Techniques that Threat Solutions Staff have put to the test.
by J. Eric Dean
During a recent range event, Loren and I took the opportunity to put an age old question to the test. That test is either reload if ,heaven forbid, my primary weapon were to run out of ammo or to transition to my secondary if the gods were to grace me with one.
First off, Loren and I stood at the 25 meter line both with 5.56 carbines and the awesome Beretta 92F/S in hand. (Don't hold it againts us, we were training our nations finest) At the other end of the range stood three normal, regulation sized ABA sanctioned bowling pins. The drill consisted of us both were to simulate that we ran out of ammo. Next I was to transition to my secondary and Loren was to execute an "emergency reload" after the buzzer went off and the drill began. Loren and I are well might I say not the best shots in the world, but we can handle ourselves okay. I am working with him and he is showing signs of improvement. (Sorry Loren had to stick that one in there.) I am expecting a phone call any moment from him. Wait is that the phone?
Okay, the buzzer sounds and the drill begins with Loren performing an emergency reload and I a transition. I am able to get the transition off obviously quicker then my counterpart (no one would argue that point) and I began to engage the targets. My first two shots rang out quickly and to my surprise, nothing fell. I slowed a bit, fired a third and still nothing. Now Loren nearly has completed his reload, so I began speeding my shots up and even though I would have been landing solid shots near the "tombstone" (Riposte-1 target from LE Targets) the bowling pins remained standing so therefore no "stop" shots were assumed. At this point Loren completed the reload and began to knock the pins down in order, 1, 2, 3. To make it official, we switched roles, I reloaded and Loren transitioned much to the same result as the first. The transition can not get effective shots off at that range.
So, now that at 25 meters it is safe to assume that your best bet is to reload that empty weapon (hopefully from cover) and get back into the fight. Unless your along the lines of say Jim Higgenbotham, keep that primary weapon going.
Next we jumped up to the 15 meter line and performed the same drill. Now this time, the transition was able to get the pins down 1 to the reloads 2. So its safe to assume that at this range of 15 meters to 25 meters seems safe to stay with the primary. Now remember that someone is shooting at you, and you really need to stay dynamic. Its a bit difficult to reload effectively on a knee in the open with someone shooting at you so close you can read the fine print on their hat.
Finally at the 10 meter line. Man what a change. The transition was super fast. The transition knocked down all three pins, made coffee and had the Beretta cleaned before the reload could yell, "primary down!".
So what is the morale of the story you ask? 10-12 meters to target or closer, or you need to put bullets at a target from a bit further away without really hitting stopping shots? Transition my friend. Need to stop a target effectively from 15 meters on out? Get that carbine talking quickly!
Eric
September 29, 2007
Questions or comments about this article? email Eric at eric@threatsolutionstraining.com
Operations or Conditions Check
by J. Eric Dean
What about an operations check (or conditions check in some circles) with a pistol? At the range a couple of years ago I came up with this type of operations check when using a pistol. This technique I have been teaching the day that it dawned on me.
When I was engaging a target with my secondary weapon I thought about the operations check executing it by basically bringing the weapon into a modified "third eye" and rotating the weapon skyward briefly before bringing it back to the scan and executing a reload or returning the weapon to retention. There is nothing wrong with this technique as far as I am concerned. There are a few things that may not be what one wants to do but they are small. For one, if your performing a operations check then most likely the situation has de-escalated to a point to which you think that it is safe to do so, so pulling the weapon down out of the "shooter's box" is not a horribly bad thing as long as nothing was to pop up and see what all the hub-bub was about. People's attention tends to be drawn to loud noises. Secondly shooting from the third eye is not the most stable platform from which to shoot. The Threat Solutions method is simple and I think it enables the shooter to perform an operations check while eliminating these little problems.
Now to execute The Threat Solutions Operations Check one simple executes one simple motion while the weapon is at the scan position. While you are looking over the sights instead of putting the weapon into a third eye retention position then performing an operations check, try just looking at the juncture of the upper slide and the lower assembly and make sure that the seam is together and the weapon is in full battery, ready to fire. This will tell you if the weapon is out of battery, if there is a "stove pipe" or the weapon is out of operation. If any of these conditions are observed then getting the weapon back into service can be done while keeping the weapon in the shooters box while the weapon is still at the scan and at its most stable. So once again, while in the scan phase, simple take your eyes off the sights and look at the back of your AUTOMATIC weapon and ensure that the weapon is in battery and ready to fire again, top off the weapon and get going!
Eric
Questions or comments about this article? email Eric at eric@threatsolutionstraining.com
"These comments are the expressed opinions of the authors of the articles. They are not the standard in this field of study. We at Threat Solutions are not responsible for a reader of these articles to deem these articles as the truth or the only way to perform a task. All of these thoughts are open for debate and We welcome them. No one can get better in this field without it. This field requires an enormous amount of in depth training to understand the fundamentals required to make quick decisions in a gun fight. We tell everyone to search out for more knowledge and by no means think that this is the one-stop gun fighting technique sight. Its not a bad start though. If you use one of these techniques and it doesn't work, you most likely missed the point we were trying to make, you did not practice enough, or you did it wrong."