"Failure" or "Mozambique" drill...thoughts....

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Nightcrawler

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Been thinking about this a lot. You hear many High Roaders talk about the Mozambique drill, and how it's such a great thing. For those that don't know, it goes like this. You fire two rounds from your sidearm into the attacker's chest, and if he doesn't drop, you put a third one in his head.

I do have some questions.

1. First and foremost...if you're capable of shooting him in the head, and reliably hitting him in the head, why not just do that and skip the two rounds in the chest bit?

2. If you're NOT capable of hitting in the head on the first shot, what makes you think you'll be able to do it on the third?

3. Assuming he keeps coming after the initial two shots becuase he's hopped up (as opposed to wearing armor), couldn't it possibly look bad in court that you shot him twice in the chest and once in the head all Navy SEAL style? (Just wondering, not advocating changing anyone's training doctrine.)

4. If you fire two rounds (even if it's from your trusty Glock or custom 1911) and the badguy doesn't stop, isn't it possible that he's still coming because you MISSED? Given that possibility, is it really wise to make your next action to aim for a smaller, harder to hit target that displays more movement?


So whaddaya think? Am I crazy for questioning here?
 
I think you will find that most here prefer "COM" shots until the threat is stopped.
However, the premise behind the mentioned drill is that 2 shots to the torso may not kill right away but they will tend to stop or slow down the bad guy enough to AIM the third shot at the head, which is a VERY difficult shot to make on a moving person. That's why you don't take that shot first.
Myself, I figure if two to the chest don't stop him, the next 2 in the hip area will. That is still a pretty big target area. That leaves 6 to put somewhere else if needed.
 
The two COM is supposed to be double-tapped (hammer) as it is the biggest target on a human being. The follow-up headshot is considered an aimed shot where you take more time to shoot into the BG's T-Zone.
 
To paraphrase Chuck Taylor, if two COM hits haven't dropped the BG, his cardiovascular system is probably shutting down and further COM hits won't help much.

Mr. Taylor also says that bullet holes in humans are often difficult to see at first, so it might be difficult to know whether or not you hit him. Your only choice at that point is to go for a more obvious target, i.e. the head.

If you have a good lawyer, the fact that you used a head shot will be irrelevant. Justifiable use of force is just that, and if you were within your rights to kill him then you can use whatever means necessary. If the prosecution insists on making an issue out of it, your response should be something like, "My sole intention was to stop the attack. I used the most effective means at my disposal toward that end."

With all due respect, TexasVet, a hip shot might immobilize your opponent but if he is armed with a ranged weapon it will do nothing to prevent him from operating it. Although, I certainly hope most people would give up after being shot three or four times.
 
IIRC....

The Mozambique drill is actually 2 shots center mass, then shots to the pelvic girdle, if said BG is still coming toward you.
 
That's the first I've heard of the lower shots after the two to COM. I imagine a couple of shots to the hip joints would be pretty effective in stopping an oncoming threat.
 
I prefer firing until the threat is stopped.

I know an ER nurse who was shot in the forehead by a .38 Special. Still living, mobile, moves all extremities, has all her mental faculties, but can't abide light. She lives in darkness now.

I know a man who was shot in the head by a police officer with a .357 Magnum. Shot impacted about a centimeter to the left of his nose. Range was about three feet. He's doing quite well, working etc. Now this shot convinced the man to cease trying to beat on the cop but it did not remove his ability to do so. He walked into the ER.

Had a 19 year woman walk into the ER after being shot in the face with a 9mm. The bullet was resting against her carotid artery.

50 year old woman walked into the ER with an entry wound in her pubis and an exit wound in her buttock. No internal organs or bone structure was damaged.

Cousin of mine didn't believe his ex-girlfriend when she told him he was not to enter her house. He broke through the screen door and she shot him exactly in COM. Right through his sternum on the nipple line. The bullet exited his back, missing the spine. He looked down at the bullet hole, decided that she really didn't want him in her house and left. He drove 15 miles to the ER. No internal organs or blood vessels were damaged. Personally, looking at the entry scar and the exit scar on this fellow...I don't think his heart is in the same place as most folks.

I have no expectations of a person stopping from any particular hit...including hits to the head. It's likely, but by no means certain.
 
Just some clarifying points...

COM (center of mass) shots apparently were a military idea that gave the shooter the greatest chance of hitting the enemy by aiming for the central point of the largest area of the person, the torso and abdomen. This runs from the shoulders to the crotch. The military was more concerned with hits and injuries more so than absolute stops. What MOST people actually mean when they say COM is Center of Chest (COC). A COM shot, if on target, will strike right at the base of the sternum in the area of the liver. This will miss the cardio-pulmonary ideal of the COC shot. Ideally, you want to be hitting he heart, lungs or the huge blood vessels intermixed with them. COC shots, especially from handguns, are more likely to produce stops that COM shots. Hitting the liver is good as the liver is a good bleeder and very vascular, but if you can point your shot where you want it, than COC is better. One of the benefits of COC is that if you do slightly jerk your shot down, you may still hit the liver or diaphram. If you jerk a COM shot lower, you might not get anything other than digestive tract. Such a shot will undoubtedly be nasty and eventually kill the person via infection from the pierced tract, but that will be many days down the road and not immediate.

The Mozambique is described as two to the body and one to the head. It should be two to the chest (COC) and one to the brain. There are plenty of ways to shoot somebody in the head that will not result in incapacitation. Shooting off somebody's nose, destroying their dentition, etc., will be really nasty, but may not even slow the guy down. The shot needs to disrupt the central nervous system. Brain, brainstem, or spinal cord above the shoulders is great. Actually aiming for the brain stem or spinal cord when facing an opponent is unlikely since both are on the back side of the opponent.

