"Don't Outrun Your Headlights"

[JCN]

They may be commercially available but I have always made my own. The disappearing targets GJM talks about at the Rogers school sound similarly fast they may be able to help source.

From the sounds of the Rogers targets they seem pneumatically activated.

Do you have a picture of what yours look like (or a video)? I’m still not sure I can picture it.

[Coyotesfan97]

The Mozambique has a return to the guard after the two center body shots prior to transitioning to the head.

The Failure Drill was an LAPD adaptation of the Mozambique. It removed the return to the guard in favor of a direct transition to the head along with a two part assessment: 1- Is the head still there? 2- Is this person still a deadly force threat?

The above came directly from one of the two LAPD guys responsible for it.

If one is shooting two to the chest and then making the transition and head shot as fast as possible without the assessment, one is simply shooting two to the chest and one to the head and not a Failure Drill.

I participated in a sims FoF scenario where (short story) you knocked on a door to contact a DV suspect. When he opened the door he presented a pistol. I drew and fired several chest shots and he was still standing. I immediately transitioned to the head and fired once hitting the center of the mask’s eye piece and the actor went down. It was a hardwired response that thinking back on it I had to evaluate and decide. If it wasn’t trained into me repeatedly I don’t know that I would’ve made that fast of a transition. It was a good drill which required assessment.

[Oldherkpilot]

My headlights are dimming as I age. It's an effort to stay within them.

Its ironic-my flashlights are getting brighter while my headlights are looking more like convoy lights.😉

[jlw]

I participated in a sims FoF scenario where (short story) you knocked on a door to contact a DV suspect. When he opened the door he presented a pistol. I drew and fired several chest shots and he was still standing. I immediately transitioned to the head and fired once hitting the center of the mask’s eye piece and the actor went down. It was a hardwired response that thinking back on it I had to evaluate and decide. If it wasn’t trained into me repeatedly I don’t know that I would’ve made that fast of a transition. It was a good drill which required assessment.

You did the evaluation. Dude was still there and still a threat. That's different than banging a 2x1 straight from the holster as fast as you can go on a single decision.

[JCN]

I participated in a sims FoF scenario where (short story) you knocked on a door to contact a DV suspect. When he opened the door he presented a pistol. I drew and fired several chest shots and he was still standing. I immediately transitioned to the head and fired once hitting the center of the mask’s eye piece and the actor went down. It was a hardwired response that thinking back on it I had to evaluate and decide. If it wasn’t trained into me repeatedly I don’t know that I would’ve made that fast of a transition. It was a good drill which required assessment.

So question for you:

If you had opened the door and on the initial assessment you deemed you had the skill to start with two head shots without missing, would you have started there?

I’m assuming the actor would have gone down sooner.

This is part of my point about the tactics may change depending on the skill set of the person.

[Ed L]

Oh we are back to the training resume thing again, huh?

When I’m talking “mastery” I’m talking about a level of performance that’s in the top 0.05%+.

The exceptional.

If you’ve ever read PEAK, there are certain traits that are common to exceptional performers in any discipline.

Plenty of people who have been doing it a long time with impressive paper resumes… who aren’t exceptional performers.

They may be “pretty good,” but I personally wouldn’t take a class from them.

In this modern era, a lot of the greats have some of their best content and lectures online.

I own and have read most of Mas’s books, enjoy his lectures for his balanced style.

I also subscribe to Craig Douglas online training lectures.

Those gents I would say are truly exceptional.

Wow, you counter his huge training resume with books that you have read and online lectures that you have seen.

It isn't just his training that is infinitely more extensive than yours--it is his life experience as a LEO deputy chief, and firearms trainer that are directly relevant to this issue.

From: https://firstpersonsafety.com/about/

"Lee Weems is the owner and operator of First Person Safety. He has been a Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) certified peace officer since 1999 having been sworn at the local, state, and federal levels and has served as a patrolman, field training officer, detective, supervisor, three terms as Chief Deputy, and currently as an agency training coordinator. He served two terms as a member of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (GALEFI), and he teaches college classes in political science and criminal justice. He received the Distinguished Weapons Expert rating based on his scores in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers’ Firearms Instructor Training Program."

He is a Georgia POST certified general and firearms instructor and is a graduate of the FBI Police Firearms Instructor program and the FBI Law Enforcement Instructor School and has completed the Force Science Institute certification program as well as the FLETC Use of Force Instructor Training Program, Active Shooter Instructor Training Program, and the Basic Tactical Medical Instructor Training Program. He also holds the Georgia POST Managerial, Supervisory, Field Training Officer, Advanced, and Senior Deputy certifications, and he has been recognized by GALEFI as a Master Firearms Instructor.

Other notable firearms training includes:

