Being able to hit what you aim at with a Handgun

[pony]

Sweatnbullets, I understand your point that there is much more to learn. I am still struggling to get an answer to my original question though. It must be a language barrier
Regardless as to where training can take me, is what i have been taught so far relevant and useful, or should I start all over again? Are the skills Front Sight teaches a good starting point, or just plain wrong?
In first learning to drive we are taught to keep two hands on the wheel, at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock (at least we are in England). I would never expect to be taught this at any advanced, tactical, driving school. That does not make the initial instruction wrong though, it was just a point along the way. Does Front Sight focus progress to be an instinctual, muscle memory part of combat, or a hinderance likely to get you killed?

Front Sight offers advanced courses were you encounter simulated 'real world' experiences. The closest you come to that on a four day defensive handgun course is clearing a room, and the tactical simulator were you clear a structure. Some of the guys on my course had been on other courses where you actually have to shoot from a vehicle, etc. Much more than the confines of a square range. For many people these institutions offer a good balance for the limited amount of resources, commitment and time most people are willing to sacrifice. Whether my training was world class, or merely average - I learned a lot. I improved my skills, my confidence, and my understanding.
Prior to attending my first course I could barely aim in in 2 seconds, now I can draw from concealment and place two controlled shots on target. This is better than the average thug, and therefore could give me just enough edge to come out alive.

 

[Sweatnbullets]

Are the skills Front Sight teaches a good starting point, or just plain wrong?

Oustanding starting point!

Many believe that I am anti-Modern Techniques.....but that is just not so. My opinion has always been that the fundamentals of marksmanship, that the Modern Techniques teach, is a foundation that anything can be built on.

Tom's OP is also an outstanding starting point!

Does Front Sight focus progress to be an instinctual, muscle memory part of combat, or a hinderance likely to get you killed?

It has it's place inside of the fight continuum. It is a necessary skill set....but is not the "end all, be all" that Frontsight portrays. If you do not understand the "context of the fight" and you use a response that is simply illogical, it could get you killed.

Prior to attending my first course I could barely aim in in 2 seconds, now I can draw from concealment and place two controlled shots on target. This is better than the average thug, and therefore could give me just enough edge to come out alive.

Once again, this depends on the context of the fight. The recent FBI report states that the BG's train much more than one would think. They also train in instinctive shooting (point shooting,) which gives them a pretty substantial time/speed advantage. If you take into consideration that the averge CCW confrontation will most likely happen with you being in a reactive position (behind in the reactionary curve and the OODA loop) stand and deliver sighted fire may not be the best response to these types of situation. This is easily proven in FOF.

Pony, you are on the right path. But you have to accept that the "situation" is the dictating factor on whether the fundamentals of marksmanship is going to be a logical response for the given situation.

Here is a little something to help you see the realities of the situation.

Priorities of the Gun Fight and “The Fight Continuum”

Avoid one easily and completely due to preparedness, knowledge, and awareness by being deselected.

See one coming and get the heck out of Dodge due to preparedness, knowledge, and awareness.

See one coming due to preparedness, knowledge, and awareness, but to have no choice but to end it by dominating the action and decisively ending it with solid behind cover or stand and deliver marksmanship skills.

Unfortunately, “The Fight Continuum” does not stop here.

See one coming due to preparedness, knowledge, and awareness, at the same time that a dedicated opponent recognizes that you see it coming. The context of the fight is equal initiative and the victor will be the one that mitigates his weaknesses while maximizing his strengths. Stand and deliver, sighted fire, controlled movement, alternative sighting methods, dynamic movement, or point shooting. It all comes down to who are you, what is your skill level, what are your limitations? The higher the skill level, the lower the chance of taking rounds. Remember “Movement favors the trained shooter….dynamic movement favors them even more so.”

Find out that you are going to be in a gunfight only after you have seen the adversary’s weapon and he has the opportunity to inflict serious bodily harm or death……right now! Explode off of the X to get inside of the adversaries OODA loop. Acquire your handgun, put hits onto the adversary as quickly as you possibly can to try to take back the lost initiative. Fluidly move from a reactive position to, to equal initiative, to the point that you are dominating and decisively ending the confrontation by the use of your dynamic movement and the ballistic effect of your “progressively accurate marksmanship.”

Find out that you are going to be in a gunfight, but only after you go “hands on” to get the adversaries weapon off of you and you create enough distance so that you can acquire your handgun. Integrate quality “hands on” skills to the point that the weapon is off of you and that you have the time to access and index onto the threat. The available time that you create dictates the type of response that is most effective and efficient.

“Luck favors the prepared!”

