“You can't miss fast enough to win the fight. It doesn't matter how big a gun you have if you can't hit the target.” Jeff Cooper.
No matter which authoritative source you reference, each can, and will, provide a complicated formula for some very basic ideas. These are as follows. If you are unfortunate enough to become involved in a situation in which you must use deadly force to save your life, you will have to draw a weapon, powerful enough to stop the threat confronting you. You will have to draw that weapon swiftly, fire that weapon quickly and accurately for whatever number of shots are necessary to put your attacker(s) down and out of the fight.
"The fight will not be the way you want it to be. The fight will be the way it is. YOU must be flexible enough to adapt." -- Unknown
And, to make the situation even more challenging, statistics on such incidents compiled over years by the FBI suggest that the average duration of these incidents is about seven seconds. And no matter how you cut it, that’s not a lot of time. In fact, research has shown that its about how long it takes the average adult male to run twenty-one feet.
Over the years, instructors and trainers have sought to distill various tactics, techniques and practices that, when taken together and applied correctly, give the defensive shooter the best chance of performing those tasks listed above correctly and survive the encounter.
For example, the NRA, in outlining its pronouncements on “Basic Defensive Shooting Skills”, includes the skills of aiming, breath control, hold control, trigger control and follow through.
In contrast, the U.S. Army, in its basic manual, “Combat Training with Pistols, M9 and M11", emphasizes the use of hand-and-eye coordination, flash sight picture, quick-fire point shooting, and quick-fire sighting.
Mas Ayoob (Massad Ayoob Group) a well-known and respected combat handgun expert and trainer, breaks these same principles down in this fashion. “Effective combat marksmanship requires: 1) Strong stance. 2) High hand grasp. 3) Hard grip. 4) Front sight. 5) Smooth rearward roll of the trigger.”
Each of these knowledgeable sources is expressing some common concepts in sightly different ways. Basic gun handling skills, learned, mastered, and practiced over, and over become instinctive. In the electric atmosphere of a self-defense encounter, you do not have time to go through a step by step, methodical, by the book response. It has to become automatic, it has to be accurate, and it has to happen fast.
All these experts, and dozens more besides, emphasize certain aspects of the manipulation of the handgun as critical to the successful response to an armed self-defense encounter. At the same time, those who truly know what they are talking about recognize that the combat scenario is not static, but fluid. It requires adaption. Of the recognized primary handgun shooting elements, (stance, grip, sighting, smooth trigger pull, follow through) you may not have the time, or physical ability to adopt all of them in a given situation.
However, using them to build a base of experience creates a number of advantages including muscle memory which aids in developing and honing an instinctive response, confidence in your ability to operate your firearm accurately and quickly under stress, and hand-eye coordination, so critical in the “flash sighting” or “point and shoot” situations.
So, these basics are, (1) your stance, the physical positioning of your body, which allows you to utilize a natural point of aim, to absorb recoil, and the ability to move while shooting. (2) the way you grip your handgun, vital to accuracy, smooth trigger pull and follow through. (3) sighting, not the sort used in precision target shooting, but the sighting that time and speed will allow in a given self-defense situation. (4) trigger pull. it has to be powerful enough to fire the weapon. It has to be smooth enough so that you do not yank your handgun off target. It has to be fast enough to trigger the shots necessary to stop an attacker with multiple hits and put him/her out of the fight.
What about breath control? Breathing is an autonomic bodily function. You breath while asleep, despite the fact that you are not aware of doing it. You will not be conscious of breathing during a fight for your life. Breath control is useful for Olympic marksmen, engaged in precision shooting. In a self-defense combat situation, you will not have time to worry about it, or think about it.
So, of these important factors, which are most critical? Those things that might operate to take the muzzle of your handgun off a target you desperately need to stop.
Sighting and trigger pull. The rest make you a better shot. But, no matter how you stand, kneel or roll on the ground, no matter how you hold your handgun, if you put repeated solid hits in the center mass of an attacker, you will put him,/her down, if shooting that individual is capable of putting them down at all.
Stance
If you can, using a strong stance provides the most solid, effective base for your fire on the target. There are numerous variations, numerous names, Isoceles, Weaver, Modified Weaver, Stressfire. Each of these make use of common physiological principles. Strength, balance, weapon support. Keeping the feet spread apart, both from a forward-backward perspective, and laterally. Knees slightly bent instead of locked, allowing the legs to be used as shock absorbers and to facilitate rapid movement. Examine an online video demonstrating the Israeli Defense Forces Instructional on “Instinctive Shooting” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRdZ3hZ8y-w .
But what good is a well-practiced Modified Weaver stance, if you have to go flat on the your belly to makes use of available cover? What good is freezing in the Israeli Instinctive shooting stance if you are shooting while backing away from an onrushing attacker trying to ram a knife through your heart, or cut your throat?
Standing, moving, kneeling prone, barricade. Practice them all. You won’t pick the fight. The fight will pick you. And, if you cannot adapt your positioning to the circumstances, you are at grave risk for serious injury or death. Relying upon one shooting stance when the environment requires another you have not practiced shooting from, on a regular basis is a very bad idea.
Grip -
A proper grip on the handgun should provide the shooter with a natural point of aim or consistent indexing of the handgun, and effective management of both vertical recoil (muzzle flip) and horizontal recoil upon discharge.
The one-handed grip used for off-hand precision target shooting is fine for competition target shooting. It is not of much use when confronting an armed assailant intent upon taking your life.
The two-handed grip, properly applied, fulfills both of these important functions. Sometimes referred to as the Leatham-Enos grip, this technique was developed in the early 1980s by competitive shooters Rob Leatham and Brian Enos. In this grip, the pistol is completely enveloped by the hands. The strong-side (or “grip”) hand rides high and tight into the backstrap, and the inside of the support-side thumb fills the gap on the frame of the pistol. The support-side wrist and thumb are pointed straight alongside the bore toward the target. Some shooters lock the wrist forward and lock the support-side elbow while bending the strong-side elbow (reverse Weaver), as this provides a consistent physical index.
Some common mistakes, usually as a result of mimicking what viewers see in the movies, include some grip styles that cannot provide the support required for the combat shooter. These include the wrist support grip, which cannot provide the support necessary to limit vertical recoil and get the sights back on target quickly for follow up shots.
The teacup grip is often seen being used in the movies, with the grip hand sitting in the palm of the "other" hand. It provides no support at all, allowing the wrist to flex, and from this position, controlling vertical recoil is virtually impossible.
The third common mistake is referred to as the finger forward grip where the index finger of the wrap hand is wrapped around the front of that niftyily contoured trigger guard. Looks okay, and the way that the triggerguards are designed on numerous modern handguns, it appears to be appropriate. However, it prevents the shooter from getting a firm, strong grip on the handgun. The weakened grip makes the handgun harder to control during recoil.
Sighting
Combat sighting is in some respects, a simple process. Marty Hayes, owner of the Firearms Academy of Seattle says it this way. "Your sights must aligned with the target at the moment the hammer falls."
There a two well-accepted methods for ensuring this alignment in a stress-filled situation. Flashsighting, and point sighting or point shooting.
Flashsighting - Using this technique, the shooter raises the handgun to the standard shooting position; focusing exclusively on the front sight, and when the front sight is somewhere in between the rear sights, on the rough center of the target, the shooter fires. It doesn't matter where on the target the front sight is positioned; at three to seven yards even the worst flash sighting picture accomplishes hits within an area the size of a piece of typing paper.
Point shooting - also called threat focused shooting, is a method of shooting a firearm that relies on a shooter's instinctive reactions to quickly engage close targets.
The shooter employs a two-handed grip, extending the firearm straight forward, but below eye level with the eye focused directly on center mass. The technique is intended for use in life-threatening situations where the use of sight shooting cannot be employed due to lack of time to use the gun's sights, low-light conditions, or because of the body's natural reaction to close quarters threats which prevent meeting the marksmanship requirements of sight shooting.
Point shooting attempts to harness the innate ability to point at the target in such a way that the shooter can use that ability to hit targets with a firearm. This may be done in a variety of ways which differ depending upon the method used. The one thing that point shooting methods have in common is that they do not rely on the sights, and they strive to increase the shooter's ability to hit targets at short range under the less than ideal conditions expected in close quarters life threatening situations.
Trigger Pull - Pulling the trigger should be the only motion involved in firing the weapon. It must be smooth and precise. Pulling the trigger should not effect (i.e. move in any way) any part of the gun other than the trigger. Sloppy or inconsistent trigger pull will cause more inaccuracy than any other aspect of shooting. When pulling the trigger, you should use the pad of the finger and pull the trigger straight back. Pulling at an angle, even slightly, can change the point of aim prior to firing. Dry firing (i.e. pulling the trigger without a live round in the chamber) is beyond a doubt the best exercise for increasing shooter accuracy.
This should be practiced repeatedly, until the shooter can squeeze the trigger without moving the gun at all. The firing pins on many weapons can be damaged by dry firing, so the shooter should shop at gun stores for plastic dummy rounds that will protect the firing pin while dry firing the weapon.
The key here is familiarization to master the basics and then practice, practice, practice. Deadly combat marksman do not stay that way long, in the absence of regular practice.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Situational Awareness the Best Line of Defense
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
A very significant portion of the tools that an individual brings to the task of self-defense is the ability to avoid dangerous situations. No matter how tough your are, or skilled you are, or even how fast you are, you are not going to win every fight you get into. And the ones you lose, can get you killed. But you can “win” every fight you don't get into, simply by virtue of having avoided the confrontation.
In many situations, that requires that you see the potential threat coming before it gets to you. You recognize the potential for danger, and you take steps to remove yourself from the situation before it blows up around you and you can no longer escape.
What we are talking about is awareness. Recognition of what is happening around you, who the individuals are that are part of your environment at any given time, and what they are doing. This is referred to by many experts as “situational awareness.”
"Situational awareness is the process of recognizing a threat at an early stage and taking measures to avoid it. Being observant of one’s surroundings and identifying potential threats and dangerous situations is more of an attitude or mind set than it is a hard skill. Because of this, situational awareness is not just a process that can be practiced by highly trained government agents or specialized corporate security counter surveillance teams — it can be adopted and employed by anyone."
Burton, Stewart, Threats, Situational Awareness and Perspective, STRATFOR GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE, August, 2007 (emphasis added). Awareness, according to many experts, makes up 90% of your ability to provide for your own defense, with only the remaining 10% involved in your physical response to danger.
People often speak of the issue in terms of “levels of awareness” and, as is often the case, the effort to differentiate one’s ideas on a topic from those of others can lead to confusing layers of complication being unnecessarily added to an otherwise simple, straightforward idea. Want some proof? Google the search phrase “levels of awareness”. You will find countless articles stating that there are three, no four, no five, . . . up to as many as seven levels of human awareness. And you are going to remember all of this from this point on, no matter how stressful the situation is that you are confronting? I do not believe that this is practical, let alone possible. If you look at the most commonly taught descriptions of levels of awareness taught to self-defense students, you will find similarities.
