Posted: 3/28/2006 3:47:43 AM EDT
|
When you are being trained where are you told to aim?? stomach, groin, head?? I was talking with a friend, he said aim for the groin(or slightly above), since the recoil is going to take effect You are more likely to get more hits because you have more area than starting from the chest. faster target acquisition, more hits, what more can you want. what are your thoughts |
|
Way too many variables to address the question with a blanket statement. Traditionally though, LEOs have been trained to aim at the center of mass. For me, that would be the area high in the chest cavity. If time and circumstances permit, a well-placed head shot is the only way to go if you need to immediately stop a threat. I'm not a fan of groin shots unless that is the only target the bad guy gives me. |
| Center of mass. Way too many people have poor shooting skills as it is and deviate wildly from any aimpoint you train them for. Some people, due to poor trigger control, shoot very high due to heeling, or very low due to jerking the trigger. There are other variables. |
We were training on the two to the chest one to the head back in the early 90's. |
If I remember correctly, Massad Ayoob teaches(or taught, I think that my book of his was from the 80s) to shoot in the pelvic region if a suspect is so drugged up that your rounds to center mass are having no affect. By shattering the pelvic girdle, so are attempting to immobilize him. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. -BJohnson |
While body armor may be a contributing factor, it's more an issue of evolving tactics. I suggest to my students that the deciding to pull the trigger is deciding to stop a deadly threat. I train them to get two quick rounds on the body. That will get most people's attention. If the threat is a slow learner and is still coming, a slower, well-aimed shot to the head is in order. |
|
Vertical tracking is alive and well. Always aim center mass first. If firing from the hip, or retention position, at very close range or as an alternative to the traditional body armor drill going for the pelvic girdle works well and is easy to ensure accurate fire from such positions. The answer to this question could go on for pages, in simplest terms, center mass of the largest portion of the target available. |
|
In my academy they discouraged the "2 to the torso, 1 to the head", due to the higher probability of a miss for a headshot. They said that a girdle shot would be pretty devastating as well, and less likley to miss completely as you would with a headshot. I've got 16 rounds in the gun and another 30 on my belt... I'll just keep shooting centermass. |
They did that to 2 bank robbers in Ca. and look what it got them. Practice more. 
|
|
Center mass means, center mass of what ever is showing. If all you can see is a shoulder due to a barricade shoot 'center mass' of the shoulder. (that's what we were told.) We shoot to stop the threat. The 2 to the chest and 1 to the head compensates of maggots with high resistance to the threat being stopped. haha We also shoot at least 2 times on every station too. Not trained to shoot just one shot are we. |
|
Bjohnson, I've also been trained on the pelvic girdle, but won't a head shot accomplish the same end? I guess it is all in your shooter's ability, and confidence in their ability. To answer the original question, I was trained two to center mass and one to the head. I was also trained to adapt to different posibilties and to improvise to get the desired outcome. |
Not a cop, but it sounds like you just described a "zipper drill". I believe the idea is that the pelvic area is a relatively stable (less movement compared to the head) area that contains lots of blood vessels, and is generally not covered by body armor... so start there and work your way up. |
That's what we train for. Center of the largest visible area of the target. If someone poses a deadly threat and we can only see a hand, we would aim for the middle of the hand and shoot. We do incorporate "failure drills" which include head shots, but center of visible mass is pretty much the standard. |
Read about a similar drill in one of the gun rags. Can't remember which one. This technique was being promoted toward foreign bodyguard teams that were restricted to smaller calibers. It was basically one to the pelvic area, one to center chest, and one to the neck/throat area. Probably not a bad drill for folks who carry small caliber ccw guns. |
 center of visible mass is how I train my fellow CO's. |
+1000000000000 We were trained two shots to the chest. Ideally two to three inches apart and if that didn't stop the threat then one shot to the head between the eyebrows and the tip of the nose. Through the eye socket area to in sure no deflection off the skull. - Go |
Trained to shoot 2 to the body, 1 in the head also. If the perp doesnt go down after two rounds in the chest, he's either wearing body armor or on PCP. The cranial vault (PC slang for head shot) shot then comes into play. Just do what Tom Cruise did in "Collateral". That was some good shooting there! |
Fixed that for ya  As for vertical tracking, you don't move your arms/gun, you just bend your knees ever so slightly after shooting 2x in center mass, it cants the point of aim up about a foot or so, perfect for headshots. Once you practice it a few times, you see how much easier it can be to make a quick 2/1 shot. |