 

[DCJS Instructor]

Pony,

Your question was: Regardless as to where training can take me, is what I have been taught so far relevant and useful, or should I start all over again? Are the skills Front Sight teaches a good starting point, or just plain wrong?

The short answer is you have a good base for the fundamentals of handgun shooting for Target Accuracy.

First let me define a few things:

1. Target Accuracy= is defined as “any shot that has precision; exactness when it hits a pre defined place on a specific target...” Hitting in the exact center of a target. (Shooting a small group)

2. Combat Accuracy= is defined as “any shot that significantly affects the targets ability to present a lethal threat.” (Shooting anywhere that stops the threat)

3. Square Range =This is a range that has pre marked spots the shooter must shoot from. i.e.; the line or the booth. The shooter can only shoot straight ahead and not cross the line or move from the booth while shooting.

4.360 degree Range = On this range the shooter may move free and engage targets from all directions. Moving targets and static targets as well as using barricades and cover to shoot from while moving forward backwards and sideways.

Now that you have theses skills you must progress to "Combat Accuracy" which in my opinion includes point shooting. However I must note that I teach things a little differently than most. I use the "Zipper Method" of shooting that I learned at FLETC. I have a philosophy you must crawl before you walk and walk before you run. What you learned at front sight is good, I learned theses same methods many years ago from Richard Sharrer at front sight.

Right now you are building your "Tactical Tool Box" so to speak and you need to take as much training as you can from as many instructors and schools as you can. Please note that I also feel that you should include Shotgun, Rifle, Knife and Hand to Hand skills in that tool box as well.

My father who was a US. Marine and firearms Instructor always taught me these four important things I would like to share them with you.

1. "You will not rise to the occasion you will default to your level of training.....How good was your training?"

2."A Handgun is a tool...a tool to fight your way back to the rifle or shotgun you should have had if you new you were going to be in a fight."

3."Smooth is fast. Speed is fine but accuracy is final.

4. When in a gunfight if you get hit NEVER give up keep fighting most people survive a hit with a handgun.

So don’t give up your on the right track. What Roger is trying to tell you is 100% correct.

P.S. Brownie, Matt Temkin, and Sweatnbullets are Experts in the field of point shooting and can teach you what you need to know. I hope this helps!

Tom Perroni

 

[TexasSeaRay]

1. "You will not rise to the occasion you will default to your level of training.....How good was your training?"

2."A Handgun is a tool...a tool to fight your way back to the rifle or shotgun you should have had if you new you were going to be in a fight."

3."Smooth is fast. Speed is fine but accuracy is final.

4. When in a gunfight if you get hit NEVER give up keep fighting most people survive a hit with a handgun.

I've never attended any of the "tactical" schools--at least not the civilian schools. All of my experience was gained first in the military, then on various battlefields, then in law enforcement, then on the street.

I cannot give enough "+1" dittos to statement #1 and statement #4.

Knowing those two principles, living those two principles and always being cognizant of those two principles is vital.

Jeff

 

[Teuthis]

TexasSeaRay

My comments were not directed at military training. I was military trained too, and I know what training does. I was commenting on civilian training and the ability of the average citizen to react to some of the complex drills I was reading about. My focus was on awareness as opposed to reaction to a situation caused by lack of awareness. I spent time describing the importance of tactical advantage through awareness. I stand by what I said.

If one is taken by surprise in a situation such as was related, complex fireams training may indeed be of little use unless one is highly-skilled and relentlessly practiced. i.e. police or military. And will the average citizen work the drill with any precision or effectiveness? I wonder.

As far as skill training is concerned, I think the average armed citizen should focus on point shooting as one of the strong practice regimens. Draw and fire, eye/hand coordination. A simple drill that would work in a panic situation. That is all one will probably have time for if one is surprised.

On the other hand, if one is acutely aware of one' surroundings and what is in them, one can more often than not, avoid confrontation, or escape. Shooting it out should be the very last resort for armed citizens. Since you have been in it, you know what it is like, and how some lightly-trained amateur can react in the crisis.

 

[DCJS Instructor]

Teuthis,

As a Tactical Training Instructor Here is what I teach civilians about Tactical or Combat Mindset.

P.S. I teach L.E. and the Military the same thing!


COMBAT MINDSET

By: Tom Perroni

My motivation for this article came from two true warriors. I had the distinct honor and pleasure to have lunch with Lt Col Dave Grossman & Frank Borelli - two of the best warrior trainers in the business

After lunch Frank and I took some training from Lt Col Grossman. Now let me preface this by saying I have read all of Lt Col Grossman’s books, as well as the ones he has written a foreword to such as Training at the Speed of Life and American Thinking just to name a few. I have also read just about everything Frank Borelli has written. I consider Frank a friend and we have had many discussions on this topic (as well as many other topics).