Colonel John “Jeff” Cooper, the founder of what is now known as the Gunsite Academy, is credited with coming up with a color-code, evidencing various levels of awareness.
Code White -
You feel secure, whether or not you are actually safe.
Awareness is switched off.
You are unaware of your environment, and the people in that environment and what they are doing
All attackers look for victims in this state.
Code Yellow -
You are cautious. You should spend most of the time in this state.
Awareness is switched on.
State of threat awareness and relaxed alertness.
You have a 360-degree peripheral awareness of such environmental danger spots as secluded doorways, entries, and alleys.
Code Orange -
You recognize that you are in danger. You are aware of a potential threat.
Your mind is focused on evaluating that threat.
Specific alert. A possible target has been identified. A particular situation that has drawn your attention and could present a major problem. Someone may be giving oral indicators such as direct threats or using suspicious language. Focus on the potential attacker.
Code Red -
You are engaged in conflict.
Fight or flight. Flee, defend, or attack. You have evaluated the situation, and if there is a threat, you prepare to fight or run.
Never stand or fight if there is a possibility of fleeing.
This Color Code system, is used by most military and police organizations, to differentiate different levels of awareness.
However, Cooper himself said that it was not intended to reflect levels of awareness, but, instead, the various mindsets that an individual might adopt in reacting to a combat situation. Cooper’s words on the subject are often forgotten by those who wish to use it to represent levels of awareness. In any event, it works well for this purpose. Cooper used four different colors. From white to red. Clint Smith, the Director at Thunder Ranch, and a graduate of Gunsite, argues for the inclusion of a fifth level, black. At this level, you are engaged in combat and its not a fight to win situation, it’s a fight to live situation.
The NRA uses no colors, instead reflecting the same concepts in terms of mental perception: unaware, aware, alert and alarm. When demonstrating these levels in print, the various levels are, however, attributed colors that correspond with Col. Cooper’s original color codes.
UNAWARE - a person is completely oblivious to his surroundings and is not paying attention to others around him. He is the person who is watching the television screen while pumping his gas at a gas station, the woman power-walking along an isolated forest path with an Ipod earpiece crammed in her ear, or the person talking via cell phone to a friend while sitting in a parked car.
AWARE - a person is actively aware of their environment. They observe everyone in the immediate environment closely enough to be able to describe them if the need ever arose. They are aware of anyone who seeks to violate their personal spacial boundaries. The aware person knows that distance is a friend and is willing to preserve that space even at the sake of hurting someone's feelings. An aware person can not be followed without knowing about it, unlike many victims today who are trailed home from the local drug store to be robbed in front of their homes.
ALERT - the aware person moves to alert when they sense that something is wrong in their current environment. Often, to an aware person there is a feeling or sensation that another person is "up to no good." When this level of awareness is reached, a tentative plan of action is to be put into play such that if a violation of an established threshold is violated, the person in alert status definitely knows that further action is warranted to preserve their safety.
ALARM - in this state, the individual’s threshold for action has been triggered. This might involve flight to avoid danger, or it may necessitate a fight, if flight is not possible for whatever reason. But because the individual has gone from a state of awareness, through alert, where options for action have been evaluated, the decision to act in a specific manner can be made rapidly and without further deliberation.
For example, a woman is walking down a residential sidewalk when, ahead of her, four men get out of a car and start walking toward her on the same sidewalk. She is aware because she sees a potential threat to her safety. Instead of being blissfully ignorant, listening to music or an inspirational speech on her Ipod, bells go off in her mind as she realizes that "something might be up." Rather than "being nice" by continuing to walk towards the men for risk of hurting the feelings of individuals she does not even know, she elects to cross the street, creating distance and also a tripwire for additional evaluation. If the men also cross to her new pathway, her concerns have been confirmed.
Regardless which particular ranking system you examine, all of them, to the extent that they are attempting to address the issue of personal awareness, are expressing a single, simple concept. In order to have the best chance of avoiding danger, you have to be aware of the danger.
Going about your daily activities, so absorbed in those activities, or your own personal thoughts, that you fail to be aware of your environment, and the individuals who are a part of that environment is a recipe for disaster. Not because you are a “bad” person, not because you are in a “bad area”, but simply because bad things happen to good people, and there is absolutely no way to predict whether something bad will be visited upon you, no matter where you are, or when you are there.
July 18, 1984, San Ysidro, James Huberty, an unemployed security guard, armed himself with three guns and left his home, telling his wife he was going to “hunt humans”. Ms. Huberty did not call the police and later had no explanation for her inaction. Huberty walked into a McDonald’s restaurant a few blocks from his home, with a gym bag filled with firearms and ammunition. The customers inside the McDonalds, all caught up in their own activities of order and eating food, talking with friends and family members did not notice him setting down his bag and withdrawing an Uzi submachine gun. Their first inkling of danger was when he ordered everybody to the floor. When an employee tried to call 911, Huberty opened fire on the customers laying on the floor. He killed 20 people and wounded 16 others before a police sharpshooter shot him dead.
On January 17, 1989, a drifter named Patrick Purdy attacked a crowded Stockton, California school playground with a semi-automatic rifle and two pistols. After killing five children and wounding many more, Purdy killed himself.
On October 16, 1991, George Hennard drove his pickup truck through a plate glass window at the Killeen, Texas, Luby's Cafeteria. He jumped out and screamed: “This is what Bell County has done to me!” Hennard then opened fire with two different handguns, shooting to death 23 people, and finally killing himself with a shot to his head. Suzanna Hupp, a reputed expert pistol shot, with a carry permit, was in the restaurant with her parents. She had left her handgun in her vehicle before entering the restaurant. Her unarmed father rushed the gunman and was killed, and her mother, who rushed to the aid of her husband, was also killed, shot in the head at point blank range. You can Google her name and hear her describe the scene during testimony before Congress.
And, as we all know, on January 8, 2011, a crazed gunman opened fire at a Safeway store in Tucson, Arizona, shooting 19 people and killing 6 of them including a nine year old girl, a Congresswoman, and a Federal Judge.
Is it enough to say, “Well, you just have to avoid places where these things happen”? But as you can see that would, at the very least involve avoiding fast food restaurants, cafes, schools, and grocery stores. Not very practical, but I guess you could just stay at home. However, sadly, the evidence establishes that this will not work all that well either. On May 11, 2008, two men broke into a Burnsville, Minnesota home, stabbing the homeowner 17 times in the back, twice in the head and once in the cheek-- and setting seven fires in his home before fleeing in his car. He was hospitalized for a day and a half and forced to live in an apartment for several months until his home, which was heavily damaged by smoke, was habitable again.
On June 28, 2008 an intruder walked into a home in Elk River, Minnesota and stabbed the sleeping homeowner in the neck. The homeowner survived the attack, and it was later determined that the 21-year-old attacker actually lived just down the road from the victim, who did not know him. The attacker was later also convicted in a separate incident where on June 13, 2008, he broke into a house through a locked patio door, and sexually assaulted a woman at knife point for an hour while the woman's child was sleeping in a nearby room. Police believe the later stabbing incident was motivated by a desire to rape the victims teen-aged daughter after killing anyone who might prevent that attack.
There are too many other similar incidents to count, but several things are clear. One of these is that, no matter where you are, “things like that do happen here”, and there is simply no place you can go where you can be assured that a violent confrontation will not occur. A second observation is that, despite the arguments from gun-control advocates that eliminating guns will eliminate violent crime, those who, for whatever reason, elect to prey upon our citizens will find the means necessary to do so.
So, this discussion is not necessarily about arming yourself with a gun. Its about arming yourself with the first and most effective line of defense, your brain. And having that brain actively engaged, as you travel about your daily activities, aware of your surroundings, aware of those around you, aware of their actions and aware of potential escape routes in the event that your senses alert you to the potential for deadly violence.
Whether you are out at 11:00 p.m. at the local convenience store, picking up some ice cream for a late night snack while watching a movie at home, or leaving the grocery store at the end of a work day with supper in the shopping bag, or taking an evening stroll through the neighborhood on a warm Summer night, being aware of your surroundings and the movement of others around you can be critical to your continued health, welfare and safety.
Being purposefully ignorant of risk, and oblivious to your environment does not make you a better person, or a mentally healthier person. It simply means that you are unwilling for whatever reason, to take personal responsibility for your own safety. For those who have actually said to me, “I refuse to live in that sort of world, that’s a job for the police!”, I can only say two things. First, if you insist upon living in such a fantasy, it is possible that at some point, you will no longer be able to live in any sort of world at all. Second, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
Being “aware”, as opposed to “unaware”, or at “condition yellow”, as opposed to “condition white” does not take a tremendous amount of energy. Nor does it make you “paranoid”. It makes you watchful, observant, thinking about what you are doing and what people around you, or about to come into your presence, are doing. Very much like the way you are supposed to be acting when driving a motor vehicle (then its called “defensive driving” and even anti-gun advocates think that’s okay), operating machinery, hunting with your buddies or walking to your seat at the baseball stadium with a cold beer in your hand. Okay then, to make everybody happy, we could call it “defensive living”.
It does not mean walking down the street, your eyes on your shoe tips with a cell phone plastered against you head as so many of our citizens seem to do these days. It does not mean walking out of a convenience store into a dimly lit parking lot, with your arms loaded with packages, fumbling for your keys, looking at the rust spot on your car door and thinking about the argument you just had with your spouse, or your upcoming work project. It does not mean being so caught up in the immediate tasks such as ordering a Big Mac at McDonalds that you don’t take time to notice the man walking through the door of the McDonalds with an obviously heavy gym bag in his hand, or, as in the case of James Huberty, a fully loaded Uzi submachine gun.
What you choose to do if and when confronted with something that does not add up right in your mind, something that gives you a funny feeling in the pit of your stomach, a feeling that our ancestors learned early on to respect, well, that’s your decision to make. Each of us, back somewhere in our family tree, had ancestors who, when observing their world with a watchful eye, suddenly got that tingling at the back of their neck, or a queasy feeling in the pit of their stomach, and without a second thought took flight, or armed themselves in some fashion to fight for their lives. They lived and were allowed by the natural selection process to perpetuate the species simply because they did not ever stop to say to themselves, “Oh, things like that don’t happen here!” Because they did not delude themselves into believing that they lived in the sort of world where everybody gets along and resolves issues with compassionate dialogue. They accepted the reality of their existence and stayed awake to who and what was happening around them. They recognize potential danger and made instant decisions they had given thought to ahead of time. Do I stay and fight? Do I run away? What is available for me to use to defend myself? If I run, where do I go, and how do I get there?
In reality, that is all the concept of situational awareness involves. Being observant, scanning and evaluating our surroundings, accepting without question that danger can come suddenly and with no warning whatsoever, and recognizing the potential for danger as it approaches, while developing a plan to either defend against the danger, or to just get away from the danger as quickly as possible, without wasting time asking oneself, “Is this really happening?”. Because by the time you are busy asking yourself that question, the answer is already “Yes.”
