Shot Placement (Most Vital Spots Ranked)

[LookAtYou]

1) Brain Stem.

2) Brain. Specifically from one side to the other, not front to back. Ofc front to back is still horrible tho.

3) Heart.

4) Aorta. Artery with most blood flow.

5) Other Major Arteries (Femoral, Brachial, etc).

6) Lungs. Also right behind rib bones, which if shattered, can cause additional damage.

I'd say past these, while there are certainly important vitals that would be bad to be shot in, like the liver, these take the cake. Maybe I missed some, or have some out of order? I'd say even more specific than COM, the chest (nipple line up to upper-mid chest) in between the nipples is optimal. Say you shoot low or high, you're still hitting vitals. Same for shooting a little left or right.

Factoring in ease of hitting target, bones to cause additional damage, amount of vitals in one area, and close proximity to other vital areas, in between the nipple line from the nipples up to the upper-mid chest seems optimal.

I would aim for the heart area. If you shoot right you hit lung. If you shoot left you hit lung. If you shoot high you can hit aorta or throat. If you shoot low you hit liver (not pictured). If you hit on target you hit the heart. Seems you can't lose. Input?

 

[Robert]

Sure, in a perfect one way range. Under stress it's center of mass. Shoot, move off X, assess and re-engage as needed. The head is a very small target and if I'm taking fire I'm more interested in center of mass hits than CNS hits.

I've never been in a gun fight but I've done a lot of combat handgun training. I'm not great, better than average. But I'm holding center of mass on whatever the target is giving me.

 

[bikerdoc]

I agree COM
We don't shoot to kill, we shoot to stop the threat! A big leaking holes in the COM tends to stop aggressive behavior.
We practice situational awareness so we don't have to, but if we do have to we do it right.

 

[Walkalong]

center of mass

Dang right.

 

[AK103K]

Anymore, in practice, I work at shooting for the head, usually in short bursts, from around 7-5 yards and in pretty much exclusively. Almost all of that while moving too. Makes no sense not to, and even while moving, its not a hard target to hit well and reliably, even without sights, which at those distances, Im usually not using them anyway, and you really dont need them.

The whole point is to get a bunch of rounds on target quickly, and as fast a stop as possible, and thats about as fast as you will likely get.

COM, and not the COM on many targets these days, but the one nipples to throat, is more or less from 10 yards and out and thats about where the sights (dots) start coming in.

The head may seem to be a somewhat smaller target, but if you look at it, its really no smaller than COM. You should be practicing shooting as realistically as possible, and as Suarez says, not strive for mediocrity. If you cant reliably make a good headshot while moving at those closer distances, then you need to work on things.

 

[DMK]

Anymore, in practice, I work at shooting for the head, usually in short bursts, from around 7-5 yards and in pretty much exclusively.

I just finished reading Jim Cirillo's book "Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights: Lessons and Tales from a Modern-Day Gunfighter". In it, he relates a story about two officers on stakeout inside a store:

These two were goofing off, eating pizza in the stock room and neither were watching the store. Long story short, they got surprised by a robber at contact distance. The robber stuck his gun in the belly of the one officer and pulled the trigger. Both officers unloaded their revolvers into the gunman's face at point blank range. When the bad guy was down, they discovered the "wounded" officer had no blood leaking and they could find no wound. Turns out the bad guy had a starter pistol. However, they were then further surprised when the gunman started calmly talking to them. The ambulance called for the officer arrived and the badguy actually walked out to be taken to the hospital. The doctor said every single one of the twelve 158gr lead round nose slugs slid right around the outside of the skull and exited out the back.

 

[redbullitt]

Lottery ticket day for him lol.

Animal heads move around very erratic like... not sure I'm good enough for that to be a running and gunning target : /.

I'll stick to the biggest/best target available balance when the shot has to be taken I think. If center mass is there, heck yes. If face behind cover and trigger needs pressed, then face it is I suppose.

 

[230RN]

I know under stress I'm not going to be at my best, so I practice COM until there are enough holes that seeing a particular hit is difficult, hence not rewarding anymore.

Then I switch targets to the head and groin jjust to have clean aiming areas..

I realize that scoring rings and areas are necessary for competition, but for practice, I'd just as soon not have them printed on the targets.

But I really have to admire that churchgoer who popped the devilspawn in the head at 20-25 yards or whatever it was. As Bill Jordan would say, "He'lll do to ride the river with.".

 

[AK103K]

I just finished reading Jim Cirillo's book "Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights: Lessons and Tales from a Modern-Day Gunfighter". In it, he relates a story about two officers on stakeout inside a store:

These two were goofing off, eating pizza in the stock room and neither were watching the store. Long story short, they got surprised by a robber at contact distance. The robber stuck his gun in the belly of the one officer and pulled the trigger. Both officers unloaded their revolvers into the gunman's face at point blank range. When the bad guy was down, they discovered the "wounded" officer had no blood leaking and they could find no wound. Turns out the bad guy had a starter pistol. However, they were then further surprised when the gunman started calmly talking to them. The ambulance called for the officer arrived and the badguy actually walked out to be taken to the hospital. The doctor said every single one of the twelve 158gr lead round nose slugs slid right around the outside of the skull and Theres always the oddball outliers. As redbullitt said, lottery ticket day for that boy.

