The integration of gun fighting Part II

[7677]

MINDSET.
I have found that Mindset is the most important element to surviving. Mindset is more then being mentally capable of taking another humans life as the lack of awareness of ones surrounding will get you killed. In the LE community, the failure to recognize threats is the biggest killer. Being the best shot in the world doesn't do you one bit of good if you never see it coming. Real world incidents never occur when you want them to or in conditions that favor you. When a person goes to a shooting competition they know it is draw and shoot and there are no surprises. The targets do not move toward you and ask for a light and then suddenly attack you. Targets do not shoot back nor do they find you like they do it the real world at the moment when your head is planted in your rear end. Try shooting after you have been physically assaulted and punched in the nose or a face full of OC, and/or in a dark environment. It changes the whole game. Mindset includes the determination to win, conditioning to mind to scan for threats and threat identification. Once a thread is identified the person has to employ appropriate tactics to deal with the threat which includes making the appropriate determination to disengage or engage.

FIGHTING PLATFORM:

The platform should be learned in its most basic form and everything should be just an extension of a punch. You simply look where you want your punch to land and your mind does the rest. Knives, Swords and Firearms either extend the range of your punch and/or its lethality. This fighting system should flow from the fighting stance to the use of weapons.

SIGHT CONTINUUM:

I came up with the sight continuum to explain when to use point shooting and when to use the sights by the urgency of making shot and the distance involved. Other things like movement, and the use of cover are other considerations that play a part in the sight continuum. The final piece of sight continuum came to me one day while watching simunitions training and I noticed that people A) do as they were trained or B) spray and prey or C) nothing (until to late). Well sometimes people do what they were trained a little to well. No one every told them that they could go from the mind set of I’m going to draw and take a aimed shot to of oh crap I need to make the shot right now. When this happened most shooters didn’t use PS and make the shot they rushed the draw which usually threw the gun even more off target and then it took them even longer to recover their sight picture and by this time you could play connect the dots on them. The distance which most handgun fight take place at are within 10 feet and the victim is usually reacting to the attacker which further puts them behind the curve. The only way I have found to off set the attackers advantage is for the victim to move draw and fire the second the gun comes on target and continue to zipper up the body until the attacker is down. The zipper is just another tool in the tool box along with other tools.

MAKING THE SHOT:

This is where things differ with me. I'm all about performance not about style. Once the determination to use point shooting or sighted fire are made it makes no difference if you use Iso, mod Iso, Weaver, Modern Technique or FAS, Quick Kill, Quick Fire or anything else as long as you can make the shot.

[JMusic]

This may or may not be off target but it does address mindset. I walked into LE as a 20 year old country boy believing everyone respected the law. Long story short I found this not to be true. It soon became apparent to me that to win a gun fight the less thinking and more acting I could do would increase my odds. I practiced of course from drawing to shooting. I practiced drawing a bunch. It was an unnatural act for me. Didn't practice fast just practiced doing it right. I have long been into martial arts and you increase course motor skills through repetition so that is what I did.

My mind set though was slightly unique. When I drew my weapon I always pulled the trigger even dry firing. I had made the decision that If I drew I would shoot. I know some here will cringe so cringe. I decided I would make a conscoius effort to stop the firing mode if necessary. I believe it actually saved lives. I was no longer burdened with the shoot no shoot thought process you go through "as you brandish" your weapon. I had become single minded. I had to stop myself a few times but people had no doubt my intnetions when I cleared leather. It also cut down on my reaction times.
This soon became an involontary process for me. When startteld I would draw. One less thing to think about. I have to admitt though I have lost that skill. With ccw being legal I intend on getting it back.
Jim

[Dave James]

The older I get and some would say less wiser,, I have decided in my own mind that there is really luck of the draw, and "ZEN" shooting,,and its nothing that CAN'T BE LEARNED.

ONce the fundamentals are learned and practiced, its learning the flow of shooting and fighting.

[Guantes]

My experience was in some ways a little different than JM's

Awareness and survival mindset were things that were picked up early. I was raised in ELA which aided the learning experience. The first time I was shot at was at a park three blocks from my house and I was twelve years old. A rival gang of the local one saw us in the park and decided to take a few shots at us (we were not gang members). This and other experiences ingrained a mindset of awareness and survival at an early age.

