Improvement
As you executed the drills outlined in the first section of this book, you may or may not have been satisfied with the results. Obviously, practice and repetition are part of the equation for becoming a better Shootist. There are however, additional factors that will influence the results. Equipment, methods, and mindset all play a role in reaching the level of skill you desire. One of the most critical factors is experience. I have yet to figure out a way of providing knowledge transfer via a book concerning experience. I can share techniques and lessons learned, but there is no real substitute for actual empirical activities.
The following sections are all about improving. I recommend you digest the information and recommendations before you finalize any training ritual or exercise routine.
Equipment Check
I really don’t care very much about your equipment. It doesn’t matter to me if you run an AK, AR, SKS or even an M1 carbine. That’s up to you. Bring a lever action cowboy rifle if that blows hot air up your skirt.
I also could care less about what type of optic you use. You can run iron sights if you prefer. Your load gear, if any, doesn’t make any difference either. You can carry your spare ammo in your back pocket and use a rope for a sling if you want.
Experience has shown me I probably should care. If the operator’s equipment is not up to the task of a modern, fast-moving gunfight, they become frustrated, exhausted, and ultimately insecure about their chances of survival. You might choose to blame me or shake your head as you limp back to the parking lot telling yourself, “Those exercises were unrealistic.”
Equipment should be important to you for all of the obvious reasons – reliability, comfort, durability, capability etc…etc. There is another reason why equipment should be high on your priority list. Over the years, I have noticed some folks focus on themselves and never think about what they may face. This point is a meaningful difference between a Shootist and the average guy, and was summed up quite well over a thousand years ago by this dude named Sun Tzu. He stated in his classic work – The Art of War:
Know thy self. Know thy enemy.
Imagine having a 1700’s era black powder weapon and having to fight against someone brandishing a modern bolt-action hunting rifle with a good scope. The accuracy, rate of fire, reliability, and range of the modern weapon would place you at a huge disadvantage.
The same capabilities gap exists between today’s weapon systems and those of only a few years ago. Holographic weapon sights, modern slings, load gear and even hearing enhancement all provide some advantage to a modern Shootist.
Not long ago, I had a discussion with a gentleman who had served in Vietnam. He was a decorated combat veteran and a man of honor. He believed iron sights were faster, more reliable, and superior to modern holographic sights. He expressed a distrust of electronic devices on the battlefield. When I questioned which models he had evaluated, his reply indicated he had “looked through them a few times, but never fired the rifle.” While I respect the man, his service and his bravery, this sort of attitude is not that of a Shootist.
Continuing with holographic sights as an example, a Shootist wants every advantage he can get. The Shootist works to achieve expertise with both iron sights and modern options. The Shootist knows the basics of any weapon he may scavenge from the battlefield, including the optics. Being narrow-minded or set in one’s ways is okay when choosing automobiles, pizza and music. In a gunfight, it can get you killed. A constant cycle of evaluation is required – both in equipment and techniques. Military-issued rifles, even today, come equipped with iron sights capable of elevation adjustments out to several hundred meters. Would any serious professional choose irons over a modern riflescope for a long-range engagement?
The shooter with the riflescope would have a serious advantage and in all but the rarest occasions win the fight. The same can be said of modern optics as compared to irons. Unless there is something different about how your eyes work, the latest advancements in target acquisition tools will make you faster.
Some guys are like me and my old-fashioned pistol. Even though I know there are more capable weapons (from several aspects), I stick with my tried and true tool. The difference is that I continue to evaluate all kinds of alternatives, and I do so with an open mind. I am always trying to find a better option because my life may depend on it.
As you execute the drills above, equipment issues will quickly raise their ugly heads. For example, evaluation Drill #5, Weak to Strong, will uncover any shortcomings in your sling. If you don’t have the proper sling setup, you will never score well while switching shoulders. Slings come in two basic flavors, single point and 2-point. Both of these labels indicate the number of attachment points on the weapon. While technically there is something called a 3- point sling, I haven’t seen one being used by a professional in years.
Single Point 2-Point
Faster change between weak and strong sides
Slower changing weak to strong Weapon less secure – bangs into legs
and equipment while maneuvering
Weapon more secure against the body and hands free activities
Not as adaptable – moving the rifle around to your back doesn’t work well
More adaptable/adjustable. Can be used to steady aim.
As with most equipment options, what type of sling you prefer should be based upon your mission, role and objective. If you are a SWAT officer, your typical engagement profile involves limited foot patrol time. You probably anticipate a short duration, high intensity engagement. A single point sling would make sense.
A soldier, on the other hand, has a completely different profile. The soldier most likely anticipates long periods of walking through the field, extended periods of battle and much, much more maneuver during the fight. The soldier might prefer the 2-point sling.
