How good of a shot are most BG's?

In my experience, the average criminal is a pretty lousy pistolero. As you pointed out, it takes some skill to hit a target with a handgun. To be perfectly honest, I'm much more afraid of a bad guy with an edged weapon than one with a handgun. With a knife, they don't need a lot of skill to ruin your day, all they have to do is get close.

Shotguns & rifles are a different story. Just about anyone can employ either very effectively with little practice or know how.

Don't take any of the above to mean I patrol around underestimating the dirtbags. What I do is keep tactical awareness at all times, and give myself some reactionary gap when dealing with them...
 
Lucky Shot

pax wrote:

He doesn't have to be good; he only has to be lucky.
Click to expand...

I agree. A LEO was killed last year, while chasing a BG, by a 60 foot shot that entered his body under his raised arm, through an opening in his body armor.:(
 
281 makes an excellent point, you never know who the bad guy will be. I served in the Army with guys that easily had the potential to be BG's that would be very nasty to deal with. Training will tip the scales possibly in your favor but as I have said before and have heard others say the real battle is between your ears. You have to decide under what circumstances you will use your weapon before you need it, especially if you are not an LEO. The BG may have trained at a camp in Syria or Iran. He may have been trained by some western countrys Spec Ops guys gone merc :eek: . You never know.
 
Very good point. I think it's reasonable to expect, given the number of Gulf War (both 1 & 2) vets with combat experience, and accepting that a certain number are bad actors or have mental problems, that there are going to be more bad guys with above average tactical and weapons skills floating around these days...
 
Its sad to say but I've seem some pretty shadey characters (really looked like a bunch of thugs) at some ranges I have gone to. Some Bad Guys DO PRACTICE!!! I was shooting much better than them but I consider myself an above average shot. I'm not sure where most police officers train but it must not be at the ranges I go to. Either that or they go during normal working hours so I never see them. I also think some departments have their own ranges.

Not to beat a dead horse but Quad 281 hit the nail on the head. Never underestimate your enemy and always train hard so that you will be better than them. Prepare yourself mentally so you won't hesistate at a critical moment and do what it takes to protect yourself and your loved ones. Another thing is know when to draw and when to comply. Unless you are John Wayne, you have little chance of drawing from concealment and shooting a bad guy who already has his gun trained on you.
 
Living here in Philly I can guarantee that the bad guys are not as skilled in shooting but they play the cards in their favor to be more accurate and get hits. We have had 23 people shot this year and it's only Jan. 26th. The bad guys here get close and spray and pray. Any way you look at it, if he's using a 15 round 9mm chances are he is going to hit. For that reason I believe you can never underestimate them. All you have to do is walk down the street in some neighborhoods and you feel the eyes of the wolf looking upon you weighing pros and cons all the time.
 
I would have to say that the average BG is comparable to the average good guy. That being said, my past experiences in the Army and in the world clearly show, that most would easily fit in the bad shot catagory.

At ranges and in the field I cannot believe just how poor some people, (who are often called good shots), actually shoot. I have hunted with state police, city police, and strike force personnel, who don't shoot that well, some are darn right horrible. Many of my fellow soldiers only shot when required to requalify and then barely could pass the requirements.

The difference between firing at targets and firing at people is more than most can imagine. When you have had an adrenaline dump to your system it causes a multitude of effects. Just look at what happens to hunters every year, it has a name...buck fever.

I admit that even I don't practice as often as I should. This all means nothing though when you are confronted by a BG weilding a gun. As we all know Mr. Murphy and his law has a good chance of intervening and when he does it usually isn't a good outcome.
 
well the one who shot me was 3 feet away, close enough for me to see the hammer fall, how good of a shot do you need to be at that range....
 
Lee Malvo, Columbine H.S., JKF, Reagan attempt. The attempted assassination of Truman at the Blair House by two PuertoRican nationals armed with semi-auto 9mm pistols killed or wounded a half dozen secret service agents before they were put down. Two of the agents were expert marksman and competetion pistol shooters.

All impressive shooting by mostly amateurs . The Reagan attempted assassination especially. John W. Hinckley Jr., by all accounts had no previous firearms training and took on a dozen well trained secret service agents and a crowd of police and reporters. With a six shot revolver he hit: POTUS in the lung, 1 SS agent, 1 police officer, and of course Jim Brady.

Never underestimate your opponent. Ever. Sometimes they just get lucky.
 
Many wonderful points have been made, I don't think there's any more to say on the subject of opinion.

Only posting here to throw out some numbers. Last year, known American civilian crimescenes revealed a 2/11 proficiency by the so-called 'bad guy' and only 5/11 by LEO, at an average of ten metres. I'm not sure whether I can post detailed studies of military happenstance, so I won't.

Nice thread.
 
I am a strong believer in good luck through good planning. Also, I assume that anyone who points a gun at me in a threatening manner (as opposed to idiocy, which is another matter; shot at vs yelled at...alot), knows how to use it.


That said, my control over my luck is limited at best. My control over my skill level is much greater. If the BG makes a decision to put my life in danger, and I decide to end that danger, I would really like to stop him before he hurts me. The better my skill is, the less luck I need to do that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top