Shot Placement and Practice: Am I likely to get any better?
- Thread starter psyfly
- Start date
Handgun bullets rarely drop a threat instantaneously. It takes a few deadly seconds for an adrenaline charged aggressor to react to their wounds or to bleed out.
Times and self defense training have changed....remarkably.
For the average Joe, stand and deliver is rarely the wise thing to do in a deadly encounter because the odds of mutual death or injury are so high. That is classic old school training.
At close range and with ambush on the BG's side, the best tactic is to 'not' get shot....that means 'move' first!
So the drill is 'move' off the X as you draw your weapon and shoot. Miss or not, just shoot.
Anyone who has been in firefights or shootouts knows that the whole idea of surviving a deadly encounter is to 'survive'....not bullet placement or hitting the threat first.
In a real life encounter one has only seconds to react and those few seconds are best used to move first, draw then shoot.
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Gee, that's funny because I have been in more than one, have several acquaintaces who have been, been an instructor for more than 20 years and just finished compiling data on several hundred civilian shootings in more than a dozen states going back to the mid 1990's and I can tell ya that it just aint so.
Moving or doing anything else when you should be shooting will get you killed. In spite of what the "tacticool" crowd says, the majority of time the person who hits the target first walks away in the best shape.
Not all change is for the better and changes in training don't mean that reality has changed. The most remarkable thing is that these changes were brought about by certain individuals telling the public what is important (in Political Science, it's called "priming"). That created a perceived need that these same individuals stepped in to fill - go figure.
Again not supported by reality. About 70% of the time it is who hits their target first that matters (even when the BG has his gun out first). There are very few incidents of mutual death. In fact there are not that many deaths period. About 85% of the time, handgun wounds are not fatal (that works both ways).
It's immaterial, the purpose is to stop the threat. Stopping the threat could consist of the BG dropping his gun and running away. Killing them is a secondary occurance.
Next time somone tells you the importance of those tactics, ask them to show you the evidence that supports their conclusion. It would be interesting to see what they offer.
Hello Psyfly
To answer the basic question you asked: Yes, you will get better if you practise properly.
A three inch pistol is not normally a target grade gun. But the accuracy potential between a three inch gun and a five inch gun are not as great as commonly believed. Much of this is a matter of reasonable expectations. For the record, a three inch pistol that will not reliably hit a 9 inch disk at 25 yards and probably at 50 yards is defective (excluding shooter inability.)
If I may, a couple of comments and observations:
The essence and primary skill in delivering any shot on any target - bullseye, ground squirrel, moose or armed attacker - is sight picture and trigger control. Obviously, the margin of error is greater when the target is large and up close, but there are limits of error in all circumstances. As you so correctly said
I've done all kinds of shooting in my life, pretty much everything from bullseye to IPSC to silouette. I've carried a gun for a living for many years now. I've never shot anyone, but I've taken several guns and knives away from people. Knowing you can make the hit under any circumstance is a big advantage. Bad guys pick up on that.
By the way, I'm now 58 years old. I'm a bit overweight and my knees, while still servicable, are going out on me. I like 'action shooting', but I can't do the running, jumping and sliding under limbo sticks so beloved of that 'sport'. So I do understand your position regarding violent excercise. I still shoot bullseye, and I shoot a monthly International Centerfire match; part of that match demands a fairly precise shot fired within three seconds (to obrain sight picture and shoot) - thirty times. It's good practise for this sort of thing.
And the idea of
Lord protect us all from 'supressive fire'.
To answer the basic question you asked: Yes, you will get better if you practise properly.
A three inch pistol is not normally a target grade gun. But the accuracy potential between a three inch gun and a five inch gun are not as great as commonly believed. Much of this is a matter of reasonable expectations. For the record, a three inch pistol that will not reliably hit a 9 inch disk at 25 yards and probably at 50 yards is defective (excluding shooter inability.)
If I may, a couple of comments and observations:
The essence and primary skill in delivering any shot on any target - bullseye, ground squirrel, moose or armed attacker - is sight picture and trigger control. Obviously, the margin of error is greater when the target is large and up close, but there are limits of error in all circumstances. As you so correctly said
You got that right, pard. I've read too many reports of gunfights at less than powderburn range with less than a one-in-three hit ratio.
I've done all kinds of shooting in my life, pretty much everything from bullseye to IPSC to silouette. I've carried a gun for a living for many years now. I've never shot anyone, but I've taken several guns and knives away from people. Knowing you can make the hit under any circumstance is a big advantage. Bad guys pick up on that.
By the way, I'm now 58 years old. I'm a bit overweight and my knees, while still servicable, are going out on me. I like 'action shooting', but I can't do the running, jumping and sliding under limbo sticks so beloved of that 'sport'. So I do understand your position regarding violent excercise. I still shoot bullseye, and I shoot a monthly International Centerfire match; part of that match demands a fairly precise shot fired within three seconds (to obrain sight picture and shoot) - thirty times. It's good practise for this sort of thing.
And the idea of
is great. Unless you have to explain where your missed rounds went. Like in a self-defense shooting.
Lord protect us all from 'supressive fire'.
With proper practice, yes you WILL get better.
A while back (pre-9-11-01) I had not done much handgun shooting in SEVERAL years. Bought a Ruger KP-90 [4" .45ACP] and I was grossly surprised in how much my handgun skills had diminished.
After about 2,000 rounds over many range sessions, my targets began to resemble groups insted of shotgun patterns.
A while back (pre-9-11-01) I had not done much handgun shooting in SEVERAL years. Bought a Ruger KP-90 [4" .45ACP] and I was grossly surprised in how much my handgun skills had diminished.
After about 2,000 rounds over many range sessions, my targets began to resemble groups insted of shotgun patterns.