For years, the advantage of the single point models was switching from strong to weak side. The problem with these units has always been stability of the weapon when hanging freely (using your hands for other activities.)
Recently, new designs of 2-point slings had negated some of this advantage while still
cross connection rings that actually change a 2-point unit to a single point in just a few moments.
Regardless of the type of sling you select, there are a few tips I can pass along, based on experience:
1. The butt of the rifle stock should ride about collarbone high while the weapon is hanging freely. This position is normally optimum for shouldering the weapon without interference from load gear or other kit. It also keeps the stock close to its eventual firing position.
2. You must be able to perform all remedial drills without interference from the sling. 3. You must be able to switch shoulders without interference from the sling.
4. When naturally resting, the barrel should be between your legs or off to one side. Nothing sucks worse than running and having the rifle barrel attempt a castration. Banging into the operator’s legs isn’t much better.
5. You should know how to get completely out of the sling quickly. This isn’t as simple as one might think if you are humping a pack, water bladder, armor, full load vest and other equipment. Simply lifting the weapon over your head doesn’t always work. Quick detach connections can be handy should you, or someone else need to remove the weapon in a hurry. For example, you might be bleeding out, and the corpsman can’t work on the wound because your weapon is in the way.
6. The sling should be easily adjustable. You, most likely, will be carrying different loads for different missions. What you have on your chest rig might change during the operation. You need to be able to adjust the weapon’s position quickly.
7. There will be times when you simply want to secure the weapon out of the way. Some guys like it up tight against their chests, while others prefer to swing their weapons around to their backs. Make sure you can switch to an arms free status without a weapon banging into every part of your body.
8. You must be able to transfer to your secondary (pistol) without the rifle interfering with the movement. You should be able to access the mags for the secondary without pushing the primary out of the way.
Stance
No book on firearms training would be complete without a section on holding a weapon, or stance. There is a reason why all savvy instructors spend so much time on this topic – it is the foundation on which all other skills are built. If a shooting stance is weak or unorthodox, it becomes very difficult to develop advanced capabilities, or in other words, become a Shootist. Some time ago, I started noticing a trend with my clients: The older, more experienced shooters seemed to have trouble improving their times with the rifle drills as outlined above. I could take an active duty, enlisted “kid” and help them, but the “old dogs” seemed to have trouble learning new tricks.
By pure circumstance, I provided some training to a small group of men who were older and more experienced, but had spent the majority of their trigger time hunting. These “old dogs” had little experience with handguns and showed considerable improvement right before my eyes. This puzzled me as it flew in the face of previous sessions.
Over the years, I started seeing a clear pattern. Clients who had considerable pistol experience and used a significantly different stance with the secondary versus the long gun were slower and seemed to have trouble improving. The difference wasn’t a deal breaker – but it was there. Since making this discovery, I have further refined my opinion as to the cause – if your brain has two different OODA loops to process when encountering a threat, it takes it slightly longer to make a choice. For this reason, I have included information regarding stances and shooting with a pistol.
Most people have already chosen a basic pistol stance based upon department standards, military training, or how their brother-in-law told them to do it. This is acceptable as long as it doesn’t degrade other capabilities.
I have one overriding criteria for a stance, be it rifle or sidearm:
Be aware that when you are scared, you will try to hide behind your weapon.
Most of us have seen children’s cartoons where the large character hides behind the skinny pole or tree. While this whimsical vision may be funny for the kids, my experience actually mimics this attempt to violate the laws of physics.
Any time I have held a weapon when facing a threat, I have naturally experienced fear. Without conscious thought, I try and hide as much of my body behind the rifle or pistol as possible. Perhaps you are a braver man than I am and don’t suffer from this effect…perhaps.
For me, any stance used in practice that doesn’t account for this situation is doing a disservice to the operator.
The second most important aspect of your stance is commonly referred to as Natural Point of Aim, or NPA (see Terms above).
Pistol stances are often recommended or taught in direct violation of NPA. The use of a sidearm generally indicates the threat of danger is close, and most likely the duration of the fight will be very limited. These circumstances greatly reduce the impact of NPA on the shooter. Fighting with a rifle is a different story. Add multiple targets, combined with a longer duration gunfight, and NPA becomes critical. When distance (accuracy) is included, it becomes difficult to argue any other single aspect deserving a higher priority than NPA.
There are other important reasons to have a solid stance. Before we delve into some of the decision criteria, a small amount of background may be of benefit. There has been so much written about stances, or shooting positions, it would take days to read and digest it all. The debate about stances normally centers on pistol shooting and boils down to two important factors:
The position of the feet The position of the arms
In addition to hiding behind the weapon and NPA, there are countless other reasons why this is important. One benefit of a good stance is the shooter’s management of recoil. Every instructor has his preferences or prescribed stance, given the level and type of teaching being done. For the most part, the various options are based upon either the Isosceles, or Weaver stances. Because no two human bodies are identical, there are numerous variations of these basic two categories of stance.
