"My troops are good and well-disciplined, and themost important thing of all is that I have thoroughlyhabituated them to perform everything that they arerequired to execute. You will do something moreeasily, to a higher standard, and more bravely whenyou know that you will do it well."

Frederick the Great, Principes Generaux, 1748

CHAPTER 1

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE .......................I

CHAPTER 2

THE ULTIMATE SERVICE PISTOL ...................7

CHAPTER 3

AMMUNITION SELECTION AND BALLISTICS .........15

CHAPTER 4

NECESSARY ACCESSORIES ...................... 19

CHAPTER 5

PERFECT PRACTICE ............................27

CHAPTER 6

SAFETY AND SAFE DRY PRACTICE ................33

CHAPTER 7

LOADING, UNLOADING, AND CHAMBERCHECKING ..37

CHAPTER 8

GRIP, STANCE, AND BREATHING ..................47

CHAPTER 9

THE BASICS OF MARKSMANSHIP ................ 59

CHAPTER 10

THE READY POSITION ..........................71

CHAPTER 11

THE PRESENTATION FROM HOLSTER ..............79

CHAPTER 12

THE TACTICAL RELOAD .........................89

CHAPTER 13

THE SPEED RELOAD ...........................95

CHAPTER 14

MALFUNCTION CLEARING PROCEDURES .........103

CHAPTER 15

360 DEGREE RESPONSE AND MULTIPLEHOSTILES ..115

CHAPTER 16

USE OF THE PISTOL IN REDUCED LIGHT ..........123

CHAPTER 17

CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT-SOME NEWIDEAS ....131

CHAPTER 18

FAILURE TO STOP-THE SOLUTIONS ............. 143

CHAPTER 19

THE PERFECT PRACTICE ROUTINE ............... 151

CHAPTER 20

DEVELOPING SPEED AND ACCURACY .............

165

CHAPTER 21

THE TRUTH ABOUT POINT SHOOTING ............ 175

CHAPTER 22

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ................ 181

APPENDIX A

SUGGESTED PRACTICE DRILLS .................. 187

APPENDIX B

DRY PRACTICE TARGET ........................ 191

APPENDIX C

SUGGESTED READING LIST .................... 193

Firearms are potentially dangerous and must behandled responsibly by individual trainees andexperienced shooters alike. The technicalinformation presented here on firearms handling,training, and shooting inevitably reflects the author'sbeliefs and experience with particular firearms andtraining techniques under specific circumstancesthat the reader cannot duplicate exactly. Therefore,this book is presented for academic study only. It isnot intended to serve as a replacement forprofessional instruction under a qualified firearmsinstructor.

This book is not about pistols. Rather, it is a bookabout how to become an accomplished shooter.Most specifically, it's intended as a companion textto my first book, The Tactical Pistol. In that book, Itold you what needs to be done. In this book, I showyou exactly how to do it.

As you read, you will notice that there is littlediscussion of such issues as mind-set, tactics, andtactical applications. There are many other volumeson those topics, the best of which are listed inAppendix C. This is a book about skill development.I will discuss many new concepts in pistol shooting,and I will give you a training program that will makeyou a better shooter. A bold statement? Perhaps,but the results will speak for themselves. The basicconcepts and training drills described herein formthe basis of the training programs used in manyworld-class shooting schools where I, and many ofmy colleagues, have taught in past years. Some ofthe material is accepted knowledge in the industry,but much of it is new.

These foundational skills, which many shooters donot understand, are essential to hitting youradversary before he hits you. Make no mistake: anelderly home defender, a citizen with a concealedcarry permit, or a high-speed/low-drag oper atormust rely on the fundamental skills to hit their targets,lest they miss and are themselves hit. When yourtactics fail (and eventually they will), the only thingstanding between you and a grim future will be your,

marksmanship skills.

I've given you all the "secrets" here. The rest is up toyou. You cannot take a magic pill and become aworld-class gunfighter, any more than you canbecome a world-class anything that way. It takeshours of effort, gallons of sweat, and yes, maybeeven a little blood. In this book, I've shown you whereto focus your efforts. Study with an open mind, andpractice the drills. I suspect that you will notice a bigimprovement in your shooting within a short period oftime.

-Gabe Suarez

Southern California

As usual, no book is the work of a single individual.There are a number of individuals who provided"pieces of the puzzle" through the years and who'vecontributed greatly in the development andunderstanding of many of these concepts.

First of all, I must mention my friend and pistolcraftmentor, Col. Jeff Cooper. I began training withColonel Cooper in the late 1980s, and theknowledge I gained from him was not only thefoundation of my pistol skills but also the stuff thatactually saved my life on a few occasions.

I must also thank my wife, Cheryl, who has enduredthe best and the worst. Finally, and perhaps most ofall, I must thank my friends at Paladin Press for their

help and assistance with my many writingendeavors.

As we stand at the threshold of a new millennium, wesee that the human race has not changed much inthe last 3,000 years. The things that motivate ustoday are the same things that motivated our hairyancestors in the dim past. Times certainly dochange, but people and their motivations do not.Julius Caesar, for example, would be incredulous atthe sight of an M 1 Abrahms tank rolling into battle,but he would completely understand the motivationsof its operators.

Humans are, for the most part, noble and good, butthey are also quite capable of unspeakable acts.The history of man is the story of one man's or onenation's aggression against another. Since ourforebears first ventured down from the trees, menhave been fighting to take what they desired fromtheir weaker neighbors or to protect that which wastheirs from the oftentimes stronger marauder. Thiswas true in the green wooded past, and it is true inour concrete and asphalt present.

In ancient (and not so ancient) times, the physicallystrongest often carried the day. But that all changedwith the invention of gunpowder and its application inthe firearm. With the gun as a hand-held weapon,man had a tool whereby the weak could overcome

the strong or the few could overcome the many.

Early weapons were unreliable and clumsy artifactsby modern standards. The one-shot-and-reloadconcept did not offer much of an advantage. Afterthe shooter fired his first shot, he was either forcedto reload (time consuming and very difficult) or thingsdeteriorated to the Stone Age tactics of hacking andslashing.

Then, in the 1830s, a man named Samuel Coltdeveloped a reliable repeating handgun, the ColtPaterson. Based on the concept of a rotatingcylinder loaded with six charges, the "revolvingpistol" allowed the shooter several tries at his man

before the need to reload. It was the first seriousfighting handgun, and it served as a researchplatform from which better and more reliableweapons evolved.

With the new century came the development ofsmokeless powder and, subsequently, thesemiautomatic pistol. Twentieth century warriorswere quick to note that these "new" weapons hadsome distinct advantages over the older single- anddouble-action revolving pistols. The revolver,however, as Colt's original concept became knownas, was not yet obsolete.

Technical advancements have been part of thereason for its success. (Photo courtesy of ChuckTaylor.)

America grew ever more urban, and a nation ofcountry riflemen slowly turned into a nation of citydwellers. These urban citizens often turned to thepistol for self-defense. Cities eventually createdpolice departments and armed them with pistols.The Federal Bureau of Investigation was institutedand also armed its agents. In 1911, the UnitedStates military adopted a semiautomatic pistol, thefamous Colt 1911. And of course, the do-goodershadn't yet decided that the public could not betrusted, so private citizens also kept pistols handy fordefense against ruffians and scofflaws.

Early handgunning methods were not much differentfrom what was common in the Old West. Contrary towestern lore, few Old West pistoleros were goodshots. Use of the sights was not widely practiced,and hit rates were not much better than what we seetoday from minimally trained personnel. What theydid have going for them was the fact that they had nohesitation or remorse about killing, often walking upto fist-fighting distance and shooting theiradversaries by surprise.

With few exceptions, the state of the art remainedpretty much unchanged until just prior to World War II,when a great deal of research on gunfighting wasdone by men like British army officer W.E. Fairbairn.Fairbairn was one of those rare men who could killan adversary in the afternoon and then study thedynamics of the fight and describe in detail at theevening meal why he won and the other fellow lost.

Fairbairn passed on much of his information to Col.Rex Applegate of the U.S. Army. The resultingschool of thought, in essence and theory, focused ona man's likely reactions during a surprise close-range gunfight. The technique these men developedinvolved one-handed pointing of the pistol, with a fullyextended arm, from a crouching position. Thisworked fairly well at close quarters but not as well atother times.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a curious groupcalled the Bear Valley Gunslingers, headed byretired U.S. Marine Col. Jeff Cooper, began holdingunrestricted shooting competitions, which eventually

gave rise to the International Practical ShootingConfederation (IPSC). Cooper's "ModernTechnique," which was a conglomeration of variousconcepts that he'd seen work best in thosecompetitions, called for using both hands on thepistol with an isometric grip and acquiring a "flashsight picture."

Cooper's Modern Technique went beyond thecompetitive realm and became widely accepted asthe most versatile method for pistol employment. Itwas just as quick as the previous methods for closequarters shooting but much more accurate beyondarm's length. Techniques which are, in essence,derivatives of Cooper's two-handed methods are stillconsidered the most useful today.

When selecting a fighting pistol, there are certainguidelines that you should keep in mind. Primarily, agood handgun is selected for ease of carry andconcealability. This doesn't mean that the smallestgun is the best but simply that the weapon must be ofreasonable size and weight given its intendedmission. With few exceptions, the role of thehandgun in the tactical big picture is to allow theoperator to regain control of his environment whenunexpectedly faced with a threat. You will need tohave access to it quickly and easily, so it must becomfortable to have around.

The chosen size of the handgun is often limited bythe individual's lifestyle. A stockbroker living in NewYork, for example, could not expect to carry a 6-inchrevolver in his daily attire, but a rancher in theSouthwest would have no problem doing so.

Anyone who even casually peruses the pages of gunmagazines is bombarded with stories and opinionsabout what is the best gun for self-defense. Theopinions are as varied as the writers. A popularnotion is that most service pistols need extensivereworking in order to make them combat worthy. Infact, an entire industry has developed around theperceived need to make out-of-the-box-stock pistolsinto "real" combat weapons. This idea has created avirtual subcategory of shooter who does nothing but

customize and modify his handgun. For these folks,firearms are not weapons any longer but art objects.

But is such extravagance really necessary or evendesirable? No doubt some degree of modificationmay enhance the combative utility of a handgun, buthow much do you need? What advantage will abeautiful, museum-quality pistol provide you whenyou must use it to kill an assailant? When questionedby officials after the incident, how will you explain allthe bells, whistles, and your name engraved on thepolished nickel-plated slide?

My colleagues and I have studied the actualrequirements for a combat-ready pistol from a real-world perspective. Many of us are still "in thebusiness" and have had to shoot for blood onseveral occasions. Therefore, we take the subject of

what is necessary to win a fight very seriously.

I conferred at length with these gentlemen on thedesired attributes of a combat pistol and arrived at aset of requirements for what we would consider thebest and most efficient defensive tool availabletoday, the "ultimate" service pistol.

The primary requirement is that the pistol operatesreliably. The fully loaded pistol must fire every timethe operator presses the trigger. There is nocompromise to be made here. Reliability takesprecedence over intrinsic accuracy, ergonomics, oranything else. Given modern manufacturing methodsfor both firearms and cartridges, 100 percentreliability is not out of the question.

The ideal service pistol must allow the operator toplace his shots on target accurately. Its design andcharacteristics must not impede this in any way. Justhow much accuracy is needed? The weapon musthave the inherent capability to place controlled shotson the chest of a man at 50 meters or in the cranial-ocular cavity at conversational distances. Nothingless will do. The other edge of the blade is that weneed not have the ability to place the shots neatly onthe third button of his shirt at such distances. This isespecially the case if "accurizing" adversely affectsreliability.

The defensive pistol must be powerful enough to endthe hostilities with the minimum number of shotsfired. Gunfights tend to be high-intensity, short-duration events. Rarely will anyone have time to firemore than a handful of shots. With that in mind, thoseshots must be as powerful as the operator cancontrol. For some, this might mean that they couldcarry a .45 ACP. For others, a sure hit with a 9mmbeats a tenuous miss with a .45. A goodcompromise is the relatively new .40 S&W (mostother calibers being at least 50 years old). The ruleof thumb: carry the biggest caliber that you canrealistically control under high-stress tacticalconditions.

The fighting pistol must be easy to use. Anystructural impediments to rapid deployment are to

be avoided. For example, the pistol must be free ofsharp edges. These days, a pistol is often carriedconcealed, which means that it spends a lot of timenext to the operator's skin. Any sharp edges orungainly designs will be felt immediately, causing theperson to hastily choose an alternate weapon or,worse yet, leave the pistol at home!

The Italian "ultimate service pistol," a Beretta Model92F.

Given the environments in which a service pistol willbe carried, a rugged corrosion-resistant finish isimportant. I prefer a dark matte finish on mine. Tome, a light-colored gun is a liability because itreflects every bit of available light. Even socalledmatte finishes reflect light. (Hold a matte hard-chromed gun against a black T-shirt and you will

instantly see what I mean.) There are others whodisagree with me on this and prefer one of the nickelor stainless finishes. To each his own, but the gunmust be corrosion and wear resistant. The betterfinishes, such as Robar's NP3 or Roguard, willprovide all the corrosion resistance needed in avariety of colors and shades.

To fulfill the reliability requirement, it is important toavoid excessive "accurizing." Listen carefully: anymodern stock pistol of reputable manufacture,loaded with high-quality factory ammunition, hasmore intrinsic accuracy than any human being canutilize under stress.

To ensure maximum reliability, you must select apistol that is in excellent working condition, load itwith high-quality factory ammunition suitable fordefensive purposes, and use highquality magazinesto feed it. Next, fire several hundred rounds of yourchosen load to make sure your pistol functionsreliably with it and that you can hit a man in theimportant places with it. Finally, inspect all of yourequipment for any damage or wear after eachtraining session. After you have done all of this, don'tworry about accuracy or reliability anymore!

Some basic modifications can be made to a fightingpistol to enhance its capabilities. First, make sure itis free of sharp edges. You don't need to grind awayevery corner; simply sand off any sharp points. Runyour hand over the gun and make note ofquestionable spots. After a couple of firing sessionsand a little time carrying it concealed, you will knowwhich edges must be removed.

A manageable trigger is also desirable. Does thismean you need a 3 ounce, high-maintenance triggerjob that requires more attention than tropical fish?No! Granted, a Glock or Browning/1911 trigger iseasier to operate than a double-action (DA) trigger,but I have seen some very fine shooting done withDAs. A double-action trigger is no impediment if theoperator practices with it. Sometimes these triggersare in need of slight polishing to smooth out "grit,""creep," or other irregularities, but it is generally aminor thing. I have seen several DA-armed shooters

do quite well at many of the combat courses I haveattended and taught.

High-visibility sights are essential. This is one areawhere manufacturers have listened to the shootingpublic and responded accordingly. Virtually everydefensive pistol of reputable make is now issuedwith such sights. For those who desire them, tritium-equipped night sights are a worthy addition to anyfighting pistol, especially if the issued sights arefragile (as with Glocks).

The Austrian "ultimate service pistol," a Glock 22 in.40 S&W.

"OK, OK, I understand and agree with yourrequirements for the ideal defensive pistol," you say.But you are not satisfied. You want to see a pictureof it, maybe even a centerfold of the ultimate service

pistol replete with two-tone finish and custom ivorystocks, with the morning-mist condensation beadingever so slightly on the polished mirror finish of theslide as it lies suggestively on the freshly shot centerof an IPSC target. Mouth-watering, isn't it?

Well, I have never seen such a pistol in service withexperienced operators. The guns of the men whoreally use them are nothing fancy or pretty; justsimple, basic, reliable equipment. None of thesepistols will ever be seen on the cover of Playgun, butthen again, none of them will cost you very mucheither. Certainly they will not approach the cost of aSuper Duper Hostage Rescue CQB AdvancedSignature Model, but you can take the balance of themoney you saved and spend it on several cases ofammunition to practice with and to carry in yoursidearm. You can even use some of your savings toget some training in how to use your simple, basic,reliable equipment from those who have really "beenthere, done that" . . . and who still do.

When a good shooter with a poor gun meets a poorshooter with a good gun, the good shooter will havethe good gun. Think about it, and get yourperspective back on track. You can spendthousands of your dollars and hours of your precioustime acquiring a delectable artifact that is beautiful tolook at and photograph, or you can get a solidfighting tool and spend your money and time learninghow to use it. If you choose the latter path-thewarrior's path-then you will have realized, as mycolleagues and I have, that it is the man and not thegun that makes the difference. If you take nothingelse from this book, remember that!

As important as selection of the pistol is the choiceof ammunition to carry in it. That ammunition, afterall, is what you are actually staking your life on. Thisis a critical and complex issue. It is critical becauseof what's at stake, and complex because theadversary, a human being, is amazingly resilient todamage.

In almost every gun magazine, some scribe foistsupon the readership the new-improved answer to theammunition question. Many people have madefortunes by selling "magic" bullets. The problem isthat it's not nearly as simple as they make it out to be("one-shot stops" and all of that sort of basura!). Wemust therefore examine some realities whenchoosing a cartridge on which we are going to beteverything.

Shot placement is one of the most important issuesto consider. A miss with a 20mm cannon will not dowhat a .22 Short in the eye will. Given theexpectation of suitable combat accuracy, the actualchoice of caliber becomes equally important.

Shooting incidents are often sudden, high-intensity,shortduration events characterized by rapid and

unpredictable movement, limited windows ofopportunity, poor light, and confusedcommunications. Such circumstances often lead tothe shooter hitting the easiest target, which is simplythe cen ter of mass, or more specifically the center ofwhatever target area on the adversary is available. Astudy of police shootings reveals that regardless ofthe number of rounds fired, most of the time only oneto three shots can actually be expected to hit theadversary. With this in mind, we must choose around that will do the most amount of damage withthe least number of rounds needed to inflict thatdamage, thereby increasing the likelihood ofimmediate incapacitation.

The mechanisms of wounding from a pistol bulletinclude penetration, permanent cavity, temporarycavity, and fragmentation and/or expansion.

The fragmentation or expansion properties of apistol bullet are highly variable, and one must becareful to avoid betting everything on this. Expansionand fragmentation from rifle bullets that travel inexcess of 2000 feet per second is one thing. It is anentirely different matter when it relates to relativelyslow-moving pistol bullets. The fastest of pistolbullets cannot travel fast enough to guaranteeexpansion without fail in a human adversary; thereare just too many variables present. Even withcustom, specially designed "manstoppers," there willalways be one that will not perform as advertised. Ifthat one happens to be yours, hope you live to getyour money back!

The temporary cavity formed by the displacement oftissue, temporarily, by the forces entering the bodyvis a vis the bullet is not an important incapacitationmechanism because the cavity is simply too small.Preeminent medical professionals and expertballisticians of the International Wound BallisticsAssociation opine that elastic tissues may bedisplaced as much as 4 inches without seriousdiscomfort, much less incapacitation. Again,temporary cavitation is certainly an issue with riflecalibers, but not pistol calibers.

The only reliable mechanisms for incapacitation from

a pistol-caliber bullet are penetration to the vitalorgans and the tissue which is physically destroyedas a result of that penetration (i.e., the permanentcavity). Most knowledgeable per sons in the study ofwound trauma believe that adequate penetrationdepth is by far the most important consideration inthe selection of pistol ammunition. The minimumdepth has been assumed to be 12 inches, but 14 oreven 16 inches may be better given the potential tohave to shoot through intermediate barriers such asarm muscles, heavy clothing, or light cover.

After penetration, the most essential element ofincapacitation is the size of the hole the bulletproduces via that penetration. Penetration is afunction of sectional density and velocity. Sectionaldensity is a function of cross-sectional area as wellas weight. The bottom line is that the heaviest bulletavailable, in the largest caliber you can handle, is theticket. Certain bullet designs may offer the potentialfor enhanced damage via expansion at the outerlimits of penetration. This is a bonus, but don't go theexpansion route at the sacrifice of penetration.

With respect to bullet weight, in .45 ACP, any 230-grain round should be the top choice. In .40 S&W the180 grain is my preference, and in 9mm, the 147grain would get the vote. Federal, Speer,Remington, Hornady, or Winchester offerings in anyof these calibers are good choices. The Black Talon(recently renamed SXT), Golden Saber, Gold Dot, orHydra- Shok are all good, combat-proven choicesthat may provide additional benefits from expansion.Avoid rounds that are unproven or that, when fired,are uncontrollable. Also to be avoided are roundsthat rely excessively on their velocity to be effective.This velocity is often a trade-off for lighter bullets,which will penetrate less and exhibit excessivemuzzle flash when fired.

The bottom line is to choose ammunition that hasbeen used successfully in combat and that ismanufactured by an established company. Selectthe heaviest, moderate-velocity round available.Make certain that the round shoots and functions wellin your weapon . . . and then be prepared for the timewhen you hit your adversary and he doesn't go down.

