Learning to shoot from cover is not only a skill that is valuable in the shooting sports, like USPSA and IDPA, it’s also valuable to learn for personal and home defense. 

In this pro tip I am going to walk you through some steps to help you learn to shoot from around a barrier and we are going to start out with distance from the barrier itself. 

Many people have a tendency to crowd-up on cover when they are trying to shoot and that’s a problem. because it doesn’t allow you to get an extension with your arms. And you're really feeling cramped up and it’s difficult to maneuver the gun safely. 

But just by staying back at arm’s length, you're going to make it so much easier to engage your targets and you're still behind cover. 

So, the first rule is, stay back about arm’s length and sometimes even further to get the most out of your gun handling skills in getting to your target. 

Now, let’s address pistol position and how you're holding it. You really want to avoid pointing the gun down at the ground because this means you could sweep your feet. 
 

You also don’t want it pointed high. You’ll get disqualified if you're shooting a match. That’s also an unsafe position potentially. 
 

What you really need to do is keep the gun up and ready to go at the ready position. 

Even if I’m coming in from the position way far back from cover, I can still keep the gun up and its ready to go so that I am always pointed towards the target. No matter what happens around this cover, I am ready to shoot. 


Alright, so we’ve addressed body position, we’ve addressed the firearm position, now we are going to talk about feet and coming into the right side of the barricade.

I want to make sure that I’m using my lead foot, my right foot, to bear my weight. That is going to allow me to shoot the targets as I need to, stay on balance, but still have enough behind the gun to control recoil. 

Now when I flip it to the other side I want to switch that lead foot to my left foot. It is going to be a little more awkward for me on my left because I am a right-handed shooter, but again I am going to put that weight on my left foot. 

Engage the targets, and as soon as I have to lean, I can put all my weight on the foot and have a lot more control. 

Practicing from around a barrier is actually pretty simple to do. 

I've got two barrels stacked, a couple of sticks along the ground to simulate fault lines and I am going to use these to make sure I stay behind this barrier. 

If you don’t have a set up like this, you can easily use a target stand as a barrier. I've set two targets up at about the seven-yard line. 

I am going to practice shooting from the right side and the left side working on that position, staying away from the barrier.

Also I’m working on my gun handling making sure I keep the gun up and on my foot work depending on which side of the barrier I shoot around. Give it a try and until next time be safe and have fun.