The Weaver stance dates back to the 1950s. The name was originated by one of the founding fathers of combat shooting tactics, Colonel Jeff Cooper. The stance was named after a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff, Jack Weaver. At the time, Colonel Cooper hosted some rather creative pistol matches, called “Leatherslap,” and Jack Weaver’s performance impressed him.
The modified Weaver stance, often referred to as the Chapman Stance, modifies the basic Weaver position by extending the strong side arm away from the body to a position where the elbow is almost locked. Ray Chapman was another influential pistol guru. Similar to Jack Weaver, he had a police background and was an instructor at the Los Alamitos Police Department. Mr. Chapman took the Weaver stance and changed it slightly.
The Isosceles based stances are more recent and have gained wide acceptance in the law enforcement and special operations communities in recent years.
Throughout this book, I use a modified Weaver stance with my secondary weapon (pistol). Stance with a handgun is not the focus of this writing, and most readers will have already developed a preference for how they engage with their secondary. If you have already made up your mind, or if your department/unit has a standard, then that’s fine.
Again, the reason why this is important is because I see so many operators who can use improvement in target acquisition from any position other than patrol ready. You should be aware that it will be harder to improve rifle performance if you have a significant amount of time addressing threats in other positions.
The purpose of the Flying Saucers Drill is to demonstrate how the body, front foot, and weapon are aligned when addressing a threat. Many shooters attempt to twist their hips if the disk is off- line. It is also common to see the front foot adjusted one or more times before the shot is taken. This takes time, and time is the enemy of the Shootist.
When given a student who has not previously adopted a pistol stance, my teaching on the proper stance for gunfighting is not unique, nor would it be considered revolutionary by any means. It can be summed up with three simple statements:
1. You should shoot both the pistol and rifle from the same basic stance. 2. That stance should be the same, regardless of body position (offhand, prone, kneeling, etc.)
3. You should expose the least amount of your body as possible to any threat.
As mentioned above, when I hide behind my weapon, my body naturally seems to fall into the modified Weaver stance. Another reason for using the Modified Weaver is that I have
programed my body for one single stance, regardless of position or weapon. This lowers the number of physical commands my body has to execute and allows a faster reaction time. The number of cycles of my OODA loop is decreased. As the pictures below in Figure 4.3
demonstrate, my stance with the rifle and pistol are identical with the exception of my strong side (right) arm.
As a matter of fact, were I not using a raised optic, my head position would be nearly identical for sight alignment.
My stance is basically the same regardless of position. It works for kneeling supported, kneeling, and prone.
All of the major body parts are in the same position. The left foot is forward, and the arms are in nearly identical positions. Even when going prone, my legs automatically seek the same position, and the angle of my body off of the line of fire is very similar.
The basis of this teaching is repetitive muscle memory under stress. It is a safe assumption that someone will be shooting at you, and this obviously creates stress. If you shoot your pistol from a different position than your rifle, you have two sets of commands (OODA) to process. If you hold your rifle differently from a kneeling position than offhand, then the number grows exponentially.
As you train, the repetitive nature of various drills is designed to create reflex and muscle memory. As stated above, everything the Shootist does is to reduce or improve the number of OODA loops being processed. Under stress, you don’t want to have to think about what you are doing. The steps required to place high velocity lead on a target need to be as few and as
automatic as possible. If you are conditioned to identify, acquire, and shoot a threat, the process will happen much faster if your body automatically defaults to the right position.
The drills included in this book are meant to simulate stress and the shooter’s reaction to it. The fewer actions your brain has to deal with, the more likely you will survive.
Another important item to consider is how much you expose your body to the threat. This topic will be addressed in the section Shooting and Cover.
There are other considerations for various stances that are influenced by the area of operations (AO) or the anticipated conditions where a fight may occur. As an example, a police officer has different body armor than a soldier. Many departments issue level IIIA vests that provide less protection under the arms than full military grade equipment. A stance that keeps the most protection (armor) facing the threat makes sense. Military units have to potentially deal with hand grenades, IEDs, mortar rounds and other shrapnel-based threats, so their needs are significantly different.
The equipment being utilized by the shooter is critical as well. It wouldn’t be uncommon for a soldier to have armor (thick), load vest (thick), pack (thick straps) and multiple layers of clothing between the shoulder and the stock. The secondary may be rarely used and not in an optimal position. It would be the rare situation when a police officer were humping that much gear, but most likely has a pistol in a quick draw position. A security specialist (bodyguard) is probably