Similarly, one has pretty much ZERO chance of aiming for the hip joints as suggested by Cool9mm. Few people actually can pinpoint the location of the joint accurately on their own person, much less find it with a bullet on a person at some distance who is wearing clothing that covers that part of the body and upper leg. The problem is that there are no classic exterior landmarks on the body that point to the joints. Additionally, the joint itself is actually pretty well buried under muscle, fat, and other bone and faces more laterally than forward. Even more confusing is that that orientation of the the pelvis and joints differs between men and women. So whatever landmarks you think you can find for one sex may not work for the other. You can aim for the lower abdomen and hope you hit the pelvis get really lucky and hope you hit one of the joints, but you aren't going to be finding specific landmarks at which to aim that will land your shot on the joint.

Use of lethal force via a shot to the head should never be a problem if lethal force is justified in the situation. Contrary to some popular myths, such shots don't show an attempt to kill or malice any more than shots to the body. Regardless of where you shoot the person, you are using lethal force. Either the situation warranted it or the situation didn't. I honestly cannot understand where it came from that shooting somebody through the heart shows less intent to kill than shooting somebody through the head, but that is something I see quite often as a sort of legal myth. Shutting down the central nervous system via significant disruption of grey matter tend to be a little quicker and more definitive than COC/heart shots. There are instances on record where badguys where shot dead, only they didn't know it and managed to continue fighting for another 30-45 seconds. Here, I am not refering to the lethal injury to Matix in the FBI shootout in Miami where he was bleeding to death slowly, but instances where the heart itself is actually destroyed, not beating, but the person remains active due to drugs or adrenaline for a short period of time and uses that time to press an attack because their brain is still engaged. Disengage the brain and the attack will stop. Of course, it is a tough target.

And Nightcrawler, sure enough, if you have fired at the bad guy and he is still advancing, there is a very real possibility that you missed. Missing happens much more often than hitting in gun fights.
 
wow!

good in depth detail DNS!

still this fella is gonna go for the COM shot..............maybe a little upper COM. i think it gives more room for error. an it would be hard to break the habit of the natural pointing to the higher aim of the head shot.
 
What MOST people actually mean when they say COM is Center of Chest (COC).
Click to expand...

I've always used a high-COM when I've visualized MY version of COM. Do this: draw a triangle from nipple to nipple to nose. This triangle will encompass the heart, lungs, spinal cord, and more than a couple of major blood vessels. Pulling high goes further into the traditional CNS range, and pulling low still gives a margin of error into the lower lungs and diaphragm.

-Teuf
 
What Drill to use

Long, long ago and far, far away, I had the need to use a pistol.

I emptied my .38, crack, crack, crack.

Drew my .45 and emptied it. Boom, boom, boom. Very satisfying.

Discovered at that point, that the USMC had forgotten a significant point of training. What drill is used when you're shooting over your shoulder and running as fast as your boots will move away from 12 bad guys with AKs and SKSs?

Reckon them laughing so hard was waht saved us. Any ideas?

Scarface
 
Scarface,

I thought that I was the only one to fire a pistol 'ala Danny Devito in "Romancing the Stone" whilst running away from angry natives. ;)
 
Memories

Hi CWL,

Were you also a member of the Tonkin Gulf Pistol and Track Club?

Never knew I could run so fast in flight boots and 100 pounds of survival gear. If a 46 hadn't come in to pick me up, I'd still be hightailing somewhere about through eastern Europe about now.

Regards,

Scarface
 
The drill began when a good guy in Mozambique was being attacked, and two shots to COM did not work, but the followup to the head did. The guy described it to Cooper, who deemed it the Mozambique Drill.

COM is the standard target: usually effective, and the largest/easiest area to hit. Head shot is harder to do. If two COM don't work, a third probably won't either, so try a different target.
 
If you're NOT capable of hitting in the head on the first shot, what makes you think you'll be able to do it on the third?
Click to expand...
Some great posts here, but there is one thing that strikes me and nobody seemed to mention:

If somebody is rushing you and you make two shots to COC, by the time you make the third shot, their head is probably going to be the relative size that the COC was when you made the first two shots. Since the first two shots didn't work and the attacker is by now almost on top of you, it might be time to try a head shot while you are still breathing.
 
DMK,

No one said that you had to stand still during an assault.

Shooting while retreating, moving sideways, etc. should be in your training.
 
Just a note on critically wounding someone. So long as their brain is still connected to the rest of the body and is still functioning, the person is still alive. Like was stated, a destroyed heart may kill a person in a short time, but the brain can go a small amount of time without circulation, and in that time may still be a threat. Well, the person with said brain would be the threat anyway...

Only way to kill a person instantly is to cease function of the brain. Therefore any destruction of a person's head or enough damage to a brain will stop someone. I had something else to post here but decided not to, but think about what might happen using this logic after a trip through a guillotine. Termination of thought and sense is not immediate.

Sorry if I gross anyone out, but I thought this might contribute.
 
If I were close enough to the suspect and I could take a head shot, I would. However, most training always teaches you to shoot center mass. When its drilled into your head, over and over and over, under stress its difficult to do otherwise.

I've seen countless force on force drills, where people have been taught and have practiced, religiously, failure drills. However, they will drill the bad guy with 15+ rounds in the chest, without taking a head shot; even though the suspect isn't going down.

As per usual, training is the key here.

"To remain silent, when they should protest, makes cowards of men."
Thomas Jefferson
 
there's also the possibility that the bad guy is wearing armor, increasingly likely these days.

If i ever have to i'll put two COM, hopefully, and one to the head if its still there, if its down on the ground with the rest of him i'll evaluate the threat.
 
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