Raw speed

[GJM]

This past weekend, I shot with a young man out near our remote cabin in AK. He was out all summer, visiting from lower 48, carrying a Glock 20. He did no shooting until we got together, and I had never shot with him before.

I decided to run him through half of Gabe's test -- the two to the head, and two body/one head. He was about 2.75 for both drills, mostly hits, but not perfect. I would rank him between basic and intermediate by PF standards in pure marksmanship, with some low hanging fruit in manipulations. He also had his AR, and we repeated the same drills. The AR is obviously easier to shoot fast than the pistol, and quite an advantage for those with less developed handgun skills.

Reflecting on this, I was struck by the thought that if he was an adversary, at distances inside ten yards, he would hurt you if he had a chance to shoot. That created a disconnect with what I had considered the "school solution," namely that accuracy, reasonable speed and smooth manipulations would save the day. I still believe in the accuracy and manipulations, but it strikes me that raw speed might be necessary to survive an encounter with a reasonably trained infpdividual.

This presents issues for training, as accuracy and smooth manipulations are far easier to teach than accuracy, manipulations and raw speed. Frankly, speed might be "too expensive" as an organizational requirement, and fall to individuals to acquire on their own.

[Doc_Glock]

Tactics are what win fights. Not raw speed. At least that is what I tell myself.

Because I am slow, and unlikely to get much better.

[Darth_Uno]

One thing that stuck with me is an instructor saying any gunfight is a drag race to get hits on target. Not to marginalize accuracy, but anything you send their way is bad for them and good for you. Speed ("spray n pray") won't always work, but getting hit while you line up a perfect sight picture doesn't help you much either.

What I've seen in Force on Force is a lot of guys (and gals) might not be fast on the draw or terribly accurate but they're not stingy once they decide to pull the trigger on you. Depending on how it unfolds you have an extremely brief window to hit them first.

[GJM]

YVK and I were discussing anatomy last night, since that is something he is professionally familiar with. He said that the brain is the only certain switch to immediately turn off a human, and at very close distances a mortally wounded person could still do some trigger pulling against you. To me, that suggests speed and accuracy -- as in upper CNS accuracy.

[1slow]

Tradeoff ? Do you take the extra 1/4 - 1/2 second to hit an off switch ( C8 spine up through brain) or do you hit a timer (heart/aortic arch) ? In good light/ closer range there is a lot to be said for a head shot.

In general I like the failure drill, 2 body 1 head. In some light conditions/distances/movement head is hard to hit.

[45dotACP]

YVK and I were discussing anatomy last night, since that is something he is professionally familiar with. He said that the brain is the only certain switch to immediately turn off a human, and at very close distances a mortally wounded person could still do some trigger pulling against you. To me, that suggests speed and accuracy -- as in upper CNS accuracy.

Bob Stasch of Chicago PD would agree.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[GJM]

It interesting that the Cooper Cup at Gunsite is quite upper CNS focused at seven yards and in.

Cooper Cup

Shot on Gunsite Option target.

3 yards, 1 head shot primary target, 1.0 secs, x5

7 yards, 1 head shot primary target, 1.5 secs, x5

10 yards, 2 COM shots primary target, 2.0 secs, x5

15 yards, 2 COM primary target-reload-2 COM secondary target, 6 secs, x3

25 yards, 2 COM primary target, 4.0 secs, x4

[GJM]

And then there is this:

[YVK]

^^^^ that thing looks scary. I think I am gonna give my 870 a hug before I go to bed. Otherwise I'll have nightmares.

The considerations mentioned in the original post, I went through them long ago. I am not a tactician, I am just a dude who'd seen heart and aorta being damaged in many ways many times. They are the reason why the one Gabe's standard that I can do fairly reliably at a turbo level is a concealed draw to the head. I am not a turbo level shooter but that particular skill, I want to be as good at as I can.

I also feel that a good introspection on what distance you can or cannot do these things reliably is huge. Shooting with Gabe at steel heads while moving, or shooting with Ernest at bullseye at 15 yards, or [my perceived] trend in USPSA moving a bit away from hoser matches to technical shooting have all been tremendously helpful in both understanding my limitations and building the confidence at the same time. I thought about this long and hard yet again about a year ago, when Dallas cops were shot by that fuck with a rifle. The officer that got eventually outflanked and murdered, he had a clean head shot at 7 yards and he would've been alive if he took and made it.
A little bit of rambling but that's one of the few things I've thought of seriously.

[BehindBlueI's]

Raw speed is great, but no one is fast enough to outdraw a drawn gun unless they cheat. It's your job to cheat. If the other guy hasn't started shooting yet, it's time to disrupt his OODA loop and use surprise, speed, and ferocity of attack to prevail.

Seriously, I've yet to have anyone wish they were slower. However, when you don't disguise the draw, don't wait (or create) a moment of confusion or lack of attention on your opponent's part, and just rely on raw speed you tend to catch a bullet if the other guy is willing to pull the trigger on a functioning gun.