Im not tracking. Why? What does manual safties have to do with distances?

One more thing to have to mess with.

Time the distance it takes you to dash less than ten feet towards something. I'm not positive that I'm fast enough to act quicker than that time. Just the way I look at it all.

My dad and I were just talking about this last night while shooting at my home.

He was 20 years police in GA with 8 years SWAT.

He taught me a maneuver that I believe was mentioned earlier, where the shooter pushes the attacker in the chest, takes one step back and draws to fire. Total distance was probably 2 meters at the time of discharge.

We also went over reflexively draw and firing 2 shots from the hip trying to maintain center mass. 1 meter distance.

This was some of the training he went through.

My practice is usually from 3 - 10 yards. I usually carry 45ACP 1911s with a thumb safety.  When my back gives me trouble I carry a M&P Shield 9mm with a thumb safety. As the gun comes out of the holster the safety goes off with the swipe of my thumb. I've never forgotten to do that in the last 20 years of carrying 1911s. I can be on target, round fired, just as fast as anyone else my age with a gun that doesn't have a safety. The safety thing is so much BS I can't believe that people really believe it. If you have the sense to unholster a gun then you will have ability to swipe the thumb safety off. It's just a matter of practice. No different than learning to draw your gun, take aim, and fire the gun.

Not sure how far this is, I'd guess 5 yds or so, but here's a short vid of how fast it can happen

I've only used my CCW once, was being attacked by a large dog, it was definitely less than 3 ft away. It was a draw and shoot from the hip, no sight picture required.

(No, I'm not a cop and I was on public property when the Rot mix went stupid.)

Luckily the LEO that responded knew me which made the whole incident and aftermath with the dog owner less dramatic.  DA ruled it a good shoot, fined dog owner for having a dangerous animal on the loose.


Old Marine

Unofficial Shootout Videos.



http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1359984_Unofficial_Shootout_Video_Thread.html



 

Practice pistol marksmanship out to the longest distance your range will allow.  Most shootings are not ALL shootings.  While more rare, there have been plenty of documented cases of legit self defense shootings that have happened at way more than conversational distances.

If I have time to draw, I have time to remove the saftey

Real world encounters happen so close, you should be training on how to put distance between you and threat, just so you can get a shot off!  Those gun rag gurus and their measured distances are paper warriors/desk jockies.

Exactly. Swiping off the safety is part of the drawstroke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMSlCyc-SQQ

What?  

And sometimes they happen farther out.

Its good to train for those cases too

Real world encounters are measured in single digit feet!  Don't listen to all these gun rag gurus, self proclaimed "experts"!

This is interesting to discuss. I remember one time I was at a gas pump and someone was walking around asking for money. My music was on in the cab of my truck, and it was broad daylight at a buckees gas station in Texas. He got close before I noticed him, I put one hand out and one on my gun and said "Sir, I dont have any monry for you, and you need to go away please. He never saw the gun(didn't draw it) and I never got a threatening vibe, but you can't be too careful. but he was danger close, If things happened differently, it would have been close quarters, knife distance. I would have had one hand out and hipshooting. But If that went that far bad, Id also probably be stabbed several times. That was several years ago.

Two days ago there was a guy outside Dicks Sporting Goods in the back of the lot sitting down under a light pole. When I walked up to my truck, he stood up and looked at me, I kept staring at him over my shoulder and switched keys to my left side, and kept my hand near my right side, I tried to stay away of what and who else might be around, while getting to my truck, while keeping an eye on him. Once he got within about 20 feet he asked in I had any money and I said I didn't, and got int my truck while paying attention.

For me, this isn't bragging, and these aren't even "close call situations", but when anything like this occurs my mind goes "this poor guy probably just wants some money, but what if..." and I analyze the most dangerous course of action and prepare. For me, I learned over time situational awareness, but also body language. The second guy saw me and I gave him the body language of "I see you" "You're standing up? Now Im watching you." "Hell no, Im not playing games." and my defensive, assertive posture said everything he needed to know. Im not sure whether he intended to get money or not, but your level of awareness and when you start sending signals can often times determine how close these encounters get. A lot of times you just cant. But situtional awareness can keep something from sneaking up on you like it did years ago when I was at that gas station.

https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/texas-man-saves-cops-life-with-a-long-shot/

lol, you were saying?

Exception not standard? Lol.

And that wasn't a concealed carry self defense circumstance, that was a citizen helping in a standoff. Sort of different.

He's right.

Real world encounters are measured in single digit feet.

Yes it was an exception. Using a handgun for selfdefense is also a rare occasion. Do you know for a fact that the.old timer wasnt carrying that handgun concealed?

Im not saying all self defense shootings happen at long range, only that its a possibility. To say its not possible is naive and irresponsible.

Training out to ranges that challenges you current skill levels doesnt mean you cant also practice at close range.

For all of you guys out there with the train of thought that "with good situational awareness you should never need to use a gun," do you really think that something terrible cant happen to people no matter how prepared they are?

For even the most prepared of us, there are things that are out of our control and always some way for someone to be, more or less, ambushed.

Obviously being properly prepared and trained, as well as keeping mindful of your surroundings can go a long way, some things just cannot be avoided.