Firearms tips and tricks and training.

You will find that I spend a lot of time taking about firearms, and the training that every firearm owner should receive. Well here are a few pointers that I think just about everyone can learn from. Please remember that I am not a certified civilian instructor, and everyone has differing opinions. So do not take my advise as the hard and fast truth. I learn something new every day, and if you have stopped learning, then you need to take a step back and see if maybe you are just too cocky for your own good, because you can always learn something from someone.

This is not a debate, if you have questions or comments on the subject feel free to post them. But this is not a place to debate policy, or ideology. Just the facts, and truths when it comes to safe firearms handling and shooting.

First lets go over the five weapons safety rules (yeah I am a Marine, so these are ingrained in my being).

1. Treat every weapon as if it were loaded.
2. Never point your weapon at anything you do not intend to destroy
3. Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you are ready to fire
4. Keep your weapon on safe until you intend to fire
5. Know your target, your weapon's capabilities and be mindful of what is beyond your target

We will skip the weapons conditions because there are so many different variations because of the sheer number of differences between pistols. If you have a specific question about a particular weapon, please feel free to ask.

We all know that the Class you are required to take before receiving your CCW is a joke. It does not prepare you to fire your weapon when needed, it is simply a check in the box so there are no liability issues. I would highly suggest that you seek professional help, and train with them. There are numerous professionals that can properly train you to defend yourself. If you have not been properly trained then you will probably fail to pull the trigger when it counts, and you just became a liability to those around you.

Choosing a firearm.

Well there are a LOT of opinions out there as to what type and caliber weapon is best. I personally only carry .45, same goes for my wife. But YOU have to be able to reliably hit the target under harsh conditions. A .22lr to the chest is better than a .50AE to the leg. So get the largest caliber that you can reliably hit center mass with.

I carry a Kimber Custom Covert II. But I am a big guy (so I can conceal a full sized weapon) that has been shooting since I was five or six years old, and it is almost the exact same pistol as what I carry as a secondary in my profession. You can not mess with success.

My wife has been open carrying for years (you have to love North Carolina), and has always done well with a .45, she is in the process of getting her CCW, and made the decision today to go with a G36. I have never really been a fan of Glock. But they are a reliable pistol, it is small and will be comfortable to carry, so she would be more likely to carry it often. I am really big on external safeties. But I have spent years perfecting my shooting style, I can draw, switch to fire and drill the target quick and effective. It is automatic for me to switch to fire and pull the trigger in one fluid motion (this does not mean that I am the greatest shooter out there, and I am not attempting to beat my chest). But to the uninitiated that external safety can be the difference between killing the bad guy, and him killing you. It is one more thing to think about. So I am happy to allow her to run with a weapon that does not have one.

The .45 vs 9mm, 10mm, .40 debate has raged on for years, and we will never be able to convince everyone. But study has shown this.

There is rarely such a thing as a one hit kill, unless you take out the CNS. That means you either have to hit them in the dome, or sever the spine to stop them cold. Even if you put three rounds center mass, it will generally take several minutes for them to bleed out. That means that if they are on something, they are still a threat. That is why you MUST practice your failure to stop drills, and we will cover these in detail later in this thread. So once again, go with the largest round that you can accurately hit the target with. If that means you have to run 9mm then so be it. Just be proficient with the weapon you carry.

A few tips that I have found useful when training are as follows.

First figure out if you are right or left eye dominate. Myself, I am left eye dominate, but am right handed. I always suggest that you teach yourself to fire with both eyes open. I believe that if you are left eye dominate, that you should fire left handed. Lucky for me, I am an ambidextrous shooter. This works out well because sighting with my left eye, and firing right handed reduces my field of view. I do not have any tips or tricks on changing your dominate eye (sorry I can not help you there). But if you are left eye dominate and can not fire with the left hand, then I would suppose that it is better to reduce your field of view a little bit by firing right handed, than it is closing one eye and totally screwing up your field of view.

I always advocate firing from the isosceles (feet planted shoulder width apart, squaring your target, arms outstretched and even). Do not simply go to the range and fire single action all day. Practice firing double action (if your pistol will allow you to do so), practice acquiring your target, lower the weapon and see just how fast you can acquire the target while getting rounds center mass. Then once you are proficient at plinking targets you should start firing from the holster. Three rounds center mass (pattern no larger than a basket ball) from the holster in less than three seconds. It is really hard for us to let our groups open up and be out of the x ring. But that half second could save your life. . Once you become proficient at this, you need to start practicing your failure to stop drills. That means two to the chest, and one to the head from the holster in less than four seconds. Do this until it is second nature.

If you plan on carrying spare mags, then you need to practice speed reloads. Follow the above course of fire, but load two rounds in your first mag. Then when you run dry have one round in a spare mag. Practice it till it is secondary nature. I have done it so much, and been trained to always use the slide lock release that I can not do it any other way with any type of speed. But an LEO buddy of mine suggests using the Tap Rack Ready method. All this is, is once you slide the new mag in, you pull back on the slide ignoring the slide release. He says that this is good because it works for all automatics. So if you use a multitude of firearms, you do not have to search for the slide lock. For example. The slide lock on my Kimber is big and easy to hit with my non firing hand, as is the same with the 92FS and the pistol we use at MARSOC, the ICQB, as well as the MK23. But when I try this with a Glock I tend to miss the slide release, because it is smaller. Are you seeing where I am going? Practice this until it is AUTOMATIC.

