What does "drive the gun" mean to you?

[rob_s]

I've heard several instructors say it, I've even used the term, and last night at our drills night I tried to define it for our group in terms of what it means to me. It made me curious to hear what other folks think of the term, and what others think it means.

[Weaver]

I understand it to mean assertively moving the gun from one target to the next, then stopping it at that target to take a shot. It's an attempt to push for a more aggressive gun-handling routine, vs. a slower, smoother transition.

[fullmetalredhead]

I think it refers to synergizing your movements with the recoil cycle of the rifle, using your muscle memory of the cycle to drive the gun back to the target (or perhaps an alternate target) during rapid fire.

[BradCMSP]

To me it means to make whatever is in my hands my bitch.

It means not to let the rifle or pistol control you, and go where it wants during recoil, or extra wasted movements going from target to target.

Drive it, you're in control, you tell it where to go...

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

To me it means to make whatever is in my hands my bitch.

It means not to let the rifle or pistol control you, and go where it wants during recoil, or extra wasted movements going from target to target.

Drive it, you're in control, you tell it where to go...

That's the closest to my understanding of it also. It isn't just moving the gun fast and overshooting targets- its moving your eyes to the next target and then bringing the gun to bear with the maximum efficiency. Look, snap, fire might be the best way to describe it. To me, integral to the concept with a rifle is the high support hand position that controls muzzle rise and natural point of aim. With a handgun it would be the use of the modern isosceles stance with the thumbs forward grip.

[bkb0000]

you drive a gun like you drive a vehicle... on the most basic level, you point it where you want it to go, and then go there. but it involves everything that driving a car involves- seeing your path, judging distance, identifying threats and reacting without thinking, using well-ingrained muscle memory to execute all to get to your goal alive and as efficiently as possible.

and, in relation to your other thread on competition- to win.

[JSantoro]

It means a better method than that super-slow and exhausting "guns and eyeballs" bullshit that they humped for, like, centuries.

Letting your head and eyes move and pushing to gun to where they rest makes a helluva lot more mechanical sense, is faster, and makes one far less likely to overshoot because you're forced to deal with starting and stopping the mass of the gun in the same plane.

[rob_s]

Letting your head and eyes move and pushing to gun to where they rest makes a helluva lot more mechanical sense, is faster, and makes one far less likely to overshoot because you're forced to deal with starting and stopping the mass of the gun in the same plane.

That is pretty much how I described it last night, albeit with a bit of colorful commentary thrown in about "drive the gun? how do I drive it without a steering wheel?"

I deal with a different level of shooter than many, and I often find that terms those of us in the "training junkie" community take for granted don't always port over to everyone else. Saying "drive the gun" to these guys is an example of a term that's not going to always quite sink in. Intuitively people know generally what it means but what specifically we're asking the shooter to do gets lost a lot of the time. I think it's the danger in just shooting/teaching drills and not really diagnosing what a shooter is doing and knowing how to correct them.

The eye movement and eye focus is something we specifically worked on, and looked for in shooters that were struggling.

[RogerinTPA]

To aggressively move the weapon fast enough, without losing control or over swing, from target to target, without sacrificing accurate shot placement.

[C4IGrant]

To me it means to make whatever is in my hands my bitch.

It means not to let the rifle or pistol control you, and go where it wants during recoil, or extra wasted movements going from target to target.

Drive it, you're in control, you tell it where to go...

This.

You are in charge and YOU dictate what the gun is going to do (not vice versa).



C4