USA1's Fun Day at the Range

[USA1]

Gads! You're still up! I wuz hopin' you'd see that tomorrow.

You're Busted

[joe817]

Gads! You're still up! I wuz hopin' you'd see that tomorrow.

You're Busted

Just you wait you....you...you....late night owl!

[Skiprr]

Just to put an end to this , from now on I will only take head and center mass shots.
I don't want to be the guy known as "the pelvis shooter"

I don't at all think it's a bad idea. For a few reasons (IMHO only).

Some folks, including Gabe Suarez, are not fond of the pelvis as a target. More are willing to accept it as a viable target for rifle rounds. In an urban rifle course a few years ago, we were told that in the sandbox a common practice among Spec Ops is "pocket shots": you imagine the target wearing a pair of jeans, and put a round into each front pocket. With a carbine, and depending on distances and circumstances, they would go COM first, then pelvis, then head. One theory being that the head bobs and weaves way to much in a dynamic fight to make it a realistic target, but the pelvic girdle is just about where the center of gravity resides, and with an enemy who's ducking and dodging it moves less than any other other area of the body. Watch the NFL running backs in the games tomorrow and on some of the runs with nifty moves, when the replay comes up concentrate on the hips and watch how much less they move than the torso, shoulders, head, or legs.

Of course a rifle round, even the .223, has more potential to disrupt the pelvic girdle itself than do rounds from our carry pistols. That said, Kelly McCann, Craig Douglas, and other instructors have no problem with the pelvis as a close-quarters target.

First, if you recognize that--should you ever need to use your gun outside your home--there is a distinct probability that the distance between you and your attacker will be six feet or less, then your offhand will almost certainly be in play to fend, trap, or strike. Having the gun indexed against against your ribcage with the muzzle targeting the lower abdomen/pelvic girdle allows you some freedom of defensive movement on the high line with your offhand without the risk of shooting yourself.

Second, think about the environmental reality should we have to go to guns in an urban environment. If it goes down at a very close distance, I can almost guarantee you that explosive movement on the part of both combatants will force you to break gun safety rule number four: know your target and what is beyond it. A trajectory that's 45-degrees toward the ground is inherently less dangerous to bystanders than one that's parallel to the ground. And that ribcage-indexed position, once you're used to it, is plenty accurate at six feet. Even farther, if need be. In fact, I've had folks shoot four-inch groups the very first time they tried it.

As for stopping potential, the heart and aortic arch are going to be about 14 to 24 inches higher than a lower abdominal or pelvic target, but even a hit here could take up to 20 seconds or longer to stop the attack. We all know that a spinal cord or mid-brain hit is the only one-shot stop there is, and the fact is the spinal cord is no easier a target at COM than it is below the navel, and unless you hit the cervical region a spinal cord hit won't necessarily eliminate use of the arms.

The L3 vertebrae is about where the navel is, and as far the nervous system goes from that point down you have six important nerve roots that originate from the lumbar plexus, the cauda equina, and the sacral plexus. A hit on the spinal cord in this region can instantly remove all or partial use of the legs. It's a valid target in that respect, though as someone mentioned, you gotta be vigilant because the bad guy's hands can still be in play.

A round from a .25 ACP mouse gun is unlikely to significantly damage the integrity of the pelvic girdle itself, even at close range. But 9mm +P and larger can definitely do damage to the bone. And we don't train to fire one shot and ask the attacker how he feels before we fire again. At ECQ distances your job is to put enough rounds in so that you have time to retreat and gain distance, or the threat is stopped. You'll train for two or three rounds in rapid succession, and two .45 ACP +P hits on the pelvic girdle will definitely destabilize it. The attacker may be able to take a gingerly step or two, but his ability to move and fight will probably have been taken away. Even if you don't hit any nerves or break any important bones, it's still gonna leave a mark; it'll get his attention.

Third, we're taught to use a Low Ready position if the mere presentation of the gun stopped the attack. This isn't in order to be kind to the bad guy who just dropped the knife he'd planned to use on us. It's because we need to lower our arms so that we can be sure to maintain a good view of him from the hips up--particlularly his hands--in case he goes for that gun tucked in his pants. Despite what seems to be in every action movie I've ever watched, you don't want to hold someone at gunpoint if you're any closer than 10 or 15 fifteen feet. Any closer makes you too susceptible to a quick rush and disarm.

Guess where that low-ready position is pointing your gun? Yeppers. Just about at the pelvis. Is there any reason you shouldn't take a shot from there if he suddenly grabs for his Glock? Probably not. For a master-class shooter, raising the point of aim and getting a sight picture before firing isn't appreciably slower than squeezing off the first one from that lowered position. But for the rest of us, it could mean two-tenths of a second we might not be able to afford.

