The Defensive Shooter

[okie john]

We talk a lot about gear, but let’s talk about skills for a while. What skills should the well-rounded defensive pistol shooter possess?

I’ll start and say that he should be able to work equally well with either hand, including having a fast, positive draw stroke and being able to hit
• From a two-handed grip
• From a one-handed grip
• Multiple targets while shooting on the move
• In low light with night sights and/or a light

What have I left out?

Thanks,


Okie John

[Guns-up.50]

That all sounds good...
I would also add mag changes
immediate and remedial action skills.

[Vegas]

Shooting from the ground? Like after being knocked down or falling down. Laying on your side, to simulate shooting from under a car?

[viperashes]

Yep, supine (on your back) and sternal (on your belly) shooting are good skills to have, that is, if you can practice this safely.

[MP9]

shooting from cover..

and another one I think it is important is shooting one handed while moving. I have read if you are in a SD situation maybe you only have your strong hand available and moving to get cover and while shooting..

[munch520]

Competency in the H2H/combatives side of the house.

Agreed. I'd argue that this is just as important as all pistol-related drills mentioned earlier in the thread. In a defensive situation, the secondary might not be the quickest/most efficient line of defense. If you're getting stabbed, pummeled, etc while drawing then that gun just turned into a 1.5lb belt ornament, distracting you from the threat(s). Get intimate with both your carry gun and a few combatives, and be able to instantly discern when to employ each. Or both.

Another good idea is learning to maintain control of the weapon (be it knife or pistol) during/after utilizing it in a given instance. It's fairly specialized training I think, but something I've seen taught by very good instructors at very high levels of proficiency (krav III and IV for example), and is always a great idea.

The most commonly overlooked aspect is practicing correctly. Everyone knows 'that guy' who might see a range every week but does nothing right...bad habits are just as bad as being a novice IMO. Formal, professional instruction and then practice of that instruction, is one of the best tools - again...just my opinion.

[gringop]

We talk a lot about gear, but let’s talk about skills for a while. What skills should the well-rounded defensive pistol shooter possess?
Okie John


You may not have wanted to get this deep into analyzing it but what the heck, I have a few spare minutes.

First, lets define well-rounded defensive pistol shooter. Someone who has had a CHL for 1 year? Street Cop? Swat Cop? Training junkie and regular competitor(that's me)? Nationally known Defensive instructor or LEO instructor?

Where I'm headed with this is that different skills (skill levels) are appropriate to different levels of defensive pistol shooters. Since you asked about skills I not going to get into Mindset or Tactics.

Most of this is my SWAG from my experience and from SWAT Cops I have trained with. If something seems off, speak up and educate me.

"I'm gonna or just got my CHL" guy.
Draw from a holster/concealed holster and hit an 8" circle at 7 yards in 2.5 seconds CONSISTENTLY.
Shot to shot slide-lock reload on same target, same distance. 4.5 sec.
Sighted fire splits on same target, same distance. .90-1 second

Street Cop trainee, and CHL guy who has had a training class.
Draw from a holster/concealed holster and hit an 8" circle at 7 yards in 1.9 seconds CONSISTENTLY.
Shot to shot slide-lock reload on same target, same distance. 3.5 sec.
Sighted fire splits on same target, same distance. .75-90 second
Draw to retention and hit somewhere on a IDPA target at 3 yards. 1.9 seconds
Clear a failure to fire (TRB) on an 8" circle at 7 yards, 4.5 seconds
Put 5 rounds into an 10" circle at 7 yards SHO, no time limit
Put 5 rounds into a 12" circle at 7 yards, WHO, no time limit.