Selection of the handgun and ammunition is not theend of the story. To use this tool to its greatest level,you need a few more things. Unless the extent ofyour handgunning activities will be presenting theweapon from a desk drawer or nightstand, you needa holster, a belt that matches that holster, and apouch to carry at least one spare magazine for thepistol.

In my opinion, a handgun without a holster is like asword without a sheath. Fortunately, there are moreholster designs today than there are pistol designs.That's good for the consumer because of the varietyof products to choose from, but it is also a point ofconcern because the unknowing might make a baddecision on a purchase. In this case, a bad purchasemay cost you your life! Serious consideration of theissue becomes mandatory for anyone who intends tocarry the weapon for tactical/defensive purposes,regardless of whether he is a police officer, privatecitizen, or military operator.

The purposes of a holster are several. First, it is acarrying apparatus for the firearm. It must keep theweapon in a fixed position at all times. Otherwise, itbecomes difficult to quickly obtain, gain control of,and bring the pistol into action. Therefore one of theimportant characteristics of a sound hol ster must bebelt loops that are sufficiently wide to allow a certain

amount of rigidity on the belt.

A sound holster that carries the weapon safely andallows the operator to obtain a solid firing grip isessential. This holster from Cen-Dex, Inc. is typical ofthe choices available today.

Second, the holster must secure the weapon fromloss. Certainly the pistol will do you no good if it's notthere because it fell out of its holster as you exitedyour car!

Third, the holster must protect the weapon in theenvironment in which it will be carried. Although dust,moisture, and impact damage are all things to be

considered, common sense must be exercised byselecting a holster that is appropriate for thesituation. A man carrying a pistol in the murky junglesof a Third World hot spot does not have the samerequirements as a police detective assigned to adesk in New York.

Finally, the holster must provide the fastest possibleacquisition and presentation. When you need apistol, you probably need it really bad. Most pistolfights take place just outside of arm's length,meaning that engagements are quick and intense. Aholster that demands preplanning to get the weaponout is not a good choice.

Selecting a holster that fulfills all those requirementsis not easy. Primarily, you must define your particularcircumstances. We all have different life-styles andrequirements. As such, there is no such thing as a"universal holster" (although I'll bet someone will tryto sell you one). The top choice of a police detectivewill likely not be the choice of an operator on anantiterrorist team. Nor will the choice of a dutypoliceman be the choice of the private citizen with aCCW permit.

Regardless of the holster chosen, it must exhibit twobasic characteristics: it must allow the wearer toobtain a firing grip on the pistol while it is stillholstered, and it must cover enough of the triggerguard area to prevent unintentional access to thetrigger by the trigger finger or other objects such asclothing or twigs. This will help eliminateunintentional discharges.

Weapon security is certainly a concern, but it mustbe balanced against speed of presentation. Far toomany police holsters are slanted so much on theside of security that a speedy presentation is noteven a consideration. Again, a balance must beestablished that provides a degree of securityagainst disarming but allows the pistol to bepresented quickly enough to make a difference in asudden confrontation. In this case, a simple thumb-break design will often suffice. Many holsters offer asecondary retention device or design. If it does notimpair the presentation, then it is a welcome

addition.

Materials used for holster designs today range fromsimple leather to high-tech plastics. I seriouslyrecommend one made from Kydex or Concealex.These new materials are state-of-the-art thermo-plastics, which are form-fit to the pistol. They providean actual snap-fit to secure the weapon while stillallowing an extremely fast presentation. Manybigname holster companies now offer these holstersas stock items, whereas they were once a customproposition only. They are available from suchmanufacturers such as High Desert Holsters, Blade-Tech, and Sidearmor (all of which can be located onthe Internet). Many of these designs are just aspopular with private citizens as with police officersand military personnel.

Almost as important as the holster is the carrymethod for additional magazines. Everything we'vesaid about holsters also applies to extra magazinepouches. Fortunately, these pouches are usuallyavailable from the same sources as the holsters andin the same rugged materials.

The best holster and magazine pouch are next touseless if you do not place them on the appropriatebelt. Specifically, the belt's width must match theholster and magazine pouch belt loops. Keep inmind the environments where you will be wearingyour sidearm as well as the dress code at thosetimes. You cannot press a dress belt into service tocarry a pistol; instead, you must purchase a special-

purpose belt at least 1 1/4 inch in width so it fits theloops on a pair of fashionable European-cutbusiness suit slacks as well as the loops of yourholster. If you cannot find one of these, you may needto order a specific holster designed for a narrowbelt.

I suggest avoiding the shoulder holster. It is notconducive to quick weapon presentations and, dueto the fact that it places the muzzle of the weaponpointing toward everyone behind you, it is verydifficult to train with. Moreover, it is difficult tomaintain control of the holstered pistol during anyviolent activity such as the fisticuffs, which oftenprecede gunfights. You gain nothing from such an

arrangement that you cannot have from a standardbelt holster and pouch configuration.

Quite popular these days is the "belly bag" carrymode. Many manufacturers produce a version of thisrig. It allows the carry of a full-size weapon evenwhen wearing the skimpiest of garments. I usuallyreserve mine for two situations: working out at theweight room (I do live in L.A., and, well, you neverknow) and when my sidearm is placed by thebedside. Packed with a few spare magazines, atactical flashlight, a small fighting knife, a cell-phone,and a few other goodies, in an unexpected nocturnalemergency I can grab the bag and have all I need togo to war. Be advised that the ability to obtain a

firing grip while holstered as well as coverage of thetrigger guard are still essential.

As you can see, holster selection demands morethan simply grabbing anything the sales clerk offersyou. Select this ancillary equipment as carefully asyou select the pistol itself.

Now that we have our hardware sorted out, let'sdiscuss the actual issues of getting so good with itthat you'll scare yourself. How good is "goodenough"? That is a question that tactical shootershave been asking themselves and others since thedays of flint and steel. And it is as easily answeredtoday as it was in the past. When it comes to theissue of life and death, you can never be goodenough!

The question is then slightly modified: just how goodcan you get? Only you can answer that, but thischapter will help you find out.

Perfect practice will help you hit your target-whetherpaper or flesh and blood-every time, on demand.This ability to hit is the very foundation of tacticalshooting. All the high-speed, low-drag tactics in theworld and all the Walter Mitty gear available will notsave you if you cannot hit before you are hit.

Tactical shooting is a psychomotor, pseudoathleticskill. As such, shooting successfully (that meansgetting hits, Grasshopper!) depends partially on the

"physical memorization" of the specific movementsand their proper sequence. Perfecting the executionof these movements in sequence is bestaccomplished with extensive repetition thatreinforces the neuromuscular programming requiredto execute them. The stronger this programmingbecomes, the more reflexive and subconscious thecorrect execution of the technique becomes. Mostimportantly when dealing with intense realworldconfrontations, the stronger this programmingbecomes, the less conscious thought will berequired to perform the neurologically ingrainedtechniques.

It's not just about making a mountain of brass at theshooting range; it's about programming perfectreflexes through extensive and repetitive exercise.Dry practice is an essential part of this process, andyou cannot become good without it!

This concept of physical memorization andsubconscious programming is not new. In the 1600s,the Japanese sword master Yagyu Tajima No Kami

wrote, "Learning and knowledge are meant to beforgotten, and it is only when this is realized, that youfeel perfectly comfortable. The body will move as ifautomatically, without conscious effort on the part ofthe swordsman himself. All of the training is there,but the mind is utterly unconscious of it." Yagyu was,of course, writing about swordsmanship, but theconcept is just as valid for combat marksmanship.

Physiologists have determined that it takes nearly3,000 repetitions for a technique or skill to become aconditioned reflex. And make no mistake, dearreader: in a confrontation where your life ismeasured in heartbeats and you have little time tothink, conditioned reflexes are exactly what you musthave!

But be careful! You do not want to simply do 3,000repetitions. You must achieve 3000 perfectrepetitions. Even one substandard repetition tendsto sabotage the entire process and may evenprogram imperfect reactions. It is just as importantfor a world-class baseball pitcher to throw 3,000perfect pitches as it is for a golfer to swing 3,000perfect strokes. Certainly no one would argue thatthis is even more the case for the tactical shooter,whose stakes far exceed those of any mere sport.

A tactical shooter-whether private citizen, policeofficer, or professional soldier-literally bets his life onhis skill in a confrontation. When he faces his grimadversary in a greasy alley, in some God-forsakendesert wadi, or in his own living room at zero darkthirty, he has no one to help him and nothing to relyon but his warrior's attitude, his sidearm, and hisperfectly programmed fighting responses.

Following the procedures described in this book willhelp you not only establish but also polish the skillsneeded to stand tall when the chips are down. And amajor portion of your success in this endeavor willcome from a serious program of dry-fire practice.

There is a story about a man named DaveWesterhout who spent considerable time in theRhodesian Defense Force. The political sanctionsimposed on his country caused an extreme shortage

of practice ammunition. Rather than make do withthe paltry ration of training ammunition, he attemptedto determine if troops could be trained to areasonable level of proficiency without ever firingtheir weapons until qualification day. The result ofWesterhout's experiments was that the group hetrained, using dry practice only, shot slightly higherscores than the group that had been trained in theconventional live-fire method.

Dry practice is the effort a student puts forth off therange, at home, with an unloaded pistol. It is anessential method for developing and polishing skillsbecause it allows you to execute perfect repetitionswithout the distractions of muzzle blast or recoil.

The reason for this is simple. The mechanics ofshooting are a motor reflex. Motor reflexes areenhanced with repetition. Dry practice allows you toexecute a vast number of perfect repetitions.

Many so-called experts eschew dry practicealtogether and instead advocate prodigiousamounts of ammunition expenditure in live-fire drills.This is a horrible mistake. I have found that the moreyou shoot, the worse shot you become!

Live fire is an important but minor part of the overalltraining of a tactical shooter. Each shot that is firedimprints subconscious programming into thenervous system. This is fine if the shot is fired withperfect concentration and control. But a problemarises because you cannot maintain perfectconcentration indefinitely. Some can manage perfectconcentration for only a few shots. Even highlytrained expert shooters cannot concentrate fully formore than 100 shots at any one session. Anymonkey can be trained to "mash" the trigger, fireuncontrolled shots, and accomplish nothing butmaking brass. A man who wants to be better strivesfor a perfect shot every time he presses the trigger.Every imperfect shot programs the subconsciousimproperly.

Given this, live-fire practice must become a simplevalidation of your dry-practice training andprogramming, not the sole focus of your training.

Think of dry practice as the training and live fire asthe final exam which insures that your training isright. If you find yourself shooting poorly, you do notneed more shooting! Quite to the contrary, you needmore dry practice.

Dry practice will allow you to perfect every actionassociated with the act of firing a shot and thereforewill do more for you than shooting 10,000 rounds ofammunition. But I am not suggesting that drypractice entirely replace live-fire training. Nor do Idiscourage you from seeking out professionalfirearms and tactical training. Both of these activitiesare essential to full skill development.

You must obtain professional instruction from menwith actual combat experience. Being exposed tosuch real-world perspective is an invaluable way tolearn the hows and whys of tactical shooting.Additionally, you must fire live ammunitionperiodically in order to remind your subconsciousmind what the actual discharge of a shot and recoilfeel like. This way you will become a completeshooter. But dry practice will help you perfect thenew skills you learn from the pros as well as help youprogram them into your subconscious mind. This, inturn, is guaranteed to improve your shooting.

I've included brief but descriptive chapters on thebasics of gun handling that build upon what I coveredin The Tactical Pistol. Study them and get the properprocedures down. I also strongly recommendreading the books listed in Appendix C as well asseeking professional training. This will give you acomplete overview on the matter. When you have agood understanding of the topic and havememorized the proper procedures, especially thedry-practice safety guidelines outlined in the nextchapter, you may begin programming the skills intoyour subconscious mind through drypractice training.

The first objective of dry practice is to program themechanics and basics of tactical shooting into yourmuscle memory. Do not omit this part, even if youconsider yourself an accomplished shooter. Thisbasic gun-handling training may point out mistakesor bad habits that we all acquire through the years. If

you do not find these "minor" errors, you will simplybe reinforcing them when you practice. This iscertainly not the goal of a program entitled "perfect."

Eventually you will move on to executing thetechniques within specified time intervals. Don't getcarried away with trying to beat the clock here. Thetime interval exists only to provide a degree ofurgency to the drill as well as to give you an idea ofyour level of skill in relation to standard time limits.

Practice the basic routine until you are performingwith certain smoothness. Then strive to be smoothunder the time limit. Success comes fromperforming correct procedures fluidly.

Now, place the dry-practice target (included in thisbook as Appendix B) on a solid backing at eye leveland verify again that you have followed all the safetyprocedures. You are taking an important step here, astep that will improve your shooting skills and,vicariously, your personal safety in an increasinglydangerous world.

Any discussion of firearm utilization must include adiscussion of safety. This is especially the case witha book intended to be used for skill enhancement.So we take the inherent danger of firearms traininginto account and seek to establish rules andprocedures by which to manage it.

The following safety rules are standard with allprofessional gun handlers and as important for thefirst-time gun buyer as for the SWAT or SpecOpsexpert.

RULE ONE-Treat all guns as if they are loaded. Anunloaded gun, while comforting to the squeamish, isall but useless for self-defense. Their utility comesinto play only when loaded. That is their naturalcondition, so always assume they are until you'veproven otherwise by checking the chamber.

RULE TWO-Do not allow your muzzle to coveranything you are not willing to destroy. This is fairlyselfexplanatory and includes television sets as wellas live adversaries.

Now, a word about actual armed confrontations.When facing a hostile adversary, you are quitejustified in covering him with your weapon rather thanholding it at the ready. Many authorities disagreewith me on this, but the fact remains that if you havedecided that you are in danger and are thereforewilling to destroy an adversary, it is in no way aviolation of safety to cover him with your muzzle untilthe situation is under control. But this leads to thenext rule ...

RULE THREE-Keep your finger OFF the trigger untilyou've made a conscious decision to shoot. Guns donot "go off" by themselves. Someone makes themgo off, usually by pressing the trigger. This actionmay be intentional or the result of negligence. In anycase, it cannot happen to you if you observe RuleThree.

To facilitate observance of this rule, I recommendthat you locate an index point of sorts on the frame ofyour pistol. This point should be located naturallywhere the trigger finger lies on the frame when youare striving to keep it off the trigger. Make a point ofalways placing your finger on that point of reference.That way it will either be on the trigger when it isneeded or on the index point on stand by.

The trigger finger should be placed on an index pointalong the frame for safety reasons.

RULE FOUR-Be sure of your target and what isbeyond it. Do not shoot at a sound or a shadowunless you are double damn sure of what it is.Sometimes shooting through doors or walls isnecessary in SpecOps and SWAT environments, butthis is rarely the case in a private citizen's defensiverole. Remember-be dead sure about your target andwhat is behind it.

These four safety rules are applicable in a tacticalsituation as well as at the firing range or during drypractice. Make them a daily practice and point offocus and you will never have a problem with safegun handling.

In terms of dry practice, there are some additionalprocedures that you must follow in order to preventany mishaps.

1) Set a reasonable time limit for the dry practicesession, certainly no more than 30 minutes at anyone session. If your concentration begins to lapse, itis time to stop.

2) Designate a dry practice area. This will be your

official dry practice area, and all dry practice will bedone there. This area should have a sufficientbackstop in the event that a shot is firedinadvertently.

3) Unload your weapon, all magazines, and allammunition carriers. Chamber check the pistol afterunloading to make sure.

4) Place all the ammunition in an area other than thedry practice area, such as in another room.

5) Place the dry practice target in such a manner thatif a negligent discharge of the weapon were tooccur, the bullet would be captured in the buildingmaterial or travel in a direction that would not causedamage or injury.

6) Only display the dry practice target whilepracticing. As soon as the session is over, removeand store the target.

7) Present the weapon, point it in a safe direction,and recheck to make certain it is in fact unloaded(see chamber checking procedures in the nextchapter). Double check all magazines as well to becertain that there is absolutely no live ammunition onyour person or in the dry practice area.

S) You are now ready to mentally enter the drypractice session. Concentrate on the dry practicedrills described in Chapter 19. Avoid all distractions.If you experience any distractions such as a phonecall, knock at the door, or whatever, stop the drypractice session immediately. If you decide tocontinue with the session after the distraction hasbeen dealt with, go back to step one and proceedthrough the safety checks again.

9) After the dry practice is completed, you mustmentally leave the session. Immediately remove andstore the target, leave the dry practice area, and tellyourself out loud, "I have finished my dry practicesession. Dry practice is over."

10) At this point, you may load your weapon or placeit in its normal condition and review the four basic

safety rules.

Some of you may think that this is a tedious bit ofnitpicking on my part, but I assure you that it isnecessary from both a liability and a safetyperspective. More negligent discharges occur duringroutine gun handling and dry practice than at anyother time. Every private citizen who has a negligentdischarge is another exclamation point for thepeople in our society wishing to ban firearms.

But private citizens are not alone in theirresponsibility. Many shots are fired negligently inpolice locker rooms, for example. There is a nice .45caliber hole in the locker next to mine at policeheadquarters that narrowly missed several officersby inches! It was fired by an extremely competent,but now retired, veteran police officer who wassimply too tired to be bothered with basic safetyprecautions. There are other stories of officers andprivate citizens alike being shot unintentionallyduring routine gun handling. Save yourself a lot ofgrief, embarrassment, and quite possibly a tragedyand heed every word in this chapter.

One often neglected aspect of gun handling is thestatus check, or "chamber check." Many people whohandle weapons on a daily basis can becomecomplacent about them. Familiarity breedscontempt, and this is quite true with regards tofirearms. The following procedures will help preventtragedies that arise from such complacency.

Conducting a chamber check in order to ascertainits condition must become a reflexive action everytime you pick up a firearm. This is recommendedduring administrative gun handling as well as prior toentering a tactical situation (if you have the time, ofcourse). My colleague Marc Fleischmann calls thechamber check "one second of cheap insurance."This is so true. Virtually all of the negligentdischarges that I am aware of might have beenavoided if the operator had verified the condition ofhis pistol with a quick check of the chamber.Additionally, if you know that you are probably goingto get in a gunfight in the next few minutes, wouldn'tyou want to make double damn sure that your pistolwas really loaded? I sure would. All it takes is onesecond.

At this point, I should mention some terminology thatI will use throughout the book. Your primary hand isthe hand you utilize to hold and fire the pistol; yoursupport hand is the other hand. Any body part (arm,foot, etc.) on the primary side is called primary, andsimilarly with the support side. The loadingmechanism is called a magazine, not a "clip." A gripis what you do with your hand; the stocks (or frameon pistols that do not incorporate stocks) are thearea of the pistol that you grab.

All administrative manipulations begin and finish witha chamber check.

There are several established ways to check achamber. The method you select will depend on thetype of pistol you are armed with. When operatingwith a pistol that is equipped with slide-mounteddecocking levers such as the Beretta 92, Smith &Wesson pistols, and similar models, use thefollowing procedure.

Present the pistol to the ready position (see Chapter10). Every time you present a pistol with decockinglevers that also function as safety levers, you mustphysically make sure that the levers are disengaged.

Condition yourself to execute the thrust of theprimary thumb that disengages them, even if youcarry them disengaged (just in case).

Bring the pistol inward toward your torso for moreleverage and to be able to look down into thechamber area, but be careful to control the muzzle atall times. Lower the decocking levers and place yoursupport index finger and middle finger, straddling theslide, on either side of the levers. Place your supportthumb on the tang of the pistol. Now "pinch" the slideopen about 1/4 inch to be able to visually inspect thechamber.

If you are equipped with a pistol that does not havethe slide-mounted decocking levers, such as theGlock series, the Colt/Browning series, or the SIGSauer, use the following method instead. Note thaton the Colt/Browning pistols you must disengage thesafety levers, as it is designed to be carried "cockedand locked." With the SIG Sauer, you must firstmanually cock the hammer because of the overlystrong issue mainspring.

Present the pistol to the ready position. You maybring the pistol closer for leverage and increasedvisibility, but be careful about the direction of themuzzle. Bring the support hand over the top of thepistol, being careful to avoid the muzzle. Place thethumb on one side of the slide with the thumbprinttouching the grooves located at the rear of the slideand the other fingers on the opposite side. Nowmove the slide to the rear approximately 1/4 inchand visually inspect the chamber.

If you cannot operate the slide as described abovebecause of insufficient hand strength or becauseyour pistol has a slippery finish, do not despair.Adapt and overcome, as the drill instructors werefond of saying! Grab the slide further to the rear onthe serrated grasping grooves and then conduct thechamber check. Be careful that you do not actuatethe slide too far because that will either chamber around or eject a chambered round.