A very significant portion of the tools that an individual brings to the task of self-defense is the ability to avoid dangerous situations. No matter how tough your are, or skilled you are, or even how fast you are, you are not going to win every fight you get into. And the ones you lose, can get you killed. But you can “win” every fight you don't get into, simply by virtue of having avoided the confrontation.
In many situations, that requires that you see the potential threat coming before it gets to you. You recognize the potential for danger, and you take steps to remove yourself from the situation before it blows up around you and you can no longer escape.
What we are talking about is awareness. Recognition of what is happening around you, who the individuals are that are part of your environment at any given time, and what they are doing. This is referred to by many experts as “situational awareness.”
"Situational awareness is the process of recognizing a threat at an early stage and taking measures to avoid it. Being observant of one’s surroundings and identifying potential threats and dangerous situations is more of an attitude or mind set than it is a hard skill. Because of this, situational awareness is not just a process that can be practiced by highly trained government agents or specialized corporate security counter surveillance teams — it can be adopted and employed by anyone."
Burton, Stewart, Threats, Situational Awareness and Perspective, STRATFOR GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE, August, 2007 (emphasis added). Awareness, according to many experts, makes up 90% of your ability to provide for your own defense, with only the remaining 10% involved in your physical response to danger.
People often speak of the issue in terms of “levels of awareness” and, as is often the case, the effort to differentiate one’s ideas on a topic from those of others can lead to confusing layers of complication being unnecessarily added to an otherwise simple, straightforward idea. Want some proof? Google the search phrase “levels of awareness”. You will find countless articles stating that there are three, no four, no five, . . . up to as many as seven levels of human awareness. And you are going to remember all of this from this point on, no matter how stressful the situation is that you are confronting? I do not believe that this is practical, let alone possible. If you look at the most commonly taught descriptions of levels of awareness taught to self-defense students, you will find similarities.
Colonel John “Jeff” Cooper, the founder of what is now known as the Gunsite Academy, is credited with coming up with a color-code, evidencing various levels of awareness.
Code White -
You feel secure, whether or not you are actually safe.
Awareness is switched off.
You are unaware of your environment, and the people in that environment and what they are doing
All attackers look for victims in this state.
Code Yellow -
You are cautious. You should spend most of the time in this state.
Awareness is switched on.
State of threat awareness and relaxed alertness.
You have a 360-degree peripheral awareness of such environmental danger spots as secluded doorways, entries, and alleys.
Code Orange -
You recognize that you are in danger. You are aware of a potential threat.
Your mind is focused on evaluating that threat.
Specific alert. A possible target has been identified. A particular situation that has drawn your attention and could present a major problem. Someone may be giving oral indicators such as direct threats or using suspicious language. Focus on the potential attacker.
Code Red -
You are engaged in conflict.
Fight or flight. Flee, defend, or attack. You have evaluated the situation, and if there is a threat, you prepare to fight or run.
Never stand or fight if there is a possibility of fleeing.
This Color Code system, is used by most military and police organizations, to differentiate different levels of awareness.
However, Cooper himself said that it was not intended to reflect levels of awareness, but, instead, the various mindsets that an individual might adopt in reacting to a combat situation. Cooper’s words on the subject are often forgotten by those who wish to use it to represent levels of awareness. In any event, it works well for this purpose. Cooper used four different colors. From white to red. Clint Smith, the Director at Thunder Ranch, and a graduate of Gunsite, argues for the inclusion of a fifth level, black. At this level, you are engaged in combat and its not a fight to win situation, it’s a fight to live situation.
The NRA uses no colors, instead reflecting the same concepts in terms of mental perception: unaware, aware, alert and alarm. When demonstrating these levels in print, the various levels are, however, attributed colors that correspond with Col. Cooper’s original color codes.
UNAWARE - a person is completely oblivious to his surroundings and is not paying attention to others around him. He is the person who is watching the television screen while pumping his gas at a gas station, the woman power-walking along an isolated forest path with an Ipod earpiece crammed in her ear, or the person talking via cell phone to a friend while sitting in a parked car.
AWARE - a person is actively aware of their environment. They observe everyone in the immediate environment closely enough to be able to describe them if the need ever arose. They are aware of anyone who seeks to violate their personal spacial boundaries. The aware person knows that distance is a friend and is willing to preserve that space even at the sake of hurting someone's feelings. An aware person can not be followed without knowing about it, unlike many victims today who are trailed home from the local drug store to be robbed in front of their homes.
ALERT - the aware person moves to alert when they sense that something is wrong in their current environment. Often, to an aware person there is a feeling or sensation that another person is "up to no good." When this level of awareness is reached, a tentative plan of action is to be put into play such that if a violation of an established threshold is violated, the person in alert status definitely knows that further action is warranted to preserve their safety.
ALARM - in this state, the individual’s threshold for action has been triggered. This might involve flight to avoid danger, or it may necessitate a fight, if flight is not possible for whatever reason. But because the individual has gone from a state of awareness, through alert, where options for action have been evaluated, the decision to act in a specific manner can be made rapidly and without further deliberation.
For example, a woman is walking down a residential sidewalk when, ahead of her, four men get out of a car and start walking toward her on the same sidewalk. She is aware because she sees a potential threat to her safety. Instead of being blissfully ignorant, listening to music or an inspirational speech on her Ipod, bells go off in her mind as she realizes that "something might be up." Rather than "being nice" by continuing to walk towards the men for risk of hurting the feelings of individuals she does not even know, she elects to cross the street, creating distance and also a tripwire for additional evaluation. If the men also cross to her new pathway, her concerns have been confirmed.
Regardless which particular ranking system you examine, all of them, to the extent that they are attempting to address the issue of personal awareness, are expressing a single, simple concept. In order to have the best chance of avoiding danger, you have to be aware of the danger.
Going about your daily activities, so absorbed in those activities, or your own personal thoughts, that you fail to be aware of your environment, and the individuals who are a part of that environment is a recipe for disaster. Not because you are a “bad” person, not because you are in a “bad area”, but simply because bad things happen to good people, and there is absolutely no way to predict whether something bad will be visited upon you, no matter where you are, or when you are there.
July 18, 1984, San Ysidro, James Huberty, an unemployed security guard, armed himself with three guns and left his home, telling his wife he was going to “hunt humans”. Ms. Huberty did not call the police and later had no explanation for her inaction. Huberty walked into a McDonald’s restaurant a few blocks from his home, with a gym bag filled with firearms and ammunition. The customers inside the McDonalds, all caught up in their own activities of order and eating food, talking with friends and family members did not notice him setting down his bag and withdrawing an Uzi submachine gun. Their first inkling of danger was when he ordered everybody to the floor. When an employee tried to call 911, Huberty opened fire on the customers laying on the floor. He killed 20 people and wounded 16 others before a police sharpshooter shot him dead.
On January 17, 1989, a drifter named Patrick Purdy attacked a crowded Stockton, California school playground with a semi-automatic rifle and two pistols. After killing five children and wounding many more, Purdy killed himself.
On October 16, 1991, George Hennard drove his pickup truck through a plate glass window at the Killeen, Texas, Luby's Cafeteria. He jumped out and screamed: “This is what Bell County has done to me!” Hennard then opened fire with two different handguns, shooting to death 23 people, and finally killing himself with a shot to his head. Suzanna Hupp, a reputed expert pistol shot, with a carry permit, was in the restaurant with her parents. She had left her handgun in her vehicle before entering the restaurant. Her unarmed father rushed the gunman and was killed, and her mother, who rushed to the aid of her husband, was also killed, shot in the head at point blank range. You can Google her name and hear her describe the scene during testimony before Congress.
And, as we all know, on January 8, 2011, a crazed gunman opened fire at a Safeway store in Tucson, Arizona, shooting 19 people and killing 6 of them including a nine year old girl, a Congresswoman, and a Federal Judge.
Is it enough to say, “Well, you just have to avoid places where these things happen”? But as you can see that would, at the very least involve avoiding fast food restaurants, cafes, schools, and grocery stores. Not very practical, but I guess you could just stay at home. However, sadly, the evidence establishes that this will not work all that well either. On May 11, 2008, two men broke into a Burnsville, Minnesota home, stabbing the homeowner 17 times in the back, twice in the head and once in the cheek-- and setting seven fires in his home before fleeing in his car. He was hospitalized for a day and a half and forced to live in an apartment for several months until his home, which was heavily damaged by smoke, was habitable again.
On June 28, 2008 an intruder walked into a home in Elk River, Minnesota and stabbed the sleeping homeowner in the neck. The homeowner survived the attack, and it was later determined that the 21-year-old attacker actually lived just down the road from the victim, who did not know him. The attacker was later also convicted in a separate incident where on June 13, 2008, he broke into a house through a locked patio door, and sexually assaulted a woman at knife point for an hour while the woman's child was sleeping in a nearby room. Police believe the later stabbing incident was motivated by a desire to rape the victims teen-aged daughter after killing anyone who might prevent that attack.
There are too many other similar incidents to count, but several things are clear. One of these is that, no matter where you are, “things like that do happen here”, and there is simply no place you can go where you can be assured that a violent confrontation will not occur. A second observation is that, despite the arguments from gun-control advocates that eliminating guns will eliminate violent crime, those who, for whatever reason, elect to prey upon our citizens will find the means necessary to do so.
So, this discussion is not necessarily about arming yourself with a gun. Its about arming yourself with the first and most effective line of defense, your brain. And having that brain actively engaged, as you travel about your daily activities, aware of your surroundings, aware of those around you, aware of their actions and aware of potential escape routes in the event that your senses alert you to the potential for deadly violence.
Whether you are out at 11:00 p.m. at the local convenience store, picking up some ice cream for a late night snack while watching a movie at home, or leaving the grocery store at the end of a work day with supper in the shopping bag, or taking an evening stroll through the neighborhood on a warm Summer night, being aware of your surroundings and the movement of others around you can be critical to your continued health, welfare and safety.
Being purposefully ignorant of risk, and oblivious to your environment does not make you a better person, or a mentally healthier person. It simply means that you are unwilling for whatever reason, to take personal responsibility for your own safety. For those who have actually said to me, “I refuse to live in that sort of world, that’s a job for the police!”, I can only say two things. First, if you insist upon living in such a fantasy, it is possible that at some point, you will no longer be able to live in any sort of world at all. Second, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
Being “aware”, as opposed to “unaware”, or at “condition yellow”, as opposed to “condition white” does not take a tremendous amount of energy. Nor does it make you “paranoid”. It makes you watchful, observant, thinking about what you are doing and what people around you, or about to come into your presence, are doing. Very much like the way you are supposed to be acting when driving a motor vehicle (then its called “defensive driving” and even anti-gun advocates think that’s okay), operating machinery, hunting with your buddies or walking to your seat at the baseball stadium with a cold beer in your hand. Okay then, to make everybody happy, we could call it “defensive living”.