And that leads in to number four: it's less popular now than it used to be, but as recently as five or six years ago a number of instructors taught the "zipper" technique: start at low COM, and try to run your shots up the spine, like a zipper. One problem with this is that it was difficult to teach; it put too much thinking into a process that needed to become habituated, something done with "unconscious competence." Under stress, it's harder to make it any simpler than "shoot at the center of the biggest part you can see."

But the concept ain't all bad. A lot of us go to the range and work assiduously at shooting the tighest groups possible. The need to be able to perform with extreme accuracy for a hostage or long distance shot aside, you don't really want super-tight, nickel-sized groups for combat or defensive purposes. It's back to that cervical spinal cord or mid-brain hit being the only way to actually turn off the computer. In the vast majority of battlefield and officer-invloved shootings, it's the drop in blood in pressure due to bleeding out, exsanguination, that actually stops an attacker. Insufficient blood in the brain and it takes a nap. For that purpose, a few holes a few inches apart does a better job than surgically putting three rounds through the same hole.

Last up on yet another long post, sigh, is that a lot of very good instructors now teach that you should have a combat draw that gets the muzzle of your gun pointed at the threat while the gun is still very close to your body (for ECQ distance and retention shooting), and that you should be able shoot through your presentation from that position forward. In other words, if you're forced to shoot a couple of rounds into the pelvis from a Close Contact Ready position in order to break free from a bad-breath distance knife attack (which means you probably have already been cut), you should be able to move out of the hole and gain distance as you press out with your handgun, continuing to fire in the process until the immediate threat is stopped. The first shots may have stopped him, and if he's going down you obviously don't keep firing. But if you're facing a cranked-up meth-head committed on killing you, you need to be able to dynamically and smoothly continue to fire as you move, not try to run backward until you have enough distance for a perfect sight picture.

[Skiprr]

I usually practise with two to center mass and one to the head but I am not sure how useful that is because one has to assume that if you hit someone in the center mass then their head is not very likely to be much higher up after two to the bread basket.

I expended my word count for the night, so I'll keep this short(er).

We're creatures of habit and the patterns we practice, especially if we put in a fair amount of practice time, are the patterns we're most likely to revert to when the adrenaline dump hits us.

I like to vary the number of rounds in defensive strings. If you have a trainin' buddy this can become fun 'cause you can change up up your drills with target recognition and number of rounds. Elsewhere, fm2 mentioned he liked to use a target that had different geometric shapes on it with a number inside each. Your training partner can call out the targets immediately before you shoot. Forces you, at random, to recognize and acquire the targets (e.g., "square, then circle"), and put the prescribed number of rounds in the shapes.

Even a predetermined general target works, with your partner calling out the number of rounds. For example, you may decide it's going to be COM then head, and he might call "three, two," meaning put three in COM and two to the head. A real eye-opener on this drill is to establish a word or signal that means the threat is stopped, and your partner can invoke it at any time. Say it's a shout of "Clear!" On that three, two string he might call "Clear!" after you fired the second COM shot, and your job is to stop shooting and evaluate. He might also call "Threat!" after a couple of seconds, meaning the threat is still active so you have to finish your string. Mix it up, make it random, and get creative. This is kinda the equivalent of having him load a dummy round somewhere in your magazine to practice stoppage reduction.

Personally, I always like to refer to the Mozambique Drill as the "Maybe Mozambique," instead. Just a constant reminder that--while you don't stop to ask the bad guy if he wants a Bandaid and an Bayer Aspirin--you don't automatically fire the additional shot(s) without a split-second evaluation of the requirement to do so.

I also like shot timers. The combination of speed (timer) and accuracy (holes in target) allow you to evaluate yourself, and it can introduce a little competitiveness into the work with your shootin' partner.

A final tip that I almost never see anyone but advanced, competitive shooters use: video. A camera you have can probably shoot acceptable video, or a little Flip camera can be had for about a hundred bucks. While you're going through the nifty drills, have your training partner video you. A lot of folks, me included, are surprised to see bad habits because they're otherwise absolutely sure they don't have them. Take the the snap-cap hidden in the magazine trick: if you're anticipating recoil or "cowboying" the gun, you'll absolutely see it on the video. How is your recoil management and your grip? If you're unconsciously having to regrip during a short string of fire, there's a problem to be corrected. Do you "bowl" or "Charlie's Angel" the muzzle when you bring it on sight, rather than pressing it straight out? Where do you lose time in your strings? Is it always the first shot, or do you have trouble with the follow-through and getting back on target after subsequent shots? Is your draw repeatable, meaning does it look the same every single time?

You get the idea. I think a lot of folks are self-conscious about being videoed this way, but it can be a fantastic tool for self-instruction. Worst case, setup the camera when you do dry-fire practice at home. It can still show you a lot.

Just my two (additional) cents in the pot. And by "you" above, I didn't mean "you, Kevin"; I meant the general "you whoever you are spending time reading this."