Whichever method you use, you may alsoincorporate a tactile round verification by simply

using the primary hand trigger finger or the supporthand index finger to feel for a chambered round.

A second part of the chamber check is to visuallyinspect the magazine. I know of several instanceswhere chamber checks were conducted by policeofficers after a training session and then returned toduty . . . with empty magazines! Luckily no good guysgot hurt, but you can well imagine the potential fordisaster.

The chamber check should become an automaticaction every single time you pick up your pistol in anadministrative environment and prior to entering atactical environment if there is time. It must alsoprecede and follow all loading and unloadingprocedures.

The loading procedure for any autoloading pistolbegins at the ready position with a chamber check.Verifying that the pistol is unloaded, insert a loadedmagazine into the pistol. Maintaining the pistol in theready position, grasp the grooves located at the rearof the slide with the support hand. Pull the slide to therear briskly. When the slide reaches its rearmostposition, allow it to move forward from the power ofthe recoil spring. Do not "ride" the slide forward withthe support hand. Instead, let go of the slide andallow the rearward motion of the support hand tocontinue until it reaches the firing side shoulder.Resume the two-handed grip in the ready position.You have just chambered a round, but you mustmake sure by conducting a final chamber check,including a magazine check. That concludes theloading procedure in administrative situations. Justremember: during an actual confrontation you maynot have time to check the gun's status, but alwaysdo so if there is time.

The unloading procedure also begins with the pistolin the ready position. The first thing to do is conducta chamber check. The sequence of events is veryimportant. First, remove the magazine and place itbetween the little finger and ring finger of the primaryhand. This way you know exactly where thatmagazine is, and you are certain that you haveremoved it. Next, place your support hand over theejection port so that your hand is cupping it. Turn thepistol 90 degrees outboard so that the ejection portis facing down. Cycle the slide to the rear slowly,allowing the chambered round to fall into yoursupport hand. Place that round in your pocket, placethat magazine in your pocket, and re-acquire thetwohanded hold in the ready position. You have nowunloaded your pistol, but make sure with a finalchamber check.

Some schools favor dropping the chambered round

on the ground when unloading. I avoid this for anumber of reasons. It is not so much an issue withtraining ammo, but remember that your carry ammoalso gets cycled in the load-unload process. Anycarry round that lands on the deck should be takenout of service. For those who think I'm being pickyabout this, understand that every time a round hitsthe ground the rim may get slightly damaged, as maythe bullet itself. All these things may affect itsperformance. That round in the chamber, right now,may be the one you'll need to save your life. Treat itaccordingly.

Remember that perfect gun handling is intended notonly to get hits on target quickly and efficiently butalso to prevent negligent, unintentional, or accidentalshots from being fired. Programming the chambercheck procedure as well as the loading andunloading procedures into your memory will go far inkeeping you and yours safe during "routine" gunhandling.

To repeat an earlier clarification, a grip is what yourhand does to the pistol. The area that you grasp iscalled the stocks (or frame in the case of Glockpistols). So when I talk about grip, I mean yourphysical hold on the pistol.

The grip serves only one purpose: to hold the pistolin place while you operate the trigger. It must not in

in place while you operate the trigger. It must not inany way impede your placing accurate shots ontarget. This includes holding it too tightly.

The best grip allows the pistol to sit extremely low inthe hand, with the tang deep in the web of the hand.The lower the pistol sits in the hand, the more controlyou will be able to exert on it. The remainder of thefingers simply grab around the front of the pistol'sframe, as high against the trigger guard as iscomfortable. The primary thumb is held high alongthe top of the frame. This grip allows the triggerfinger to operate carefully and under control. If youbear down with the thumb, not only do you riskaccidentally pressing the magazine release buttonbut you also deprive the trigger finger of muchneeded dexterity.

The support hand grips around the front of theprimary hand. The support hand thumb takes aposition alongside the primary hand thumb. Analternate but just as useful position for the supportthumb is to place it in front of the primary thumb andactually rest the primary thumb on top of the supportthumb. Either one will do. You will notice that boththumbs are held high and are otherwise uninvolvedin anything else except staying out of the way. If theweapon is equipped with frame-mounted safetylevers, such as the 1911 series, it's important toplace the primary thumb on the safety lever anytimethe pistol is in hand.

The grip itself is not a "death grip." Grasp the pistolabout as hard as you would a friend's hand whengreeting him. Many people make the mistake ofover-gripping in an attempt to control the recoil. Youcannot prevent the pistol from recoiling by exertingexcessive pressure with your hands. You will,

however, prevent proper trigger control with such agrip. A good index to use is this: if you see your frontsight shaking on target, you are holding too tight.Back it off to about 75 percent of that and you willhave the right grip index.

The stance you use is not crucial as long as itprovides certain things to the firing platform. I amwell aware that a multitude of accomplishedshooters favor the isosceles stance and thinkWeaver shooters are throwbacks. An equal numberof accomplished folks believe anyone not shootingfrom a Weaver stance is an infidel. Some of them

are very talented individuals who can probably shootbetter in a competition with one hand and their eyesclosed than the majority of shooters using two hands.

For many years I was a firm and exclusive proponentof the Weaver stance. I still favor and use theWeaver because it fits my body type. But I have alsoseen and trained with many shooters who are just asgood firing from other stances. I've come to theconclusion that whatever stance you use or whateveryou call it is not as important as making sure that itallows you to do the following.

A firing stance must provide a solid and stableplatform from the waist up from which to fire theshots. How the feet are positioned is really not asimportant. It must also allow you to move, becausewhen someone is trying to kill you and you are tryingto do the same to him, you will move. You must havebalance, and you must be able to maintain anaggressive posture. Whether you use a Weaver orisosceles is really irrelevant as long as you can beaggressive, balanced, and stable from the waist up.

When the mass of the firearm is above both arms, inwhat direction will the weapon move when it recoils?That's right, straight up! When you remember that itis desirable to always shoot an assailant twice(sometimes you must hit him twice a number oftimes!), this means that you will have some recoverytime between shots. The speed with which those twoshots are placed in the adversary is of criticalimportance because we are racing his nervoussystem to shut down. This is paramount toincapacitation.

Your upper body mass and weight is whatcontributes most to the management of recoil, notthe positioning of the arms. An aggressive stance(i.e., leaning in) will allow the mass of your upperbody to support the pistol's movement during thefiring cycle, thereby lessening felt recoil and muzzleflip. In this way, the entire upper body, and not just

the arms, controls the pistol.

While aggressiveness in a stance is important, don'tgo too far here. You cannot eliminate the weapon'srecoil simply by leaning in. What you shouldspecifically avoid is the straight or backward leaningstance of the bull's-eye or competitive shooter.

To assume a proper shooting/fighting stance(isosceles or Weaver), stand slightly bladed to thetarget, at about a 30 degree angle, with the supportside foot leading by about half a step. Do notexaggerate the angle. Turning too much will createtension in the shoulder area, which in turn will causelateral stringing of your shots. If you are not certain,measure out 30 degrees so you know what it feelslike to stand that way!

Traditional isosceles shooters will notice thatstanding straight on to the target with feet side-by-side is de-emphasized in favor of a slightly bladed,one foot forward attitude. There are various tacticaland physiological reasons for selecting a bladedposture instead of standing straight on. It providesgreater balance for violent quick movements, youare able to keep the weapon side away from anadversary with the support side foot forward, and youwill generally be in some variation of this posturewhen approached by a suspicious party (police callit the "interview position"). There are other reasons.For now, remember that we are cultivating a fightingposture, not just a shooting posture. Fighting andshooting are the same.

Keep the feet, knees, hips, and shoulder in line,without any twisting of the torso. Holding the pistol ina two-handed grip, extend it out toward the target.Keep the firing arm relatively straight, although itneed not be locked. Bend the sup port side armslightly. This is different than the two locked arms ofthe traditional isosceles, but it is a vast improvementbecause it is more natural as a fighting posture thanan artificial "shooting stance."

For those who prefer a Weaver-oriented stance,bend the support side elbow so that it is pointingdownward toward the ground. This in turn will create

a slight isometric pressure, which will not only aid ingetting indexed on target but will drastically reducemuzzle flip. Note that the isometric pressure is not atensing of the muscles-you do not intentionally "pushand pull." Proper pressure occurs naturally becauseof the configuration of the arms. Do not think push-pull; rather, simply get into a proper stance.Everything else will take care of itself. Bring theprimary arm and the pistol up to the line of sight,without dipping the head to meet it. The rest involvesthe principles of marksmanship discussed in thenext chapter.

The final point of discussion is breathing. I've savedit for last because in the intervals where mostgunfighting takes place, breathing patterns are not avery serious issue. The main thing to rememberabout breathing is to keep doing it. This is not ajoke. Under dynamic stress, I've found that manyshooters actually hold their breath. This will not leadto anything desirable, and eventually you will getlight-headed and may pass out. You will most likelyhold your breath while you are actually pressing thetrigger, but as you lower the pistol to low ready, b-r-e-a-t-h-e. The keys to remember are scan andbreathe, scan and breathe.

There are situations where you will want finitesurgical accuracy, including trying to make extremelylong shots or hit extremely small target areas (e.g.,emergency shots past innocent parties). In thesecircumstances, we borrow a page from the snipersand develop the respiratory pause. Inhale a lung fullof air and exhale it. This does two things: itoxygenates the blood, giving you an eight secondwindow before you must breathe again, and itrelaxes your muscles so that the tension does notinterfere with your marksmanship. As you exhale,you must begin the front sight focus and pressure onthe trigger. Ideally, the shot will be discharged beforeyou need to breathe again. This allows for extremeaccuracy and is best executed from some sort ofsupported position, although a standing position willdo fine if that's all you can do.

Never forget: the intent here is not learning to shoothandguns in the controlled environment of the firing

range to hit bull's-eyes or win a medal. These arefine pursuits for those whose interest lies in thoseareas, but it is not the focus of this study. Rather, ourpurpose is to learn a life-saving skill with whateverpistol you happen to have on hand, loaded withrealistic antipersonnel ammunition. For a furtherdiscussion of the fine points of grips and shootingstances, see my other book on handgunning, TheTactical Pistol.

Getting hits on a target is easy to do once you knowhow to do it. Like any other control- and dexterity-dependent skill, there is a proven and correct way toshoot a pistol.

I am not talking about bull's-eye shooting, althoughsome of the skill involved in that discipline alsocorresponds to tactical shooting. We are primarilyinterested in self-defense shooting. This means thatwe want the ability to place solid hits on anadversary from a condition of unreadiness underurgent time limits.

Before you can expect to hit anything, somehardware issues must be addressed. First, yourammunition must be capable of an acceptable levelof accuracy. This is not as much of a concern whenusing quality defensive ammunition, but it is whenusing more economical training ammo. Second, youmust make certain that the pistol is zeroed correctly.

This simply means that the sights must be arrangedin a way that they will coincide visually with thephysical impact of the bullet on target. There arehundreds of different types of sights, and to explainhow to zero every particular weapon would take itsown book. For zeroing procedures, refer to yourweapon's training or owner's manual. Don't dismissthis part of the equation; doing so will only lead tofrustration.

There are several fundamentals to marksmanship,includ ing sight alignment, sight picture, shootingstance, grip, trigger control, breath control, andfollow-through. Of these seven, four are mostimportant for the tactical shooter: sight alignment,sight picture, trigger control, and follow-through.

Sight alignment is the relation between the frontsight, the rear sight, and the shooter's eye. It isestablished by placing your visual focus on the frontsight and aligning it with the rear sight (irrespectiveof any target). The top of the front sight must be seenas level with the top of the rear sight. Additionally,you must see equal amounts of light on both sides ofthe front sight as viewed through the rear sight notch.

This describes perfect vertical and horizontalalignment of the sights and is what we always wouldlike to have. Sometimes we will settle for less if thetarget is close enough. Generally, the closer thetarget, the bigger it appears and the less perfectyour sight alignment must be. Conversely, the moredistant target (or the smaller target at close range)requires greater precision in sight alignment. Inpractice, however, always strive for perfectalignment.

Sight picture is the existing sight alignment as it is

seen superimposed on the target's center of mass(i.e., the central portion of the visible target). Now letme ask you something. How many things can thehuman eye focus on at any one time? The eye issimilar to a camera and can only focus on one thingat a time. With regards to the sight picture, there arethree things that you want to keep in alignment-thetarget, the front sight, and the rear sight. Nowimagine looking at these three points through acamera. If you focus the lens on the front sight, youcan still see the target well enough, although itappears somewhat out of focus in comparison to thefront sight. Additionally, you can still see the rearsight well enough, although it too appears slightly outof focus in comparison to the front sight.

By focusing in on the front sight, you can see boththe target and the rear sight well enough in yourperipheral vision (although not as clear and focusedas the front sight) to keep all three points inalignment. That is the "secret" of sight picture. Themore difficult the shot is (i.e., distant or small target),then the more precise that sight picture must be. Thevisual and mental focus must always remain on thefront sight.

Another important aspect of the sight picture iswhether you should close the nondominant eye orkeep both eyes open. The simple fact of the matteris that most students I've seen cannot focus on thefront sight as well if both eyes are kept open. If it'snot an issue for you, don't worry about it. If you find itdifficult to focus on the front sight with both eyes,close one eye. But which one?

We all have one eye that is more "dominant" than theother. That is the eye you want to use for sighting.For most shooters, their dominant eye is on thesame side as their dominant hand. In other words, aright-handed shooter's dominant eye will most likelybe his right one, and vice versa. Some shooters arecross-eye dominant, i.e., right-handed and left eyedominant, and vice versa.

Here is how you find out which eye is dominant.Make a small OK sign with your primary hand andlook at a target through the opening with both eyes

open. Now close the eye that is opposite to yourprimary hand. If the target did not disappear fromview, your primary side eye is dominant. If it diddisappear, your support side eye is dominant.

This is the perfect sight picture. It is formed bysuperimposing perfect sight alignment on thedesired impact point. The tip of the vertical arrowdesignates the point upon which you must place yourvisual and mental focus.

If your primary side eye is dominant, you simplyclose the support side eye when focusing on thefront sight. If your dominant eye is on the supportside, you have two options. Either close the eye thatis opposite of your primary side and learn to sightwith the nondominant eye, or close that nondominanteye and modify your shooting position slightly byangling the head slightly to allow the support sideeye access to the sights.

Those of you who may have been schooled to keepboth eyes open, take notice. The reason given fornot closing one eye is that you may need it to seethings around you, but this is hardly a combat reality.The nondominant eye is shut for only fractions ofseconds while shots are fired, so in reality you arenot missing anything of your immediate

surroundings. If you are faced with a hostile manintent on killing you, to survive and win you must dohim before he does you. In such instances, do youreally think you will be looking around with yournondominant eye for other adversaries? Of coursenot! You will be too busy with the problem at hand toworry about other potential problems out theresomewhere.

So this is the sequence of events. Your eyes areinitially focused on the target, specifically on thecenter of mass. The pistol is raised up into the line ofsight between the eye and the target. Thenondominant eye is closed to allow the dominant eyeto focus better on the front sight. Sight alignment isverified by bringing the visual focus to the front sight,as seen through the rear sight notch, and as the twopoints of reference are aligned on the target's centerof mass. As the eye focuses clearly on the frontsight, the rear sight and the target will be visible in

the foreground and background but will be slightlyout of focus. You must see the front sight with crystalclarity and sharp enough focus to be able to countthe serrations on it. Moreover, you must concentrateyour mental focus on that front sight to exclusion of allelse around you (more on this later, Grasshopper).This keeps the pistol on target.

The third fundamental, and probably the mostimportant, is trigger control. Proper trigger controlallows the shooter to fire a shot without disturbing thesight picture. The trigger must be pressed smoothlyto the rear, without any disturbance of the sightpicture, until the pistol discharges. Two key elementsto this are finger placement and the surprise break.

Correct finger placement on the trigger is dependenton the type of trigger you are operating. Sometriggers are naturally easier to operate than others,but all can be managed with enough training. WithColt/Browning single-action triggers, the area of thefirst pad of the finger seems to work best. Whenusing a Glock pistol, the area between the pad andthe first joint will allow you the best control. Finally, ifyou are using a double-action pistol, you must placemuch more finger on the trigger in order to providethe leverage necessary to operate the heavier

trigger. For these guns the area just above the firstjoint will work best.

The finger placement should allow you to pressstraight to the rear without any lateral divergence inpressure. Placing too much of the finger or,conversely, not enough finger on the trigger willcause your shots to string laterally. Such extremes inplacement will cause you to exert pressure to theside as well as the rear of the trigger, with poorresults on target.

Before we discuss the actual operation of thetrigger, I want to discuss physiology and firearmdischarge. The fact is, it is unnatural to us toexperience a small explosion out there at the end ofour hand. That is precisely what happens when weshoot, right? Invariably then, our subconscious mindwants us to flinch, close our eyes, and do all mannerof silly things in anticipation of the forthcoming bigbang. This creates all sorts of problems withmarksmanship. Not to worry, however, as we caneasily get around this by allowing the shot to"surprise" us.

When operating a trigger, the shooter appliessmooth and constant pressure until eventually andalmost unintentionally, the pressure is sufficient to"break" the trigger. This is called a surprise break.Pressing the trigger in this manner may be likened tousing an eyedropper. Think of the process involved.You "align" the dropper above your eye, you get theproper "sight picture" by focusing on the end of theeyedropper, and you gradually begin increasingpressure until one drop forms and falls into the eye,almost by surprise. If you force the drop out bymashing the eyedropper, you will flinch, close theeye, and get the drops everywhere except where youwant them to go.

The same process applies to operating the triggeron a pistol. First, align the sights with the target andestablish an appropriate sight picture. Next, focusvisually on the front sight while building constantsmooth pressure on the trigger until eventually thepistol fires by surprise.

Of paramount importance is that you do notspecifically expect the break of the trigger. You knowthat it is going to occur, and you maintain constantpressure on the trigger, but you do not want to knowthe precise instant when it will break. The triggermust break almost unintentionally. If you eitheranticipate the break or force it to occur, you willinvariably bear down reflexively on the weapon andflinch at the final moment. This will cause the shot togo errant.

Remember when I said that the human eye can focuson only one thing at a time? Well under stress, thehuman mind is much the same way. If you mentallyfocus your attention (as well as your visual attention)on the top edge of the front sight while you operatethe trigger, where will your thoughts be when thattrigger pressure is enough to cause the gun to fire?They will be on the front sight, not on the smallexplosion that just happened. That is how youexperience a surprise break, but most people do notunderstand this.

In a combative situation, you will not have anopenended time interval in which to press the triggerso very carefully. This does not, however, invalidateor change the process. Going back to theeyedropper analogy, those of you who put drops inyour eyes on a daily basis know that it becomesquite easy as you get used to the procedure. As youbecome accomplished at using the eyedropper, youdo not require the lengthy time interval to align,focus, and slowly pr-e-s-s. On the contrary, ithappens very quickly due to practice and familiarity.Operating the trigger on a pistol is the same.Through perfect practice and programming, you willoperate the trigger in the same fashion and get asurprise break every time, but you will do it in lesstime. This is called the compressed surprise break.

The fourth fundamental, which is often ignored, isfollowthrough. Follow-through is controlling the pistoland the trigger after the shot is fired in order to avoiddisturbing the alignment of the pistol. When actuallyfiring a shot, you will visually lose the front sightmomentarily on recoil. As soon as the recoildissipates, regain front sight focus immediately.

Additionally, do not release the trigger until the recoilcycle is complete. Maintain finger contact on thetrigger and hold it to the rear as the shot is fired.Release it only after you have reacquired the frontsight.

The ability to fire an additional controlled shot isextremely important in a tactical situation. Except forspecial circumstances such as single, precise headshots, you will usually fire twice. The reasons for thisare to enhance the damage on the target as well asto ensure at least one hit under the stressfulconditions of a life-threatening situation.

The way to fire that second shot quickly is to releasethe trigger only far enough to reset it via thedisconnector device in each pistol. The trigger willbe reset when you hear the audible (and feel thetactile) "click" as you release. At this point youshould have already refocused on the front sight justas you did for the first shot and simply begin thepressure build-up with the trigger finger again untilyou experience a second surprise break. This iscalled a controlled pair. Each of the two shots is acontrolled, individual shot. Each one requires aseparate sight picture and a separate surprisebreak, even if executed very quickly.

These are the secrets of marksmanship. Study themwell, as they are the keys to hitting. In the end, theyare the keys to your survival.

Nobody in the world is fast enough to draw andshoot an attentive adversary who has the drop onyou. When you have prior warning that a fight is onthe evening's activity list, it is far better to have thepistol in hand than in the holster. If this will be thecase, then it is also advisable to hold it in some formof ready position.