It does not mean walking down the street, your eyes on your shoe tips with a cell phone plastered against you head as so many of our citizens seem to do these days. It does not mean walking out of a convenience store into a dimly lit parking lot, with your arms loaded with packages, fumbling for your keys, looking at the rust spot on your car door and thinking about the argument you just had with your spouse, or your upcoming work project. It does not mean being so caught up in the immediate tasks such as ordering a Big Mac at McDonalds that you don’t take time to notice the man walking through the door of the McDonalds with an obviously heavy gym bag in his hand, or, as in the case of James Huberty, a fully loaded Uzi submachine gun.
What you choose to do if and when confronted with something that does not add up right in your mind, something that gives you a funny feeling in the pit of your stomach, a feeling that our ancestors learned early on to respect, well, that’s your decision to make. Each of us, back somewhere in our family tree, had ancestors who, when observing their world with a watchful eye, suddenly got that tingling at the back of their neck, or a queasy feeling in the pit of their stomach, and without a second thought took flight, or armed themselves in some fashion to fight for their lives. They lived and were allowed by the natural selection process to perpetuate the species simply because they did not ever stop to say to themselves, “Oh, things like that don’t happen here!” Because they did not delude themselves into believing that they lived in the sort of world where everybody gets along and resolves issues with compassionate dialogue. They accepted the reality of their existence and stayed awake to who and what was happening around them. They recognize potential danger and made instant decisions they had given thought to ahead of time. Do I stay and fight? Do I run away? What is available for me to use to defend myself? If I run, where do I go, and how do I get there?
In reality, that is all the concept of situational awareness involves. Being observant, scanning and evaluating our surroundings, accepting without question that danger can come suddenly and with no warning whatsoever, and recognizing the potential for danger as it approaches, while developing a plan to either defend against the danger, or to just get away from the danger as quickly as possible, without wasting time asking oneself, “Is this really happening?”. Because by the time you are busy asking yourself that question, the answer is already “Yes.”
Friday, September 4, 2009
Patterning and Zones of Effectiveness
Okay, in this segment, we are going to talk about two related concepts. Patterning your tactical shotgun and the selection of ammunition for use in the self-defense shotgun. Patterning your shotgun provides you with valuable information on the performance of your gun and ammunition combination. This information will allow you to make informed choices on your load selection to match your particular shooting situation.
First it helps to consider the difference between fact and fiction. Thanks again to our friends in Hollywood, the average uninformed citizen sees a shotgun as a weapon that blasts an impenetrable wall of destruction from the muzzle to infinity, mowing down everything in its path. This is a dangerous misconception.
The shot load exits from the barrel of the shotgun at the same diameter as the bore it just left. It cannot do anything else. A shot load is then going to disperse from a cylinder bore barrel roughly at a rate of approximately 1” for every yard it travels. So, it will give you a pattern approximately 11’ in diameter at a range of 10 yards. I say approximately because, of course, this is going to vary, depending up on the type of barrel you are using and the type of shot charge that is being fired.
This is important when you consider the fact that a shotgun is a pattern weapon. In other words, it delivers its projectile (a shot charge) to the intended target in a pattern. Understanding the effect of distance on that pattern is very important.
The effective range of a shotgun can be thought of in terms of zones. In the first zone (call it “A”) which is from the muzzle to a distance of approximately 6 yards, you must consider the charge as a single projectile. In other words, despite what you see in the movies, you must aim your shot, or you can miss, just as with the case of the handgun or the rifle. Simply throwing the gun up and blasting away, confident that you will destroy anything in its path like you would with a Klingon death ray will not be effective and can get you killed.
In the second zone (“B” – what else?), the shotgun reigns supreme. From approximately 7 yards to 20 yards, it excels as a stopper. The shot charge begins to transition into a dispersed pattern and can deliver an extremely hard-hitting impact to the target.
Past 20 yards, we move into Zone “C”. The pattern continues to transition, but it is spreading wider and as it does, it raises the question of whether you are going to be able to put enough pellets on target to deliver a telling blow. This means you are back to aiming, and at some point, you will be considering moving from the shot charge to a single projectile slug charge, which can be effective out past 100 yards, based upon your ability to fire the weapon accurately at that range.
Since FBI statistics demonstrate that most law enforcement shootouts involving use of the rifle are at ranges that don’t exceed 75 yards, this shows that the shotgun can be an effective tool at that range if you are selecting the right load and are skilled at placing accurate fire under those circumstances.
So, how do you pattern your shotgun? Patterning for the tactical shotgun is done at 10 yards, or within the “B” zone. You should use a variety of shot loads and brands of ammunition at that range to see what the combination of your barrel and those loads will produce. In addition to everybody’s perceived favorite of 00 buckshot (“double-ought”), you should also consider using No. 4 buckshot as well as No.2 shot.
Many self-defense experts recommend sticking with No. 4 buck as a self-defense load (more shot that is still a large projectile and knowledgeable trainers will counsel you to stay away from the magnum 3” shells. Standard 2 ¾ inch shells pack a very hard wallop, more than sufficient for self-defense, without the heavy recoil that can interfere with your ability to put multiple shots, rapid fire accurately on a target or group of targets.
Take a look at your pattern. Is it concentrating shot in the center of your target, or are you experiencing a “donut effect” where there is a noticeable absence of shot in the center and more peripheral hits?
If so, you may want to try a different brand of ammunition, this often will correct the problem, and no, I do not know exactly why, other than to say the combination of barrel and ammo has a decided effect on where it throws the shot charge.
Knowing where your shotgun is sending its shot charge is critical to your ability to know and understand the value of your tactical shotgun in a self-defense encounter. The tactical shotgun is a very combat effective weapon, if you maximize its effectiveness by focusing its shot charge in the center of your intended target. It is capable of doing more things than any other weapon system and uses its energy very quickly on the target medium. For these reasons, it is a very efficient home defense tool.
Next I will be discussing some aspects of the tactical use of the shotgun as a self-defense tool.
First it helps to consider the difference between fact and fiction. Thanks again to our friends in Hollywood, the average uninformed citizen sees a shotgun as a weapon that blasts an impenetrable wall of destruction from the muzzle to infinity, mowing down everything in its path. This is a dangerous misconception.
The shot load exits from the barrel of the shotgun at the same diameter as the bore it just left. It cannot do anything else. A shot load is then going to disperse from a cylinder bore barrel roughly at a rate of approximately 1” for every yard it travels. So, it will give you a pattern approximately 11’ in diameter at a range of 10 yards. I say approximately because, of course, this is going to vary, depending up on the type of barrel you are using and the type of shot charge that is being fired.
This is important when you consider the fact that a shotgun is a pattern weapon. In other words, it delivers its projectile (a shot charge) to the intended target in a pattern. Understanding the effect of distance on that pattern is very important.
The effective range of a shotgun can be thought of in terms of zones. In the first zone (call it “A”) which is from the muzzle to a distance of approximately 6 yards, you must consider the charge as a single projectile. In other words, despite what you see in the movies, you must aim your shot, or you can miss, just as with the case of the handgun or the rifle. Simply throwing the gun up and blasting away, confident that you will destroy anything in its path like you would with a Klingon death ray will not be effective and can get you killed.
In the second zone (“B” – what else?), the shotgun reigns supreme. From approximately 7 yards to 20 yards, it excels as a stopper. The shot charge begins to transition into a dispersed pattern and can deliver an extremely hard-hitting impact to the target.
Past 20 yards, we move into Zone “C”. The pattern continues to transition, but it is spreading wider and as it does, it raises the question of whether you are going to be able to put enough pellets on target to deliver a telling blow. This means you are back to aiming, and at some point, you will be considering moving from the shot charge to a single projectile slug charge, which can be effective out past 100 yards, based upon your ability to fire the weapon accurately at that range.
Since FBI statistics demonstrate that most law enforcement shootouts involving use of the rifle are at ranges that don’t exceed 75 yards, this shows that the shotgun can be an effective tool at that range if you are selecting the right load and are skilled at placing accurate fire under those circumstances.
So, how do you pattern your shotgun? Patterning for the tactical shotgun is done at 10 yards, or within the “B” zone. You should use a variety of shot loads and brands of ammunition at that range to see what the combination of your barrel and those loads will produce. In addition to everybody’s perceived favorite of 00 buckshot (“double-ought”), you should also consider using No. 4 buckshot as well as No.2 shot.
Many self-defense experts recommend sticking with No. 4 buck as a self-defense load (more shot that is still a large projectile and knowledgeable trainers will counsel you to stay away from the magnum 3” shells. Standard 2 ¾ inch shells pack a very hard wallop, more than sufficient for self-defense, without the heavy recoil that can interfere with your ability to put multiple shots, rapid fire accurately on a target or group of targets.
Take a look at your pattern. Is it concentrating shot in the center of your target, or are you experiencing a “donut effect” where there is a noticeable absence of shot in the center and more peripheral hits?
If so, you may want to try a different brand of ammunition, this often will correct the problem, and no, I do not know exactly why, other than to say the combination of barrel and ammo has a decided effect on where it throws the shot charge.
Knowing where your shotgun is sending its shot charge is critical to your ability to know and understand the value of your tactical shotgun in a self-defense encounter. The tactical shotgun is a very combat effective weapon, if you maximize its effectiveness by focusing its shot charge in the center of your intended target. It is capable of doing more things than any other weapon system and uses its energy very quickly on the target medium. For these reasons, it is a very efficient home defense tool.
Next I will be discussing some aspects of the tactical use of the shotgun as a self-defense tool.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The Self-Defense Shotgun
A friend just asked me what I thought of the shotgun as a home defense tool. As I went through an explanation of my high regard for that application, I decided to turn it into a blog topic, discussing various modifications I have employed to create a self-defense shotgun, or what is often referred to as a tactical shotgun.
The shotgun is a very powerful self-defense tool, ideal for home defense for a variety of reasons. Many people do not realize that the shotgun has been part of our military combat arsenal for many, many years and continues to be so today. However, it can easily be put to a wide variety of uses from home defense to recreational, including trap shooting, skeet and hunting. It can employ a wide variety of ammunition, including birdshot, buckshot and single projectile ball (or “slugs”) and when compared with handguns and rifles (and their ammunition), it is a relatively low cost alternative. Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch has been heard to say, “I don’t need a $1,000.00 shotgun. I need to learn to run the gun I’ve got.” Very true. It is combat effective up to and with proper training, and ammunition, beyond 100 yards. The registration requirements are, at least at present, much less onerous than those for handguns and rifles, and it can be employed with equal success both in the home and in an open outdoor environment.
Properly set up, a tactical shotgun should include specific features and equipment. In this example, I started with a Mossberg 500A, 12 gauge pump shotgun that I purchased, used, several years ago for $125.00.
I swapped the 28” standard barrel out for an 18 ½” cylinder bore police barrel. This one had a typical bead sight mounted on the barrel, so I had a ghost ring sighting system installed on the gun. Adjustable rear sight on the receiver, and front sight silver soldered to the barrel. This created a permanent sighting system. I added a heat shield to the barrel, since rapid fire during range practice and the real thing can heat the barrel quickly.
