Human Targets

[John Hearne]

This is no different from any other skill. If you wait until the heat of the moment to practice a skill, you probably won't be able to do it under stress/strain. However, if you practice it regularly, it should be fairly accessible under stress. Where to shoot people is just like learning shooting discrimination. You can use the process taught by Paul Howe (Whole body, hand, hand, waist, face) and use it whenever you're out in public. Pretty soon you ability to rapidly assess is second nature.

Similarly, if you spend several months looking at folks and figure out where to place a round, it eventually doesn't require many mental resources. The quick and dirty method, for front facing targets, is to learn to visualize the spine. If you use it as an aiming point, you're rounds will naturally track where they need to be. Don't worry about slow, deliberate aimed shots, trying to transect the spine every time. Instead fire a "burst" of 2-4 rounds. Most of the time, at least one of those rounds will actually contact the spine and the ones that don't will have hit some important structures.

I also detest generic head zones. We should be using specific landmarks to place those rounds where they need to go. This is the FBI bullseye with a penciled in head zone.


Similarly, this is the USMC target with a bulleye added:


Both of those are "good enough."

If anyone can host a .pdf, I have this guy scaled up so you can add it to an IDPA or USPSA cardboard:

[chl442]

I was at a Tom Givens class last weekend. He stated that shots through the lungs are not much good
at stopping violent encounters. The ER will only put a band-aid on such wounds and send the perp
home. So in fact the real target is the heart (and in particular arteries / veins above) and one should
be aiming at a 2inch wide strip in the center of the chest. Much of the IDPA 8 inch circle is not going
to cause a stop.

I have not heard this before. Anyone with medical experience care to comment. Are there enough
arteries / veins in the traditional IDPA 0-down zone to make this a moot point?

If it is true what is the real A-zone? 2inch wide by how tall? Where would you place it?
(My guess is that the target high in the USPSA A zone and about 4 inches long).

I'm not nearly on the level of experience that some of the people are here on the board.
I do work at a trauma center , and the bulk of the lung shots with pistol bullets I see aren't
nearly as effective as we'd want them to be. Most of them are very capable of fighting still.
They usually get a chest tube or two, antibiotics and monitoring for a few days and get discharged.
In my area we get plenty of repeat gun shot recipients. Because of what I've seen I tend to use the
B8 repair centers on an IPSC backer and work for that standard.
Chris

[RJ]

It was one of the things on Jim Cirillo's checklist, is where I read it.

I am pretty much usually the last person to be able to add to these kinds of discussions, but I wanted to echo this: in Mas Ayoob's excellent book Combat Shooting, he writes about Wyatt Earp, Charlie Askins and Jim Cirrillo. Among their other attributes, Mas mentions that all three were avid hunters:

Combat Shooting with Massad Ayoob https://www.amazon.com/dp/1440218579..._GtVYxbTKHJZ8W

(I actually bought this book for my Kindle; it is an excellent read IMHO.)

[Drang]

Another option: http://www.tacticalanatomy.com/

Which is what URL I thought I was posting... Rough day at work...

[Tamara]

I'll see if I can dig up the relevant Cirillo quote, but I don't think it was because of heart rate or patience or any of that stuff. He had a big long list of things he claimed to look for: Having shot in, and won, competitions; being a family man; having shot for blood (the hunting thing)...

I think the list was in Guns, Bullets, and Gunfighting.

[Drang]

I'll see if I can dig up the relevant Cirillo quote, but I don't think it was because of heart rate or patience or any of that stuff. He had a big long list of things he claimed to look for: Having shot in, and won, competitions; being a family man; having shot for blood (the hunting thing)...

I think the list was in Guns, Bullets, and Gunfighting.

The correlations unfolded like a map. They showed that the most successful gunfighters had some or most of the following qualities: they 1) were competitive shooters with a high degree of skill, 2) were successful hunters who got their quota every year, 3) loved firearms and collected them, 4) reloaded ammo, 5) loved outdoor sports, 6) were family men, 7) were outgoing and liked people, and 8) had great compassion for the underdog, including helpless victims of crime. When you think about these qualities, you can see why the men who had them were successful.

Jim Cirillo. Guns, Bullets, And Gunfights: Lessons And Tales From A Modern-Day Gunfighter (Kindle Locations 473-476). Kindle Edition.

[Tamara]

Thank you, Drang! My Google Fu was weak today.

[Drang]

Good timing, I just purchased and downloaded the book.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Tactical Anatomy AAR - https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....highlight=hsoi

[DocGKR]

GSW's to the face or even the head do not necessarily equate with GSW's to the CNS.

3x5 cards are some of the best targets available.