Here's my best looking target yet, two full magazines, Remington 165gr JHP, 26 rounds, 5 yards: Of course, two mags, plus one in the chamber is 27 rounds...where is number 27? Damn!
If you were aiming for COM. That errant number 27 round is still in the upper gastric area which would make for a pretty nasty wound and one that I certainly wouldn't want to be on the recieving end of...
Even with the one flyer, if it can indeed be called that, pretty good shooting. More than adequate for any real life situation you may encounter.
While one should practice at greater distances as well as closer ones, 5 yards is fifteen feet - probably larger than any distance inside your residence unless you and your attacker are pressed up against opposite walls . . .
No, that was slow fire. I'm going to start working on backing it up this week. I realized that I wasn't going to get much better at shooting anything if I didn't slow down, bring the target in and get back to fundamentals for a while.
Correct me if I am wrong but I believe there comes a point where the distance stops being self defense and become murder.
Where would you draw that line, if it exists? What if someone shoots at me from 150 yards away? Am I not justified in shooting back? Anyway, there's more to being a good shooter than self defense exercises...
I don't know where the line exist that's why I pose the question but I do believe there is a line, again I could be wrong. Also, at a 150 yards I don't think I could hit a house with a handgun let alone a person. Personally, I practice self defense exercises since that is the reason I carry.
I know a guy who can do it with anybody's gun at 100 yards and proceeded to have everyone try it several times and then listened to their excuses about their handguns and took any gun offered to him and shot a man sized target several times with each gun without missing once. He stressed that anybody could do it and should practice it. I still can't do it . . .
Well, obviously, not a handgun engagment... Here's someone making 100 yard hits with a Glock and combat sights: http://www.xssights.com/assets/XS_Sight ... oRes-1.wmv
MP, I know the average engagment in reguards to self defence is within 7 yards. So that is where you should spend most of your time training. I was just poking fun. But who is only training for situations in your home? I would think you wouldn't want to limit yourself. Mzmtg- it is smart to get down the fundamentals before moving on to harder stuff. In order to not get bad habits, since they will be harder to brake later on. But, on a serious note. I know most ranges i've been to in Georgia do not allow you to draw from the holster and engage. Or do rapid fire. They have signs that say one shot per second. Which is most likely where I personally see myself drawing from. And I would not wait one second between shots. So you can't do double taps, controlled pairs. I have training in reguards to this from the military. But, for others that do not have that option or when I get out. That just sucks, I can not continue to improve my skills and others to develop them. And I am curious what type of personal training yall do, in reguards to fundamentals. Also in reguards to drills. And I don't see distance being a determining factor in regards to justification to use your firearm. In reguards to self-defense. Self-defense is Self-Defense in my mind. However a man walking 50 yards away with a knife in his hand may be a little hard to prove he presented a treat against your life at that point. I'm sure liberal judges or jurys could interperet that as you have a happy trigger finger and that you could have waited to shoot till he got closer. Molon Labe- So I do see your point in asking that question. The bottom line I believe is, did you feel at that point in time that your only option was to use your weapon as a last result to prevent yours or anothers death or serious bodily harm, you should use it. There is that saying. I'd rather be tried by tweleve then carried by six. But that's my own opinion and I definatly am not a lawyer.
Rapid fire ranges David, Ed's Guns in Marietta allows rapid fire as does American Classic Marksman in Norcross and Bullseye in Lawrenceville. Personally, for rapid fire drills, I run the target out to 7 to 10 yards and hold the gun at low ready - finger off the trigger (safety on for my 1911). Then, I practice acquiring the target and firing 2 to 3 rounds (1911) and 2 to 5 rounds (G19) as quickly as I can. Still a pretty poor simulation, but it's the best I can come up with. Relative to slow fire, accuracy goes all to (poop), but it is more challenging and fun. I do practice slow fire regularly too. I'm definitely no expert...still need LOTS of slow and rapid fire practice. You can practice rapid draw and (dry) fire at home - which I should do more of.
Autreys Armory also allows rapid fire. Just don't shoot the carrier or they'll be pissed! 50% of my pistol shooting is at 7 yards, slow fire with my carry weapons. 45% of my shooting is at 15-25 with my .22, slow fire. Probably only 5% is actual rapid fire in which I do Mozambique drills. I just don't have a lot of fun with rapid fire to be honest. I just can't see myself being in a situation where I need to do a quick draw and a double tap. I am definitely going to look hard at some rapid fire drills closer to what an actual shooting distance would probably be. Half the time it seems I'm carrying a .38 or 9mm Keltec which are close to being belly guns anyways. Good shooting though! I hate flyers. What you need to do is get a pack of those little orange stickies and put one over the flier, making it appear as if that is your next aiming point and show how much of a badass pistol shot you are.
foshizzle- The Marine Corps High Risk Personel Course teaches you a drill that puts you at a ATM and a knife attacker comes up behind you. You have to basicly turn, push, gain distance, and you draw and put as many rounds as you can in him/ or the siloette. You never know what situation you can run into. Broadside Bob- I have been to Ed's Gun's. You are right I didn't see a sign saying no rapid fire. But, I think they might get mad if you bust out shooting from the concealed. There is a cool guy there that's son is a Marine.
Sometimes when I go to the range on my own (not with military) I just do some warm ups then move on to more tactical type double taps or two to the chest one to the head (we have been taught to move away from that). I practice the fundamentals. sight alignment, sight picture, slow steady squeeze, firm proper grip, muscle relaxation, bone support if avaliable, and breath control. I do this for slow fire. Then I like to start taking further way shots. around 20-25 yards. Marine Corps pistol qual goes out to 25 yards. This is to get my accuracy down. Then I move on to closer double tap drills. From around 7 Yards away. Two to the chest and two to the groin area. They teach this now because the head moves around too much. And thus is to hard to hit. But if you shoot some one in the pelvis they will go down for sure. And there is no chance for body armor in civilian situations. There is plenty of blood vessels to make them bleed out, if you crack the pelvis they can't move anyways. These are only Pistol drills though. That I use for self defense type situations. Just my .02cents Maybe that can help a lil bit. David
I practice drawing from concealment and rapid fire there frequently. That and the fact that they do NOT have a "no loaded guns allowed" sign are what keep me going back to Ed's. Overall, their facilities leave a lot to be desired, however.