I installed a “side saddle” 6 round ammo carrier on the non-port side of the receiver
and have the option of using a 6 round “butt cuff” on the butt as well.
I also placed a Pachmyr recoil pad to absorb recoil. It’s fairly stiff since an overly soft pad can grab at clothing and interfere with the ability to shoulder the weapon to ready for firing.
I also swapped out the standard magazine plug for a plug drilled and tapped for a sling swivel. By replacing the standard stock with a polymer pistol grip tactical stock, I also gained a sling swivel installed in the underside of the stock.
This enables me to use a 1” nylon web sling for carrying the shotgun. I have not installed a tactical light at this time, but intend to, since the ability to illuminate targets in the dark is a vital part of the response to a self-defense situation.
There is debate over the issue of using a magazine extension. The extension requires a bracket, bolting the extension to the barrel.
Many people, including the expert gunsmiths at Gunsite near Prescott, Arizona, argue that the use of the bracketing system will alter the point of impact every time it is used. There is also concern about the effect of an overly long magazine spring, which, of course, is required with the magazine extension. These experts advocate use of the sidesaddle and butt cuff systems, to carry extra shells on the gun, coupled with reloading discipline that demands that you to use speed-reloading techniques to replace what you shoot immediately.
Next, I am going to explain the very important process of patterning your shotgun and the use of various types of shotgun rounds in varying applications.
The shotgun is a very powerful self-defense tool, ideal for home defense for a variety of reasons. Many people do not realize that the shotgun has been part of our military combat arsenal for many, many years and continues to be so today. However, it can easily be put to a wide variety of uses from home defense to recreational, including trap shooting, skeet and hunting. It can employ a wide variety of ammunition, including birdshot, buckshot and single projectile ball (or “slugs”) and when compared with handguns and rifles (and their ammunition), it is a relatively low cost alternative. Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch has been heard to say, “I don’t need a $1,000.00 shotgun. I need to learn to run the gun I’ve got.” Very true. It is combat effective up to and with proper training, and ammunition, beyond 100 yards. The registration requirements are, at least at present, much less onerous than those for handguns and rifles, and it can be employed with equal success both in the home and in an open outdoor environment.
Properly set up, a tactical shotgun should include specific features and equipment. In this example, I started with a Mossberg 500A, 12 gauge pump shotgun that I purchased, used, several years ago for $125.00.
I swapped the 28” standard barrel out for an 18 ½” cylinder bore police barrel. This one had a typical bead sight mounted on the barrel, so I had a ghost ring sighting system installed on the gun. Adjustable rear sight on the receiver, and front sight silver soldered to the barrel. This created a permanent sighting system. I added a heat shield to the barrel, since rapid fire during range practice and the real thing can heat the barrel quickly.
I installed a “side saddle” 6 round ammo carrier on the non-port side of the receiver
and have the option of using a 6 round “butt cuff” on the butt as well.
I also placed a Pachmyr recoil pad to absorb recoil. It’s fairly stiff since an overly soft pad can grab at clothing and interfere with the ability to shoulder the weapon to ready for firing.
I also swapped out the standard magazine plug for a plug drilled and tapped for a sling swivel. By replacing the standard stock with a polymer pistol grip tactical stock, I also gained a sling swivel installed in the underside of the stock.
This enables me to use a 1” nylon web sling for carrying the shotgun. I have not installed a tactical light at this time, but intend to, since the ability to illuminate targets in the dark is a vital part of the response to a self-defense situation.
There is debate over the issue of using a magazine extension. The extension requires a bracket, bolting the extension to the barrel.
Many people, including the expert gunsmiths at Gunsite near Prescott, Arizona, argue that the use of the bracketing system will alter the point of impact every time it is used. There is also concern about the effect of an overly long magazine spring, which, of course, is required with the magazine extension. These experts advocate use of the sidesaddle and butt cuff systems, to carry extra shells on the gun, coupled with reloading discipline that demands that you to use speed-reloading techniques to replace what you shoot immediately.
Next, I am going to explain the very important process of patterning your shotgun and the use of various types of shotgun rounds in varying applications.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
THE SELF-DEFENSE CARTRIDGE
An important part of the process of considering and selecting a handgun for self-defense is that of deciding what caliber of handgun you intend to employ. Considering the fact that there may just be one hundred and eleventy thousand different combinations of bullet caliber, composition, weight, and velocity, that you might have to think about, this can appear at the outset to be a daunting task. However, if I do this right, this discussion might make that an easier job for you.
Step one requires that we identify the primary objective sought in using self-defense ammunition in the first place. Simply stated, it is to stop an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury that has been made upon the actor (or someone the actor deems it necessary to protect). The “actor” - that’s you – or me.
A bullet fired from a handgun may be effective in stopping that threat as a result of a number of different effects. Disruption of blood supply to the brain, impairment of the central nervous system, fracturing bones necessary for skeletal support, neural shock or the psychological impact some persons might experience as a result of being shot. A simpler way to put this is to say, the bullet needs to hit something vital to the operation of the human body and do enough damage to it that it stops working properly - real soon. If a fired bullet can repeat that process more than once during its travel into (or through) the body, that is even better.
It is not my intention to get into the physiology of wounds, or to try to do a lesson in human anatomy in this discussion. But hopefully, I have made the point that to be an effective self-defense choice, a handgun cartridge must be able to deliver its energy in such a fashion that it is capable of stopping the threat, right now.
Earlier, I did say “maybe effective” for a reason. Despite what a person might think, handguns are not terribly powerful tools and they can only do a limited amount of damage. Remember the story about the Sheriff who, when asked if he had brought his sidearm to a civic event because he was expecting trouble, replied, “No ma’am, if I was expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.” Funny story. Deadly serious point being made about the relative effectiveness of rifle cartridges versus handgun cartridges. Here, we are focusing on handgun cartridges and accepting the limitations that they inherently have.
But in the ultimate analysis, it doesn't really matter what the caliber of the bullet is or what the bullet is made of or how fast it travels. What matters is that it fulfills its primary objectives. And because there are any number of cartridges on the market capable of completing these tasks, debate rages in every corner of the kingdom about which is the “best” cartridge for self-defense. Some of the debate is healthy. Some of the debate is based upon claims that are so fanciful that they are ludicrous, or nearly so.
For example, let’s look at the widely popular 9mm parabellum:
”9 mm self-defense rounds are not capable of stopping an attacker and they never will be.” You’ve heard it, or read it, and so have I. So I posed that question to my father, a combat veteran from WWII Europe, who was hit by a single full metal jacketed 9mm round in the chest, fired by a German Officer commanding a machine gun emplacement. He said, “Well, it sure as hell stopped me.” “What happened to the German officer?”, I asked. “I killed him before I fell on my face and everything went black”. Do we have a “one shot” stop here? Sure, I guess, the officer fired once and it "stopped" my father. But thank goodness for papa (as well as me and my brothers and our progeny), the “stop” took him out of the action, but not before he inflicted several fatal wounds on his adversary with a Thompson .45 cal. sub-machine gun. However, numerous experienced self-defense experts do consider the 9mm to be quite effective in stopping an adversary. I know a number of them that carry the 9mm as a personal defense weapon, as do I and my spouse, from time to time.
Most commentators insist that it is imperative that you stick with hollow point ammunition as opposed to “ball”. ('Ball' is round-nosed ammunition with a full metal jacket). It is used for auto-loading firearms like semi-automatic pistols. It is often referred to as "full metal jacket" or “FMJ”. Ball ammo does not expand when it hits its target. The military use ball because it is not significantly prone to jamming in operation, and they are required to use ball under the terms of the Geneva Convention.
Former police detective and writer, Evan Marshall has written reports following studies conducted in 1992, 1996 and 2000. These reports are based upon the examination of thousands of actual shootings. However, his reports and conclusions are based upon the concept of the "one shot stop" where an attacker was incapacitated by one shot to the body other than the head. Marshall gave the 9mm Federal 115 grain JHP +P+ a 91% rating based upon it having been involved in 209 shootings with 190 one shot stops. My concern here is that while I do strive to achieve a one shot kill while hunting wild game, I do this to preserve edible meat. And if I am unsuccessful, I can always attempt a carefully aimed second shot. I do not intend to attempt to devour an assailant who attacks me in my home or on the street and I am not going to have time to stop and carefully assess whether my first shot was sufficient to stop his attack. So the concept of the one shot stop is virtually meaningless to me and I am suggesting that it is equally meaningless to you. It is sufficient to say that the 9mm cartridge possesses a sufficient level of stopping power to be considered a good self-defense choice. Which 9mm cartridge is a slightly different subject.
At least one handgun commentator has stated: “Be sure you have the heaviest grain bullet you can get.” Yet research has shown that the heavier 147 grain 9mm slug is not superior to the lighter, but faster 115 grain jacketed hollow point. Adopted by the FBI in 1988, it was found that the the 147 grain slug did not expand reliably and often passed through the suspect’s body without stopping, exposing innocent bystanders to injury. According to noted self-defense expert, Massad Ayoob, the lighter, faster 124 to 127 grain jacketed hollow point is considered by most experts to be the load of choice for the self-defense handgun chambered for the 9mm parabellum cartridge. However, the 115 grain jacketed hollow point also has an enthusiastic fan club as well.
So, in the end, you are still left with choices. .45 auto, or .40 S&W? .38 special or .357 magnum? What about the 9mm, or the .380? Is the .32 automatic capable of saving your life? Can you get by with a .25 auto, since the gun is small and easy to carry in a concealed fashion? What about a .22? I have a buddy that has a nifty .44magnum revolver with a special 3 inch barrel. Is this a good self-defense combination? Help! I'm lost . . . .
In the early 1900’s, General Julian Hatcher, a noted and respected firearms expert, developed an index to measure the relative “stopping power” of various cartridges. Known as the Hatcher Rating”, it has been widely quoted as the end all of discussions on the issue. According to its proponents, a rating of 50 or higher will produce a one shot stop approximately 90% of the time.
Problem solved? Not exactly. Any number of other experts consider Hatcher’s “ratings” to be based upon flawed research. Additionally, the Hatcher rating for a .44 magnum, lead wadcutter bullet is 136.8. Well then, that makes it simple. We should all carry the .44 magnum loaded with lead wadcutters, right? This is where the “one shot stop” crowd loses me.
You could use a bazooka for a one shot stop. But if you miss with your first shot, your ability to stay on target to deliver rapid follow up shots is non-existant. Have you ever fired a .44 magnum? Have you ever tried to fire three or four accurate shots from a .44 magnum in rapid succession? If you have, you realize that this is a very difficult task even for an experienced handgunner. I have one hell of a time doing it and I have been shooting big bore handguns for over 35 years. Okay, I can’t do it and I suspect that you can’t do it either.