Before the class started Lt Col Grossman informed Frank and I that he would be teaching this class a little differently in preparation for the New York Tactical Officers' Association seminar in Poughkeepsie, New York. So as any good Instructor I am a good student first and I listened with great interest for this new knowledge that would be imparted.

However what he said was not “NEW” but reemphasized in a way that made me think. Here is what he said:

“Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: You didn’t bring your gun; you didn’t train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by fear, helplessness, horror and shame at your moment of truth.”

As he said this I looked around the room at the people in this class: a police chief, a SWAT cop from West Virginia, a police officer from Maryland, several FBI agents, and a major from FPS. Surely these warriors are trained, they are physically prepared, and they have made the decision to be a Sheepdog and not Sheep. But I thought for a moment about some of the civilians I train for a Concealed Handgun Permit in Virginia. How many take only the four hour Firearm Safety Course that is required to get the Permit? How many make the commitment to take further training of any sort? There is a big difference between Target Shooting and Combat Shooting. Please remember that paper targets do not shoot back.




I tell my students that before they carry a handgun with that new Concealed Carry permit they must ask them selves a very important question…

At the moment of truth when you are placed in a situation where you must defend your life or the lives of others you had the right to protect could you? After being trained correctly use that handgun to defend your self or others you had the right to protect by shooting to stop the threat and quite possibly taking someone else’s life to save your own life, could you?

If you can not answer this question or the answer is NO then do not carry a firearm because if you hesitate you’re dead; if you have it and don’t or can’t use it, it may be used against you.

I also tell my students that just merely having the Handgun is a false sense of security. You must be trained in how to use your Handgun. But you also need to be trained in the “combat mindset” You must realize that nearly 80% of all shootings happen in low or reduced light. How much low light training have you had?

We are also trained that the average contact distance between perps and officers or civilian concealed carry permit holders is less than 3 feet. How often do you practice your Draw and CQB weapon retention? We are trained that the average number of rounds fired in a gun fight at that distance by police is 10 rounds. We are also trained that the hit rate of those rounds fired is about 20% or to put it anther way an 80% miss rate. That means that 2 in 10 rounds hit the intended target. Do they suddenly loose the marksmanship skills they have developed over years? The answer is NO.

Lou Ann Hamblin a veteran Police Officer explains it like this “…many elite athletes fail during competition because of a lack of mental control. One of the major psychological characteristics of Olympic Champions is their ability to cope with and control anxiety. In reality, athletes do not lose their physical ability, technical skills, and strategic knowledge during a competition. Rather, they lose control of cognitive factors such as the ability to concentrate, to focus on relevant cues, to engage in positive self talk and so forth.”

We call this the “Choke” Phenomenon. An example of this can be an Officer involved shooting: the officer fires the subject does not immediately go down (Like in the movies and on TV); the officer believes they have missed the target so they pull the trigger again. The subject will not go down (miss again). Now they begin to shoot faster and the officer’s shooting gets worse and worse. The negative self-talk that often occurs when we begin making critical judgments about what a terrible shot we are will only serve to increase the toxic cocktail coursing through our veins. In actual gunfights people have been known to shut down, quitting before the fight is over and resigning themselves to lose.

On the other hand, many successful professionals use positive self –talk and imagery, letting insignificant errors pass right through their minds while focusing on what they must do to win…..seeing and hearing themselves as successful. Positive self talk can also come in the form of auditory recall. There have been reports of officers in life threatening situations “hearing” their Firearms Instructor say….”Shoot back …finish the fight…your NOT dead dammit!!!”

As Sir Winston Churchill said:

“Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”

What is mindset? For the fighter, mindset is the conscious or subconscious willingness to commit harm (lethal or non-lethal) against another. When engaging in combat, mindset, more often than not, will be the determining factor as to your success or failure, regardless of technical proficiency. Anybody can train in a martial skill, but few have the mind and will to use their skills for killing or serious injury. Mindset's partner is "mental trigger," and this trigger is the defining moment that forces you to engage your opponent with the goal of injury or death.