Understand that a ready position is a ready-to-shoot-position, not a resting position. A sound readyposition allows you to bring the pistol up on targetand solve the problem with a minimum of fuss andfanfare.

There are a number of suitable ready positions forspecific circumstances. For the purposes of this text,we will use the standard ready position, also knownas the low ready.

To acquire the low ready position, get into the sameupper body attitude as your shooting stance. Nowsimply lower the muzzle, without relaxing the positionof the arms, until the pistol is oriented 45 degreesbelow horizontal. This allows you to scan foradversaries and to assess potential threats withoutthe weapon blocking your view of things.

At times when you are facing a specific threat,simply raise the pistol halfway up so that it isapproximately halfway between the low ready and on

target. The muzzle is oriented approximately at apoint where you can see the hands of the bad guy.

This "contact ready" position has been a source ofcontroversy among many trainers, and I may as welladdress the issues now. The points used against thecontact ready are:

1) "The pistol held high obscures the target, and youcan't see him." This is simply not true if you acquirethe position properly. The pistol is not pointed at thetarget but rather is held about one-half to threequarters of the way up from low ready, leaving youplenty of room to see what's going on. Not only doesthis make you about .50 seconds faster to target, butit also minimizes the "overswing" that often resultswhen presenting from the low ready under stress.

2) "Using the contact ready endangers theadversary." Yes, but so what? If I face a man whohas concerned me enough to draw my pistol, I sureas hell want him to feel "endangered" enough to stophis actions, wouldn't you? You can't have it both

ways: you are either a threat to your adversary, oryou are not. I want to be as threatening as possibleto my enemy. There is no political correctness in agunfight!

3) "If you point a pistol at an adversary, he will befixated on it and will not listen to your verbalinstructions." Quite the contrary. I've found thatsubjects who do not need to be shot are much morecompliant if you show them a clear intention to shootif they do not comply. This is much more evident witha contact ready gun than a low ready gun. The lowready gun may, in fact, be viewed as a reluctance onthe operator's part to use deadly force. Such aconveyed attitude may actually cause a confrontationto escalate.

4) "To teach two different kinds of readies isunrealistic, and the contact ready is unlikely to beused because it is unnatural." Again, I disagree. Weteach three different types of malfunction clearancemethods, two or three types of reloads (dependingon the school), and a number of close quartersemergency responses. Each tool exists for a

specific problem. The contact ready is suitable forsome problems and not for others, just as the lowready is suitable for some problems and not others.Training is what will make the difference. A man whotrains with only one ready will revert to that in time ofcrisis, even if something else is called for.

To support this study, I thought back to the manytimes I've taken suspects at gunpoint in bothshooting and nonshooting situations. Not one ofthem was taken at low ready; all were at contactready. Moreover, I discussed this with colleagueswho've yanked on the elephant's tail (police officers,private citizens, and soldiers) and, to a man, theyused the contact ready. Perhaps dismissing thecontact ready in favor of using the low readyexclusively is a sure sign of too much controlledenvironment training.

When a threat is realized, the presentation from theready position begins with your eyes on target andyour finger off the trigger. Once again, do not rely onkeeping it off the trigger! Rather, find some tactileindex point on the pistol's frame to place that fingeron. That way there is no question about what "off"means-the finger is either on the trigger or it is on theindex point. Additionally, if your pistol incorporates asafety lever, such as with a Colt/Browning pistol, youmust place your thumb on that lever, ready todisengage it on the way up.

Now, raise the pistol up into the line of sight, alignthe sights, and superimpose them on the target.Take up the slack on the trigger and bring the visualfocus sharply to the front sight. See the front sight incrystal clear focus as you begin the final pressure onthe trigger. Eventually (it could take less than asecond or it could take more, depending on thecircumstances and difficulty of the shot), thepressure on the trigger will suffice to cause thepistol's firing mechanism to fire a shot. When thishappens, you must automatically regain visual focuson the front sight and reset the trigger. Self-defensesituations often require firing at least two shots, sostay ready.

When operating pistols equipped with double-action

triggers, the trigger finger must take up the little bit offree travel at the start of the trigger movement. Notethat this is not "stacking" the trigger, an old methodfor operating double-action revolvers whereby theshooter rolls back the trigger just short of the point ofno return and then pauses to stabilize his sights.What I'm talking about here is simply taking up thetravel evident in each trigger before the pressurebegins to move the hammer at all. When the "final"press is made, a double-action shooter will have topress the trigger completely through the processwhereby the hammer is cocked and released. Thisrequires a smooth and not excessively heavy trigger.

After you've fired a couple of shots, a real adversarywill not just stand there, ready for evaluation, like thepaper targets do at the range. He will either havefallen after a good solid hit, he will have beenunaffected by the shot, or he will have moved. Inreality, you will probably be able to determine hisstatus without moving your pistol. Just because youare focusing on the front sight does not mean thatthe adversary will simply disappear.

What's wrong with this picture? Look at the safety/decocking levers. Can a shot be fired from thispistol? As soon as the pistol is clear, safeties aredisengaged and left disengaged until you decide toholster.

After you've placed the first two rounds into the targetarea, allow your visual focus to travel to the

area, allow your visual focus to travel to theadversary. If he's still there, you have a failure to stopand must deal with it accordingly without debate. Atclose intervals (0 to 5 yards), you should be allowingthe pistol to travel up to, and staging for, the headshot. (We will discuss this at length in Chapter 18.)

If you cannot determine the adversary's location afterthe initial shots, then you will need to lower the pistolso you can see what has happened and can actaccordingly. If the pistol is still up in your line of sight,all you will see is the pistol. Start by lowering thepistol back into the contact ready position. At thispoint, your visual focus returns to the target over thetop of the pistol. If he is still up, you'll automaticallyconduct a failure to stop solution from the contactready. If you do not see the adversary, move thepistol to the low ready until you do see him.

Keep the visual focus on him for a brief instant tomake sure he's out of the fight, but do not ignoreeverything else around you. Think the words, "Did Ihit him? Did it work?" If you have not hit him solidlyenough to put him down, you will know by now.Remember, regardless of the adversary's condition,if he's still a threat, shoot again!

If the fight is not over, don't be overly concernedabout clicking on safeties and decocking hammersbecause some instructor demanded it the last timeyou trained. This is real life-anddeath stuff, not someshooting school with range safety procedures thatmust be followed under threat of push-ups. Thetrigger finger, however, is off the trigger and on theindex point.

Now, from low ready, check the area to the left ofyour target and come back to assess the adversaryagain. Then check to the right and again come backto the adversary. When you do this, make certainthat your eyes and muzzle move in unison. Thereason for this is to not only break your (nowunnecessary) focus on the adversary but also toscan for other possible enemies and be in theproper position to deal with them if they're there.

Presenting, or drawing a pistol from a holster, is oneof the most fundamental and important aspects ofcombat handgunning. A pistol, you will remember, iscarried in case you get into an unexpected fight. Iftrouble is expected, you're better off arming yourselfwith a rifle, shotgun, or submachine gun. So bringinga pistol into action from a condition of unreadiness,and perhaps from under concealment, is its mostlikely deployment scenario and therefore paramountto this study.

Drawing a loaded pistol is an inherently dangerousactivity. It should therefore be executed with minuteattention to detail. The draw must first be learned ina step-by-step format in order to ingrain the properprocedures. When the individual steps andprocedures are both mentally and physicallymemorized, you can attempt to smooth out theedges.

Under no circumstances should you initially strive forspeed. Speed, you will find, is a by-product ofsmooth execution. Learn the correct procedure andpractice it until it becomes as smooth as a reflexiveact. Then, without even realizing it, you will also befast.

Step one in the presentation is to acquire a firinggrip on the pistol while it is still holstered. The firinggrip is the same one you read about in Chapter S.

Be certain that you keep your finger off the trigger,holding it instead in a straight posi tion alongside theholster. If your holster does not cover the triggerguard, get rid of it and get a modern holster.

Simultaneous to the acquisition of a firing grip, thesupport hand takes a position roughly at the sternum.It is important to pre-position the support handbecause it must eventually intercept the pistol on theway to the target. If your holster incorporates anytype of restraining device, such as a strap or thumbbreak, it is disengaged at this step. Practice step

one multiple times in order to program it into yoursubconscious mind.

Step two involves simply lifting the pistol clear of theholster. Be certain that you lift it high enough to clearthe muzzle from the holster. The support handremains in position. The trigger finger now movesinto position at the index point on the frame butabsolutely not on the trigger.

Step three requires pointing the muzzle toward thetarget and locking the pistol at the side of theribcage in the close contact position. The firing wristand thumb are actually in contact with the ribs justoutside of the pectoral muscle, and the pistol iscanted slightly outboard in order to avoid catchingthe slide on the garments if there is a requirement tofire. This points the pistol toward the target. Thesupport hand remains in place, and the trigger fingeris still off the trigger and resting on the index point.The primary hand is not advanced any farther. If theencounter took place at a close interval (within arm'sreach), you would simply raise the support sideelbow to intervene between the adversary and you,denying him access to the pistol as well aspositioning for a close contact shot. For purposes ofthe present procedure, maintain the support hand inposition at the sternum. (The close contact position,an invention of Southern California law enforcement,is intended not only as an emergency close quartersfiring position but also as a final check beforeholstering. It is also useful for circumstances wherephysical contact is made with an adversary or whenoperating in close quarters environments during asearch.)

Step four advances the pistol to the point ofinterception with the support hand. The hands movetogether into a proper grip and into the Weaver (orother) ready position. Safety levers, if any, aredisengaged at this point. The firing arm straightensand the support arm bends at the elbow (whichpoints downward). The trigger finger is still off f thetrigger.

Step five raises the pistol up into firing position. Asthe pistol begins to rise, the trigger finger finds thetrigger and takes up the slack. The rest of theprocess-firing the shots-is pure marksmanship skills.

You may omit step four and present directly to thetarget if the situation requires it. In that case, thesupport hand intercepts the pistol as the primary

support hand intercepts the pistol as the primaryhand comes forward and clears the body. Under nocircumstances does the trigger finger enter thetrigger guard or actually touch the trigger before stepfive.

After the problem appears to have been solved,proceed with the after-action assessment from theready position. After you are certain that everythingis secure, it is time to holster.

If drawing a loaded pistol is dangerous, so isholstering one! Holstering begins from the readyposition. The trigger finger is always off the trigger.Those using Colt/Browning pistols will engage thesafety but maintain the thumb positioned todisengage it quickly if necessary. Those using DApistols with decocking capabilities now decock the

gun.

Bring the support hand back to its intercept positionat the sternum as you bring the pistol back to theclose contact position. This does two things: it keepsthe support hand out of the way during the holsteringprocess, and it places the support side arm in aposition from which it can launch a strike ordeflecting motion if necessary.

From the close contact position, slowly find theholster with the muzzle of the pistol. Insert the pistolinto the holster slowly. When the pistol is fullyholstered and any retaining devices are refastened,the procedure is complete.

Do not be in a hurry to holster the pistol; take yourtime doing it. If you feel any obstruction in the holsterduring the procedure, stop and verify that it is clear.Forcing it may present you with a loud surprise if partof your shirt-tail has snagged on the trigger! As theOld West gunmen used to say, "Bring it out quickly,but put it back s-1-o-w-1-y."

Remember that all holstering procedures absolutelyrequire that the trigger finger be held on the indexpoint of the frame and off the trigger. Additionally,make certain that the muzzle does not sweep thesupport hand at any time.

Some readers may think that I am making too muchout of this drawing and holstering business. All I cansay is that the majority of negligent discharges occurduring these two operations. If programming properprocedures does nothing else but prevent suchmistakes, then it is well worth the effort. But thisprogramming does much more than that. It ensuresthat you will respond in a like manner under stress.And that, my friends, is what this program is allabout.

The tactical reload is used to recharge the pistol tofull capacity after a successful engagement butbefore leaving cover or changing positions. Asnoted, pistol fights are intense but brief. After the firstclash, one of the parties will have either fallen from ahit or quickly disengaged. The reality is that you willprobably never need more than the first few roundsin your magazine. In the interval after the initial clash,the fight may appear to be over as everyone on bothsides waits for the smoke to clear in order todetermine the next course of action. This lull in thestorm is the best time to reload to full capacity. Afterall, it may not be over. You may be attacked again atany moment, so standing around with a partiallydepleted pistol is not a wise idea, is it? Certainlynot! Therefore reload to full capacity and bring thepistol to the ready position so you can actually seewhat is going on.

Let's look at this situation closely. There is noimmediate need to shoot, and there are no visibletargets. But what will your mental state be?Remember that you have probably just shot anotherhuman being who only seconds before was doinghis best to kill you! You are going to be agitated,shaky, and full of adrenaline. Any gun handlingprocedure must consider this reality.

There are other versions of the tactical reload (aswell as other gun handling maneuvers) that were

conceived in the controlled environment of theshooting range by persons whose intentions mayhave been honest enough but whose experiencenever included the very real issues of performingunder life-or-death pressure. Still others weredeveloped by men who simply wanted to put theirname on something that was "different." Thesemethods may appear faster and more efficient undercontrolled conditions, but add the factors present ina stress-filled environment where losing meansdying and they will quickly fail.

The tactical reload described below is designed towork under the stress of a gun battle. In essence, itinvolves juggling three items: the pistol, the depletedmagazine, and the replacement magazine. Now, letme ask you one of those pivotal questions: which ofthe three is most important? If you answered thepistol, then you are quite correct. Your pistol is yourlife-don't drop it! This means that if you can avoidaltering the firing grip in any way, then avoid it.Secondary in importance is the replacementmagazine, and last in importance is the depletedmagazine.

The tactical reload should follow standard loadingprocedures as far as the grip on the magazine andthe method of insertion are concerned. While itwould be nice to keep the depleted magazine forlater use, and while most techniques allow this, it isnot the end of the world if you drop it.

I've learned just about everyone's version of thetactical reload (and boy there are a few). I haven'tinvented any or named any after myself, so I have nosecret agenda other than to choose the best one. Ibelieve that is the one described here.

From the ready position, the support hand leaves thepistol and obtains a fresh magazine from the belt.The support hand brings that magazine underneaththe pistol and positions the palm about half amagazine length below the bottom of the pistol,prepared to catch the on-board magazine uponejection. The support hand's index finger ispositioned along the front of the magazine.Simultaneously, the pistol is slightly angled in the

primary hand in order to allow the primary handthumb to operate the magazine release button.

The depleted magazine is ejected into the supporthand palm and the fingers curl toward the body,trapping it between the second and third fingers. Thesupport hand then rotates slightly, aligning thereplacement magazine with the magazine well, andinserts it into the pistol in the usual manner. Thisavoids confusing the magazines.

The replacement magazine is retained between thefingers of the support hand as it re-acquires the two-handed grip on the pistol. Both hands grip the pistolat the ready position and tactical operations areresumed if necessary. If not, then the depletedmagazine is secured in a pocket or pouch.

If you carry a number of magazines, then putting thedepleted magazine back into the pouch may not beadvisable lest you confuse it for a fully loaded onelater in the fight, with potentially disastrous results. Ifyou carry only one spare, however, put it right back

into the pouch, as loading with something is betterthan having nothing to load.

Although the tactical reload will likely be used morethan the speed reload, it is important to know how torecharge a completely empty pistol just in case.There are times when you may shoot every singleround in your pistol because it was a tacticalnecessity. At such times, the first indication that yourpistol is empty will be a slide that has locked back

on an empty magazine. This is solved by the out-of-battery speed reload.

What you will see is simply your slide out of battery.Now this could mean several things, all of whichinitially appear to be the same problem, but each ofwhich has its own solution. This means that you mustidentify the problem before deciding on its solution.For example, if you have a failure to eject (AKA, astovepipe malfunction), reloading the pistol will nothelp.

The first step in this (and any other) reactive gunhandling maneuver is to cant the muzzle slightlyupward and look at the ejection port area todetermine the problem. What will you see in the caseof a dry weapon? Absolutely nothing. There will bean empty chamber and the follower of the emptymagazine.

This will invariably happen as you are shooting anadversary who is also shooting at you, and there willbe a very urgent need to get back into the fight. Thesport competition method of dropping the emptymagazine while retaining a round in the chamber isnot tactically sound in this situation. Think about it. Ifyou had one round in your pistol and there was oneadversary standing in front of you, should you A)drop the magazine and execute a speed load, or B)shoot him with the last round and reload the emptyand out of battery pistol? The answer, of course, isB!

Unlike with the tactical reload, when you recognizethat your pistol is empty in a deadly situation therewill be an urgent need to keep shooting thatsupercedes saving a partially depleted magazine.This means that the pistol remains up and on targetso that you may resume shooting immediately ifnecessary.

Keeping the pistol on target, the support hand leavesthe pistol and obtains a fresh magazine. Again, it isimportant to index the magazine with the index fingeralong the front to maintain continuity of techniquewherever possible. Simultaneously, the primary handangles the pistol slightly in order to access the

magazine release button with the thumb as well asplacing the mag well at the same angle as theforthcoming magazine. This angle is about 11degrees.

When the support hand has the replacementmagazine in hand from the pouch, the primary handejects the empty magazine. The timing issimultaneous. The support hand immediately bringsthe replacement magazine up toward the pistol andindexes the flat back of the magazine against the flatback of the magazine well. This occurs very quickly,and the replacement magazine on the way to thepistol actually passes the empty one as it drops tothe ground. The next step is simply to roll themagazine into place and seat it with one firm push.

The final issue is that of releasing the slide. If youcan release the slide by reaching up with the primaryhand and disengaging the slide latch, you'll find thatit is faster than the other methods. The only problemis that sometimes you will be so fast that you willrelease the slide before the magazine is fully seated.You will now have a weapon that is still unloaded forall intents and purposes. Finally, trying to do thiswhen your hands are nearly frozen, wet, gloved, oreven bloody will be a frustrating experience. I'vefound that the most positive-meaning the mostMurphy-proof-method is to simply use the supporthand to release the slide by sweeping over the topas you regrip the pistol.

Notice that I did not mention anything about shootingautomatically at the end of the procedure. Trainingyourself to shoot as a conditioned reflex at the end ofany gun handling drill is not wise. The reason is thatthe circumstances that existed prior to the maneuvermight not still be in place. This means that your initialjustification for shooting may not be there anymore.Shooting must always be a conscious decision onyour part, based on what you perceive as alegitimate threat at the time.

Another type of speed reload is the in-battery speedreload. This one falls into the special circumstancecategory, but it should be known and understood. Infast-moving tactical situations, an operator may berequired to move quickly from one place to anotherduring a lull in the fight. He may also be faced withhaving to chase an adversary immediately aftershots have been fired. He may not be able to stop in

order to execute a tactical reload, andaccomplishing the tactical reload on the run is aprecarious matter.

In this circumstance, he may execute an out-of-battery speed reload with an in-battery pistol. Theonly difference is that this is a proactive rather thanreactive technique. Conceptually it is more related tothe tactical reload, although the mechanics of itmirror the out-of-battery speed reload. Note that thismethod is used when there is no hostile targetevident, but the requirement to move quicklyprecludes the idea of saving the depleted magazine.

Another suggestion: for training purposes, buy somepractice magazines that will never be carried fortactical carry. This way you can drop them on thedeck all day long without hesitation or danger ofdamaging your carry gear.

Every man-made thing has the potential to break ormalfunction. When it comes to tactical firearms, thistends to happen at the worst possible times! It isextremely important to know how to clear suchsituations when they arise.

First, let's define a few things. A malfunction orstoppage is a problem that arises due to poorammunition, operator error, worn or dirty magazines,and/or an extremely dirty weapon. These problemscan be fixed immediately, while under fire ifnecessary, and the weapon brought back into actionvery quickly.

Problems arising from a broken or jammed weaponcannot be cleared in the field because they oftenrequire part replacement and generally must beattended to by an armorer. The "fix" for suchproblems is to, in order of preference, present yourback-up gun, present your fighting knife, or evacuatethe area. Evacuation is low on the list becauseoftentimes it's not an option mid-fight. While thingsare still hot, if you run they will chase, and rememberthat we are talking close-range confrontations, notwhen you are 100 yards away across the parking lot.If you have time and distance that's one thing, butoften you will not.

The malfunction clearing methods described hereare not only amazingly fast methods of getting yourpistol back into action, but they take into account thephysical and mental state that an operator is likely tobe in during a fight to the death. Therefore, they aresuperior to what was taught in the past.

The techniques are designed in a symptom-solutionformat. Each problem has its symptom. When thissymptom is experienced, the operator'sprogrammed reflexive responses take over andimplement the solution. For purposes of drypracticing these methods, it is essential to obtainsome inert dummy rounds to use insetting up thesestoppages.