And in the dark of the night, confronted with an adversary who is trying to kill me, whether by gunfire, or in the midst of a charge, armed with some other mechanical weapon, I am going to want to shoot accurately and keep shooting until that adversary is down and out of action. I cannot and will not shoot once, then stop to see if I have achieved the “one shot stop”. There are plenty of people in cemeteries who have tried that. I need to keep my gun in action, and firing as accurately as possible until the fight is over.
You can stop an attacker with well placed .22 rounds. But the .22 simply does not have the stopping power of a larger caliber bullet. Most experts will tell you that the .22 will have greater penetration than a .25 auto load. While the .32 and the
.380 cartridges have their own cheerleaders, the greater number of experts who study and write on the topic will tell you to stick with the .38 special in a jacketed hollow point, and up in order to maximize stopping power. This would include the
9mm, the .40 S&W, the .45 ACP as well as the .41 magnum and the .44 special. You can find an interesting discussion of a dizzying variety of cartridges at sites such as http://www.chuckhawks.com/ammo_by_anonymous.htm. In this article, Chuck Hawks cites the reader to the work of Massad Ayoob. I do too, every chance I get. “Mas” Ayoob has made a lifelong study of such issues in his never ending effort to keep cops alive out on the street.
The one common thread that runs through the writings of people like this is the idea that you should find something that works for you and practice, practice and practice in a wide variety of situations and conditions to develop your own proficiency with, and understanding of the tool that you have chosen. After all, its your life, or the life of your loved ones you are trying to save. It should be worth your investment of time, energy and expense.
I did not set out to point you in the direction of the ubiquitous “best self-defense cartridge”. It does not exist because the variables do not permit it. But there is a good one out there for you. What do I use? As I have stated before, sometimes I carry a 9mm, the Kahr CW-9. Sometimes I use the .45 ACP in a full frame 1911. For home defense, I employ a Mossberg tactical pump shotgun, loaded with 2 3/4 inch number 4 buckshot. But that is backed up by a variety of other things that can be reached by either myself or my wife, depending upon the circumstances. With these ideas in mind, what you choose will be up to you. I hope that this discussion gives you some things to think about in making that decision for yourself.
Step one requires that we identify the primary objective sought in using self-defense ammunition in the first place. Simply stated, it is to stop an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury that has been made upon the actor (or someone the actor deems it necessary to protect). The “actor” - that’s you – or me.
A bullet fired from a handgun may be effective in stopping that threat as a result of a number of different effects. Disruption of blood supply to the brain, impairment of the central nervous system, fracturing bones necessary for skeletal support, neural shock or the psychological impact some persons might experience as a result of being shot. A simpler way to put this is to say, the bullet needs to hit something vital to the operation of the human body and do enough damage to it that it stops working properly - real soon. If a fired bullet can repeat that process more than once during its travel into (or through) the body, that is even better.
It is not my intention to get into the physiology of wounds, or to try to do a lesson in human anatomy in this discussion. But hopefully, I have made the point that to be an effective self-defense choice, a handgun cartridge must be able to deliver its energy in such a fashion that it is capable of stopping the threat, right now.
Earlier, I did say “maybe effective” for a reason. Despite what a person might think, handguns are not terribly powerful tools and they can only do a limited amount of damage. Remember the story about the Sheriff who, when asked if he had brought his sidearm to a civic event because he was expecting trouble, replied, “No ma’am, if I was expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.” Funny story. Deadly serious point being made about the relative effectiveness of rifle cartridges versus handgun cartridges. Here, we are focusing on handgun cartridges and accepting the limitations that they inherently have.
But in the ultimate analysis, it doesn't really matter what the caliber of the bullet is or what the bullet is made of or how fast it travels. What matters is that it fulfills its primary objectives. And because there are any number of cartridges on the market capable of completing these tasks, debate rages in every corner of the kingdom about which is the “best” cartridge for self-defense. Some of the debate is healthy. Some of the debate is based upon claims that are so fanciful that they are ludicrous, or nearly so.
For example, let’s look at the widely popular 9mm parabellum:
”9 mm self-defense rounds are not capable of stopping an attacker and they never will be.” You’ve heard it, or read it, and so have I. So I posed that question to my father, a combat veteran from WWII Europe, who was hit by a single full metal jacketed 9mm round in the chest, fired by a German Officer commanding a machine gun emplacement. He said, “Well, it sure as hell stopped me.” “What happened to the German officer?”, I asked. “I killed him before I fell on my face and everything went black”. Do we have a “one shot” stop here? Sure, I guess, the officer fired once and it "stopped" my father. But thank goodness for papa (as well as me and my brothers and our progeny), the “stop” took him out of the action, but not before he inflicted several fatal wounds on his adversary with a Thompson .45 cal. sub-machine gun. However, numerous experienced self-defense experts do consider the 9mm to be quite effective in stopping an adversary. I know a number of them that carry the 9mm as a personal defense weapon, as do I and my spouse, from time to time.
Most commentators insist that it is imperative that you stick with hollow point ammunition as opposed to “ball”. ('Ball' is round-nosed ammunition with a full metal jacket). It is used for auto-loading firearms like semi-automatic pistols. It is often referred to as "full metal jacket" or “FMJ”. Ball ammo does not expand when it hits its target. The military use ball because it is not significantly prone to jamming in operation, and they are required to use ball under the terms of the Geneva Convention.
Former police detective and writer, Evan Marshall has written reports following studies conducted in 1992, 1996 and 2000. These reports are based upon the examination of thousands of actual shootings. However, his reports and conclusions are based upon the concept of the "one shot stop" where an attacker was incapacitated by one shot to the body other than the head. Marshall gave the 9mm Federal 115 grain JHP +P+ a 91% rating based upon it having been involved in 209 shootings with 190 one shot stops. My concern here is that while I do strive to achieve a one shot kill while hunting wild game, I do this to preserve edible meat. And if I am unsuccessful, I can always attempt a carefully aimed second shot. I do not intend to attempt to devour an assailant who attacks me in my home or on the street and I am not going to have time to stop and carefully assess whether my first shot was sufficient to stop his attack. So the concept of the one shot stop is virtually meaningless to me and I am suggesting that it is equally meaningless to you. It is sufficient to say that the 9mm cartridge possesses a sufficient level of stopping power to be considered a good self-defense choice. Which 9mm cartridge is a slightly different subject.
At least one handgun commentator has stated: “Be sure you have the heaviest grain bullet you can get.” Yet research has shown that the heavier 147 grain 9mm slug is not superior to the lighter, but faster 115 grain jacketed hollow point. Adopted by the FBI in 1988, it was found that the the 147 grain slug did not expand reliably and often passed through the suspect’s body without stopping, exposing innocent bystanders to injury. According to noted self-defense expert, Massad Ayoob, the lighter, faster 124 to 127 grain jacketed hollow point is considered by most experts to be the load of choice for the self-defense handgun chambered for the 9mm parabellum cartridge. However, the 115 grain jacketed hollow point also has an enthusiastic fan club as well.
So, in the end, you are still left with choices. .45 auto, or .40 S&W? .38 special or .357 magnum? What about the 9mm, or the .380? Is the .32 automatic capable of saving your life? Can you get by with a .25 auto, since the gun is small and easy to carry in a concealed fashion? What about a .22? I have a buddy that has a nifty .44magnum revolver with a special 3 inch barrel. Is this a good self-defense combination? Help! I'm lost . . . .
In the early 1900’s, General Julian Hatcher, a noted and respected firearms expert, developed an index to measure the relative “stopping power” of various cartridges. Known as the Hatcher Rating”, it has been widely quoted as the end all of discussions on the issue. According to its proponents, a rating of 50 or higher will produce a one shot stop approximately 90% of the time.
Problem solved? Not exactly. Any number of other experts consider Hatcher’s “ratings” to be based upon flawed research. Additionally, the Hatcher rating for a .44 magnum, lead wadcutter bullet is 136.8. Well then, that makes it simple. We should all carry the .44 magnum loaded with lead wadcutters, right? This is where the “one shot stop” crowd loses me.
You could use a bazooka for a one shot stop. But if you miss with your first shot, your ability to stay on target to deliver rapid follow up shots is non-existant. Have you ever fired a .44 magnum? Have you ever tried to fire three or four accurate shots from a .44 magnum in rapid succession? If you have, you realize that this is a very difficult task even for an experienced handgunner. I have one hell of a time doing it and I have been shooting big bore handguns for over 35 years. Okay, I can’t do it and I suspect that you can’t do it either.
And in the dark of the night, confronted with an adversary who is trying to kill me, whether by gunfire, or in the midst of a charge, armed with some other mechanical weapon, I am going to want to shoot accurately and keep shooting until that adversary is down and out of action. I cannot and will not shoot once, then stop to see if I have achieved the “one shot stop”. There are plenty of people in cemeteries who have tried that. I need to keep my gun in action, and firing as accurately as possible until the fight is over.
You can stop an attacker with well placed .22 rounds. But the .22 simply does not have the stopping power of a larger caliber bullet. Most experts will tell you that the .22 will have greater penetration than a .25 auto load. While the .32 and the
.380 cartridges have their own cheerleaders, the greater number of experts who study and write on the topic will tell you to stick with the .38 special in a jacketed hollow point, and up in order to maximize stopping power. This would include the
9mm, the .40 S&W, the .45 ACP as well as the .41 magnum and the .44 special. You can find an interesting discussion of a dizzying variety of cartridges at sites such as http://www.chuckhawks.com/ammo_by_anonymous.htm. In this article, Chuck Hawks cites the reader to the work of Massad Ayoob. I do too, every chance I get. “Mas” Ayoob has made a lifelong study of such issues in his never ending effort to keep cops alive out on the street.
The one common thread that runs through the writings of people like this is the idea that you should find something that works for you and practice, practice and practice in a wide variety of situations and conditions to develop your own proficiency with, and understanding of the tool that you have chosen. After all, its your life, or the life of your loved ones you are trying to save. It should be worth your investment of time, energy and expense.
I did not set out to point you in the direction of the ubiquitous “best self-defense cartridge”. It does not exist because the variables do not permit it. But there is a good one out there for you. What do I use? As I have stated before, sometimes I carry a 9mm, the Kahr CW-9. Sometimes I use the .45 ACP in a full frame 1911. For home defense, I employ a Mossberg tactical pump shotgun, loaded with 2 3/4 inch number 4 buckshot. But that is backed up by a variety of other things that can be reached by either myself or my wife, depending upon the circumstances. With these ideas in mind, what you choose will be up to you. I hope that this discussion gives you some things to think about in making that decision for yourself.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Reliability and Recoil
A very important quality of a good self-defense handgun is its reliability. Despite the rhetoric employed by the anti-gun crowd, a firearm is simply a tool. It is no better, nor no worse than the individual employing it. In the case of a self-defense handgun, it is a life-saving tool. Therefore, by definition it is a tool which must function properly each and every time it is used. If you are confronted by a life-threatening attack (on you, or another individual such as a friend or family member) and your firearm malfunctions it could easily result in your death or serious injury, or the death or serious injury of those whom you wish to protect. In a very real sense, you are laying down a wager on your life. I don’t know about you, but under such circumstances, when I make that bet, reliability is damned important to me.
