I spent the entire morning today “shooting” on a VirTra triple 12-foot screen computer registered and interactive scenario trainer.
https://www.virtra.com/overview-le/
Everything from my reaction times, shot splits, the number of shots fired. are all counted. All CNS hits, solid body hits, poor hits, misses, hostage hits, etc. control the action of the suspect(s) on screen in real time. Every input (shot, spray, taser) is recorded, graphed and compared to the data from thousands of previous students that the makers used as a huge statistical pool. My movements and communication are triggers for the operator to alter scenarios as they unfold; some were non shooters, some were nearly unwinnable craziness…none today were easy.
I’m no gunslinging Wyatt Earp by ANY stretch of the imagination, but I’ve been doing the job for 30 years, with 27 in pretty darn rough parts of So Cal. I spent 13 years on swat/srt teams, lead rangemaster for past 10 and been run through multiple generations of video scenario training and in force on force encounters dozens of times (Even had one force on force course on extraditions that was held on a Boeing 727). I am fortunate to say as a result I do have a bit more under the belt in this realm than most folks and I have a fairly good idea of my own performance abilities and limitations when the chips are down.
The one thing I can say about a legally armed civilian getting caught up in a shooting situation at home or in public is; don’t bank on things unfolding like how you’ve planned over the years at the range. With humans there is never such thing as an absolute, and rarely do pre-made plans work out like you think they will.
Since very, very few on this board will have the opportunity to spend a solid five hours using this latest generation machine like I did today, how you’ll react to a situation that requires a lot of evaluation and possible run/draw/shoot/no shoot/alternate force responses in a few seconds is just fantasy or guesswork at best. I will suggest to anyone with a ccw to get the training and practice needed so the fundamentals are down pat, be confident and competent at generally accepted distances (0-15 yards). But, also know how you’ll have to shoot and hit a torso-sized target with your sidearms to at least 35 yards (50 if you have a range that lets you shoot that far).
Again; though the odds are extremely good you’ll never be in a draw-your-gun situation, much less a shooting, if you are there are much higher odds that say this lethal encounter will be fought under 7 yards…but there are no guarantees. If it stretches out beyond 25 like at the grocery store or theatre events discussed above, being aware of ones limitations and abilities at distance is a big deal when it counts.
Sooooo, to the OP: go ahead, line up and shoot at 25, 35, 50 yds.
See for yourself where you need to hold to hit at those ranges, find out how a little sight misalignment leads to a lot of bullet impact deviation at 50, etc. Have fun with it, you really can’t hurt your performance at 3-5-7-10 by doing so. And the best part is, if you’ve been practicing correctly you’ll probably be a little bit better when you move back to these closer ranges when you’re done
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Stay safe.