Once again, you will notice that there is no reflexiveshooting at the conclusion of these clearance drills.Programming yourself to fire without a consciousthought is not a wise idea. Chances are good thatyou will be required to shoot immediately as soon asthe weapon is back in action, but this must be aconscious decision on your part, not a conditionedreflex.

The first malfunction is a failure to fire. This is alsocalled a Type One stoppage. It is characterized byan audible "click" instead of an expected gunshot.The famous writer, Capstick, reported that this wasthe "loudest sound in the world." This stoppage maybe caused by a bad cartridge (actually a badprimer), a magazine that has not been seatedproperly (therefore not feeding a new round into thechamber), or, in worst cases, a broken firing pin.

The first step after getting the "loudest sound in theworld" is to look at the chamber area. The in-batterypistol coupled with the audible click are yourindicators of the problem. The next step is to tap thebottom of the magazine with the base of yoursupport hand palm, making sure that it is seatedproperly. Next, grab the rear of the slide in the areaof the grasping grooves. Do not place your handover the ejection port because doing so will preventthe ejection of any defective rounds in the chamber.Now rack the slide to the rear as you simultaneouslyflip the pistol to the right by turning your hand in a

palm-up fashion. This will both extract and eject anydefective rounds in the chamber. This movement ofthe slide will also chamber a fresh round and get youback into action. It is important to follow the rackingmotion and let the support hand move all the way tothe firing side shoulder. This will condition you toactivate the slide briskly as well as not ride it forwardon the way back into battery. As soon as this isaccomplished, re-acquire the two-handed grip andyou are ready to determine if more shooting isnecessary.

The second type of malfunction is a Type Two, orfailure to eject. This has also been called a"stovepipe" in reference to the appearance of apartially ejected case stuck vertically in the ejectionport. Unfortunately, this malfunction does not alwaysappear as a stovepipe. The cartridge case isoftentimes trapped horizontally in the ejection portand is not as easily diagnosed (a muffler pipe?).

The initial indication that there is something wrongwith your pistol will probably be that the trigger is notworking. This will be followed by the realization thatyour slide appears to be out of battery. If you arelucky, you will see brass sticking up out of theejection port. Don't bet your life on seeing thepartially ejected case, because again, it may just aseasily be horizontal in the ejection port, necessitatingthat you break your firing wrist enough to allow you tosee into the port.

This is a wise course of action for two reasons. First,taking a quick look to see what you have will be whatyou do reflexively anyway. Second, a Type Two, froma shooter's eye view, looks identical to an out-of-battery empty gun and to a feedway stoppage. Eachof these situations requires its own solution, andattempting to force the wrong solution often results ineven worse problems. But the Type One and Twoclearances are identical, thereby saving time andeffort! So the first step is to look.

For either a failure to fire or a failure to eject, use thefollowing method. Tap the bottom of the magazine.

What you will see is a spent case partially ejected inthe ejection port. That is the visual stimulus. Thesolution from here is identical to the Type One. Why?Because a Type One stoppage takes one second toclear. Any other clearance intended to solve a TypeTwo failure to eject also takes about one second.Simplicity wins out, so we use a single maneuver tosolve two problems.

It is important to actuate the slide all the way to therear. This is better than the seemingly easier "sweepover the slide" method because a live round may nothave fed underneath the spent case. Racking theslide all the way to the rear and allowing it to go backinto battery guarantees a chambered live round.

To practice this clearing drill, lock the slide to therear and place an empty brass case horizontally orvertically in the ejection port. Next, slowly ease theslide forward, thereby trapping the spent case. Now

insert a magazine loaded with inert dummy roundsand you are ready to go.

The third type of malfunction is the "mother of allmalfunctions." The Type Three stoppage is alsocalled a feedway stoppage. This is a situation wheretwo rounds are apparently competing for thechamber at the same time. It is characterized by afailure to extract or eject the spent cartridge case inthe chamber, with the next live round feeding (ortrying to) into position behind it. The indication oftrouble will be an inoperative trigger. Moreover, youwill immediately see that your slide is out of battery.

This stoppage is often operator-induced byimproperly clearing a Type One or a Type Two,primarily by allowing the hand to cover the ejectionport during the operation, thereby trapping the casesor cartridges inside. A worn or damaged extractormay also cause a Type Three. With some olderdesign pistols, it may even be a defective magazine(I've found that modern magazines do not seem tobe as culpable).

In any case, the first step, as with the failure to ejectclearance, is to look. When you break your firingwrist and look, you will see a chambered round anda second round feeding in behind it.

The next thing to do is to extract the magazine. Thiswill not be easy to do due to the tension created bythe partially fed top-most rounds. Therefore, afterlooking to verify the problem, you must lock the slideto the rear. This will take the pressure off themagazine, allowing you to strip it out of the pistol andeither abandon it or secure it in the primary handbetween the little finger and ring finger. There aregood reasons for both procedures, and I will not tellyou that one is better than the other.

Discarding the magazine ensures that, if in fact themalfunction was magazine related, not reusing that

magazine will prevent subsequent malfunctions. Onthe other hand, consider that you are, in effect,ejecting the magazine before you have thereplacement in hand. If you've lost your othermagazines due to violent physical activity (ashappened to me some years ago), if the malfunctionhappens at the end of the fight (when all your reloadshave already been expended), or if you face a latenight grab-your-gun-off-the-nightstand-andfightscenario (and do not have any replacementmagazines with which to reload), saving the originalmagazine may be a desirable option. Choose oneand stay with it.

On some pistols, such as the HK P7 series, it isextremely difficult to lock the slide to the rear. Otherpistols may not incorporate a slide-locking feature. Insuch cases you must physically rip the magazine outof the pistol. This will be difficult to do, and it is roughon both hands and equipment, but you have noalternative.

After locking the slide to the rear and dealing withthe magazine (securing or discarding), you mustclear all of the offending rounds out of the pistol byrack-rack-racking the slide three times. You nowhave a cleared but completely empty pistol. To getback into the fight, insert a fresh magazine (or themagazine in hand) and rack one final time to getback in the fight. A master shooter can accomplishthis in 3.5 seconds. (An alternate method of clearingthis problem is to press the magazine release buttonas you rack the slide three or four times. It savesapproximately 1.5 seconds from the procedure, but itmay not work with all weapon systems.)

To set up a Type Three for practice, lock the slide tothe rear and insert an inert dummy round into thechamber. Next, insert a magazine filled with inertdummy rounds into the pistol. Ease the slideforward, partially feeding the topmost round behindthe chambered round. It is imperative that you have asecond, dummy-loaded magazine on your belt withwhich to reload during the training procedure.

Eventually the issue of clearing malfunctions inextremely low light environments will come up. In thedark, you will not be able to see your pistol in orderto visually determine the problem. The other side of

the coin is that the adversary will not be able to seeyou either, so when your pistol won't go move out ofthere quickly! Once you are behind cover, feel thechamber area to attempt a diagnosis. If you cannotdo this for whatever reason, execute the clearancefor a feedway stoppage. This will guarantee to getthe weapon back in action.

Although this may sound a bit esoteric, you willeventually be able to determine the status of thepistol by how it feels on recoil. A malfunctioned orempty weapon will feel different on the recoil than itnormally does. This is no different to a driverrecognizing an engine problem by how the car feels.This ability, of course, comes only after spendingmany hours on the range and will not come in aweekend. Try to be sensitive to what your pistol isdoing during live-fire training sessions and you willlearn to "read it" in time.

An adversary will often mount an attack from anunexpected area, such as from the side or rear, soyou must have responses in place that allow you toorient your firing platform to any angle quickly andwith a minimum of fanfare. It is important to move thefiring platform rather than simply shooting the threatwithout moving the body. Not only might this bring

you out of the line of fire, but it will also enhance yourlikelihood of getting hits before your adversary does.

The following techniques are described for a right-handed operator. Left handers should simplyexchange the directions regarding right and left.Notice also that all of these techniques are usefulfrom stationary conditions or while on the move aswell as from the holster and from the ready.

Response to a threat from the left. Begin by lookingat your adversary/target. (Let's be realistic, folks-youwill always look first.) As you perceive the threat,step forward about a shoulder width with the primaryside foot. Place your weight forward on the steppingfoot. Simultaneously, obtain a firing grip on theholstered pistol. Now, pivot hard on the balls of thefeet (particularly on the primary side foot) until youare oriented on the target. At the same time, presentthe pistol. Simple enough!

Response to an assault from the front. As the attackbegins, move out of the line of attack as you moveinto firing position. Move along a diagonal line, notaway from the attack. This can be to the left or theright as the situation demands.

Response to a threat from the right. Again, look atthe target. Imagine that you are standing on a clockface with 12 o'clock directly ahead of you. Take yoursupport side foot and step forward and across to the2:00 position. Remember to place your weightforward onto the stepping foot, and pivot on it at thesame time. Simultaneously, obtain a firing grip onthe holstered pistol. Again, present your pistol as thepivot is completed.

Response to a threat from the rear. This time youcannot see your adversary because he is behindyou. We will use the clock face analogy again withthis technique. As the threat is perceived, stepacross with the primary side foot to the 11 o'clockposition and place the weight forward onto thestepping foot. Simultaneously, obtain a firing grip onthe holstered pistol. Begin to turn your head to look

the holstered pistol. Begin to turn your head to lookover your support side shoulder. This turning of thehead will cause your upper body to begin to turn andyour feet to pivot on the balls. As your body clearsthe turn and begins to slow down, the pistol ispresented toward the target. This is similar inexecution as if you were walking away from a pointand suddenly reversed direction mid-stride to walkback to that point.

Response to an assault from the left. Get out of theway lest you be run over, and then respond.

A couple of warnings. First, for all of thesetechniques, do not draw the pistol before you turn.Doing so will create centrifugal motion with the pistolthat will make it difficult to stop on target. Thistranslates as a longer time interval to the first shot.Also, make the final movement a pivot, not a footdrag, and always step into known territory (i.e.,forward rather than backward). These techniquesmust be useable on all surfaces from mud and snowto asphalt and linoleum, so watch your step!

Besides attacks from unexpected areas, statistics

also tell us that we will often have to face more thanone adversary. Therefore, it is important to practicetraversing from one target to another. There arevarious tactical issues relating to multiple adversarysituations, including lateral movement to place theadversaries in line with one another, preventing themfrom firing at you simultaneously, initiating theconfrontation rather than responding to their attack,and using cover to your advantage and theirdisadvantage. These issues are discussed at lengthin other volumes. For training purposes, we shouldpractice the most difficult sort of engagementwhenthe targets/hostiles are standing side by side facingyou.

Response to an assault from the rear.

Some trainers will advise shooting from onedirection or another because that is the way we reador because that is the way the pistol recoils orwhatever. Forget all of that. The real order ofengagement will always be determined by theadversaries themselves. In short, the one who ismost focused on you and who is most capable of

killing you-in other words, the most immediate threat-will be dealt with first. This may require you to shootright to left, left to right, or even inside targets tooutside targets.

There is no secret to engaging multiple adversaries.As always, it's the basics and their application thatwill save the day. Find the first target and pick out thespot you wish to hit. Bring the pistol to where youreyes are looking (from ready or from holster) andfire. If the targets are relatively close together, youwill already have peripheral pick-up of the nexttarget. The pistol and the eyes move together,stopping momentarily on target and pressing theshot. Continue with this until the targets are allneutralized.

It is important that as you begin to arrive on target,you slow down the pistol's arc of travel. If you do not,you will move too far and be required to bring it backon target. Think of when you are driving a car andyou have your foot on the gas pedal. As you come toa stop sign, you normally take your foot off the pedaland allow the car to coast into position as you applythe brakes. It is the same feeling with the pistol. Asyou begin to arrive on target, let it coast into positionas you get on the trigger and the front sight. As soonas the pistol stops, you are ready to fire.

Never try to sweep through the targets. The pistolmust stop on each one before you fire or you riskmissing the shot.

Never try to hit the first target with more than a singleshot before moving to the next one. The basic rule ofthumb is to hit each one as quickly as possible, thenreturn to any who are still standing.

When the adversaries are very far apart, visuallylocate the next target first, then move the pistol to thespot on the target you wish to hit. In reality, we alsodo this when the targets are close together, but it isnot as obvious as when they are separated by agreater distance.

A good drill is to set up two targets close enoughtogether that you can see each one in the outer edge

of your visual field without turning your head. Pick aspot on the first target and focus on it as hard as youcan. Now quickly shift your visual focus and turn yourhead to the next target. You'll find that the visual shiftprecedes the head turning by a split second. Do thisseveral times in each direction. When you arecomfortable, add the unloaded pistol. This time,when you visually arrive on target, your pistol shouldalready be aligned and the front sight should beclearly visible. When you are comfortable doing thiswith a dry pistol, actually shoot it. Remember,smooth is fast.

Students of small arms tactics who have studied theactual dynamics of armed encounters know that thevast majority of these incidents occur during hours ofdarkness. The degrees of darkness, however, varyconsiderably. Rarely, for example, will you beoperating in a completely dark environment. Usually,some ambient light will be available, whether fromstars or streetlights.

The real problem in low-light confrontations is targetidentification, not sight visibility as so many profess.If there is enough ambient light for you to see youradversary and perceive him as a threat, you maycarry on with your response as you would in broaddaylight. Eventually, however, the light levels willdecrease to a point where you can still see youradversary, and you may even be able to perceive

him as a threat, but you will not be able to discernyour sights from the target as you seek the sightpicture.

If the adversary is close enough, the simplealignment created by your firing stance will often beenough. (Remember, we are not talking aboutsniping but about rough shooting at arm's length on avery close and big target!) At this same light level, asthe distance increases and the target gets smaller,you will require a more precise sight picture. Thissmall window of light vs. dark is where the vauntedtritium night sights fit into place. These sights willallow you to locate your sight picture on a dark targetagainst a dark background. You can't do that withsimple black sights.

Beyond this point, the target will seem to blend intothe background and your sights will too. Even tritiumsights will not help differentiate between building andman, or hillside and man. For these situations, sometactical tips have worked for me and some of myassociates.

If a man is firing at you from the darkness (and youare double damn sure that he is not a bewilderedmember of your own group, and you are certain of asafe background), you can use his muzzle flashes asa target indicator. You may not have a perfect sightpicture or get a perfect hit under these conditions,but it is far better than wishing you were in Kansaswith Toto again! You can also elevate your muzzle,use the lighter night sky for sight alignment,immediately align them on the adversary, and carryon.

This brings up another interesting issue. How manyof you have tested your defensive/tacticalammunition for muzzle flash in low light? Just as youcan use your adversary's muzzle flashes as a targetindicator, he can use yours to locate and eliminateyou! If your ammo produces significant muzzle flash,replace it.

When light levels get to this point, targetidentification is paramount. This requires a whitelight unit (that's tacticalspeak for "flashlight").

The FBI was the first agency to address the issue ofshooting in darkness. We tend to giggle and snickerat photos of those old-time G-men with their "electrictorches" held out at arms length as they pointed inwith their revolvers. Actually, this was state of the artwith the equipment of the period. Those flashlights,you see, were a far cry from the ultrabright tacticalflashlights of today. In those days they were called"torches" and were about as bright as a birthdaycake for your grandfather.

The idea of keeping this rather dim light at arm'slength, for fear of its diffused beam highlighting yourposition, was not a bad one. The problem waskeeping the light and the revolver pointed at thesame place. So the arm's length method soonevolved into the side-by-side method. Again, thismet with only a certain degree of success. It was agood modification up to the first shot; then the ever-present recoil of the shot quickly separated the twohands and the alignment was lost.

Things remained thus until the late 1960s, when aman named Mike Harries developed the flashlighttechnique named after him. Mike incorporated thedynamics of the Weaver stance into a method ofholding the flashlight where the light is gripped in a"clubbing" grip with the lens at the bottom of the fistand the support hand wrist hooked around the firinghand wrist in a back-to-back configuration. This

position not only allows similar recoil control to thatof the standard Weaver stance, it also maintains arough coaxiality between the pistol and the lightbefore and during firing.

Other methods have been devised by instructors thatare equally effective when practiced, including thoseby Ray Chapman and Pat Rogers. The Rogersmethod, promulgated by Surefire (the makers of thesmall super-bright tactical flashlights), is suitable forisosceles as well as Weaver shooters. It is bestpracticed with a Surefire Z-series flashlight.

The only development that far surpasses theefficiency and simplicity of the Harries or Rogersmethods is actually mounting a light on the weapon.Commonly seen in the hands of special military andpolice teams, these set-ups work great and allow theoperator to use his standard firing position. They domake the gun too big for concealment or generalcarry, but for a special purpose or home defenseweapon, it cannot be beat.

The method to using a gun-mounted light in a tacticalenvironment is to avoid using it as much as possible.Light is a target indicator. Walking around adarkened area looking for trouble with your light onmakes you a lighthouse for incoming rounds! Usethe light sparingly. The best method is to light anarea briefly, then move laterally in darkness. Repeatthe process until the area to be cleared is truly clear.

If you encounter a threat and must shoot, keep yourlight on him for a brief instant after the shots arrive ontarget. This lets you know the results of your shootingin the event you have a failure to stop. If you fail todrop him and immediately extinguish the light, youwon't know that you should have shot him again.

If you encounter a potential threat in low-lightconditions and the rules of engagement do not callfor shooting, what should you do? This is an issue ofconcern because most armed encounters do notend up in gunfire. Let's examine the possibilities. Ifyou switch the light off or allow it to go off, your nightvision will not have recovered in time to be able tosee your adversary in the dark. Additionally, what doyou think he might do? Who knows? What he willmost certainly not do is stand around waiting for youto reilluminate him. If you face such a situation, youmust keep the light on your adversary, preferably

aligned with his eyes, and control him withcommands and so on from this position ofadvantage. Might your continual illumination of oneman expose you to his compatriots who are waitingin the wings? Yes, that is certainly a possibility, butlet's remember that a present and immediate threatmust be handled with priority to other maybe-there-maybe-not threats.

The manual of gun handling with a flashlight does notdiffer from gun handling without a light. You must beable to perform malfunction clearances, tactical andspeed loading, and any other circumstance thatrequires both hands. You therefore must secure thatlight somehow in order to have both hands free tomanipulate the pistol.

One good idea is Surefire's lanyard arrangement forits lights. The lanyard was designed so that the usercan secure it (and thus the flashlight) to his wrist,thereby freeing both hands for whatever needs mightarise. The idea is to keep the lanyard tight aroundthe wrist to minimize dangling. Also, if the lanyard isset too long you run the risk of tap-racking your brainhousing group instead of your weapon during aclearance operation.

If you do not have or prefer to operate without alanyard, the best solution is to simply place the light

in your armpit (lens to the rear) and trap it in placewith your arm. This gives you two hands to fix thatwhich needs fixing. Having the lens point to the rearis imperative in the event that the light isinadvertently left on. By pointing it to the rear, anybeam will be trapped in your armpit instead ofbecoming a runway light for low-flying incomingrounds.

I should mention what makes a good tacticalflashlight. The best lights are the smallest butbrightest you can find. The beam should be focusedrather than diffused. An adjustable beam is fine, buta nonadjustable focused beam is better because itallows a bright spotlight, without gaps or dead spots,to be focused directly on the danger.

Along with size, weight is a factor. Lugging around a5 pound flashlight may be a good idea for somepeople who are into caveman defensive tactics(unarmed jail guards for example), but most of uswant easy-to-carry gear. So small, light, and brightare the key words!

Finally, a momentary on-off button is preferred to astandard click-on, click-off switch. If you lose controland drop a light equipped with the latterarrangement, it will invariably roll away and landpointing right at you, illuminating you for the enemy.

Is there a flashlight that has all of the attributesdesirable for tactical operations? Yes, the LaserProducts Surefire series of lights has what it takes.They are as small and light as a flashlight can be.They are brighter than any of the competition. Theyweigh about as much as a spare magazine for yourpersonal pistol. They have a focused beam that issmooth and free of dark spots or rings. And theyhave the all-important momentary on-off switch thatonly turns the light on when the button is depressed.That's my choice.

Urban gunfights are short, intense eventscharacterized by sudden violence at close range.The actual distances might astound many whosetotal close-quarters battle training program consistsof "hammers" at 7 yards. You see, over 85 percentof these fights actually occur much closer ... likewithin 10 feet! Many of them, in fact, take place wellwithin arm's length.

Such close-proximity confrontations, rather thanbeing "unthinkable," as one popular writer likes tocall them, are quite the norm. Yet the dynamicsinvolved in this type of fight are no different thanthose for any other type of close-quarters combat.As I tell my students, at such a close interval even ablind man with a rusty homemade zip gun can getlucky.

