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Thursday, April 14, 2011
Fast Hits
"Shoot as fast as you can hit"
As fast as I can hit what? A target the size of a quarter? A cigarette pack? A magazine cover?
I may be paraphrasing here, but I believe Jeff Cooper said something like "shot placement is key."
So now I am at two contradictory goals.
Lets say a good shooter can go faster. Accuracy suffers, naturally, and instead of his bullet holes on the practice target getting covered by a 3x5 card, they are covered by a 8.5x11 piece of paper. But is that hitting? Yes, if you consider merely center mass a hit, but that wasn't the 'impression' I got from reading people like Cooper.
Shoot as fast as you can hit. Shoot faster, then, if you are always grouping inside a 3x5 card and a notebook paper size target is good enough for a hit, then. I guess. I'm sorta asking here. There is always so fast that you shoot the ceiling, or your foot.... If you shoot your foot because you've increased the speed to ludicrous-reckless then you've sped up too much... But, short of that, that's how I reconcile the contradictions. If a magazine-cover sized target is unacceptable in a given situation then you need to shoot slower, naturally. Like when a bad guy has taken cover and only offers you half a face and an arm to shoot as he tries to kill you himself.
But it's a bit academic for me. At my slowest, my standard is magazine cover size bullet spread. At my fastest it's about the same. I'm not a sub 2 second shooter, but I can draw and fire inside the 2s, even rusty. I'd still like to improve my accuracy so I COULD hit a quarter when I wanted to and had time. Or at least that 3x5 card for a whole magazine. I'd probably not hit that covered bad guy.
Again, it's a bit academic at the range. You can't draw from the holster at my range, and many other ranges have a problem with that sort of thing too. I have no private range, either. So mostly dryfire work when I want to work from drawing from a holster.
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They allow holster draw at the NRA Range. As long as it is not cross draw or a holster that allows the muzzle to point the wrong direction.
They also allow standing sling rest to fire practice. Same muzzle rules.
I ended up buying an airsoft gas blowback pistol the same size/model as my carry pistol. I just go into the garage and practice, since it fits in the same holster.
Accuracy is the first priority at all times. "Diligencia" as Cooper put it.
A 3x5 card is a good standard, once your groups reside there it's probably time to speed up a bit. Perhaps coming from "low ready" would stand-in for holster presentations.
At "Orange Gunsite" Cooper told us that a 7" spread was optimal place ment and regularly told us that a tight group meant we had to "shoot faster". Still "Celeritas" is the THIRD element in DVC.
I think the confusion lies in the phrasing. "Shoot as fast as you can hit" implies an Upper limit on Speed that one should not exceed, because Accuracy suffers. Look at this season's Top Shot. Lots of Speed, lots of Misses.
As for Accuracy Standards, well that gets a little Complicated. Weapon type, Ammo, Environmental Factors, etc., all makes one person's hit another's miss.
But for a Level 4 Zed Outbreak, IMHO, I think putting all your shots into a 6 inch Circle (about the size of a Humans Face) at your best rate of speed with whatever Weapon you have with you at any range you can hit with it is "Close Enough for Zombie". Squirrel Hunting, 1,000 yard .50 Cal Browning, Bullseye, etc., all have different standards, of course. But for a Non-Professional, Ordinary, Lucky to get to the Range Once a Month Shooter, that would be a good goal to strive for. And one can always try to shrink one's group once one reaches that standard. YMMV, of course.
I've often heard self defense folks who are not gun specialists suggest using a paper plate as your target, counting a hit anywhere on it as a success. That's advice that goes back at least to the beginning of the 20th century, when Joseph Renaud recommended it to his students*--not paper plates in particular, but paper circles about that size.
[* - Sidenote: in 1912, Renaud assumed all of his Parisian students could simply decide to buy a revolver and carry it in an overcoat pocket for self defense.]
You can take that lack of firearms specialization either way: either gun specialists are more reliable because of their specialization, or non-specialists are more reliable because they don't have professional tunnel vision.
I'm gonna have to backpedal on the Renaud comment. I just took a look at his manual, and he recommends a silhouette target slightly shrunk down. If he gave the paper plate advice elsewhere, I can't find it now.
I'd agree with Boat Guy...
A pretty well agreed upon standard of 3 hits in 3 seconds from 3 yards on a 6" target for self defense oriented shooting. That's from concealment draw.
If you are not a regular reader of pistol-training.com, you should be.
(Which is to say that I think Todd's F.A.S.T. Drill is a good diagnostic of speed and accuracy, as well as a good draw and basic gun manipulation. If you have access to a timer, it makes a good benchmark of your improving skills over time.)
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