[BlueTrain]

The combat techniques of both Fairbairn and Applegate were based on combat and police gunfighting experiences and entirely so. Absolutely nothing was derived from target shooting, shooting games like IPSC or cowboy action shooting or the like. The experiences of the two above drew on somewhat different experiences but they did work together for a while.

Applegate went so far as to go back to the well known Wild West gunfighters to try to learn something about what they did and how they managed to survive. Isn't it interesting how the gunfight at the OK Corral keeps coming up in this context? A couple of Hollywood moviemakers actually knew one of the original participants, but that's getting away from the point.

Both Fairbairn and Applegate became trainers and were faced with distinct challenges. Fairbairn was with a very large police department of varied ethnic backgrounds. His aim was to produce policemen who could win gunfights (they had a lot) and avoid shooting themselves at the same time. In other words, safety in gun handling was also considered of primary importance. You should find it interesting that they were equipment mainly with Colt 1911's. They also used .380 Colt pocket autos and some Webley .455 revolvers. His beliefs were based on his first hand experiences as a policeman.

Applegate was training men who only had a short time to learn practical combat pistol shooting and his techniques were based almost entirely on the experiences of men he had trained and then gone into combat, apparently mostly on raids. He was a believer in point shooting, in his own fashion. It seems both pistols and revolvers were used. Both men also were serious about hand to hand combat, both with knives and bare hands.

Other than Fairbairn's insistence that the safeties on automatics not be used, neither spend much time about carrying the pistol or on fast draw but almost all of their effort went into the actual shooting. Reading what they had to say, you will note the lack of narrow dogma. There is nothing about customing pistols (other than Fairbairn's comments about a Fitz New Service revolver), nothing much about ammunition and nothing to speak of about reloading. Their main focus was on hitting the target (the other guy) before he was able to hit you. Accuracy and fast. You can't miss fast enough to make up for anything.

It also sounds like both men lived in worlds where you did not have the luxury to spend a couple of hours each weekend honing your shooting skills. Fairbairn even believed that competitive target shooting was detrimental to your combat skills. This isn't to say he wasn't progressive. Both, I think, believed in using two hands when possible for targets further away. Fairbairn even complained that the sights on stock guns were very poor for that purpose, too. All said, however, it doesn't sound like they either imagined anything like a fast draw contest or having to make a quick draw, especially from concealment. In that respect, their advice is not helpful.

Finally, about that "combat crouch." Neither men invented it as part of an overall combat technique but rather recognized that if you are getting shot at or think that is about to happen, you very naturally crouch. They merely allowed their trainees to do what was natural. Besides, gunfighting was a very dynamic thing and people were expected to be moving around, not standing stock still and upright.