What if I miss?

[Rockrivr1]

(Actual Dream Sequence)

( I'm watching TV with my girlfriend one rainy summer Sunday afternoon when I hear a gunshot outside an open window. I get up, look outside and see down the street my neighbor waiving a revolver over his head and yelling his head off. At his feet is his wife, who look like she's been thrown to the pavement by her husband. Her arm is in front of her face like she's trying to defend her head from being kicked. She pleading something to him.

I run to my gun closet and grab my M1A and a 20 round mag that I keep loaded and run outside. As I get to the door I insert the mag and chamber a round. Once outside I look down the street and the neighbor is randomly pointing the revolver at his wife. At this point the entire neighborhood is out of thier houses watching whats going on.

I immediately get on the ground and take up my Highpower prone position and take aim on my nieghbor who's at most 150 yards away. I distinctly hear him yell, "Say Goodbye!" and he points the revolver at her head. She screaming and in that split second, I pull the trigger.

And MISS! Immediately after my bullet hits his garage door behind him, he shoots his wife. Before I can get a second shot off he ducks back into the house via a side door. I look up and every neighbor I see is not looking at the poor wife, but looking directly at me. All have this look like "How could you miss!" )

I wake up at this point. The girlfriend is still sound asleep next to me and it's 3AM. Theres a cold sweat on me and the fear you get after waking up to a bad dream is dissapating.

I kept thinking to myself, if it had been an actual scenario or if that woman on the ground was a loved one, would I be able to make that shot? Would You?

I hope I never have to find out for real. There's many posts on this board about SHTF scenarios. Things about what we'll carry and what we'll do. I wonder if it actually came down to it, could I make that shot. Could I live with the consequence if I didn't? I didn't sleep much more that night.

Yesterday I went to the range and for the first time "REALLY" took practicing seriously. Don't get me wrong, I had fun and always will when at the range. But I was paying more attention as to why I didn't hit where I intended.

 

[SteveS]

I kept thinking to myself, if it had been an actual scenario or if that woman on the ground was a loved one, would I be able to make that shot? Would You?

I'd like to think so, but I can't say for sure. I can consistently hit targets at that distance and I have also taken deer at that distance. OTOH, I have never had to take a shot where someone's life depended on it. How would you train for that?

 

[Reno]

How would you train for that?

I don't know if it's even possible. I think you just have to practice as usual, and hope you never get in a situation like that.

 

[Chipperman]

That's a disturbing dream.
In my bad dreams the gun either doesn't work, or the bullets have no effect on the BG. I don't miss in my dreams, though.

---
You could never approximate that in real life, but you can do some tactical/practical style training to increase the stress and difficulty level.

Pray that you never have to take a shot at someone for real.

 

[HSMITH]

I've been in one VERY close call with a gun in my hand, close like I was actually pulling the trigger when the guy I was in the process of shooting complied. A split second later he would have been very dead, 12 guage magnum buckshot at 15 feet dead. I have had one other situation where I pointed a handgun at someone but it wasn't quite as close to shooting as the other.

Having been in those situations I can tell you that without a doubt training takes over. The manipulation of safeties, holsters and whatever else will happen just EXACTLY the way you train, not close but EXACTLY. Your trigger press and sight picture aquisition will be EXACTLY the way you train. Practice the way you want things to happen if you get in trouble. You can still plink and generally just have fun, but when you train you need to focus and do it right every time on time. When the stress gets as high as it does when your life or someone elses is endangered your brain shuts down everything else, time slows drastically, and your body reacts the way you trained it to do. Concious thought of what to do or how to do it happens but nothing like what would normally occur. Thought function and decision making are still intact but at an incredibly higher pace. Tunnel vision can be a problem too.


I can't say enough about fucusing on doing it right when training. It WILL happen the way you trained when things go bad. Do it slow, and do it PERFECT EVERY TIME, speed comes with smoothness and under stress it seems like everything takes forever anyway. If your moves are solid and clean don't worry about speed, it will be there when you need it.

I hope I never am in a situation again, and I hope no one else is either, but I am stacking the deck in my favor just in case.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Practice the way you want things to happen if you get in trouble.

Amen. Well said.

 

[Zach S]

Picture this scenerio again. She's on the ground, hes walking around her waving a gun over his head. Where are the neighbors? Are they on the sidewalks or looking out the windows? Even if there were some outside, I'm assuming the crowd of onlookers would be bigger by the time you grabbed your rifle and took position. To be perfectly honest it sounds like you had a better shot from the window, with less of a chance of by-standers being hit. Just a thought.

I've had a dream about a dog attacking what I'm assuming is a neighbor's daughter (it doesnt take place where I live now, but it seems to be "my" place). So I grab a rifle and proceed to take position. The report of the AR15 (or 10?) wakes me up, and I dont know who or what I hit. It bugs the hell out of me, thats like stopping a movie before the end.

 

[Dave R]

I heard someone say the best way to practice under stress is:

-compete in something fast-paced.
-run 50 yards at top speed, then shoot. (Heart pumping, fine motor skills stressed).

My bro. in law, who is an FBI agent, took me shooting one time. I could shoot tighter groups than him, off hand at 15 yards, with his pistol. That's what I practiced.

He could draw from concealment, and put a palm-sized group centered on the target at 10 yards amazingly fast. That's what he trained. He said, if you ever need to use your pistol, you probably need to be able to present quickly and get multiple hits quickly. That's how he trained.

I altered my shooting regimen.

 

[entropy]

We used to do the post -wide pistol matches at Ft. Ord after running two miles, timed rapid fire. Definitely reduces accuracy!

 

[Amish_Bill]

Shortcut for the lazy - suck down half a pot of coffee before gtting to the range. You don't have the real fatigue & adrenaline hit, but the caffienne will make that 'steady hold' much more of a challenge.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

If you need it the skill will have to come relexively. This means you have to train until your draw-to-shoot sequence is automatic, without any concious thought. Because if it gets to this "thought process" will have gone out the window for most of us.

 

[WonderNine]

That's a disturbing dream.
In my bad dreams the gun either doesn't work, or the bullets have no effect on the BG. I don't miss in my dreams, though.

I'm usually all mall ninja, tactical reloads and all. Guys dropping dead left and right. Never miss. If the bad guys shoot at me they always miss. Half the time I don't use the sights. My gun dreams are like really bad 'B' action movies.

 

[itgoesboom]

I think the worst firearm dream I had, I emptied 3 full mags of .380 into a badguy, all the while he is doesn't react all that much, and laughs at me, hands me his pistol, and says "maybe you will have better luck with mine".

Right after that I retired the .380 and bought a 9mm.

I.G.B.