This is simply an attempt to educate firearms owners as to the proper handing and shooting techniques.
If you do not like firearms, then I suggest that you do not view any further.
Before I go any further, I am not a certified civilian instructor, I am just a Marine with a few deployments, and several years of training, and experience in training Marines how to do their job. Nothing you read here will qualify you as an expert, or anything of the like. It is just something to help you train yourself when out on the range, or when carrying on your day to day life.
I honestly believe that proper training would solve a great number of problems, so here we go.
First off let us cover the safety rules when it comes to firearms.
1. Treat
every weapon as if it were loaded. (even if you just cleared it)
2. Never point your weapon at anything you do not intend to destroy
3. Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you are ready to fire
4. Keep your weapon on safe until you intend to fire
5. Know your target, your weapon's capabilities and be mindful of what is beyond your target
These five rules are the bedrock for every situation where you may use a firearm. If you follow these rules then you can not go wrong. Ignore them and bad things can happen.
We will skip the weapons conditions because there are so many different variations because of the sheer number of differences between pistols, and rifles. If you have a specific question about a particular weapon, please feel free to ask.
Choosing a firearm.
Well there are a LOT of opinions out there as to what type and caliber weapon is best. I personally only carry .45, same goes for my wife. But YOU have to be able to reliably hit the target under harsh conditions. A .22lr to the chest is better than a .50AE to the leg. So get the largest caliber that you can reliably hit center mass with. This means, if you can not fire off three rounds from the holster, and have all three rounds impact the target within a soccer ball sized pattern from 15 yards within three seconds, then you need to pick a different weapon.
You also have to think about terminal effects on target. I posted this in another thread, but I will re post it here just for GP.
One thing you have to think about here is this test was done with only one make of projectile. Standard JHP (Jacketed Hollow point). There are about a thousand different types of hollow point out there, and each one will react differently. Some are better, some are worse. You also have to remember that this test was done with 10% calibrated ballistics gel. While most hollow points will reliably expand in gel, this is not always the case in flesh. If you are told that a round will expand 90% of the time in gel, then it will only expand 40% of the time in flesh. So this is not exactly a good test medium, and a large number of professionals in the ballistics community are attempting to change the standard.
Many companies have now opted to use live animal testing, while PETA does not like this, the test results are more reliable.
Hydroshock rounds will generally only expand 30% of the time in flesh.
Extreme shock rounds do have devastating effects on target, when they work correctly. But they will only fragment if they hit bone, and they do not expand reliably when hitting soft tissue. Also, using a round that is billed to be this devastating does not look good when the wrongful death suit is filed (and one will be filed). You have to be able to prove that you carry for protection, not to kill your attacker (yeah sounds stupid, I know) This means you have to show that you responded in defense, and only wanted to end the attack.
Tallons are not illegal, and they do expand very reliably. But once again, it makes it look like you walked out of your house with the intent to kill someone. Not defend yourself.
Smell what I am stepping in?
This is why I run Federal HSTs, they expand reliably in flesh fairly well, and it is the round that a greater majority of the police forces use. So it looks better during your wrongful death suit. Standard ball or wadcutters would look even better during that case, but they have a tendency to over penetrate, so you are more likely to have a through and through, that is a bad thing. We DO NOT want our bullets to punch all the way through. So using a round like Federal HSTs makes you look good. Also remember that (when talking hollow points) a faster round will tend to open up more, and penetrate less. This does not mean that a 9mm is better than a .45. It is just something to think about.
So say you decide to run .45, and you have two choices. A 230 gr HP that has a muzzle velocity of 995 fps, and a 200 gr HP that has a muzzle velocity of 1025 fps. The faster lighter round will tend to open up more and penetrate less, this is a good thing and a bad thing. Good because a through and through is less likely, bad because it may not penetrate to vital organs from all angles. It is a trade off that you have to think about when choosing your weapon and ammo.
Now this is just stuff for pistols, we will get into rifles later on, if you people want to learn about them.
While you are required to take a firearms class before you receive your CCW, and while it does teach you proper techniques for handling that weapon, it does not prepare you to use it in defense of yourself.
When training my wife to carry, I took a few of the things I taught in my small arms course, and mixed in a few things that most civilians would use
I always recommend practicing with the isosceles. All this is, is feet planted shoulder width apart and square with the body, slightly leaning forward to control the recoil of the weapon, and both arms pressed forward equally.
Start out by simply practicing slow, get rounds on target, once you master getting rounds center mass, then you can start to speed up your shots. At this point, if you are driving nails, then you are firing too slow. In a defense situation, you want to get a few rounds off to end the attack, then beat feet to the nearest LEO to tell him what happened. You are not required to render aid once you shoot the bad guy. Get out of there and tell a cop what happened. Not only does this reduce the chances of his buddies reacting and killing you, but it shows the cops that you were scared for your life.
But back to practicing. Once you get to the point where you can fire three rounds off, starting from the holster, and hitting in a soccer ball sized pattern then you are ready to start stressing your body.
You want to stress your body because no one, NO ONE can honestly say how they will react when their life is in danger. There will always be that fight or flight reflex, and it is surprising how many do not react the way they thought they would. This is not saying that if you can get gone that you shouldnt. This is just saying that many people that can not get away freeze up. This is bad because that weapon they are carrying can be used against them.
So you have to stress your body. Go outside, run circles in the parking lot for a while until you are winded, go back in and practice your speed drills. Have someone standing over your shoulder while yelling into your ear. Anything that stresses you out will help prepare yourself to defend yourself.
Once you master this you can move onto failure to stop drills. All this is, is two rounds center mass to the chest, and one round to the dome.
We practice this because there are only two places on the human body that will stop a target cold. The Medulla oblongata (drool spot) and the spine.
Because we can not rely on a center mass hit to hit the spine, you have to train to hit the drool spot. This is a three inch triangle that is centered around the eyes.
You want to be able to place two rounds center mass and one in the dome within four seconds. We practice this because you may run into someone that is hopped up on some drug, and if he is not feeling pain, then he may continue his attack after being drilled in the chest.
It can make things look worse in your wrongful death suit, but if you can show that you tried to end the attack without it, then you should be good.
Practice this the same way you practiced your three rounds in three seconds from the holster. Draw and fire off as quickly as you can while still getting the bullets to their desired spot on the target. Do this until you have it down to an art form. Once you have it down to an art form start stressing your body. If you plan on carrying a spare mag, then you need to practice speed reloads. This is pretty simple. All you do is load one mag with two rounds, and another mag with one round. Draw from the holster fire off your two rounds. When the weapon runs dry reload. The thing I do not like about the Glock is that the slide lock release is small, my big fingers do not hit it correctly. So I taught my wife to simply rack the slide. That is simply pulling back on it and letting it go. This works for all automatics. Do it till it is an art form then start stressing your body again.