At these close distances, simply standing tall anddrawing the pistol quickly is not sufficient. You musttake into account how the dynamics of humanreaction times affect your decision-action cycle.Generally speaking, the man who moves first, orinitiates the action, will win, whereas the man whowaits and reacts will usually lose. Simply put,marksmanship being equal, action ALWAYS beatsreaction. If you stand and fast-draw when you see

your threat, you will always be approximately a half toa full second behind the decision action curve. Atbest, you'll shoot him an instant after he shoots orcuts you. Not a good situation, is it?

These action-reaction dynamics are unavoidable; itis simply how we are programmed neurologically. Itwas first described by the late Col. John Boyd as theObservationOrientation-Decision-Action loop(OODA loop, for short). A fight of any kind is simplyan event where each competitor observes his

opponent, orients himself in relation to the opponent,decides on a course of action based on thoseobservations, and finally acts out his decision.Whoever gets through that cycle the quickest has aremarkable advantage over the other fellow. Anoperator who is already at the action phase, forexample, has a head start over someone who is stillobserving and orienting at the beginning of his owncycle. Things can be done to short-circuit or forestallthe opponent's cycle, but we will get to those later.

Let's look at this from a practical perspective. Putyourself in this situation. You are facing youradversary at 3 yards (we'll be generous with thedistance). He suddenly goes for the stolen revolver inhis waistband as he yells, "Die, pig, die!" What doyou do? Any potentially successful technique has todo two things at once:

1) It must allow you to get your weapon into action inorder to cause sufficient damage and put the otherman down, hopefully before he can carry out hismission.

2) It must also move you out of the line of fire,hopefully causing the other man to miss you with hisinitial burst of gunfire or getting you out of range ofhis knife or other hand-held weapon.

Just as your opponent went through his decisioncycle prior to beginning his attack, he must repeatthis cycle for every new and unexpecteddevelopment in the confrontation before he canadapt to those changes. This may take just fractionsof seconds, but that may be all you need. This is,after all, a business of fractions of seconds, wherethe slightest advantage may mean the differencebetween living and dying.

One answer is to condition a reflexive lateral side-step into your close quarters pistol presentation. Thismay be enough to move you out of the line of firesufficiently to cause the opponent to miss with hisfirst few shots or get you out of the way of his initialrush to close the gap between you, as the case maybe. You've changed things on him, and he will beforced to reevaluate and alter his actions, but notbefore you get your own weapon into action. Thissimple side-step allows you to operate within hisObservation-Orientation-DecisionAction loop. Sowould tossing your car keys in his face as you moveand draw.

If the confrontation is closer, say within one step ofphysical contact, presenting the pistol to a standardfiring position, even if preceded by a side-step, won'twork. This will create a weapon retention problem foryou and probably develop into an ugly wrestling

match for your pistol.

Conventional wisdom says to simply step back anddraw. I studied this method for years but havelearned that there are other, better ways. You see,stepping to the rear only creates a gap where theadversary can simply step forward and gain groundon you. Additionally, nobody can move back fasterthan an aggressor can move forward. This is never aproblem if you practice only on cardboard targets,which never advance on you. If you train with humanadversaries using red training guns, you will quicklylearn that an aggressive advancing opponent willsimply run right over you, even after being hit. Even ifthe adversary were shot right in the heart, he'd stillhave enough momentum (not to mention oxygen) tocrash into you.

To win, you must short-circuit the opponent'sdecisionaction loop by changing his perception ofthe event quickly and drastically. Preceding the drawwith a sharp finger jab to the eye, a palm strike to thenose, or even a simple palm heel to the chest willcause a slight hesitation, if not a complete rethinkingof his attack plan. This may not, in truth, be afightstopper, but it will buy you time. The time youbought can now be used to step clear of him (to therear or the side) and get your own weapon intoaction. If you've made your first step to the rear, becertain that any subsequent steps are made to thesides in order to get off the line of attack. This lookslike an "L" shape if we were to draw it out on thedeck.

In truth, pistol fighting at close quarters isconceptually very similar to close-quarters combat ofany sort. To think that the presence of a firearmsomehow excuses the user from the need to utilizeall the weapons at his disposal-including his emptyhands if necessary-is foolish and unrealistic. Sotraining in a truly practical unarmed combat systemis an excellent supplement to your pistol program.

Critics of the concept of blending hand-to-handfighting skills with tactical pistol shooting suggestthat operators must "either shoot or fight, but notboth." They suggest that an adversary will simply

grab your support hand (formerly called a "weak"hand) when you try to use an auxiliarystriking/distraction technique. This indicates anaivete about the nature of actual physicalconfrontations. Nobody throws a punch and holds itout there for the cameras! These are quick, violentmovements. At these distances, any strikes areunlikely to be blocked, caught, or avoided unless youare moving in slow motion. Even if the strike were tosomehow miss the adversary, your hand will be backand away from his reach before he even realizeshe's seen it. Remember the issues of reaction timewhen someone questions the need for a distractionstrike.

Distraction techniques are still functional even ifthere is no maneuver loom to the rear. In this casethe distraction move is identical, but instead ofmoving to the rear, you move forward to theopponent's 10:00 or 2:00 o'clock area or even runright over him and then continue as usual. Thisseems contrary to the commonly held view to createdistance, but you must realize that nobody canbackpedal fast enough to get away from a close-range attack. You can't do it because you are notdesigned to run backwards!

What if he's closer? I mean really close. What if he'sso close that he could head butt you as he discussesthe fine points of your parent's doubtful relationshipto the animal kingdom?

One popular technique that has been taught foryears is the speed rock. This involves "rocking" thepistol out of the holster and rolling the torso back toorient the muzzle on target. For a long time I was aproponent of the speed rock. We got to the pointwhere two quick shots could be placed into a targetin three quarters of a second! This may be a usefultechnique if you are backed up against a table orvehicle, but I have learned that it is not a good ideaeven in those situations. Being a specialtytechnique, it should be reserved for specialoccasions, but even there it has some serious flaws.

Primarily, the classical speed rock's requirement tokeep the support hand down by the belt instead of up

in a fighting/defensive posture is extremelyunrealistic. We've already discussed why movingback is not wise, yet the speed rock places you in anoff-balanced position where flat-on-yourback is theonly follow-up you have! Moreover, even if yousuccessfully "speed rocked" a couple of rounds intoyour man, do you really think he'll just fall down inplace? Hardly! Even if he's been hit solidly, his ownmomentum will probably carry him right into you. Inthe rocked-back posture, you can't move laterally toavoid him, and you are not in a position of strength toabsorb the collision. And forget about being able torespond to a failure to stop. Fortunately, there is analternative.

The close-contact pistol position is suitable forextreme close quarters and has none of the failingsof the speed rock. It places the pistol alongside theribs, and the gun is indexed by having the

primary/firing hand thumb and the weapon butt incontact with the torso. This, in turn, allows the pistolto be canted slightly outboard to avoid snagging onclothing or equipment. Additionally, it automaticallyorients the muzzle on the adversary's thoracic cavityarea.

The torso is held erect in a strong fighting posture,braced for impact. The support hand is held in afighting/defensive position, either out to the supportside in a defensive warding off manner or,preferably, elbow aggressively up and forward withthe support hand protecting the pistol from above.This also places the fist in a position to executestrikes or other necessary functions while keeping itup and out of the way of the muzzle. These simpleadvantages of the close contact make the speedrock virtually obsolete.

The close-contact position can be acquired from theready pistol or directly from the holster, and it can bedirected to any point along a 360-degree circle. It isexecuted from a stationary position, but immediatelyafter the first shots have been fired or contact isotherwise made, you must move. The first step maybe to the rear, but any subsequent steps must be

lateral to put some space between you and the badguy and get you off his line of attack.

I conducted electronic timer drills and found that theclose-contact position is just as fast as the speedrock. Tests with red training guns and human trainingpartners showed that even if they managed tophysically crash into me, I was in a position ofstrength, braced for collision, and able to maintainbalance. It also allowed the ability to move laterally oreven go to alternate body weapons. None of this ispossible with the speed rock.

OK, so you've drilled the bad guy amidships two ormore times from close quarters. Now what? The onlything for certain is that the fight has just begun. Don'tcall out for pizza yet! It's important to keep firing untilthe fight is over or until the adversary is no longer athreat. The idea that you should fire a couple of timesand then stand around looking for results is not reallya tactically wise procedure when you analyze it froma real-world perspective.

Again, the issue of reaction time is considered, bothyours and his. Let's say you stopped shooting after acouple of shots and then, while you are readjustingyour orientation to the situation, you realize you havea failure to stop. Furthermore, the presumed-deadadversary's pistol is now pointed right at you andhe's about to fire. Regardless of what you do next,you are now behind the action, and he is operatingwithin your OODA loop. Even if you were able to fireright away, you could not stop him from shooting if hedecided to fire.

When coupled with a simple but sound hand-to-handrepertoire, the close contact is a workable answer toany CQB problem.

Right: The close contact position is also viable forthe various situations involved in a searching typemission, such as dealing with a closed door.

Below: At other moments, it may be desirable tosimply lower the line of attack. This is common inmartial arts circles, but combative shooters haven'tyet figured it out.

In truth, at extreme close quarters you will know howyour shots are affecting your adversary because youwill probably be in physical contact with him. Youshoot him; his attack falters; you are able todisengage from him. If your shots aren't effective, hisattack won't falter and you may have to resort tocombatives to break contact.

If you are able to buy some distance after the initialshots, your opponent will still be visible in yourperipheral vision through your sights. You'll probablybe able to see the effect of your gunfire, even if youare focusing visually on your front sight (as youshould be at this point). It's important to keep firingwhile the adversary is still visible. This doesn't meanthat you automatically empty your politically correct10 round magazine into his chest but rather that aftertwo to four shots, you should always stage your pistolfor a head shot to ensure you don't experience afailure to stop ... but that's the subject of the next

chapter.

From somewhere in your throat, a voice you hardlyrecognize as your own echoes down the alley: "Don'tmove!" The pistol has already snapped into yourhand automatically. Perhaps it was the hesitant lookin your eyes or the way you avoided covering himwith the muzzle of the pistol, but the three-strikeloser, a veteran member of a violent street gang,was not convinced. You see his hands dart to hisoversized waistband, five sizes too big. The prisontattoos on his muscular arms seem to move bythemselves as his hands start to raise the stolenrevolver. Quickly, you visually pick up a marginalflash sight picture on his chest and press off a quickpair. POW! POW!

Again, automatically you lower the pistol briskly tothe low ready position, 45 degrees below horizontal,and prepare to assess the results. Fully expecting tosee the criminal on the deck with two neat reddeningholes in his chest, your elation melts into horror asyou see the muzzle of his Smith & Wesson pointingat you!

Popular writers' comments to the contrary, all pistolsare ballistically deficient. It matters not at all what youload them with: they are simply not very good atterminating human hostilities. This fact is widely

known and recognized in the tactical community aswell as by defensive minded citizens.

The utility of the pistol comes from its ease of carry,concealment, and handiness in close quarters. If youknow that trouble is on the evening's entertainmentlist, with few exceptions you are better served with arifle or shotgun. Sometimes, however, a pistol is allyou will have when the show starts.

Anytime you deploy a pistol against a determinedand aggressive human being, you must be preparedfor the occurrence of a failure to stop with thestandard response of two or three shots. While thischapter is not a treatise on terminal ballistics, sufficeit to say that the statistical outcomes and knownphysiological effects of gunfire against humans arenot in our favor, so we must expect the worst.

A typical untrained response to the "I Hit Him But HeDidn't Go Down" syndrome is to simply panic fire theremainder of the magazine toward the adversary inthe hopes that he will eventually fall. Such a course ofaction is rarely effective if the other man is bent ontaking the fight to you. Consider how long it takes tofire 10 to 15 rounds into a target (and hit, of course).A man who has already absorbed a number ofbullets but is still intent on firing his weapon at you orslicing your melon in two with his machete will easilydo so before you can stop him with more bodyshots!

Why is this? After the human body experiences theinitial trauma of the first few shots, it tends todisregard any further ballistic insult. In essence, thepart of the nervous system that says "Fall downstupid, you've been shot" is no longer operational.Sure, the guy will probably die from the wounds, buthe won't stop what he's doing right now. Even if theheart was completely destroyed, it could still take upto one full minute before, as my partners say, "all theoil drains out of the motor," and the adversary diesdue to blood loss. Spraying more shots, then, is notthe answer.

Another widely accepted solution if the first shots arenot successful in terminating the discussion is a

subsequent shot to the pelvic region to save the day.Popular belief has it that the adversary will fall downwith a broken pelvis. While I agree that a man with ashattered pelvis will have a hard time building anassault, the hip bone is absolutely not connected tothe trigger finger bone! A downed man may not beable to run up and tag you "it," but he can still presshis trigger and kill you lickety split!

I am not a medical professional or a ballistician. Myinterests lie on the more pointy end of things.Wanting to know the "why not" of pelvic shots,however, I contacted an orthopedic surgeon (who isalso a graduate of several shooting schools) for hisexpert opinion. He told me that the pelvis is a ringstructure, and it would have to be fractured in twoseparate places for it to be unstable. Additionally, hesaid that the pelvis is a very substantial bone andwonders if a small-caliber centerfire rifle cartridge,let alone any handgun bullet, would be able to breakit. He believes that in order to fracture this bone, itwould have to be hit right on the points of the hips.Not much of a big deal until you stop to consider theactual size of the target area. The point of a hip ismuch smaller than the area on the human face wherea shot should be placed for best effect. Hmmm.Strike two!

The third solution to the problem is the Mozambiquedrill. In our touchy-feely times, the alternate titles of"drug and body armor drill," or simply "failure to stopdrill," are sometimes used. None of this can hide thefact that this technique was born in the small nationof Mozambique, Africa, during its turbulent years.

Jeff Cooper tells me that one of his students, JohnRousseau, was on his way to the airport to catch the"last plane out" when he was set upon on the streetby a guerrilla armed with an AK-47, complete withfixed bayonet! The insurgent charged at Rousseau,apparently intent on sticking him en brochette.

Rousseau, an accomplished pistolero in his ownright, hauled out his Browning P35 and masterfullyhammered the attacker twice amidships. Pleasedwith his marksmanship and quick reflexes, hebrought his Browning down to admire his handiwork.

We can well imagine his astonishment when herealized that his adversary was not nearly asimpressed and was still charging!

Thinking quickly, Rousseau brought his pistol backinto a firing position with the intent of shooting him inthe brain. According to Cooper, Rousseau was afine shot, but even the best of us would be somewhatrattled in similar circumstances. Rousseau was noexception. His last shot was fired in the nick of time,but instead of placing it in the commandcontrolcenter, it was a little low-it entered between theclavicles and broke the spine. A severed spine ispretty conclusive, and the antagonist crashed to thedirt. Rousseau was quite relieved and wrote hisfriend Jeff Cooper about the incident. TheMozambique drill was born.

In the classic Mozambique drill, after two shots havebeen placed in the adversary's chest area, theoperator lowers his pistol to the low ready position inorder to view the results over the sights. If theadversary is down, the problem is solved and all iswell. But if there is a failure to stop, evident by theadversary still standing or, in training environments,by the instructor's call for "head shot," the pistol israised on target and a single surgical shot is firedinto the brain-housing group.

But even this classic solution is not without itsskeptics. It is one thing to pull this off with a certaindegree of luck on the streets of an embattled ThirdWorld country or on demand against benign papertargets on the training range. To execute it against asimilarly armed opponent who will kill you if hehimself is not dropped is quite another.

The main problem with the standard Mozambiquedrill is a matter of reaction time. Nobody is fastenough to realize, first, that the danger is stillpresent, then employ a solution in time to prevent theother guy from raising his pistol and firing at you afteryour shots had failed to stop him. The second pointis that knowing the ballistic deficiencies of handgunsand the likelihood of a failure to stop in conjunctionwith the dire consequences to you if you fail,shooting twice and stopping to evaluate the damage

suddenly seems foolish! Even if you somehowdestroyed the heart with your bullets, the adversarywill still have from 30 to 45 seconds of oxygen/bloodleft in his brain to keep going. If he can get to youwith his gun or knife, he can do a lot of damagewithin that window.

Think of it in terms of a street fight. Would you hit adetermined opponent a couple of times in the ribsand then back off to see if it worked? I hardly thinkso. More likely, you will hit him until one of two thingshappen: either he falls down unconscious or you gettoo tired to hit him anymore! The same basicdynamics apply to gunfighting, accentuated only bythe fact that you cannot afford to have him land anyhits at all on you. The need to turn him off, to shoothim to the ground, is paramount. You can't do thatwith gratuitous body shots. You can, however, do sowith a preplanned head shot.

After you place the first two shots in the thoraciccavity, automatically stage the pistol for the headshot. If you see the sights superimposed on a face,you have a failure to stop. At this point, the answer isnot dependent on evaluating anything or trying toreact faster. Seeing his face in your sights will onlymean one thing-your body shots didn't work and he'slooking right at you, carrying on with whateverthreatening act that caused you to go to guns in thefirst place. Remember, we are talking about tenths ofseconds here! All you know is that he attacked andyou began shooting. Don't stop to evaluate thesituation while he's still on his feet. If he's stillstanding, he's still a threat.

The question will invariably arise, "But what if he hasdropped his weapon or is trying to surrender?" I'll tellyou this-as soon as the fight starts, an atomic bombcould go off right next to you and you would notnotice it because you will be too intent on hitting theother guy. Even if he were in the process of droppinghis gun and surrendering as you were act ing on hisinitial deadly assault, you would probably havealready shot him before you could discern hissubsequent intentions. To think that anyone would beable to have such trigger control and such visualperception as to see a change in posture or facial

expression or a small black pistol dropping onto ablack asphalt surface on a black night is too much.You will not have time to second-guess yourself afteryou decide to shoot. All the shoot/no-shoot stufftakes place before you decide to shoot, not duringthe act.

If you do indeed have a failure to stop, the adversarywill not be standing there like a cardboard targetwaiting for your coup de grace. A real adversary willbe in his "action phase," attacking or shooting. If yourely on the standard Mozambique/failure drill andstop in the middle of hostilities to evaluate thesituation, you will be in the "decision phase." This isreactive instead of active and places you up to onefull second behind the speed/power curve. Yougenerally will not be able to react fast enough tomake a difference if he presses the assault. On theother hand, if you've staged your pistol for the headshot, you are bypassing a large portion of the

reactive phase without relinquishing the initiative.

Always remember: even though you must be readyto shoot an assailant to the ground, you are stillconditioning yourself to prepare for the head shot,not necessarily to fire automatically. If there is notarget visible when you stage for the shot, you willobviously not shoot. In this case, lower the pistolsharply to the ready pistol position; you most likelywill find your adversary on the deck. Now askyourself: "Did I hit him? Did it work?" If the answer toeither question is "no," then hit him again until theanswer is a firm "yes." Even if he's down, he may notbe out. Again, if you see your front sightsuperimposed on his face as you stage for the headshot, you have a failure to stop and are in a solidposition to solve it with minimal drama. If he's downand not a threat, look for his accomplices, as theseguys usually do not work alone. Stay alert!

There are other solutions to the failure to stopproblem that tend in the more aggressive direction.Some SpecOps teams requiring instantincapacitation of terrorists eschew any preliminarychest shots and advocate the cranial shot as Plan A.Don't dismiss the initial deliberate head shot forcertain situations. It is a wise choice if you have priorknowledge of body armor or drug use or if youbelieve the adversary is in a heightened emotionalstate. The standard response of two to the body maybe ineffective against such people.

A case to remember is the infamous Miami shootoutbetween two dedicated bank robbers and the FBIagents intent on arresting them. One of the criminalsabsorbed enough lead to sink a ship but refused tofall down. He was able to murder two lawenforcement offices and wound five others beforefinally succumbing to his own gunshot wounds.

Some instructors decry the head shot as a magnetfor lawsuits. What a loss of perspective! Yes, youmay have more explaining to do, but living to explainis better than lying on the ground as a bloody,gurgling mess and being liability-free. Lawsuits arebad, certainly, but so are funerals, especially if youare the star of the show. Primary and above all else,

your goal is to win the fight!

There is another option that splits the differencebetween the reactive Mozambique drill and thepremeditated head shot. I didn't invent it, although Ioften practice my failure to stop drill this way. Ilearned it from a Marine CQB instructor withextensive credentials in special operations. I havedubbed it the 2+1 drill, which describes how it isapplied.

The Marine instructor said that the chest was theeasiest and quickest part of the body to hit but, fullyexpecting a failure to stop, he didn't want to wait forany evaluation or assessment of results beforeproceeding to the head shot. He advocated placingtwo on board in the chest and immediately, withoutany hesitation or debate, placing a third shot in theeye cavity of the head.

