So, this just popped into my head and I was wondering what you all think about it. I've been training myself to shoot and move in the shoulders squared, "universal fighting stance" style, and this is extremely comfortable for me. I shoot stock collapsed, nose almost to charging handle, and all of this feels good and natural now. However, everyone who advocates this type of style, which seems to be pretty much everybody, notes that this is good because when you're wearing body armor, you want your front exposed instead of your side, since that's where most of your armor is. Trouble is, I have no body armor, and don't plan on getting any anytime soon. Should I be practicing more of a sideways stance? I guess you would call it weaver, but you get the point. Shouldn't I be more concerned about presenting less of my body to the target, which would mean being more sideways? I hate this, since I'm so comfortable with what I'm doing now, but I also wouldn't want to up my chances of being hit if it ever came to it.

Thanks in advance, and hopefully this hasn't been beat to death already. I tried searching and couldn't find anything.

Paul

No square up for 3 reasons.
Better recoil management with more meat behind the gun. You'll put down more fire accurately and faster which is pretty good protection if you're being shot at.
Also taking a round in one lung or in the stomach sucks but beats taking a round laterally through both lungs and possibly shattering ribs on it's way through, or even a heart lung shot.
You'll have better SA and Field of view when you search and assess after your string of fire, your body can pivot like a gun turret to another target easier if you need to engage another bad guy.

NVM

Keep doing what you're doing.  For some positive reinforcement, watch 3-Gun or USPSA/IDPA videos on youtube.  Watch guys like Bob Vogel, Daniel Horner, Taran Butler, Mike Voight, Jerry Miculek and Keith Garcia.  Then watch videos of "tactical" trainers like Pat McNamara, Frank Proctor, Travis Haley, Paul Howe and so on.  Watch what they're doing.

Went to a training course (SigArms Academy) and the instructor said that unless you practice thousands and thousands of rounds per month, your best bet is to use
the 'Isosceles' stance. He indicated that a typical shooter (again, one who does not shoot thousands of rounds for practice each month) who uses the Weaver stance, will revert to an Isosceles stance under stress. He supported his statement by saying that if you watch any gunfight videos (surveillance/dash cam/etc) you'll universally see no one using the Weaver stance. He indicated that under stress, we will square to the target and focus solely on the threat (usually the weapon).

So, having said that, I would say that you should use the Isosceles stance. The idea being that you work with your natural tendencies, instead of trying to train against them.

As Atacorian said,  a lateral shot from the side is more likely to hit vital organs and frequently more than one.   Cmshoot discusses this in his classes,  where they had a trauma surgeon speak to the police department where he worked about survival odds based on where a hit occurred.