Now that you have done all of the above. It is time to start stressing your body before you shoot (do not sacrifice safety). When you are being attacked you can expect your accuracy to drop between forty and seventy percent. That means that if you were not a good solid shooter in the first place, you will tend to miss center when challenged.

it is VERY difficult to recreate a situation as stressful as being attacked and having your life threatened. No one, NO ONE can ever say how they will react until they have had it happen, and even if it has happened, and they reacted well, that does not mean they will react the same as before. So we MUST practice stressing our bodies and minds to prepare for an attack.

What I like to do to recreate this is simple, and easy. Go to your range, get the targets all set up, have your spot ready, and go into the parking lot, run circles for a few minutes, get your heart rate up, get to breathing hard, then quickly head into the range and practice your drills. It is amazing how bad you will shoot until you get used to this. But DO NOT SACRIFICE SAFETY while doing this. Be careful or you run the risk of hurting someone on the range itself. Many ranges will not allow this. But there are other ways to stress your body. You just need to find what works for you. Maybe it is as simple as having your wife standing behind you yelling at you for not taking out the trash. What ever stresses you out will help.

Now choosing a round for defense?

There are several hundred types of rounds that all make claims to being the best for defense. Some are true claims, some are totally false. The truth of the matter is this. Be it wadcutters, or HP. Any round on target will hurt, any round center mass will eventually kill. But some rounds kill more effectively. If you have a round that will expand 90% of the time in ballistics gel, it will only expand 50% of the time in the body. Gel is not a good analog for gaging how hPs work in body.

Do not run Extreme Shock. They are a total farce. They do not expand or fragment the way they claim, and on the rare occasion that they do expand and fragment, they do not penetrate enough to reliably hit major organs. So if you are running them, STOP!

Hydroshocks will only expand about 40% of the time in the target. They look like a mean evil round that will hurt you bad, but they only look that way (from what I hear anyway).

Federal HSTs seem to expand the most reliably in target, from what I have read on them, they have an expansion rate of 65%, and do well after being fired through denim, and other types of clothing. They also tend to not over penetrate. So they will hit major organs, and do not seem to exit too often. They are also what a majority of the LEOs carry (from what I hear). This is important and I will explain after a bit.

Now there are some really good HPs that are devastating on target. They will expand most of the time, there are others that fragment and do major damage. But remember that you are not carrying in an attempt to kill people. You are carrying in an attempt to stop any attack that may occur. Also remember that if you do defend yourself, there WILL be a wrongful death case against you. You need to be able to prove that you did not go out with the intent to kill, you only shot that crack head because you wanted him to stop his attack. Packing black talons will not help your case. Packing Federal HSTs, or another HP used my a major LE agency should help your case.

Now think back to what I said about failure to stop drills, and practicing putting three rounds center mass. This will also help you in a wrongful death suit. It shows that you did not go after him like Rambo. You end the attack, or stop his advance, and you beat feet to the nearest police station. You are scared, you just shot a guy, you ran to the authorities and let them know what happened, and where it happened.

You are not required to give the person you just shot first aid. But doing so may help you in a wrongful death suit (I think).

ME? even after five combat deployments (or is is six? I don't remember anymore). I am going to beat feet to go tell the cops as soon as I am done shooting. There is zero need for me to stick around and wait for his friends to show up.

Now, if the LEOs do show up during the shooting. As soon as you hear them, drop your firearm and do not move, don't throw your hands in the air, or drop to the ground. Any sudden movements may be seen as hostile.

Not all LEOs are professionals, or level headed (they are human just as you or I, and as such are subject to stress and adrenalin). A great number of LEOs may shoot as soon as they see a weapon in your hand and announce their presence later. If you can, holster your weapon before they get there, and if they show up during the shooting, do not make any sudden movements, And DO NOT try to help them. Just stop what you are doing and hope they don't get antsy. They want to go home to momma and kids just as much as you do.

Well I hope this helps, and I look forward to any questions you may have.

To add a bit here...

Regarding police responding to the scene of a shooting, remember, you know you are the good guy, all they know is they're responding to a gunfight, and they have no clue as to who is who.

Some survival tips:

Many police departments are adopting the shouted command "POLICE, DON'T MOVE". That means exactly what it says. If you've still got your firearm in your hand, DO NOT DROP IT. There is a recent case of an off-duty police officer who got involved in a fight, and drew his weapon. In the course of things, he dropped the firearm, and it went off. The off-duty was shot to death by three (may have been four) on-duty police officers who were coming out of a nearby courthouse.

The best verbal response to police don't move is "POLICE, DON'T SHOOT". Even though you may not be a police officer, this will slow things down a bit. Then follow all commands to the letter. Do not hesitate. The on-duty officer will fire if he feels threatened, and his adrenaline is at maximum, so smooth movements to follow commands are a must.

If you've been involved in a gunfight, and the bad guy is down, if at all possible stay behind cover or at least concealment (not the same thing BTW) until you're sure the bad guy is either DRT (dead right there) or assistance arrives. He may be playing possum, and you don't want to find out the hard way.

Instruct family members what to do if they see a situation, gun, knife, whatever, that may require you to take action.

Saying "Daddy" or "honey" will bring your attention to the family member with you. If they say something along the lines of "gun", "knife" or whatever, that brings your attention outwards to the threat.

If you are involved in a shooting, the proper response to any questions by law enforcement, after you have established your bona fides is, "Yes, I want an attorney". Period.

The cop may be your friend, but the district attorney is NOT. You need a lawyer, and you need one ASAP. Every cop knows this, and they will not speak to anyone, supervisor, ADA, whoever, after a shooting unless their union rep and a lawyer is present. Their adrenaline makes them babble just as much as anyone else.

Remember, you have to defend your life, but afterwards, you have to defend your livelihood.

Good points, Scott. As the old saying goes, I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.