This method has several advantages in terms ofreactive/active speeds, effectiveness, and economyof force. By immediately taking the head shot withoutstopping to assess the body shots, the deficiency ofthe pistol is taken into consideration, as is the realityof action being faster than reaction. It solves theproblem without any of the inherent drawbacks of theother proposed solutions.

The fear that the 2+1 drill will bring litigious attentionis not as much an issue as some would have usbelieve. The head shot is widely accepted in lawenforcement and military shooting disciplines as thestandard response to the failure of previous shots orto resolve special situations. Explanations for yourtactics may have to be provided later by you or yourattorney, but they are certainly justified.

We've talked a great deal about what to do, so nowlet's get down to developing some reflexive skills thatmay save your life. Remember, your goal is to beable to perform each technique to physicalperfection, not to adequate mediocrity.

For the following practice routine, you will need yourpistol, two magazines, a holster, a suitable belt, anda spare magazine pouch. You will also needapproximately 10 inert dummy rounds for your pistol.Once you have your gear in place, go through the drypractice safety checklist discussed in Chapter 6.Then set up your dry practice target on a suitablesurface and stand back from it approximately 3 to 5meters. If you prefer not to use the target included asAppendix B, an index card will do just fine as a drypractice target.

A word of caution regarding the operation of double-action pistols. If you are using such a pistol, you mustbe competent with both of its firing mechanisms, i.e.,trigger cocking (or double action) and slide cocking(or single action).

In dry practice, pressing the trigger the first time willbe done in the trigger-cocking mode. This does notaddress the following "shot" from a slide-cockedpistol because the slide does not reciprocate as itwould in a live-fire drill.

In a gunfight, the first shot will be fired using triggercock ing, but subsequent shots will be fired from analready cocked pistol. Most of the shots fired in suchan environment are, in fact, fired from a slide-cockedpistol, or on single action. This must be addressed intraining. Moreover, ignoring the slidecocked triggerpress will prevent proper follow-through in firing drills.

The solution is simple. Thumb cock the hammer afterthe first dry press and press again with a cockedhammer to simulate the difference between the twofiring mechanisms. Another option is to have atraining partner cycle your slide after the first double-action dry press. This will not only simulate recoilforces but allow you to maintain a firing grip as youfollow through and reset the trigger.

EXERCISE 1

Face the target with the pistol at the ready position.Visual focus and attention must be on the target,specifically at the point designated as center ofmass.

1) On command, briskly bring the pistol up tointersect the line of sight to the target. Mentally thinkthe word "pause."

2) Align the sights by looking at the front sightthrough the rear sight notch. Close the nondominanteye and focus sharply on the top edge of the frontsight. Simultaneously prep the trigger by taking up allof the free travel slack. Mentally think the word"verify."

3) While maintaining visual focus and attention onthe top edge of the front sight, begin slow and steadypressure on the trigger until the hammer falls (orstriker releases) without disturbing the existingalignment. Monitor your front sight for any lateralmovement upon trigger break. Mentally think theword "press."

4) Maintain focus on the front sight for an instant afterthe trigger break. Mentally think the word "recover."

5) Now immediately bring the pistol to the readyposition and extend your visual focus back to thetarget. The trigger finger comes off the trigger andgoes on the index point. Watch your target as if itwere a real adversary. Mentally ask yourself, "Did Ihit him? Did it work?" Now, to break the target focus,begin scanning for other targets. Think "check left,check right."

Repeat Exercise 1 at least 10 times.

EXERCISE 2

This exercise is identical to Exercise 1 except that itbegins with the pistol holstered and the eyes (andattention) on the target's center of mass. This drillexecutes the presentation in its five-count procedure.

1) On command, briskly obtain a firing grip on theholstered pistol and move the support hand in placeto intercept the forthcoming pistol. Eyes remain on

target. Trigger finger is not on the trigger nor in thetrigger guard-it is held in a straight positionalongside the holster. The verbal command is "grip."

2) Lift the pistol clear of the holster by lifting theelbow. Nothing else moves or changes. Triggerfinger is on the index point.

3) Roll the firing side shoulder back, thereby lockingthe pistol in a close-contact position. Nothing elsechanges. Trigger finger is on the index point.

4) The hands meet in the ready position. Triggerfinger remains on the index point. Safeties are off.

5) Bring the pistol up to intersect the line of sight tothe target. Mentally think the word "pause."

6) Align the sights by looking at the front sightthrough the rear sight notch. Close the nondominanteye and focus sharply on the top edge of the frontsight. Simultaneously prep the trigger by taking up allof the free travel slack. Mentally think the word"verify."

7) While maintaining visual focus and attention onthe top edge of the front sight, begin slow and steadypressure on the trigger until the hammer falls (orstriker releases) without disturbing the existingalignment. Mentally think the word "press."

8) Maintain focus on the front sight momentarily afterthe break and monitor it for any lateral movement onthe break. Mentally think the word "recover."

9) Now immediately bring the pistol to the readyposition and extend the visual focus back to thetarget. Trigger finger goes back on the index pointand off the trigger. Watch the target as if it were areal adversary and you were expecting him to getback up and resume the attack. Mentally askyourself, "Did I hit him? Did it work?" Now, to breakthe target focus, begin scanning for other targets,thinking, "check left, check right."

10) Bring the pistol to the close-contact position as afinal failsafe check before reholstering. When you

decide to move to the close-contact position, youmay decock your double-action or engage yoursafety levers. Pause momentarily in that position.Slowly find the holster opening with your muzzle(don't look for it) and carefully insert the pistol into theholster.

Repeat Exercise 2 at least 10 times.

EXERCISE 3

Exercise 3 builds on the previous two exercises. Italso begins with the pistol in the holster. This time,however, we smooth the rough edges and presentfrom holster directly to the target. Before you attemptthis one, be sure you've ingrained proper safety andhandling procedures by mastering Exercise 2.

1) Eyes and attention are on the target's center ofmass. On command, briskly obtain a firing grip onthe holstered pistol and present it up to intersect theline of sight to the target. Make certain that bothhands move in unison. Mentally think the word"pause."

2) Align the sights by looking at the front sightthrough the rear sight notch. Close the nondominanteye and focus sharply on the top edge of the frontsight. Simultaneously prep the trigger by taking up allof the free travel slack. Mentally think the word"verify."

3) While maintaining visual focus and attention onthe top edge of the front sight, begin slow and steadypressure on the trigger until the hammer falls (strikerreleases) without disturbing the existing alignment.Mentally think the word "press."

4) Maintain focus on the front sight momentarily afterthe break and monitor it for any lateral motion on thebreak. Mentally think the word "recover."

5) Now immediately bring the pistol to the readyposition and extend the visual focus back to thetarget. Trigger finger goes back on the index pointand off the trigger. Watch the target as if it were areal adversary and you were expecting him to get

back up and resume the attack. Mentally askyourself, "Did I hit him? Did it work?" Now, to breakthe target focus, begin scanning for other targets,thinking, "check left, check right."

6) Bring the pistol to the close-contact position andevaluate the area again before holstering. When youdecide to move to the close-contact position, youmay decock your DA or engage the safety levers.Slowly find the holster opening with the muzzle ofyour pistol without looking and carefully insert thepistol in the holster.

Repeat this exercise 25 times.

EXERCISE 4

Again building on the prior drills, Exercise 4 placesthe dry practice target to the left. You need not movethe target; instead, simply take a half turn to yourright. You will be presenting the pistol directly to thetarget from the holster. Left-handed shooters simplyexchange the procedures in Exercises 4 and 5.

1) Begin with the dry practice target located 90degrees to your left. Your visual focus and attentionare on the target's center of mass. On command,step forward with your primary side foot and obtain afiring grip on the holstered pistol.

2) Maintaining your visual focus and attention, pivoton the balls of your feet so that at the completion ofthe pivot, you are lined up on target. As youcommence the pivot, commence the presentation.Ideally, the pistol arrives on target as your pivot iscompleted.

3) Follow steps 5 through 8 from the previousexercisesPAUSE, VERIFY, PRESS, RECOVER.

4) Bring the pistol to the ready position and extendvisual focus back to the target, expecting him toresume the attack. Mentally ask yourself, "Did I hithim? Did it work?" Look around for accomplices-"Check left, check right."

5) Decock DA pistols or engage safety levers onColt/Browning/HK pistols. Move to the close-contact

position. Find the holster with the muzzle andcarefully holster the pistol.

Repeat Exercise 4 at least 10 times.

EXERCISE 5

This is the flip side of the previous drill, this time withthe target to the right.

1) Begin with the dry practice target located 90degrees to your right. Your visual focus and attentionare on the target's center of mass. On command,step across and slightly in front of your primary sidefoot with your support side foot and obtain a firinggrip on the holstered pistol.

2) Maintaining your visual focus and attention on thetarget, pivot on the balls of your feet so that at thecompletion of your turn, you are aligned on thetarget. As you commence your pivot, commence thepresentation. Ideally, the pistol arrives on target asyour pivot is completed.

3) Follow the third step from the previous exercise-PAUSE, VERIFY, PRESS, RECOVER.

4) Bring the pistol down to the ready position andextend your visual focus back to the target, expectinghim to resume the attack. Mentally ask yourself, "DidI hit him? Did it work?" Look around to break thetarget focus, thinking "Check left, check right."

5) Decock DA pistols or reengage safety levers.Move to the close-contact position. Find the holsterwith your muzzle and carefully holster the pistol.

Repeat this exercise 10 times.

EXERCISE 6

This drill builds on the two previous drills and placesthe dry practice target to the rear. You will bepresenting the pistol directly from holster to targetafter a 180 degree pivot that aligns you on target.This time you will not be looking at the targetbecause it is located behind you, but you will strive toget your head turned and looking as soon as you

can.

1) Begin with the target located directly behind you.On command, step across and slightly in front of yoursupport side foot with your primary side foot.Simultaneously, turn your head to look over yourshoulder and obtain a firing grip on your pistol.

2) Pivot on the balls of your feet so that at thecompletion of your pivot you are lined up on target.As soon as you pick up a visual verification of thetarget, begin to present your pistol. The pivot and thepresentation should be timed so that they are bothcompleted simultaneously.

3) PAUSE, VERIFY, PRESS, RECOVER.

4) Bring the pistol to the ready position and extendthe visual focus back to the target. "Did I hit him? Didit work?" "Check left, check right."

5) Decock DA pistols or engage safety levers. Moveto the close-contact position. Find the holster withthe muzzle and carefully holster the pistol.

Repeat exercise 10 times.

EXERCISE 7

The next exercise is the out-of-battery speed reload,also called the emergency reload. You will need amagazine loaded with inert dummy rounds in themagazine pouch on your belt. Insert an emptymagazine in your pistol and lock the slide to the rear.You will be dropping the on-board magazine, so youmight wish to lay a towel on the deck for it to land on.Be sure to adhere to all safety procedures outlined inChapter 6.

1) Point in on the target with an out-of-battery pistol.Focus your vision and attention on the top edge ofthe front sight, as if you were conducting the previousdrills. Press the trigger and notice how it feels. Yousee the slide is outof-battery and "realize" thatsomething is amiss with your pistol.

2) Break the firing side wrist and look into theejection port. You see nothing. Think, "empty gun."

3) Immediately reach with your support hand for themagazine pouch on the belt and access a sparemagazine. Simultaneously, flip the pistol in your handfar enough to be able to access the magazinerelease button with your thumb.

4) Press the magazine release button and eject theempty onboard magazine. Simultaneously, bring thereplacement magazine up to the pistol. Ideally, bothmagazines will pass each other. As the replacementmagazine reaches the pistol, index it by placing theflat of the magazine against the flat of the magazinewell.

5) Roll the magazine until it is in line with themagazine well. Now seat it firmly in place. As the twohands come together into the firing grip, release theslide and chamber a round. At this point, your pistolis recharged (with inert dummy rounds) and ontarget.

6) Re-acquire the front sight as if you intended topress the trigger, but do not press it. Assess thesituation instead. Bring the pistol to the readyposition.

Repeat exercise 10 times with the slide out ofbattery and 10 times with the slide in battery.

EXERCISE 8

This drill deals with the tactical reload. You will needtwo magazines loaded with inert dummy rounds. Thereload will take place in the ready position only.

You realize that your weapon's ammunition isdepleted and must be recharged to full capacity, butyou have no targets to shoot. Keep your eyesdownrange.

1) Move your support hand to the magazine pouchon the belt and reach for a replacement magazine.Bring that magazine alongside the pistol andprepare to receive the depleted magazine onto thepalm between the middle and ring fingers.

2) Eject the depleted magazine into the support

hand approximately two-thirds of the way out,catching it between the middle finger and ringfingers. It is important to not allow the magazine tofall all the way out uncontrolled. Roll the fingerstoward the chest, further trapping the magazine inthe hand, and extract it fully.

3) Roll the support hand a few degrees to orient thereplacement magazine with the magazine well. Indexthe replacement magazine with the index fingerstraight along the front of the magazine. Placing theflat of the magazine against the flat of the magazinewell, insert it fully and seat it firmly in place.

4) Secure the depleted magazine in the supporthand and reacquire the two-handed grip. If you mustreengage at this point, you can do so with themagazine still wedged between your fingers. Afteryou have reestablished control of the scene, securethe depleted magazine in the pocket for later use.

5) Re-acquire the two-handed hold and readyposition and assess the area.

Practice this exercise 10 times.

EXERCISE 9

This exercise addresses clearing malfunctions. Assuch it has three parts, each dealing with one of thethree major malfunction types. You will need twomagazines loaded with inert dummy rounds as wellas a handful of spent brass cases.

Type One Malfunction Clearance-Failure To Fire

Insert a magazine loaded with inert dummy rounds inthe pistol, but keep the chamber empty. Begin withthe pistol up on target, with your attention on the topedge of the front sight.

1) Press the trigger. Experience the "click" of anempty chamber or a defective round. That is thestimulus to execute the clearance drill.

2) Briskly tap the bottom of the magazine with theheel of your support hand palm. Immediately graspthe slide on the grasping grooves. Keep the hand

away from the ejection port, and grab that slidestrongly.

3) Rack the slide to the rear and simultaneously flipthe pistol to the right.

4) Continue the circular motion with your supporthand and reacquire the two-handed hold on targetas if you intended to shoot, but do not press thetrigger.

Type Two Malfunction Clearance-Failure To Eject

Lock the slide to the rear and turn the pistol ejectionport up. Rest a spent brass case inside the ejectionport at a right angle to the barrel. Now allow the slideto move forward, trapping the case. Insert amagazine filled with inert dummy rounds in the pistol.

1) Press the trigger and experience the inoperativetrigger action. Visually notice that the slide is out ofbattery. Look to verify the problem. You see a spentcase, partially ejected, in the ejection port.

2) Briskly tap the bottom of the magazine andposition your hand at the rear of the slide on thegrasping grooves. Make certain that your hand isnowhere near the ejection port.

3) Rack the slide to the rear as you flip the pistol tothe right, clearing the offending case out of the pistol.

4) Continue the circular motion with your supporthand and re-acquire the two-handed hold. Refocuson the front sight as if you were going to press thetrigger, but do not press it. Move down to the readyposition and assess the area.

Type Three Malfunction Clearance-FeedwayStoppage

Lock the slide to the rear and manually insert asingle inert dummy round into the chamber. Insert amagazine loaded with inert dummy rounds into thepistol and ease the slide forward. This will cause thetopmost round to feed in behind the originallychambered round.

1) With pistol up on target and your attention on thefront sight, carefully press the trigger. Something iswrong. You notice that the slide is out of battery.Immediately break the firing wrist and look into theejection port. You see two rounds competing for thechamber. That is your stimulus to proceed with theexercise.

2) Lock the slide to the rear.

3) Strip the on-board magazine out of the pistol andsecure it between the little finger and ring finger ofthe primary hand or let it drop to the ground.

4) Rack, rack, rack the slide three times to clear outall offending cartridges and cases. You now have aclear but empty gun.

5) Insert a replacement magazine into the pistol.

6) Rack the slide one final time and immediately re-acquire the sights as if you were going to fire, but donot press the trigger. Assess the area.

Practice each clearing drill 5 times.

EXERCISE 10

This exercise deals with developing surgicalaccuracy for close targets at close range. You will bepresenting the pistol from the holster directly to thetarget. Specifically, your eyes will be looking at thecenter of mass of the target's head area.

1) Your eyes are on target looking specifically at thecenter of mass of the head area. On command,present the pistol directly to the target. Think theword, "pause."

2) As the pistol intersects the line of sight to thetarget, bring your visual focus and attention to the topedge of the front sight. Simultaneously prep thetrigger by taking up the slack. Think the word,"verify."

3) Maintain visual focus and attention on the frontsight and begin steady pressure on the trigger. Thinkthe word, "press."

4) When the trigger breaks, keep focused on thefront sight and monitor it for any movement. Think theword, "recover."

5) Drop the pistol to the ready position and think,"Did I hit him? Did it work?" Knowing that he is nolonger a threat, check left and right.

6) Move to the close-contact position and concludewith holstering the pistol.

Repeat exercise 15 times.

This concludes the dry practice session.

Speed is very important in the tactical employmentof pistols. Most often you will be responding to athreat, so you are already behind the power curve.Any increase in your speed is important. But I mustpoint out that you want controlled speed. An OldWest gunfighter once said, "No one was ever killedby a loud noise." That statement is worthy of note!Always remember that the purpose of shooting is tohit. That is paramount and more important thanspeed.

A slow hit that arrives on target long after the fight is

over is as worthless as lightning-like shot thatmisses by a mile. What we must strive for is abalance between the speed of the shot and theaccuracy of the hit. Let's discuss how to find thatbalance.

There are three parts to presenting the pistol andfiring the shot. First is the movement of the pistolfrom the holster to the point position (on target). Thismust be done as quickly as humanly possible,regardless of the size of or distance to the target.

The second part is the time spent on the pause toverify the sight picture and its alignment on target.This is simultaneous with the prepping of the trigger.As the pistol arrives on target, the shooter mustpause at the top of the stroke in order to prepare thetrigger for discharge as well as to verify the sightpicture. The time spent on this pause is greatlydependent on the difficulty of the shot. A large targetat 3 meters requires relatively little sight pictureverification, whereas a target at 50 meters willrequire considerably more verification time andamuch more precise sight picture.

The final portion of the presentation is simply holdingeverything in place while the last ounces of pressureare applied to the trigger until the shot is fired.

In order to gain speed you must perform the correctprocedure smoothly. This means excluding allunnecessary motion throughout the three parts of thepresentation. It also means moving quickly from aposition of rest.

The best way to develop the type of speed neededwithout sacrificing accuracy is to break thepresentation down into its components and practiceeach one independently. In other words, in phaseone you move the pistol up to the target as fast aspossible without pressing the trigger. In phase twoyou prepare the trigger and verify the sight picture. Inphase three you hold everything in place as you exertthe final press on the trigger. Here are some dry

practice exercises that will assist you in developingcontrolled speed.

EXERCISE 1

After following the dry practice safety proceduresoutlined in Chapter 6, set up the target at theappropriate distance. With as fast a movement asyou can muster, present the pistol to the target.Make sure that you do not take any shortcuts thatviolate safety principles such as covering yoursupport hand with the muzzle or touching the triggertoo soon.

It is important that you do not press the trigger at thispoint. Continue the exercise until you can bring thepistol from the holster up to and aligned with thetarget in one second.

EXERCISE 2

Perform Exercise 1, but add preparation of thetrigger and verification of the sight picture. As thepistol rises into the line of sight, the trigger fingertakes up the slack on the trigger. When you arrive ontarget, do not let the trigger break. Control thetrigger! Simultaneously, pick up the front sightthrough the rear sight notch. Close the nondominanteye and focus on the top edge of the front sight as itis perfectly aligned with the rear sight andsuperimposed on the target. Hold that position!

This drill takes the act of firing the shot right to thevery edge of discharge. Hold the trigger prep andthe sight picture for one to two seconds. Mentallythink the words "pause" and "verify." Do not allow thetrigger to break.

EXERCISE 3

Perform Exercise 2, taking the firing stroke to thevery point of discharge. Mentally think the words"pause," "verify," and "press." As soon as you think"press," press carefully through that final stage of thetrigger. Monitor the front sight for movement.

The first drill is lightning quick, almost as if you wereintending to throw the pistol at the target. Exercise 2

teaches you to stop (pause) at the top of the stroketo verify sight picture and get the trigger ready, to go.The trigger does not break in either one of thesedrills. It is important to emphasize that the final pressis a distinct and different move from the actualpresentation of the pistol. Exercise 3 puts it alltogether. When you think the word "press," you pressthrough the final stage of the trigger pressure untilthe hammer or striker releases. Move up to that pointas fast as you can and pause as long as you need inorder to guarantee the shot. That is the secret to fastshooting. These drills can be conducted as live firedrills as well.

