"If I'd had an empty chamber to start with and that dude kept coming, he would have closed the 3 steps from the counter before I had a chance to chamber it. Then I'd be screwed. "
very glad that situation worked out well for you.
not faulting you here. just adding that if you practice the move - you can rack that slide and point the weapon as a combined move. it can be very quick. you might not stop a ninja master, but a body builder wont make it in time
CA R
Everything physical can be done quicker. But mental stuff.. that's tougher.
I had little warning before the guy jumped the counter. About as long as it took for this guy to eyeball one of my employees and yell "you're dead --------". Then up and over he goes.
The gun was under the counter; I didn't want to back off and let him get between me and the gun. So it came back with me, held low. He saw the gun and froze.
I had no intention of
using it - the situation hadn't escalated to that point. But I also had no intention of letting this guy roll over me and break my employee in two, either!
OODA loops are complex critters.
Just saying you may have extremely little time to actually take action. We run a drill in my classes, where the shooter is on the line facing the target, and a runner starts facing the other way with his hand on your shoulder. When the runner lets go, it's your signal to draw and shoot two shots. At the first bang, the runner drops what he's carrying in his hand (doesn't matter what, soda bottle works). At the second shot, the runner stops.
You'd be *really* surprised how far the average guy can make it, before you can put two shots on target.
When you see how much ground a person can cover, drawing a ready to fire firearm, you'll see there's no time to rack a slide. Heck run the drill and see how much more ground a person can cover, if you have to rack the slide and fire. (Good drill to do too, you can also add a ball & dummy and simulates a first round failure!)