Practice makes perfect...

[St. Gunner]

Friday afternoon about 3pm my family and I are sitting around just relaxing. When the dogs raise a ruckus and in my driveway at a high rate of speed comes a small silver toyota car, pretty banged up and rough looking. I mean driving 30mph on a windy road that if my kid had been out playing he never could have stopped or even seen here before he hit her. So I tell her and my wife to get back from the door, grab the pistol I have begun leaving near the door on a ceiling high bookcase and walk outside. I keep the pistol tucked behind my back, out of view but have a spare mag in my left hand. I fire off the standard, "Can I help you?" and the guy in the driver seat rattles off in Spanish something I don't understand. I reply "No Hablo" and he slams the car in reverse spins the tires in the dirt and off like a shot to my neighbors. I go in the house to retrieve a rifle in case he messes with them, but he pulls up short of their house, cuts a donut in their drive and roars off down the street.

I got to thinking, could I present from that position with a mag in my left hand and make 20yd center mass hits, while standing barefoot. So yesterday I went and drug one of my human silohoutes up to the house from the range, 18"x18" chest area and a 6"x6" head, on a stand the makes the head just shy of 6' tall. Then I practiced, fired about 3 boxes of ammo from their, my front yard is now littered in brass.

What I found was I can't point shoot from 20yd away from an elevated position, it throw me off, I shoot high, and the gun sweeping from behind my back makes me tend to shoot left for the first shot. The mag is hard to control and I found the best option seems to be to leave it flat in my hand and rest the mag well of the gun on it, then grip around it onto my hand. It feels ackward, but it steadies the gun well. Even taking time to refence the sights for some reason I had a tendency to shoot high and most of the 1st shots where landing in what would be the throat area. I had to make an effort to pull the gun down into the chest area, before I pulled the trigger. From the ground and under 10yds, I try to put a round to the left chest and to the right with the 2nd. At 20yds I simply held for the true center and shooting as I was, fast, I was getting hits ranging in about an 8" circle around center mass.

Then I moved the target to 25yds and shot for only the head, simulating someone that had come in the drive, turned around and had the car body as cover. If I really take my time and concentrate I could make the shot, but it takes to long from that distance to line up. So I think if that ever happens I am going to take a minute to pull the Ak out from the safe, it'll be unlocked if I am home. Maybe it'll diffuse that situation better than a bare chested redneck with a pistol at 25yds.

Then I drug the steel back out on the range and did 30rds worth of snap shooting with the Ak at 75yds. I feel so much better with a rifle.

So do you ever try to set-up situations like that? I never really had and after that idiot on Friday, decided maybe I should see just what it would be like at that range and angle. I know most folks can't shoot off their front porch without having the Swat team called, but do you have a range where you could simulate that heigth advantage from a front porch, or maybe even from an apartment porch 2nd story?

I hit the target with my first pair, just like I should, but they where high and left, if it had been a real culprit, I imagine they would have been higher and farther left, meaning a miss.

Now all this was with a $225 Ruger P95 I picked up at a pawn shop, I leave it out all the time, figure if it gets stolen I am not out much. But that way I always have it right by the door, and I won't forget to get it out, like I had a few weeks ago.

 

[sm]

Actually my BB and I set up what if's.

He has lives in area where ee can shoot w/o SWAT showing up. Yes from a elevated porch things are a bit different.

We have groceries, required to have both hands full , in the "carport" and have to shoot, sometimes with back to BG and must turn around. Entering/ exiting vehicles, pretending to have child in arms, using a ATM...etc. Seated in a vehicle was the wierdest...how you carry the gun and safely use it.

I think practicing real life situations one may encounter in their environs is a great idea. We do , in fact will again today.

 

[Art Eatman]

My long arms and lanky body make the Weaver stance a good system for me. Whether 1911 or RedHawk, I can readily hit pie plates at 25 yards and more.

Through the years, my practice has included a lot of "What it?" stuff. Walking past or away from a target. Multiple targets at different distances. One shot or double-taps, per target.

Grab pistol from table. From drawer in desk/table. Or, shoot while moving to cover.

I suggest hooking up with IDPA; those folks have lots of self-defense ideas and scenarios from which to learn. And, many of the IPSC scenarios are sensible, even if one doesn't use a "race gun".

Art

 

[C.R.Sam]

I suggest hooking up with IDPA...Art

Agree.

If you like it, you will stay and do lots of shootin with them.
If not, just goin a few times will broaden your option list.

Sam

 

[PzGren]

I agree, whether IDPA or IPSC, competition with some advice helps. But so does range time. It can be substituted at some point with dry-fire, or soft air gun practice. One thing for sure; PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, or putting it more humble will always improve our skills.

Business takes me frequently to dark places in the third world, where I lived through two civil wars and my gun skills gave me at least a little confidence, where despair would otherwise have crept up on me.

 

[igor]

I'm considering getting an airsoft replica of my HD pistol to practice where I'm supposed to perform. Any good points?

 

[PzGren]

Igor,
airsoft guns are great training aids. You can not only practice shooting on the move, prone, kneeling, around cover but also play little "wargames".

My two sons have airsoft guns, too and we played how to defend the house from intruders, found good surprise attack spots and hard and soft cover.

Especially in the dark you will get a better understanding of what to expect in the gravest extreme but then you can also prepare for it better, custom tailored to your environment.