So how do you train in Mindset? Here is how we begin the Mindset portion of our training. Keeping in mind that Mindset is just one of the 3 main principals taught at Perroni’s Tactical Training Academy. Mindset, Skills Training and Tactics. Here is how we teach Mindset:

Since 9/11 everyone is familiar with the “Color Code” used by the government (Dept. of Homeland Security) to indicate the terrorist threat level. However I was taught that the originator of the “Color Code” was Jeff Cooper. Upon it’s inception it had absolutely nothing to do with tactical situations or alertness levels. It had everything to do with the state of mind of the sheepdog. As it was taught to me by an instructor who got it straight form Mr. Cooper, it relates to the degree of danger you are willing to do something about and which allows you move from one level of mindset to another to enable you to properly handle any given situation as it progresses. In this ‘Color Code” we have 4 colors that represent 4 mental states. The colors are White, Yellow, Orange, Red. I have listed them with a definition of each:

White - Relaxed, unaware, and unprepared. If attacked in this state the only thing that may save you is the inadequacy and ineptitude of your attacker. When confronted by something nasty your reaction will probably be, "Oh my God! This can't be happening to me." (Sheep)

Yellow - Relaxed alertness. No specific threat situation. Your mindset is that "today could be the day I may have to defend myself." There is no specific threat but you are aware that the world is an unfriendly place and that you are prepared to do something if necessary. You use your eyes and ears, and your carriage says "I am alert." You don't have to be armed in this state but if you are armed you must be in yellow. When confronted by something nasty your reaction will probably be, "I thought this might happen some day." You can live in this state indefinitely.

Orange - Specific alert. Something not quite right has gotten your attention and you shift your primary focus to that thing. Something is "wrong" with a person or object. Something may happen. Your mindset is that "I may have to shoot that person." Your pistol is usually holstered in this state. You can maintain this state for several hours with ease, or a day or so with effort.

Red - Fight trigger. This is your mental trigger. "If that person does "x" I will shoot them." Your pistol may, but not necessarily, be in your hand.

It is further simplified by Mr. Cooper in this way:

"In White you are unprepared and unready to take lethal action. If you are attacked in White you will probably die unless your adversary is totally inept.(Sheep)

In Yellow you bring yourself to the understanding that your life may be in danger and that you may have to do something about it.

In Orange you have determined upon a specific adversary and are prepared to take action which may result in his death, but you are not in a lethal mode.

In Red you are in a lethal mode and will shoot if circumstances warrant."

At Perroni’s Tactical Training Academy I train my students to Be Sheepdogs among Wolves and Sheep. We as Sheepdogs must defend ourselves and families as well as the Sheep from Wolves. So my students are trained to be in condition yellow at all waking hours of any given day and are trained as well as prepared to go to Orange or Red on a moments notice. However as the situation deescalates our students can deescalate jut as quickly as they can escalate through the color code.

Proper Training is also important. I am a big proponent of Force on Force Training. You will never know how you will react in a given situation until you are put in that situation. As LtCol. Grossman says it’s the “Fight or Flight Reflex”. What would you do if someone was say 8 yards away with knife with no obstacles between you threatening you with that knife? How fast can someone cover that distance?.....What if they were say 21 feet away. How fast could they cover that distance? If I told you 1.5 seconds would you believe me? If they had a Baseball Bat in their hand would that make a difference as to how fast they could cover that distance? Sure would. Mindset-Training-Tactics are the keys to your survival. Would you stand and fight or would you run?

If I had to summarize Combat Mindset it would sound something like this: A Sheepdog who had the Training & Mental Awareness and used the proper Tactics to handle any encounter, swiftly, accurately, morally and finally. They would be the one walking away from the confrontation. Either because it was the correct thing to do or because they were the victor in the encounter. "Conflict is inevitable; Combat is an option".


I would like to thank the following People who contributed to this article:

Lt.Col. Dave Grossman, Frank Borelli, Jeff Cooper,,Lyman Lyon, Fr. Frog & Lou Ann Hamblin. Progressive Martial Arts Training Center.

 

[David Armstrong]

David Armstrong was claiming the fundamentals being taught by Front Sight and the OP are wrong, and had been proven such.

No. David did not claim any such thing. David said that the claim "In order to get accurate hits on target you must have “Front Sight Focus” is wrong, as one can get accurate hits on target through other methods. The fundamentals of "Front Sight Focus" is nice, but as others pointed out it is not the only way to get things done.

Front Sight train all the way up to combat master

I'm always a little leery of places that invent titles based on what they have done. Lots of other places teach different things that are as good or better in combat. Don't get too wrapped up in a little knowledge when there is a whole lot of it out there.

 

[TexasSeaRay]

Front Sight train all the way up to combat master

First off, nobody is a "combat master."

Nobody.

Combat is not an "art" to be "mastered." It's a nightmare to be endured.

Second of all, the only way you could ever get to be a "combat master" is not through training.

It would be by surviving.

Kinda hard to be a "master" at something one has never done (actual combat).

Jeff