Swat Cop/ high level competitor
Draw from a holster/concealed holster and hit an 8" circle at 7 yards in 1.65 seconds CONSISTENTLY.
Shot to shot slide-lock reload on same target, same distance. 3 sec.
Sighted fire splits on same target, same distance. .50-.65 second
Draw to retention and hit somewhere on a IDPA target at 3 yards. 1.5 seconds
Clear a failure to fire (TRB) on an 8" circle at 7 yards, 3.5 seconds
Clear a feedway stoppage on an 8" circle at 7 yards, 9 seconds.
Put 5 rounds into an 8" circle at 7 yards SHO, 4 seconds
Put 5 rounds into a 12" circle at 7 yards, WHO, 5 seconds
Draw and fire 5 rounds on 8" circle starting at 10 yards and advancing to 5 yards. 4 seconds.
3 8" targets at 10 yards, 1 yard between targets. Draw and fire 2 rounds at each target, No splits over .75 sec, no transitions between targets over 1 sec.

Nationally known Defensive instructor or LEO instructor?
All the Swat Cop stuff plus Defoor's Pistol Test #1 http://www.kyledefoor.com/2011/05/defoor-proformance-pistol-test-1.html
and the FBI PQC09 http://www.rangemaster.com/newsletter/2010-01_RM-Newsletter.pdf
Essentially adding 25 yard shots.
What the hell, let's add a sub 6 second FAST in there, too
http://pistol-training.com/fastest

Gringop

[oldtexan]

We talk a lot about gear, but let’s talk about skills for a while. What skills should the well-rounded defensive pistol shooter possess?

I’ll start and say that he should be able to work equally well with either hand, including having a fast, positive draw stroke and being able to hit
• From a two-handed grip
• From a one-handed grip
• Multiple targets while shooting on the move
• In low light with night sights and/or a light

What have I left out?

Thanks,


Okie John

Add to all these the all-important skill of maintaining awareness, being able to use movement and verbalization to keep an unknown person from encroaching on you, and maybe most importantly, being able to recognize when and under what circumstances lethal force is justifiable.

These things I mentioned can best be learned using dynamic interactive training against competent role players and under the control of a competent teacher/trainer.

[C4IGrant]

Since most civy's are going to come into contact with someone trying to kill them in their home (at night), I would HIGHLY suggest Defensive Room Clearing (low light) training.


C4

[Failure2Stop]

I include time and size standards at specific distances for each skill.

[Redhat]

F2S,

Can you explain that in a little more detail?

I'd also throw in threat / friendly identification

[Jay Cunningham]

We talk a lot about gear, but let’s talk about skills for a while. What skills should the well-rounded defensive pistol shooter possess?

I’ll start and say that he should be able to work equally well with either hand, including having a fast, positive draw stroke and being able to hit
• From a two-handed grip
• From a one-handed grip
• Multiple targets while shooting on the move
• In low light with night sights and/or a light

What have I left out?

Thanks,


Okie John

Hey bro, just a quick clarifying question:

Do you mean to say that the shooter should literally be able to work equally well with either hand, or is that just your way of saying that the shooter should be comfortable and proficient shooting with their weak hand?

Because if it's the latter I agree, but if it's the former, then I disagree because I'm not going to be spending 50% (probably more like 60%) of my time practicing with my weak hand so that I can be "equally" proficient.

[okie john]

Hey bro, just a quick clarifying question:

Do you mean to say that the shooter should literally be able to work equally well with either hand, or is that just your way of saying that the shooter should be comfortable and proficient shooting with their weak hand?

Comfortable and proficient is fine. I'm mostly just looking for opinions about what makes a well-rounded civilian defensive shooter.


Okie John

[azidpa]

We talk a lot about gear, but let’s talk about skills for a while. What skills should the well-rounded defensive pistol shooter possess?

I’ll start and say that he should be able to work equally well with either hand, including having a fast, positive draw stroke and being able to hit
• From a two-handed grip
• From a one-handed grip
• Multiple targets while shooting on the move
• In low light with night sights and/or a light

What have I left out?

Thanks,


Okie John

Competency in the H2H/combatives side of the house.

[B Cart]

There have been some great things mentioned that I completely agree with. I think another important skill is to be proficient in clearing malfunctions, not only with both hands, but one handed and weak handed only. I took an advanced pistol class last week where we spent a lot of time doing one handed reloads and one handed malfunction clearance with both the strong and weak hand. If one hand gets shot or incapacitated, it’s important to know how to effectively run your gun with only one hand.