Reality still is, the headshot is still the most likely killswitch and the one to bring about as close to an instant stop as youre likely to get. And even if youre off a little, its still more likely to stop things quicker, than a similar near miss COM.

Regardless of where you plan on shooting/targeting, you have to work hard at making those types of hits happen, and be able to do so, on-demand, from however you have to make the shot.




.

 

[Kleanbore]

The head may seem to be a somewhat smaller target, but if you look at it, its really no smaller than COM

But the part inside the head that will likely effect an immediate stop is about the size of a racquetball.

 

[troy fairweather]

Always center mass,

 

[Kleanbore]

If anyone thinks that, in the event of a violent attack by a fast moving assailant at close range, a defender would be able in any way to "place" hits on "vital spots", some realistic training would disabuse him of that belief.

 

[buck460XVR]

The head may seem to be a somewhat smaller target, but if you look at it, its really no smaller than COM. You should be practicing shooting as realistically as possible, and as Suarez says, not strive for mediocrity. If you cant reliably make a good headshot while moving at those closer distances, then you need to work on things.

But the part inside the head that will likely effect an immediate stop is about the size of a racquetball.

Plus...the idea of COM is that you have much more margin for error. If you mis COM, you still could hit the spine, or the shooting arm of the attacker disabling him, even a gut shot/shot in the groin can be painful and make the average attacker stop and think. Heck, miss real bad and hit the femoral artery in the leg and he will bleed out as fast as a heart shot. Miss the head and you hit air. Shooting at a stationary paper target from 5 yards can be good SD practice, but it ain't real life. A head moves too much and under the stress of the situation, I's still go for COM. With a rifle.....things might be different, but still the "two to the body, one to the head" makes the most sense.

 

[rdnktrkr]

I like the COM, I want all the help I can get and COM usually moves around less and is a bigger target, when we practice we like to fire 1 mag then run around a tree about 10yrds from our shooting table and then fire a second mag, to increase heart rate, this is done at 10 and 15 paces, we've noticed the difference between the two mags can de drastic especially the 3rd or 4th time. We use paper plates as targets. We've had experienced shooters join us and enjoyed their experience.

 

[Ru4real]

I don’t the drink center of mass cool-aid. (Edit I mean cool-aid to mean group think)

And in stress situations, time seems to slow down for me and my thinking is clear and my actions deliberate. Initially.

Not everyone reacts this way, I think most people don’t. I’ve not been in a shooting situation, but I suspect I’d react to my training and practice, same as other lower stress situations, such as hunting.

 

[fastbolt]

Consider the FBI AT-99 & QIT targets, and then overlay those narrow scoring zones with the QA (Anatomy) target. https://www.pistoleer.com/shooting-targets/fbiq/

Consider that some situations may easily cause a threat's arms to becoming an intervening limb that might obstruct a bullet. I remember one neighboring agency's OIS where a 180gr .40 bullet hit an armed suspect's arm (shots were being exchanged), and the bullet was deflected by one of the bones in the suspect's arm, traveling up to the shoulder capsule (where it stopped).

Also, there's the normal phenomena of a potential "threat focus" to keep in the back of your mind. I've lost track of the surprised LE shooters in training/quals who, when faced with a full-size/full color "threat" target pictured holding a gun, were shocked to see so many of their shots clustered around the displayed gun. Even if the "threat's" gun was pictured held down at the waist, and not up in the COM. They usually say they thought they'd been aiming at the COM, but their hits indicated otherwise, meaning they were looking at the attacker's gun, and their subconscious focus resulted in them putting rounds toward what they were "seeing".

Also bear in mind that a review of a major LE agency's OIS some years ago revealed that up to 65% of both threats and officers had been involved in movement during the incidents.

LE is often lucky in that their training/qual range setups can allow (and often require) shooter movement not allowed on static public target ranges. Shooter and "threat target" movement, combined with judgment assessment (Shoot/No-Shoot situations) really increase the difficulty and stress ... and that's just on a range, where the "threat" isn't actually shooting at you.

LE's use of Force-on-Force training, using dye-marking cartridges, often reveals whether someone's training has been adequate to the task, and whether it's been sufficiently ingrained to be accessed under stress.

Look at IDPA if you can find a local venue, although this covid pandemic has obviously put a damper on gatherings this past year.

How well developed do you wish your skillset - and ability to function under stress - to be if some sudden and unexpected incident shifts into a terrifying, fast & fuzzy event? Not the same as shooting at stationary bullseye targets at a slow-fire pace.

