Strategies and practice,

[ar10]

Over the past 2 months I've been going to the local outdoor range about 3 or 4 times a week. They have about 5 ranges, one is about 400 yds, the others are 100yd with rifle, shotgun, and hand gun. I've spent most of my time watching a lot of people shooting and talked with a number of them. The makeup is pretty wide, from novice to Feds and LEO's.
The questions I have are pretty simple.

I watched and participated in some "weak" hand shooting. Do people actually aim and shoot with their weak hand? I noticed an awful alot of shooter hands shaking prior to pulling the trigger. The worst shooters were the ones that tended to hold their handgun sideways. (sort of like the movies).

I also watched and participated in a number of IDPA like senarios. In my view they were pretty hard, but some of those shooters were nearly perfect. The best ones were a couple of ATF agents. These two were about the best shots I've ever saw. How critical is the time compared to hitting the target by shooting slower??? I watched a couple of shooters that had 16 rnd mags using up three full mags. They did ok but it seemed like they were actually slower than the shooters who shot slowly.

Finally, how important is it to practice with a HD shotgun? I have one but seldom take it out. I take mine out about once a year then shove it back in the closet after cleaning it until the next year.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I watched and participated in some "weak" hand shooting. Do people actually aim and shoot with their weak hand?

Yes

The worst shooters were the ones that tended to hold their handgun sideways. (sort of like the movies).

For one-handed shooting, a 30-45 degree cant actually places the gun at a more natural/ergonomic orientation and as such help produce better results.

How critical is the time compared to hitting the target by shooting slower???

People often chant the mantra that a slow hit beats a fast miss. This isn't always the case for a couple of reasons. First, sometimes a missed shot is enough to quell a bad guy, but I would not count on it. Generally speaking, missing is a bad thing.

Second, when going the slow route to make the hit, then you risk being hit yourself before ever pulling the trigger. How well are you going to be able to make that slow and well placed shot after getting shot yourself? Simply put, there isn't always time to make a properly sighted, well placed shot.

Finally, how important is it to practice with a HD shotgun?

That depends. How proficient do you want to be with it?

 

[sacp81170a]

I watched and participated in some "weak" hand shooting. Do people actually aim and shoot with their weak hand?

Absolutely. It's an essential skill to be able to operate your weapon with either hand since you may get your strong hand hurt. In fact, in Simunitions training, I've gotten shot in the strong hand more frequently than anywhere else on my body. It kinda stands to reason, they focus on the threat, the gun, so that's where the bullets go. You can't ask for a time out just because you got hurt.

The best ones were a couple of ATF agents. These two were about the best shots I've ever saw. How critical is the time compared to hitting the target by shooting slower??? I watched a couple of shooters that had 16 rnd mags using up three full mags. They did ok but it seemed like they were actually slower than the shooters who shot slowly.

As with any skill, the more you practice the better you get, but only if you practice correctly. Fast is good, accuracy is final. As someone once put it, "take your time in a hurry."

Finally, how important is it to practice with a HD shotgun?

Practice with all your weapons is essential. Have you ever patterned your shotgun with the ammo you intend to use? Have you shot slugs out of it to see where they're hitting as compared to point of aim at various distances? Do you know the maximum range you can reliably get all the pellets of your buckshot load on the target? (This will vary from shotgun to shotgun and by ammo brand.) Have you practiced tactical reloads? Have you run it while you're under stress so that you can insure you're not short stroking the action if it's a pump? Have you practiced transitioning from your shotgun to your handgun in the event of a malfunction? There are lots of skills to running a combat shotgun that need to be practiced regularly.

Not to worry, there are lots of places to learn how to do all the things I've mentioned. Find yourself a good tactical shotgun class or ask a friendly LEO to show you some drills. I love answering questions at the range and I love learning things I didn't know.

 

[GigaBuist]

I noticed an awful alot of shooter hands shaking prior to pulling the trigger.

This is something I've seen when I shoot one handed. Lacking a support hand I tend to grip the pistol with an iron fist which quickly leads to a bit of shaking. It's psychological and a little bit of practice reminds me that I can control a handgun perfectly fine. I can't shoot as accurately, but it's not going to whack me in the forehead.

Thank's for reminding me that I need to try that out more often.

 

[TheLastBoyScout]

How critical is the time compared to hitting the target by shooting slower???
People often chant the mantra that a slow hit beats a fast miss. This isn't always the case for a couple of reasons. First, sometimes a missed shot is enough to quell a bad guy, but I would not count on it. Generally speaking, missing is a bad thing.