Now, it is true that there are a large number of very reliable handguns being sold by reputable firearms dealers today. Manufacturers like Colt, CZ, FN (Browning), Glock, Heckler & Koch, Kahr, Kimber, Ruger, SIG, Smith & Wesson, Springfield Armory, Steyr, Taurus, and Walther (to name but a few) all produce highly reliable firearms. I could try to list them all, but it’s a lengthy list and that is not why I am writing this piece.
There are many other places you can go to research the reliability of a particular make and model of handgun. Good sources of information include reputable firearms dealers, articles by leading gun authors, self-defense and firearms instructors teaching in your area, and the members of local gun clubs. They can all give you an opinion, and undoubtedly will if asked. However, they cannot do your thinking for you. Seek a number of opinions by asking about a particular handgun. If you simply throw out the question I started this blog with, you will get a predictable result. Lots of opinions and precious little in the way of specific facts.
But, it is important to remember that this is a manufactured piece of equipment. And what other piece of equipment do you rely upon that is manufactured? Your car. And what do we know about cars? We know that even the best manufacturer turns out the occasional lemon. So, this is why it is imperative that you test your self-defense handgun before betting your life on it.
You cannot rely upon the general reputation of the Glock pistols for reliability, you need to know that the Glock you have selected is reliable. This means going out with the handgun and burning up several hundred rounds of practice ammunition and a minimum of fifty rounds of your chosen self-defense ammunition before you bet your life on that handgun. Are you going to be willing to accept anything less than 100% malfunction free performance? I won’t. But you have to decide for yourself. Its your life you’re betting, not mine.
If you do experience a malfunction, then you must figure out what the problem is and correct it or take it to a reputable gunsmith (and I don’t mean your brother-in-law Ted, who managed to take his Wingmaster apart to remove the magazine plug and was able to put it back together without a bunch of “extra” parts) and have the gunsmith look it over. Some manufacturers actually recommend a break-in period before placing the handgun in critical service. Malfunctions that occur during a break-in period on a new gun are not necessarily cause for alarm, but you need to be sure that you are experiencing malfunction free use before relying on the gun to save your life, or that of your family members.
There can be any number of reasons for malfunctions., I will save that subject for a future discussion. Now I want to talk about recoil.
The concept of recoil is a very subjective issue. Quite seriously, the deer hunter who just scored a trophy buck might respond to a question by admitting, “I never felt the gun go off.” Likewise, individuals involved in an exchange of gunfire, or drawing and firing to save their lives from an onrushing attacker, may later have no appreciable memory of either the report from their handgun, or the recoil of the gun going off. Adrenaline has interesting effects on sensory excusion.
The most important issue in examining recoil is not the force being applied rearward at the point the projectile leaves the barrel. It is the tendency of the muzzle of the handgun to rise upward at the point the projectile leaves the barrel. This is often referred to as “muzzle flip”. This is important since with a proper stance, you are using your entire body to absorb the rearward force of recoil. However, how well you control the vertical rise of the muzzle is going to be dependent on how well you can grip your handgun. Controlling muzzle flip is vital to the placement of multiple shots on target. Why is this vital? Because, despite what you see in the movies, the average meth-head, with no teeth and weighing 120 lbs. soaking wet, charging you with a knife, is not going to go down with one shot. This is undoubtedly bad news if you have been led to believe (as many trusting souls have – by the media and other idiots with no experience with the issue) that with one well-placed shot, you can disarm your attacker without causing him any serious harm.
(More on that issue at another time)
And that muzzle flip is going to depend upon not only your stance and your grip, but also to a high degree upon the caliber and the design of your handgun. Its no secret that the more powerful a handgun cartridge is, the more recoil it will produce. But it is also true that the perception of recoil can vary depending upon the design of the cartridge. High velocity cartridges such as the .357 magnum and .40 S&W can be described as having a sharp recoil. Lower velocity rounds like the .38 Special and .45 ACP are usually experienced as a “push”. Many people (including a large number of female self-defense students I have worked with) are surprised to find that the recoil of the .45 auto cartridge in a full frame 1911 is easier to handle than that of the .40 S & W, despite the fact that the .45 is a larger, more powerful cartridge.
However, the handgun the cartridge is fired from also plays a big part in this calculation. The heavier the handgun, the more it will absorb the cartridge’s recoil. Handgun manufacturers commonly make the same gun in a variety of frame materials, and this will affect, to a great degree, how much they weigh. Guns are available in steel, aluminum alloy and polymer plastic frames. The alloy and polymer-framed guns are lighter and easier to conceal and carry, but they are more difficult to shoot (accurately). Longer barrels also help to reduce recoil and muzzle flip by adding greater weight and moving the gun’s center of gravity further forward. But again, longer barrels make the gun harder to carry in a concealed fashion.
Another often overlooked factor affecting recoil is the “bore axis” of the handgun.This is the measurement of the vertical distance between the top of the shooter’s hand and the imaginary centerline of the barrel running from the chamber to the muzzle. Guns with a higher bore axis measurement have more muzzle flip than a handgun with a low bore axis measurement. But at the same time, the handguns with a low bore axis also will have a more pronounced direct backward recoil into the web of your hand. Because of their design, revolvers have a higher bore axis that some semi-automatic pistols. Glock pistols are an example of a semi-auto that is known for their low bore axis due to their design. Semi-automatic pistols also have less recoil than revolvers because some of the recoil energy is used to cycle the slide. Effectively, the slide functions as a shock absorber.
So, by way of example, a .38 special cartridge, fired from a snub-nosed lightweight alloy frame revolver with a high bore axis will have a much more punishing recoil than a .45 fired from a long barreled, steel framed, semi-automatic. If you don’t believe me, go to a range where you can rent both models. It will not take many rounds for you to understand the concept.
Next we are going to talk about self-defense ammunition. In connection with the concepts of stopping power and also reliability and practicality.
Now, it is true that there are a large number of very reliable handguns being sold by reputable firearms dealers today. Manufacturers like Colt, CZ, FN (Browning), Glock, Heckler & Koch, Kahr, Kimber, Ruger, SIG, Smith & Wesson, Springfield Armory, Steyr, Taurus, and Walther (to name but a few) all produce highly reliable firearms. I could try to list them all, but it’s a lengthy list and that is not why I am writing this piece.
There are many other places you can go to research the reliability of a particular make and model of handgun. Good sources of information include reputable firearms dealers, articles by leading gun authors, self-defense and firearms instructors teaching in your area, and the members of local gun clubs. They can all give you an opinion, and undoubtedly will if asked. However, they cannot do your thinking for you. Seek a number of opinions by asking about a particular handgun. If you simply throw out the question I started this blog with, you will get a predictable result. Lots of opinions and precious little in the way of specific facts.
But, it is important to remember that this is a manufactured piece of equipment. And what other piece of equipment do you rely upon that is manufactured? Your car. And what do we know about cars? We know that even the best manufacturer turns out the occasional lemon. So, this is why it is imperative that you test your self-defense handgun before betting your life on it.
You cannot rely upon the general reputation of the Glock pistols for reliability, you need to know that the Glock you have selected is reliable. This means going out with the handgun and burning up several hundred rounds of practice ammunition and a minimum of fifty rounds of your chosen self-defense ammunition before you bet your life on that handgun. Are you going to be willing to accept anything less than 100% malfunction free performance? I won’t. But you have to decide for yourself. Its your life you’re betting, not mine.
If you do experience a malfunction, then you must figure out what the problem is and correct it or take it to a reputable gunsmith (and I don’t mean your brother-in-law Ted, who managed to take his Wingmaster apart to remove the magazine plug and was able to put it back together without a bunch of “extra” parts) and have the gunsmith look it over. Some manufacturers actually recommend a break-in period before placing the handgun in critical service. Malfunctions that occur during a break-in period on a new gun are not necessarily cause for alarm, but you need to be sure that you are experiencing malfunction free use before relying on the gun to save your life, or that of your family members.
There can be any number of reasons for malfunctions., I will save that subject for a future discussion. Now I want to talk about recoil.
The concept of recoil is a very subjective issue. Quite seriously, the deer hunter who just scored a trophy buck might respond to a question by admitting, “I never felt the gun go off.” Likewise, individuals involved in an exchange of gunfire, or drawing and firing to save their lives from an onrushing attacker, may later have no appreciable memory of either the report from their handgun, or the recoil of the gun going off. Adrenaline has interesting effects on sensory excusion.
The most important issue in examining recoil is not the force being applied rearward at the point the projectile leaves the barrel. It is the tendency of the muzzle of the handgun to rise upward at the point the projectile leaves the barrel. This is often referred to as “muzzle flip”. This is important since with a proper stance, you are using your entire body to absorb the rearward force of recoil. However, how well you control the vertical rise of the muzzle is going to be dependent on how well you can grip your handgun. Controlling muzzle flip is vital to the placement of multiple shots on target. Why is this vital? Because, despite what you see in the movies, the average meth-head, with no teeth and weighing 120 lbs. soaking wet, charging you with a knife, is not going to go down with one shot. This is undoubtedly bad news if you have been led to believe (as many trusting souls have – by the media and other idiots with no experience with the issue) that with one well-placed shot, you can disarm your attacker without causing him any serious harm.
(More on that issue at another time)
And that muzzle flip is going to depend upon not only your stance and your grip, but also to a high degree upon the caliber and the design of your handgun. Its no secret that the more powerful a handgun cartridge is, the more recoil it will produce. But it is also true that the perception of recoil can vary depending upon the design of the cartridge. High velocity cartridges such as the .357 magnum and .40 S&W can be described as having a sharp recoil. Lower velocity rounds like the .38 Special and .45 ACP are usually experienced as a “push”. Many people (including a large number of female self-defense students I have worked with) are surprised to find that the recoil of the .45 auto cartridge in a full frame 1911 is easier to handle than that of the .40 S & W, despite the fact that the .45 is a larger, more powerful cartridge.
However, the handgun the cartridge is fired from also plays a big part in this calculation. The heavier the handgun, the more it will absorb the cartridge’s recoil. Handgun manufacturers commonly make the same gun in a variety of frame materials, and this will affect, to a great degree, how much they weigh. Guns are available in steel, aluminum alloy and polymer plastic frames. The alloy and polymer-framed guns are lighter and easier to conceal and carry, but they are more difficult to shoot (accurately). Longer barrels also help to reduce recoil and muzzle flip by adding greater weight and moving the gun’s center of gravity further forward. But again, longer barrels make the gun harder to carry in a concealed fashion.
Another often overlooked factor affecting recoil is the “bore axis” of the handgun.This is the measurement of the vertical distance between the top of the shooter’s hand and the imaginary centerline of the barrel running from the chamber to the muzzle. Guns with a higher bore axis measurement have more muzzle flip than a handgun with a low bore axis measurement. But at the same time, the handguns with a low bore axis also will have a more pronounced direct backward recoil into the web of your hand. Because of their design, revolvers have a higher bore axis that some semi-automatic pistols. Glock pistols are an example of a semi-auto that is known for their low bore axis due to their design. Semi-automatic pistols also have less recoil than revolvers because some of the recoil energy is used to cycle the slide. Effectively, the slide functions as a shock absorber.
