecting the chamber to make sure it is indeed empty. Finally, all live ammo in the training room should be removed.
Once you begin your training, the first rule of thumb is to not cross your feet. This can cause you to trip on yourself and drop your gun or fall. Set up a target across the room and have someone shout “Gun!”
At that point, take one large step and draw towards the target. Give a verbal command and then make a decision about whether deadly force is justified. If so, then pull the trigger. Practice the routine over and over, stepping in a slightly different direction towards the target each time.
With time, your speed will increase dramatically. The purpose of the verbal command is basically for documentation, so that witnesses won’t state that you appeared to be a trigger happy gunslinger.
The pause before firing is there for a reason. It’s to build muscle memory so that you won’t overreact in a real confrontation. Use this dry fire drill or develop one of your own to hone your action/reaction time. It may save your life.