Regardless of what some believe, you will shoot under stress how you train. It's called building muscle memory, and it works. The Marine Corps teaches it with the rifle, and many shooting schools teach it with the pistol.

One here in the Dallas area that I've attended serveral times has been successful. I grip, draw, present, aim and fire the weapon the same way every time, thousands of times so that when I am called to do so under stress, it will be natural to me to do it right.

The founder of the shooting school I mentioned above told us an illustrative tale at the last class. It seems that he has taken his program on the road and taught it to the Tulsa, OK Police Department, among others. A Tulsa officer who had attended the training was riding with an officer who had not when they were dispatched to a call. Upon arrival, they were drawn down and fired upon by a bad guy. The results are startlingly clear in demonstrating the effectiveness of good training:

1) The bad guy got off [b]3[/b] shots with [b]0[/b] hits.

2) The officer who had not attended the training got off [b]5[/b] shots with [b]1[/b] hit. 20% is the approximate national police average for hits in a gunfight.

3) The officer who had attended the training got off [b]12[/b] shots with [b]10[/b] hits.

Of all the people, LEO or not, who have attended this training program, [b]4[/b] have been in gunfights, and all [b]4[/b] have come out on top.

Draw your own conclusions.

Semper Fidelis
Jarhead out.

----------------
"One hundred rounds do not constitute firepower. One hit constitutes firepower."
--General Merritt A. “Red Mike” Edson, USMC