Tactical Rifleman Runs a 5-Meter Malfunction Drill With Dummy Rounds
November 7, 2026
Tactical Rifleman's latest short drops you into a close-quarters malfunction drill at 5 meters, where the whole point is simple: if the rifle goes down, you get it back up fast or you transition to the pistol without missing a beat. The channel uses dummy rounds loaded randomly into the shooter's mag so the stoppage hits without warning, forcing real reaction instead of rehearsed timing.
Key points
- Random dummy rounds: A mag is loaded with a mystery dummy round so the shooter can't predict when the rifle will fail.
- 5-meter distance: The drill is run close in because, as the video points out, an attacker that close with an AK will not miss.
- Named drills on the fly: The instructor calls out box drills, failure drills, check drills and zipper drills, keeping the shooter reacting to the task, not the malfunction.
- Transition under pressure: When the rifle fails mid-drill, the shooter has to go straight to the pistol, hit the target, then get the rifle back in the fight.
- Stay aware of the doorway: The video stresses watching for another threat entering the room while working through the malfunction, since nothing guarantees only one attacker.
Quick take
It's a short, blunt demonstration rather than a full tutorial, but Tactical Rifleman makes the core lesson clear: build the muscle memory to clear a malfunction and get back on target without hesitation, because at close range there's no time to think it through.
Watch the full video: Tactical Rifleman