POMW III 20. September – October 4

One week after the end of POMW II, on Sunday 27 September, 7 completely new, expectant students showed up for the POMW III course, which was also scheduled for two sessions. The purpose of POMW III is immersion in 9mm shooting and developing competences and skills beyond range shooting.

Again, the shooting started at the large pistol range, where a few rounds with 0.22 were fired, after which the participants went outside. The process would be similar to POMW in practice, but now with CZ 9mm instead of CZ air guns. During the day, the participants went through shooting at different distances, starting 5 m from the targets, which had now become IPSC targets. The IPSC target is divided into three zones Alpha, Charlie and Delta, which are of military origin - An alpha shot equals death, charlie is seriously wounded and delta equals slightly wounded. This is still used militarily, but the target has a square "head" on top. It was clear that all the participants had gradually become seasoned shooters and had POMW shooting technique under their skin. But still the participants got a deja vu as the spread naturally got bigger the further from the target they got and the mistakes in the shooting technique became more revealing. But it was far from as bad as the first time with 0.22, so there had really been a development with the shooters.

With the 9 mm pistols, you also had to aim differently than with the 0.22, which of course also had to be practiced. The participants suddenly no longer had the black center to aim for, and instead had to aim for an imaginary line on the IPSC disc, which places greater demands on the use of aiming devices and coordination of vision. 9mm shooting becomes a little more technically difficult as you also have to work a lot more with recoil control and aiming. But the technical challenges did not end there 😊 Just as during POMW I, the participants also had to practice shooting with "reset". The "reset" function on a gun is the point where the trigger spring is just exactly reset after reloading with recoil, which is felt as a small click in the finger. If you can handle the "reset" function, you get much more control over the trigger and can fire the next shot faster. Thereby the prelude was laid for the last feature of the day, which was transition shooting.

Transitions are the alternation between several targets, but with a fixed shot interval. That is there must be no difference in time between 2 shots, regardless of whether you have shot for one target or 2 targets. It also makes demands on the movement of the body if you have to maintain correct shooting technique at the same time. Fortunately, in Shindenkan we have a good understanding of moving the body when the movement comes from the hips at the same time 😊 It was a good ending for everyone, who could now look forward to the last part of the POMW course, which followed the following Sunday.

Thus the participants showed up on a bitterly cold and foggy Sunday morning, October 4, where the early-morning instructors had already prepared probably the most beautiful shooting range in POMW history in the hole at Hanebjerg. You can recognize the "hole" from the many articles from the instructors' A-license courses but also from previous POMW courses.

POMW III in the hole meant that IPSC washers and steel plates were installed. Thereby it again came to resemble something that the participants had seen during the last part of the POMW I course. Technically speaking, the course was the same, but this time spiced up with 9mm's sultry temperament. Of course, there are also greater demands on safety, now that the participants are in the open air and do not have a stall to stand in. Therefore, Kimu Sensei once again reviewed the safety, especially around loading and unloading, which was in accordance with the IPSC rules, which is the highest security regulation. The shooting was, as the week before, first at different distances, then transitions. At the same time, shots were also fired at a higher pace, and there were therefore also increasing demands on the shooters who had to go afterwards, who had to struggle with loading 9mm cartridges both for themselves, but also for Kimu Sensei on shift 😊

Furthermore, the participants were introduced to stationary shooting around the barricade. It is allowed as long as there is no holster pull or movement from the shooter. So that was the closest the shooters got to the IPSC atmosphere and maybe not, as what followed was pure boy ass. Kimu Sensei was in a gift mood so the participants were allowed to shoot at steel targets as well. It was clear that the participants thought it was great fun to hear the famous "bling" when the projectile hits the steel target. The participants were allowed to shoot at different distances, with 45 meters naturally being the most difficult.

POMW III was coming to an end and the participants had fired the last 9mm shots at steel targets. The last part of POMW III was held on a large pistol range, where the participants had the opportunity to deliver some decisive point-giving series, so that they could see how good they had become after the POMW course. This of course had several purposes. First of all, as a shooter, you are well used after a whole day of 9mm shooting, secondly, there is a little extra pressure when you know that it is almost exam shooting. At the same time, the aim of the shooting was for the shooters to shoot POMW II shooting, which is the form Shindenkan maintains in SDK shooting indoors in the winter. Therefore, they had to drive independently with one firing leader in the gunnery with them.

Another POMW course has been completed with positive and distinctive results. You can read more about the participants' own experiences here on the website and at www.pomwproject.com. These experiences serve as inspiration for the next litter of POMW shooters in 2019, and anyone else who might be interested in this 😊