Shooting on the Edges

     

In using a handgun in self-defense, every instructor of any worth teaches that your goal is to be able to fire, on demand, a well-placed – most times high-center-chest – hit. We collectively practice developing, and then maintaining, this ability.

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Handgun competitions are built around how well a competitor does this. This ability is then often coupled with tactical considerations of concealment, cover and movement.

Little if any thought or effort, though, is devoted to learning to "shoot what you can see when you can see it," so to speak. In fact, all the competitions penalize the shooter for firing what is, correctly by the rules, a poor shot.

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However, a problem can arise when forced to defend yourself because threats do not conveniently present themselves as a full-value, broadside target. But because all your training, practice and competition has habituated you to always attempt to position yourself to get a good hit, you will most likely do this instinctively when engaging a real adversary.

The "cure" for this problem, luckily, is not all that complex. Recognizing that what you are doing in one application is incorrect for the other is almost the solution in and of itself. To reinforce this, practicing shooting at a humanoid target’s extremities – its "edges," if you will – can further imprint this difference.

I suggest using realistic human silhouette targets, if possible, to better imprint in your mind what you’ll see in a real encounter.

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January 9, 2010