Second, when going the slow route to make the hit, then you risk being hit yourself before ever pulling the trigger. How well are you going to be able to make that slow and well placed shot after getting shot yourself? Simply put, there isn't always time to make a properly sighted, well placed shot.

On the plus side, in my personal experience its much easier to snapshoot the first shot of a double as my sights pan onto the target than to bring it off recoil and hammer off the second into the 5-zone.

In a realworld scenario, I'd try to do it just that way. As its been pointed out, 1 solid hit with a .45 would seriously foul up any immediate-term chances of return fire--I don't doubt it would buy that extra fraction of a second to put round #2 right next to it, as opposed to ripping it off and putting it in the right shoulder (where the second rounds of my "hammers" generally end up in a silhouette)

 

[pax]

I watched and participated in some "weak" hand shooting. Do people actually aim and shoot with their weak hand?

A couple weeks ago, one of my shooting buddies rolled an ATV over on top of himself and busted his arm up pretty bad. Two days later, we were up at the range, him in a cast and sling of course. I quickly ran him through the basic one-handed gun manipulations, all of which he already knew, and we found everything was going to work pretty well for him during the next couple months while his arm heals up. Big sigh of relief there.

Contrast this with another friend of mine who has had wrist surgery for carpal tunnel this past year. This person didn't know how to shoot one-handed and didn't know how to load, unload, or clear malfunctions with only one hand either. Learning the skills at the moment you need them is generally a bad idea, because physical pain usually makes it hard to concentrate on learning new stuff. It took a lot of work to get this person up to speed on the one handed skills, and -- because it was such a difficult learning curve -- there was no sigh-of-relief moment as there was for my other friend.

Finally, how important is it to practice with a HD shotgun?

Would you bet your life on your ability to load the gun without looking at it, to clear a jam without hesitation, or to hit someone at room-length distance?

pax

 

[Headless]

How in the world do you rack the slide on a semiauto one handed, safely? I've practiced shooting with both hands extensively but never have figured that out.

 

[marley]

Had my right arm in a sling one summer and got quite good at shooting one handed. Of course being left eye dom sure helped a bit. I have kept up the practice. You never know when it might happen again. Patrick

 

[atk]

How in the world do you rack the slide on a semiauto one handed, safely? I've practiced shooting with both hands extensively but never have figured that out.

Either Jeff Cooper or Massad Ayoob wrote a defensive handgun book that describes how to do stuff one handed. I strongly suggest reading everything you can find about defensive handgunnery, by either author.


Since you have to rack the slide, and you need something to rack it against, one option that I recall reading in teh book was to place the gun between your knees, and rack the slide.

 

[Mikhail Konovalov]

On the subject of one-handed slide-racking, and this varies wildly from person to person and gun to gun, I find that, with my Jericho, I can wrap my hand, strong or weak, around the top of the slide, using those wonderfully oversized rear sights as something to catch, and push the frame forward with my thumb. It involves a quick catch when you let her snap forward again, but I find it can be done more easily than snagging the sights on a pocket or belt and pushing.

Mind you this is completely subjective. This works for me, with my pistol. It may or may not work for you, but it is something to consider with weak-hand or one-hand practice.

Of course, one-handed chamber checks using the same method have their place, and are much easier to accomplish with the bigger .45's out there.

 

[sacp81170a]

How in the world do you rack the slide on a semiauto one handed, safely? I've practiced shooting with both hands extensively but never have figured that out.

One way to do it is to kneel behind cover, hook the front sight on the heel of your boot and rack it. You can also hook the rear sight on your belt or pocket and do it, but be careful since you can end up sweeping "things you'd rather not shoot" with the muzzle of a loaded weapon if you don't pay attention.

More problematic is how you clear a double feed one-handed. That's a subject for a whole 'nuther thread.

 

[pax]

Nah, once you can rack the slide one-handed, clearing a double feed is fairly straightforward.

SAFETY NOTE: None of these one-handed manipulation techniques should be performed with a loaded gun until you know how to do them very well with an empty gun. None of these techniques should ever be practiced solo, no matter how experienced you are.

No matter how experienced you become, you will still need a friend to watch your muzzle direction for you while you do the one-handed manipulations (and to call the ambulance for you if you muff it up). This is dangerous stuff. Necessary, but dangerous.

pax