Only hits count! That is a statement that is as true asit is forceful. All of the tactical tricks and high-speedguns in the world will do you little good if you cannothit on demand. Speed without accuracy is asvaluable as a glass of water to a drowning man.

You are already familiar with the basics, the secretsof marksmanship. These are paramount todeveloping accuracy. Some self-appointed tacticalgurus with little or no experience in personal combatwill tell you that gunfights are close enough to nothave to worry about accuracy. "Just hit himsomewhere," they pontificate.

Excuse me? When you stop to consider the stressesthat a man undergoes in a real fight, a fight to thedeath, it is clear that abandoning the principles ofmarksmanship is tantamount to suicide. Think backto your best day at the firing range. When you areshooting for blood (and your targets are doinglikewise), you will only be half that good! Now if youalways practice to "just hit him somewhere," themost important shot of your life will go-you guessedit-nowhere!

Take a page from the sniper discipline. Policesnipers train to make eyeball shots at 100 meters.Their actual encounters are generally much closerand rarely require such precision. The idea is that ifthey are that accurate in training, the better they'll beable to place decisive shots on larger targets understress. As long as realistic time intervals areadhered to, this is sage advice for pistoleros too.

Don't mistake the foregoing as advice to "accurize"your pistol. Your pistol is already inherently moreaccurate out of the box than you are. Instead,accurize your shooting technique. That is what willsave you.

The following are some accuracy enhancing drills foryou to practice. Note that these are live-fire drills thatmust be performed at the range. During these drills,your goal is to keep all of the shots touching eachother. If they go into the same hole, you are on theright track. Remember, this is an exercise thatdevelops a skill, much like push-ups and pull-upsdevel op arm strength. During tactical operations, wemay settle for less in order to gain some speed.Developing the ability to fire a surgically accurateshot, however, will allow you to sacrifice relativelylittle when you "go fast."

DRILL 1

Set up a standard combat/humanoid target at 5meters. Make a small aiming point on it, such as across or a dot, about an inch in size. Bring your pistolup to the point position and fire a group of five shotswithout taking your visual focus and attention off thefront sight. Strive to place them all in the same holeor at least touching each other. Shoot slowly foraccuracy only.

When 5 meters is no longer challenging, move to 7,and so on. Strive for as small a group as possible,and do not fire until every aspect of the sight pictureand trigger press is perfect.

DRILL 2

Follow the same procedure as the previous drill, butbegin in the ready position. Move from ready to pointquickly, then carefully fire a single perfect shot. Donot rush.

DRILL 3

Follow the same procedure as the first drill, butbegin with the pistol holstered. Remember, perfectshots only. Your group should be approximately the

same size as the two previous exercises.

DRILL 4

Follow the same procedure as Drill 3, but fire twocontrolled shots. Press the trigger for the first shot.Hold the trigger to the rear on recoil and do notrelease it until you obtain a second sight picture.Now release it only as far as necessary to reset it fora second shot and again, focusing visually on the topedge of the front sight, press for the second perfectshot.

Once you can fire extremely accurate shots ondemand, begin to include an increasingly shortertime interval. Your goal as a student of the pistol is tofind your personal balance between speed andaccuracy.

A Note About "Reading Your Targets"

It is sometimes difficult to gauge your performanceat the firing range because of the noise and tumultassociated with a live-fire drill. It is helpful if you lookat your target as a final exam paper. It will tell youthings about your grip, stance, trigger press, and soforth ... if you know how to read it. Look at where yourshots have hit. Assuming that your pistol is properlysighted in, any variance from a center hit is all you.

If you find that your shots are low on the target, it is asign that you are not pressing the trigger carefully.Sometimes shooters will anticipate the shot andhurry the trigger press abruptly (AKA jerking thetrigger). They may even reflexively force the muzzledown slightly in anticipation of the shot. This in turncauses the front sight to dip low and either to the leftor right as the bullet leaves the barrel.

The training solution is to practice the "ball anddummy" drill. This drill is extremely useful, and Imake it an ongoing part of my training. Fill amagazine two-thirds with dummy inert rounds andthe remaining third with live cartridges, randomlyinterspersed. Now carry on with your training.Mentally convince yourself that the pistol iscompletely loaded with dummy rounds. The bulk of

the trigger presses will bear this out. Eventually,however, you will experience a live round being firedand get a real surprise break. Prolonged use of thisdrill will desensitize you to the report and noise of theshot and will cure the flinch problem.

If you are a right-hander and your shots areconsistently hitting the target to the right of the paper,you probably have too much finger on the trigger.The result is that when you press to the rear, you arealso pulling to the right. You may think that everythingis perfect, but the paper will not verify your feeling. Ifyour shots are hitting too far to the left, invariably youare not placing enough finger on the trigger andcausing the opposite of the previous situation. Notethat a left-handed shooter will experience the samethings. but to the opposite side of the target.

Shooting high is most often caused by not focusingintently enough on the front sight and instead lookingup at the target at the final moment. It is also causedby not stopping on the target during a presentationand instead trying to "ambush" the target as youswing the pistol past it.

The solution is to maintain visual focus on the frontsight as the shot is fired. In fact, look for the frontsight lifting off the target on recoil. Additionally, becertain that you have in fact stopped moving beforefinal pressure is exerted on the trigger.

Trends come and go as the years pass. We've allseen the comical sketch where the wife, in theprocess of cleaning out her voluminous closet, asksthe husband whether she should discard aparticularly old dress. The husband's reply is to keepit, as it will eventually come back into style.

This phenomena of old issues revisited and comingback into vogue is prevalent not only in styles ofclothing but in music and other aspects of oursociety. Oftentimes, it is the result of simple curiosityor even nostalgia. Other times, the motives areeconomic. Label anything properly and it will sell."The answer to your problems" makes for a greatdeal of sales, especially if it offers an attractiveshortcut.

In fashion or music, the worst that can occur fromselecting something outdated is to be accused ofhaving bad taste. In more serious pursuits such aspolice work or self-defense, the ramifications ofselecting a new and improved method that is reallyold and substandard may be far more serious.

The topic in question, of course, is firearms training.There is a growing movement afoot to revisit theviability of point shooting, or unsighted shooting, asa replacement for the commonly accepted method ofusing the sights to align the weapon on anadversary.

Neither aimed fire or, as some call it, "instinctive"shooting are new. The question of which is better forcombat, however, surfaces continuously. Each yearwe have a rash of new revelations on the subject.Recently, I had the privilege of attending asymposium for law enforcement firearms trainershosted by a police standards group. A great deal ofinformation was presented, much of it veryinteresting. The overall theme, however, seemed tobe slanted toward the promotion of theinstinctive/unsighted school of shooting and to theabandonment of proven principles which many of thepresenters claimed as unrealistic.

For the sake of clarity, let's define a few terms. Point

shooting is the use of the pistol in CQBenvironments against human adversaries withoututilizing the sights in any manner to orient the pistolbefore or during the firing process. Sighted fire (asdeveloped and taught by Jeff Cooper and hisvarious students) refers to the use of the pistol in theCQB environment against human adversaries whileusing the sights to orient the pistol before and duringfiring.

The concepts of point shooting were taught in thepolice community for many years and as late as the1970s. Due to the abysmal performance of policeofficers in gunfights, a better way was sought. Stopto consider that if point shooting actually worked asmarvelously as its proponents claim, an alternativewould never have been sought. Quite simply, toomany officers were being killed by suspects afterthey missed them with unsighted fire at close range.

Some revolutionary individuals advocated pointshooting up close but aimed fire as the distanceincreased. This created additional problems, not theleast of which was that officers were still missingtheir shots at the close distances. The other problemwas that introducing two distinctly different methodswas a direct violation of Hick's Law, a scientificprinciple regarding human behavior under stress. Inshort, it states that if more than a single response istrained for a given stimulus, the subconscious mindmust examine each one of those responses prior toreacting. Training point shooting for up close andaimed fire for distance resulted in drasticallyincreased reaction times and complete failure understress.

It was the failure of these ideas that led the warriorgunfighters of a generation ago to look for a betterway. Their solution was the adoption of JeffCooper's system or one of its various derivatives.Many police agencies took this approach,abandoning the ineffective firearms training in placeat the time (a big step) and adopting Cooper'stechniques. If a large police department can do it,certainly smaller agencies and individuals can do soas well.

I am good friends with the firearms instructor of alarge agency in Southern California. He tells me thatin the last 30 years, that agency has hadapproximately 2,700 officerinvolved shootings. I wastold by one of that agency's senior officers that theyhad had, at one time, seven separate incidentswhere officers were killed by criminals whom theyhad missed at close range with pistol fire using the"old" methods.

Nobody wants to denigrate fallen officers, but if weare to learn from their mistakes we must analyze witha critical eye the circumstances of their lastmoments. The bottom line is that no one's tactics arealways perfect. If the tactics are not perfect at thecritical moment and the officer finds himself "goingto guns," will his marksmanship skills save the day?

The answer for my friend's agency in the turbulentearly years was a resounding and sobering no! Butsince abandoning the point shooting and sight-only-at-long-distance methodology in favor of the Cooper-based methods, their hit rate has risen dramatically.In the 1970s, the percent of hits per shots fired wasabysmal. In 1991, after a number of years followingthe new program, the ratio rose to 56 percent. In1996, it was 70 percent. I am told it is even highernow. This cause and effect has been repeated manytimes by agencies that have followed suit, to includemilitary units as well as police departments.

Many point shooting advocates cite strong medicalresearch data on the effects of stress on humancombatants. They suggest that their methods are theonly ones that will work under stress and the onlyones really proven in actual combat. Some go furtherto suggest that those of us who've discussed the finepoints of life and death with belligerent bad guysreally didn't see the front sight after all but ratherimagined the whole thing. Even claims of usingunsighted point shooting techniques out to distancesof 25 yards are made, with centered thoracic cavityhits no less!

The medical stress data given is invaluable, butdepending on how it is interpreted it can be used tosupport either argument. As far as imagining thefront sight rather than actually seeing it? Sorry guys:too many officers have used Cooper's methodsuccessfully to buy that one. In debriefings of gunfightwinners, the question "Did you see the sights?" wasinvariably answered in the affirmative by those whohit and the negative by those who missed.

Many police officers who have not only seen theelephant but who collected the ivory as well haveformulated some very serious ideas about winning agunfight. These ideas do not include point shooting.Some of them are listed below:

1) Diligent training and an aggressive, pseudo-predatory attitude will dramatically mitigate the

effects of stress. If a police officer can be trained todo his (or her) very complex job, that same officercan be trained to keep his cool and to operate hispistol effectively under stress, maximizing theaccuracy of his shots by using the sightsappropriately. To those who suggest that it cannotbe done, the list of names of those who have donethat very thing is long and distinguished. Granted,doing so is not easy; in fact it is damn difficult. But asone of the speakers at the recent P.O.S.T. FirearmsTrainer Symposium said, "We are not animals, andwe can get past that."

2) Another truth is that every shot you miss gives theother man yet another opportunity to kill you. Only hitscount. To get hits by design, not by luck, you mustuse the sights. Some may be able to hit fairly wellusing point shooting in the controlled environment ofa shooting range, but try the same thing in dynamicenvironments against shooting and movingopponents and missed shots will be the inevitableresult. Anybody can get lucky (or unlucky). We seekto win by design, not by default.

3) Aggressive shooters will win every time overreactive defensive shooters. Those with cool,aggressive, warrior attitudes do much better thanthose with highly aroused, emotionally driven, victimattitudes. There is no possibility of victory in defense,but there is in the attack. The standard immediateaction drill for an ambush is to assault the ambush.Gunfights are the same way. This is not say that wefix bayonets on our service pistols and charge in theface of danger but rather that our mental andemotional response to an attack must be to counterattack with greater violence. This attitude must betaught and cultivated. Being a victim is not a tacticaloption.

4) The sights must be used for all shooting exceptsituations where you are so close that you can smellyour adversary's bad breath and a standard firingposition would allow him to grab and/or deflect yourfirearm. This doesn't mean that you spend secondupon second watching a perfect sight picture. Thedegree of precision in sight alignment and theresulting sight picture is greatly dependent on the

size of the target and the difficulty of the shot. Thislittle tidbit is largely unknown to proponents of thenotion that sighted shooting is "too slow." A large,close-range target requires very little precision,whereas the same target at 25 yards requiresgreater precision. An officer can easily be trained toaccept what he sees of the sight or refine it basedon the difficulty of the shot. This is far easier to teach,to learn, and to maintain than any so-called bodyindex. Moreover, this will guarantee the placement ofthe shots and maybe even win the gunfight.

I urge those who are tempted to adopt point shootingto think long and hard before abandoning theCooper technique and its derivatives. If thepreceding argument was not sufficient to sway you,consider this. The next time you visit the range totrain, look at your target. Instead of a two-dimensional silhouette, visualize a tall, muscular,tattooed, longhaired violent parolee who has swornnever to go back to prison and who wants to kill youfor even suggesting the possibility. He's coming foryou now, drool dripping from his fumanchumustachioed face. You can see the hatred in his redeyes as he goes for the stolen and unregisteredpistol in his belt. To survive, you must win, and to win,you must hit him solidly before he hits you. If youmiss, you die. Now ask yourself this: do you feellucky?

I have been teaching for many years and in manycountries-not as much as some of my oldercolleagues, but enough to have received a numberof consistent questions from students. In this chapterI've tried to list the most common ones and answerthem as I do in class.

1) How often should I practice?

That depends on how good you want to get. Initially,to reach a high level of skill, frequent practice isnecessary. This is especially true if you've recentlyattended a training course and learned new things.New skills must become ingrained in thesubconscious with extensive repetition. Once suchskills have become reflexive, intensive practice isnot necessary. Daily practice is ideal, but every otherday will still yield impressive results.

2) How much time should I spend on a trainingsession?

About 20 to 30 minutes is good. Some students willspend more time, and some less. Remember thegoal: to ingrain perfect techniques into thesubconscious mind. In order to do this, you needquality practice, not quantity practice. This alsomeans intense and undivided concentra tion. Assoon as you begin to feel tired or you find your minddrifting to other things, it is time to stop. Everyrepetition you do trains your neuromuscularconnections as well as your mental focus. Doing itright a few times will yield better results than doing itpoorly a thousand times.

3) How fast should I train?

Speed is a by-product of smoothness in execution.Smoothness, in turn, is a product of correctprocedures ingrained into the neuromuscular andsubconscious systems. Do not make the mistake oftrying to intentionally go fast. Speed will come frompractice.

The speed you want is speed with control.Uncontrolled speed is a waste. When you train,begin with smooth and controlled, medium-speed

repetitions. Eventually, these will smoothen evenmore as superfluous motions are eliminated.

4) At what distance should I dry practice?

The practice target should simulate the visualappearance of a man at 7 meters when placed 3meters away. If you are attempting to develop long-range skills, then by all means extend the distance. Ifyour dry practice training area is large enough toaccommodate a life-size target at real worlddistances, all the better.

5) What should I think about while practicing?

What you focus on mentally is as important as whatyou execute physically. An important aspect ofsuccessful shooting is concentration. You must keepyour eye and attention focused on the center of massof the target while presenting the weapon. When thepistol is up in the line of sight and you are pressingthe trigger, your attention and visual focus must beon the front sight. Think of what you are doing as youare doing it. Don't concern yourself with what you dida second ago or what you are going to do next.Rather, con centrate on the present action as youexecute. Additionally, listen and focus on thecommands given. These key words will becomeingrained in your subconscious and eventually keyyou to the required physical responses.

6) How often should I conduct livefire training?

Live fire is important to remind you what an actualshot feels and sounds like, but it should only form aminor part of your training. It is mere validation ofyour dry practice. To a degree, the more you shoot,the worse shot you become. One 30-minute session(about 50 to 75 rounds) every week or every otherweek is fine. But in the interim, you must conductproper and consistent dry practice. Beware ofschools and training programs that advocatevoluminous amounts of shooting. Such activity willproduce nothing but mountains of brass and poorskills.

7) What should I practice when I conduct live fire?

Practice the same drills you do when dry practicing.Use the same mental focus, follow the sameprocedures, and do them with the same attitude.Don't change a thing. You will soon find that yourshooting is improving by the quality of your drypractice program.

8) How do I overcome a flinch reaction?

Flinching, or mashing the trigger, is a commonailment to shooters. Actually, it is either a reflexiveforward push of the weapon after trigger press or aspastic jerking of the trigger. It comes fromanticipating the shot rather than allowing it tosurprise you every time. You must desensitizeyourself to the report and blast of the shot.

The way to do this is to do more dry practice.Additionally, intersperse some dry practice in the livefire session, performing about three dry presses foreach live shot. Strive for a perfect trigger press whileconcentrating on the front sight.

When this becomes comfortable, load a magazine aquarter full of live rounds and three-quarters of inertdummy rounds. Now you must tell yourself, andbelieve it wholeheartedly, that the pistol is loadedwith dummy rounds and that it will not fire. When youbring the pistol up into a firing position and begin topress the trigger, focus intently on the sight pictureand convince yourself that it will not fire. If there is infact a dummy round in the chamber, the trigger presswill be perfect without any subsequent movement ofthe front sight because of anticipation of the blastand recoil. If there is a live round in the chamber, youwill experience a surprise break. When youexperience a surprise break, you will alwaysremember it. You must now strive to make eachtrigger press a surprise break. This will cure thepost-ignition push and/or flinch.

9) What about training courses that advocate 3,000rounds a week?

Again, to a certain degree the more you shoot, theworse shot you will become. Each shot you fire intraining should be a perfect or nearly perfect and

controlled shot. Otherwise you will be programmingpoor habits into your subconscious system. Perfectshots require perfect concentration. Firing suchshots is, eventually, mentally fatiguing. There is alimit to anyone's ability to concentrate like that. Anyshots fired after that limit has been reached areactually detrimental and wasted shots.

Sometimes in a training course, this limit must bepushed in order to cover all of the curriculum, but notwithout some concern over rest breaks and so on.Courses or instructors that advocate massiveamounts of ammunition expenditure without themandatory accompanying instruction are oftenconcealing poor instruction or a lacking curriculumwith the smoke and noise of ballistic selfdelusion.Remember, any monkey can go to the firing rangeand mash the trigger 1,000 times in an afternoon,accomplishing nothing but making brass. It takes athinking man to concentrate and to program perfectresponses into his subconscious system. When lifeis the only prize, there can be no compromise!

10) Will dry practice damage my guns?

Absolutely not! Many of my personal firearms haveseen hundreds of hours of dry practice training andare still going strong. If this is of concern to you,purchase one of the commercial orange plastic snapcaps to cushion things.

A word of perspective: if your sidearm is so frail asto be damaged in mere dry practice, get rid of thedamn thing and get a real pistol that will endure it.

The following live-fire drill will give you some ideaabout the time intervals involved. It can be shot onany humanoid silhouette target and demands arealistic balance of speed and accuracy. Begin atthe appropriate level for your skill (basic,intermediate, advanced, or instructor) and shoot thisdrill no more than three or four times a month.

1) Standard Exercises: single target, from holster,perform once

2) Multiple Targets: 5 meters away, targets 1 meterapart, center-tocenter, one shot on each fromholster, perform once

3) Controlled Pairs: 7 meters on a single target, fromholster, perform six times

4) Responses Right, Left, and Rear: 7 meter target,two shots each from the holster, perform once

5) Small Targets at Close Range: head shot only,one shot only, from ready, perform each three times

Cooper, Jeff, Principles of Personal Defense,Paladin Press, 1989

- To Ride Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth,Gunsite Press, 1988

Givens, Tom, The Complete Guide to ConcealedCarry, Tom Givens, 1995

- Fighting Smarter, Tom Givens, 2000

Morrison, Greg, The Modern Technique of the Pistol,Gunsite Press, 1991

Suarez, Gabriel, The Tactical Pistol, Paladin Press,1995

- The Tactical Shotgun, Paladin Press, 1996

- The Tactical Advantage, Paladin Press, 1998

- The Tactical Rifle, Paladin Press, 1999

Taylor, Chuck, The Complete Book of CombatHandgunning, Paladin Press, 1982

- The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery,DBI Books, 1997

Gabriel Suarez is a veteran of Southern Californianlaw enforcement, where he has served for manyyears. His extensive field experience includes singleofficer patrol, gang enforcement, special operations,and tactical training. He was one of the foundingmembers of his department's Special Weapons andTactical Precision Rifle teams. In 1991 he wasawarded the Police Medal of Valor for his actionsduring a critical incident. He is still active in the lawenforcement profession and the training industry.