Rogers Shooting School (Advanced rating)
Rangemaster (Tom Givens): Combative Pistol I
Rangemaster: Firearms Instructor Development Course (Top Gun award)
Rangemaster: Advanced Firearms Instructor Development
Rangemaster: Master Firearms Instructor Development & Certification Course
Rangemaster: Intensive Pistol Skills One Day Format
Rangemaster: Defensive Shotgun Course One Day Format
Rangemaster: Defensive Revolver
Rangemaster: Defensive Shotgun Instructor
Tom Givens & William Aprill: The Unthinkable
Lund Performance and Consulting (Erik Lund): Dynamic Rifle
Lund Performance and Consulting: Performance Shotgun
Lund Performance and Consulting: Rifle/Pistol Low Light
Lund Performance and Consulting: Level II Performance Rifle & Low Light
Lund Performance and Consulting: AK Operator’s Course
Langdon Tactical Technologies (Ernest Langdon): Tactical Pistol Skills
Ken Hackathorn: Advanced Tactical Pistol
Way of the Gun (Frank Proctor): Performance Pistol
ShivWorks (Craig Douglass): Extreme Close Quarters Concepts
GPTSC Shotgun Instructor (40 hours)
GPTSC Semi-Auto III (attended twice, two Advanced certificates)
GALEFI Patrol Rifle Instructor
FBI Patrol Rifle Instructor
S.O.B. Tactical (John McPhee): Carbine Marksmanship Course
Defense Training International (John Farnam): Defensive Handgun/Urban Rifle
Gabe White Training: Pistol Shooting Solutions, Light Pin (2017), Light Pin (2018)
Hardwired Tactical Shooting (Wayne Dobbs): Advanced Pistol Skills
Hardwired Tactical Shooting (Darryl Bolke): One Day Shotgun
Massad Ayoob Group: Deadly Force Instructor
Handgun Combatives (Dave Spaulding): Adaptive Combat Pistol
Handgun Combatives Kinetic Combat Pistol
Handgun Combatives Combative Pistol (Belt Buckle)
Handgun Combatives Advanced Covert Pistol
Handgun Combatives Red Dot Workshop
Handgun Combatives Vehicle Combatives
The Complete Combatant (Brian Hill): 1.5 Day class
Law of Self Defense Instructor Program
Law of Self Defense Level 1 & 2
Gunsite: Shotgun 260
Operation Specific Training: Applied Fundamentals
Combat Shooting And Tactics (Paul Howe): Concealed Carry Tactical Pistol
KR Training (Karl Rehn): Advanced Handgun 1-Day
KR Training: Tactical Scenarios 1-Day
Marksmanship Matters (Larry Mudgett) 4 Day Defensive Pistol Course"

I rest my case.

[John Hearne]

You did the evaluation. Dude was still there and still a threat. That's different than banging a 2x1 straight from the holster as fast as you can go on a single decision.

Especially when you "air gun" the distance between the chest and head to preload how much movement the gun needs...

[JCN]

Especially when you "air gun" the distance between the chest and head to preload how much movement the gun needs...

Or only practice at 7 yards on a 5 foot tall target so that you miss if it’s someone at 9 yards.

That’s my criticism of burst fire Mozambiques like Glenn was practicing.

People would be much better served with a center 8” target with four 2 inch circles at different angles and spacing from the center. It’s about being able to see and execute a transition on vision and judgement, not on pattern recognition.

Which is why I like the Texas star. Hit one static plate and then have to transition to a moving target.

[John Hearne]

I'm home with a sick kid and have a bit of time to respond. Warning, this probably won't be organized and cohesive but random thoughts.

The concept of not outrunning your headlights isn't based on an arbitrary speed limit. There are finite limits to how fast the typical person can start and stop the execution of motor program and more importantly, decide whether to start and stop motor programs. At a recent event, John Holschen had a great drill to teach sight tracking. Not transitioning from one target to a different one but to move the gun as the singular target moved. When I got home, I went to the range and timed the variations of the drill. With moderate movement of the target, my shot to shot times were around 0.30 to 0.35 with most on the higher side of that range. If greater movement of the gun was required, those splits moved to 0.45 per shot. The only time I was able to generate splits around 0.25 or less was when I was shooting the same target - the one that hadn't moved. For this drill, you know where you're moving the gun so much of the decision making is already made, this is just the time to carry out the mechanics. Shooting stationary targets gives a false sense of the inherent complexities of real world problems. This is in part why I love the Farnam Rotator and the Texas Star (but only if the Star is already moving)

I have been fortunate enough to talk to people doing legit research in this field. When asked about technical skill, one expert's opinion was that the point of diminishing returns starts at USPSA C class and is reached by USPSA B class. This same expert thought that competition was a great activity because it forced the rapid sequencing between the various required motor programs. The same expert thought that dry practice was the most underutilized resource in the shooting community. Sounds like you can work on both.

I may be out of my lane here, but as I understand it, the difference between performers at the higher levels often comes down to footwork (entering and exiting shooting positions) and target transitions. Much of the Master or GM's do it faster are the result of motor skills uniquely emphasized by the sport. Is there some value to being able to being able to move, setup and take a shot quickly? Absolutely. Does match performance put a disproportionate emphasis on this? Absolutely.

I also speculate that the difference between A, M, and GM is raw time spent in practice. There seems to be a formula one has to follow and it comes down to willingness to do it. For most folks, an hour or more of dry practice a day is a "big ask." At some point, we do reach the point of diminishing returns and need to worry about being in the best physical shape you can be, take some BJJ, or take a nap.

There has been a criticism that most "tactical shooting" classes are repeated the same drill over and over. At the risk of self-promotion, come to my Cognitive Pistol class if that is a concern.

Finally, if we're worried about being able to stop shooting, there is clear evidence that general brain training has very direct carryover to the shoot/no-shoot decision. I don't hear anybody on either "side" saying we should spend an hour a week in front of the computer to develop the cognitive processes that support this endeavor.

[John Hearne]

Which is why I like the Texas star. Hit one static plate and then have to transition to a moving target.

It is very easy to make sure the Star is moving before any shooting starts. For instance you can hook a weight and put a prop rod underneath. Make the shooter pull the string as they move to the shooting position.

A man-on-man version is to have two stars side by side. Remove one plate and make the shooters hold the star with the empty spot at 6:00. At the start signal, shooters run to 10 yards and engage the four remaining plates which are now moving.

At a USPSA match, they had an activator pepper popper early in the stage that triggered a weighted star further in the target array.

If that doesn't work, place the star next to a plate rack. And require the shooter to alternate between the rack and star.