 

[Kleanbore]

I don’t the drink center of mass cool-aid

Eh?

And in stress situations, time seems to slow down for me and my thinking is clear and my actions deliberate

So it may seem. But clocks do not slow down, and motion is not slowed.

There are two reasons why knowledgable trainers recommend shooting at the largest part of the target available:

1. The defender cannot see inside the body of the attacker and divine where to aim to hit particular internal body elements as the attacker turns, bobs, weaves, and bends as he charges.
2. The defender will have very little time--maybe a second or two--and several shots may be required in that interval to effect a timely physical stop. Precision shooing will not be an option.

 

[Ru4real]

Eh?

So it may seem. But clocks do not slow down, and motion is not slowed.

There are two reasons why knowledgable trainers recommend shooting at the largest part of the target available:

1. The defender cannot see inside the body of the attacker and divine where to aim to hit particular internal body elements as the attacker turns, bobs, weaves, and bends as he charges.
2. The defender will have very little time--maybe a second or two--and several shots may be required in that interval to effect a timely physical stop. Precision shooing will not be an option.

I’m not trying to convince you or anyone else what is best for everyone. Trainers employ techniques that are consistent, tried and true and will work for most people.

I’ve simply stated what works for me, and how my body and mind have tended to react in the stressful situations that I’ve been in.

 

[Kleanbore]

I’ve simply stated what works for me, and how my body and mind have tended to react in the stressful situations that I’ve been in.

Have you tried that in a realistic situation?

 

[Jeff White]

I’ve simply stated what works for me, and how my body and mind have tended to react in the stressful situations that I’ve been in.

What kind of stressful situations have you been in? All stress isn’t created equal. During the Vietnam war the Navy wired up some pilots to monitor heart rate and respiration and many pilots were more stressed landing on the carrier, a difficult but routine task then they were dodging AAA and SAMs.

You mentioned hunting. I can’t think of many hunting situations that would provide the same stress level as a deadly force encounter. Cape Buffalo maybe......

Different situations will stress people differently. I thought the Navy study was pretty interesting. Most pilots were more stressed landing on the carrier, especially at night then they were in combat.

I was taught and I teach to aim COM of what you can see.

There are only two ways to stop a central nervous system hit and exsanguination.

The human body was designed to protect the central nervous system. You basically have to hit the brain stem or the bundle of nerves that runs above the ears (picture the subject wearing Walkman headphones). Those are the only two places you can hit and be certain of a “turn off the switch” incapacitation. There are plenty of people who have been shot at other places in the head and who continued to function.

Exsanguination lowers the blood flow to the brain fast enough the the subject rapidly loses consciousness. The area of the body you can hit and accomplish this is much larger and accessible from many different angles. It’s not as fast as a CNS hit but a lot easier to accomplish.

 

[Ru4real]

Have you tried that in a realistic situation?

Oh gosh no, and I pray I never have to. I’ve practiced and trained, however, which is all anyone can do to manage expectations.

I’ve shot entire IDPA seasons and 2 gun league seasons head shots only, as a way to practice. Small game, head shots only, almost exclusively. Deer, I went through a stretch of a number of years, head shots only.

That said, in games, like IDPA, I enjoy competing so most often I do what everyone else does. When deer hunting I’m there for meat, so I’ve made more heart / lung shots than any other because most often it is the highest probability shot.

 

[Kleanbore]

Oh gosh no, and I pray I never have to. I’ve practiced and trained, however,

I sm speaking or training--realistic training.

The best is FoF--draw in a second and a half and hit the upper chest area of a target moving at five meters per second three to five times in about a second.

 

[Ru4real]

What kind of stressful situations have you been in? All stress isn’t created equal.

I agree all stress is not created equal.

I’ve been in the usual stress situations like military, family, bar fights, traffic accidents, etc. And every situation for me has resulted in acute awareness, deliberate actions and clear thinking. It’s possible that is my fight or flight reaction. It’s happened enough so that is what I believe it to be.

I also believe in a shooting situation, my first instinct will be to flee, if I can, using my acute awareness. But I cannot be sure until it happens.

 

[Ru4real]

I sm speaking or training--realistic training.

The best is FoF--draw in a second and a half and hit the upper chest area of a target moving at five meters per second three to five times in about a second.

I’d like to do that type training, but I’ve not had the opportunity.

I’d like that experience / training because I’d like to learn if I could quickly recognize possible body armor.

In that training, if the dummy had on a heavy jacket and no change in closing rate? First and only shot at 1 foot.

 

[bubba in ca]

COM is ok if you are a WW1 conscript shooting with iron sights are 300 yards. In the civilian world, it would make you a gut shooter half of the time.
If you can't hit a burglar's head at 10 feet you need some practice. At least you could do the Mozambique drill, 2 to the chest and 1 to the head. Or 1 for the chest, 2 to the head, even better.

Incidentally, I said chest, not body.