So, by way of example, a .38 special cartridge, fired from a snub-nosed lightweight alloy frame revolver with a high bore axis will have a much more punishing recoil than a .45 fired from a long barreled, steel framed, semi-automatic. If you don’t believe me, go to a range where you can rent both models. It will not take many rounds for you to understand the concept.
Next we are going to talk about self-defense ammunition. In connection with the concepts of stopping power and also reliability and practicality.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
SELECTING THE SELF-DEFENSE HANDGUN
Wanna start a fight? Easily done. Just walk into a room filled with avid handgunners and ask in a loud voice, “Hey, what’s the best all-around self-defense handgun?” Then stay low, and hug the wall until you can beat a hasty retreat. The ensuing battle will be awe-inspiring. Everyone will have an opinion, emphatically stated, often with little agreement amongst the contenders and with precious little in the way of sound advice for the novice shooter seeking guidance and direction in choosing a handgun to own and use for self-defense. Actions, calibers, brands, size and materials. A bewildering array of arguments pro and con and more information than any one person could possible find useful.
The truth is you can’t answer this question, because it is a trick question. There simply is no best, all-around self defense handgun, because there are too many variables involved to allow for such a stand out, one size fits all, best of show response. The purpose of this series of articles is to digest the wisdom of experienced experts on the issue and try to provide some useful information.
Size Does Matter
Most thoughtful experts agree, however, that the most important factor in
selecting a defensive handgun is finding one that you can shoot well. This means a gun that fits your hand in combination with recoil you can handle. No matter what the caliber, or ammo capacity a handgun might have, if you can’t fire it accurately enough to hit an attacker with the number of shots necessary to stop an immediate threat, it will be of little use in protecting you from harm.
Another facet of the “shoot well” requirement is that the self-defense handgun must be reliable. A gun that jams in a fight, or experiences some other type of malfunction, is far less useful than a claw hammer and might very likely get you killed. A corollary of this concept is that it must be a firearm that you can operate without hesitation in an extremely fast-moving situation while you are subject to intense emotional and physiological stress accompanied by an inevitable loss of fine motor skills.
A final issue in this analysis is that the handgun needs to fire ammunition that is powerful enough to stop an attacker and it needs to hold enough of that ammunition to stop all the attackers. You may not be “lucky” enough to be facing just one.
Okay, with those ideas in mind, how do you go about selecting a handgun which is a good one for you?
To determine whether a gun is a proper fit for you, you must first examine it to determine its trigger reach, or the distance between the back of the grip and the trigger. To do this, grip the gun with your index finger extended and resting on the trigger guard, the trigger should be next to the index finger’s middle knuckle. If the trigger reach is too long, a shooter will attempt to compensate for this by using an incorrect grip on the gun. To grip the gun correctly, you must have the barrel aligned with the long bones of your forearm. Since it is very important to pull the trigger straight back when firing the handgun, if your grip is not aligned properly, it can result in “pushing” or “pulling” in which act of depressing the trigger causes the gun to move out of alignment with its intended point of aim, and, as a result, moving the point of impact.
If you are shooting a single action handgun (which requires that the hammer be manually moved to the cocked position before pulling the trigger to fire the gun) the pad of your trigger finger must rest on the trigger. With a double action handgun (where the act of pulling the trigger accomplishes cocking of the action and release of the hammer, discharging the round) the trigger should be contacted by the distal joint of the finger (the one closest to the tip of the finger). If the reach is too short, the contact point will move away from the tip of the finger, and a right handed shooter will pull the gun to the right. A left handed shooter will pull to the left. You can check this by “dry firing” the gun. Make absolutely sure you have the gun unloaded (check it twice, human beings make mistakes) and pointed in a safe direction. Then aim at a distinct target and pull the trigger through to release. Watch to see if the sights stay in alignment or if they move as you pull the trigger. On the range you can also check this by examining where you are hitting the target. If your point of impact is consistently to one side or the other of your point of aim, then your trigger reach may be too short or too long.
It is equally important that you are able to manipulate the gun’s other controls while gripping the gun. On a revolver, the cylinder release should be within easy reach with your thumb. On a semi-automatic pistol, you must be able to activate the magazine release and slide lock lever easily. If the gun has a decock mechanism or a manual safety, you must also be able to use these features without altering your grip on the gun. It is not an acceptable alternative to try to use these controls using your support hand. In a confrontation, you may be unable to use both hands to operate the handgun for a variety of reasons. Effective one-handed operation is a critical skill that may not be possible if the gun is too big for your hand.
If, alternatively, your hands are too big for the gun, you will have difficulty finding enough gun to hold on to, either because the grip is too short or the circumference of the grip is too small. While it is quite easy to determine if the grip is too short, it is often harder to determine if the circumference of the grip is going to pose a problem for you. If the grip is a proper size, there should be a gap between the tips of your fingers and the base of the thumb on your grip hand.
The base of the thumb on your support hand should fit into this gap when using a two hand grip to lock the support hand into your grip. This assists in managing recoil during firing and permits proper follow through so that you are able to fire multiple shots rapidly and accurately. In a situation where you cannot use a two hand grip, proper fit is even more important since the grip hand must also act alone to provide support for the firearm during operation.
You actually need to try a number of different grip sizes and styles to find a good grip, just as you would try on clothing to ensure that your purchase does fit you. A number of handgun manufacturers have come out with guns with adjustable backstraps which can alter the circumference of the grip to some degree by replacing a plastic insert that attach to the back of the grip. However, these also tend to alter the trigger reach to some degree. If you are looking at a gun in a gunshop and the grip seems too large or small for you, ask which backstrap is on it at the moment, and if they could let you hold it with a larger or smaller one attached.
In the next installment, I am going to discuss issues relating to firearm reliability and the various types of actions that are available on the market. From there we will move to the selection of the caliber of the handgun you are considering and the effects of size, weight and the caliber of the handgun you are considering on recoil and accuracy.
The truth is you can’t answer this question, because it is a trick question. There simply is no best, all-around self defense handgun, because there are too many variables involved to allow for such a stand out, one size fits all, best of show response. The purpose of this series of articles is to digest the wisdom of experienced experts on the issue and try to provide some useful information.
Size Does Matter
Most thoughtful experts agree, however, that the most important factor in
selecting a defensive handgun is finding one that you can shoot well. This means a gun that fits your hand in combination with recoil you can handle. No matter what the caliber, or ammo capacity a handgun might have, if you can’t fire it accurately enough to hit an attacker with the number of shots necessary to stop an immediate threat, it will be of little use in protecting you from harm.
Another facet of the “shoot well” requirement is that the self-defense handgun must be reliable. A gun that jams in a fight, or experiences some other type of malfunction, is far less useful than a claw hammer and might very likely get you killed. A corollary of this concept is that it must be a firearm that you can operate without hesitation in an extremely fast-moving situation while you are subject to intense emotional and physiological stress accompanied by an inevitable loss of fine motor skills.
A final issue in this analysis is that the handgun needs to fire ammunition that is powerful enough to stop an attacker and it needs to hold enough of that ammunition to stop all the attackers. You may not be “lucky” enough to be facing just one.
Okay, with those ideas in mind, how do you go about selecting a handgun which is a good one for you?
To determine whether a gun is a proper fit for you, you must first examine it to determine its trigger reach, or the distance between the back of the grip and the trigger. To do this, grip the gun with your index finger extended and resting on the trigger guard, the trigger should be next to the index finger’s middle knuckle. If the trigger reach is too long, a shooter will attempt to compensate for this by using an incorrect grip on the gun. To grip the gun correctly, you must have the barrel aligned with the long bones of your forearm. Since it is very important to pull the trigger straight back when firing the handgun, if your grip is not aligned properly, it can result in “pushing” or “pulling” in which act of depressing the trigger causes the gun to move out of alignment with its intended point of aim, and, as a result, moving the point of impact.
If you are shooting a single action handgun (which requires that the hammer be manually moved to the cocked position before pulling the trigger to fire the gun) the pad of your trigger finger must rest on the trigger. With a double action handgun (where the act of pulling the trigger accomplishes cocking of the action and release of the hammer, discharging the round) the trigger should be contacted by the distal joint of the finger (the one closest to the tip of the finger). If the reach is too short, the contact point will move away from the tip of the finger, and a right handed shooter will pull the gun to the right. A left handed shooter will pull to the left. You can check this by “dry firing” the gun. Make absolutely sure you have the gun unloaded (check it twice, human beings make mistakes) and pointed in a safe direction. Then aim at a distinct target and pull the trigger through to release. Watch to see if the sights stay in alignment or if they move as you pull the trigger. On the range you can also check this by examining where you are hitting the target. If your point of impact is consistently to one side or the other of your point of aim, then your trigger reach may be too short or too long.
It is equally important that you are able to manipulate the gun’s other controls while gripping the gun. On a revolver, the cylinder release should be within easy reach with your thumb. On a semi-automatic pistol, you must be able to activate the magazine release and slide lock lever easily. If the gun has a decock mechanism or a manual safety, you must also be able to use these features without altering your grip on the gun. It is not an acceptable alternative to try to use these controls using your support hand. In a confrontation, you may be unable to use both hands to operate the handgun for a variety of reasons. Effective one-handed operation is a critical skill that may not be possible if the gun is too big for your hand.
If, alternatively, your hands are too big for the gun, you will have difficulty finding enough gun to hold on to, either because the grip is too short or the circumference of the grip is too small. While it is quite easy to determine if the grip is too short, it is often harder to determine if the circumference of the grip is going to pose a problem for you. If the grip is a proper size, there should be a gap between the tips of your fingers and the base of the thumb on your grip hand.
The base of the thumb on your support hand should fit into this gap when using a two hand grip to lock the support hand into your grip. This assists in managing recoil during firing and permits proper follow through so that you are able to fire multiple shots rapidly and accurately. In a situation where you cannot use a two hand grip, proper fit is even more important since the grip hand must also act alone to provide support for the firearm during operation.
You actually need to try a number of different grip sizes and styles to find a good grip, just as you would try on clothing to ensure that your purchase does fit you. A number of handgun manufacturers have come out with guns with adjustable backstraps which can alter the circumference of the grip to some degree by replacing a plastic insert that attach to the back of the grip. However, these also tend to alter the trigger reach to some degree. If you are looking at a gun in a gunshop and the grip seems too large or small for you, ask which backstrap is on it at the moment, and if they could let you hold it with a larger or smaller one attached.
In the next installment, I am going to discuss issues relating to firearm reliability and the various types of actions that are available on the market. From there we will move to the selection of the caliber of the handgun you are considering and the effects of size, weight and the caliber of the handgun you are considering on recoil and accuracy.
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