I like many others spent many hours in front of a mirror practicing my draw, in addition to live fire practice. I practiced firing on the draw and just the draw. I made the decision to fire from the draw, or just draw and be ready to fire, befor the draw was made, for a couple reasons. Once the draw process had begun, with the intent to fire, I don't think I would have had time between the initiation of the draw and firing to change my mind. Additionally, it was not uncommon to draw down on a dozen or more people in a single night. These draw downs were justified based on the circumstances but, firing would not have been, as the draw downs caused a cease in the activity which had initiated the draw down.

I hope some of this makes sense.

[JMusic]

Yep it does to me. Like you I pulled my weapon several times. Many times while inside homes after the initial entry. You are right it is tough to stop. I stopped twice being almost through the trigger pull. Would it have been justified yes, Moraly right probably not. To complicate this I worked plain clothes most of the time and the Sheriff tended to use us if he thought he would get one of his uniform guys shot. We all have are own survival methods and mind sets. Certainly other members of my group did not have the same idea's as me, but guess who was always voted to go in first? I have always had very fast reflexes and that has been a plus for me. Also being a hunter all my life had developed instincts as far as triggers that some people did not have. Take for example Quail hunting, I could shoot one of them by the time they reached about 6 ft. The trigger was the noise of the flush.

Oh and I like you had been shot at a few times prior to being in LE. My naivetevity was the lack of respect for LE, or better yet those who would challenge the authority. Yep different strokes for different folks. I was really a very polte and well liked LE officer in the community and within the proffesion. I'm not saying everytime I pulled my weapon I shot someone I'm just saying I was gonna.:)
Jim

[Guantes]

JM,
Please note that nothing said was meant as a disparagement of your concepts or tactics, just a different perspective.

Personally, it sounds kind of dumb to me to send in the guys in soft clothes first when you have uniforms, but I understand your point about saving his uniforms. I always worked patrol (uniform), by preference.

I also was frequently first through the door, but it was often because I pushed the other people out of the way.

I like to think I was liked by some people (citizens) and disliked by others (bg's).

If it seemed that I was inferring that you shot someone every time you drew that was merely my inept articulation.:o

[JMusic]

Not my intention at all. I was just further explaining myself. I'm not as thin skinned as I come across. Having worked both uniform and plain clothes I have a good perspective of both. I was glad to get rid of that big gold star on my chest though made a good target at night!:) The only thing I've taken exception to on this sight so far is not being able to use one of your custom made saps!:D
Jim

[JMusic]

Guantes your first through the door comment reminds me of an incident. This may not be the spot for it but here it goes.

We had secured a search warrant to an apartment for PCP. I looked young for my age so the protocol was that I would try to make a buy first and then if rebuffed we would charge in. This was a normal practice and I soon learned to have my weapon out and behind my back. Three others would remain close but out of sight. As soon as they opened the door I would slide my foot in as far as possible. They answered I used the name of a guy we just popped and tried to make a buy. They and I mean several tried to slam the door. Well My buddies decided to help and it turned into a shoving match for a few seconds pinning me against the door. Soon all the guns came out and all were inches from my face and head. I can remember watching the movie Serpico and I swear it was just like that as far as me being pinned. The door finally gave and we all went crashing in on the floor. It all worked out for the best but having a couple 1911 and an N frame Smith beside your nose certain makes for an exilerating experience.:D
Take care.
Jim

[Guantes]

JM,
I know exactly how you felt. Try a shotgun muzzle next to your nose, only not in the hands of one of the good guys.

[DocH]

7677,I believe your description of the fighting platform is exactly how I came to point shooting early in my police career.
There were several instances as a young rookie where I felt the need to present my revolver(that was the weapon in those days) in low light conditions. I could see my subject but more often than not I could not see my sights. I had done some golden gloves boxing as a teenager and it occured to me that if I could look where I wanted to land my punch on a ring opponent and then do it,why could I not do the same with a pistol?
I started practicing it every morning at the nearby range.Didn't do so well at first,but I was determined to find a technique that could save my young fanny and the more I did it ,the better and faster I got.
I've now been doing it all my adult life. I would never call what I do QK,I'm just a point shooter and have never been trained in QK.Maybe the day will come eventually when I can avail myself of this training,but what you stated about the fighting platform really perked up my attention,just as Brownie's posts did when he was describing the indexing of the barrel or slide to the target.Very instructive.

[JMusic]

Doc that reminds me of some of my old reports that stated I pushed my revolver toward the subject.
Jim