I spent 20 years as a cop, most of which was as a firearms instructor and FTO (Field Training Officer). Besides that, most of my adult life I’ve been involved in firearm instruction, military and civilian, I’ve taught SWAT, Military & LE Snipers (and still do) but these are my thoughts based on my experience.
Required Reading: I had my rookies read “No Second Place Winner” buy Bill Jordon, stressing the Mr. Jordon’s ideals of practice, draw and fire one shot, and his suggested method of carry.
The second book was the “Onion Field” by Joseph Wambaugh, stressing, never give up your gun and if someone has the drop on you, you are not necessarily at a disadvantage.
Finely, “Officer Down, Code 3” by Pierce R. Brooks, a series analyst of officers being shot.
One thing I always stress, on the FL and elsewhere is the need to practice and shoot one handed, both hands.
Think about it, you seldom have both hands free. You always have something in the other hand, flashlight, doorknob, car door, bandit, pushing way a loved one. Think about your daily activity. How often do you really have both hands free?
Another example, shooting behind barricades, or other cover. If you are using two hands, there is more of your body exposed then one hand. Simple test. Stand in front of your partner who is behind a barricade. Have him point his index finger at your using one and then both hands. Watch to see which exposes more of his body.
Learn to shoot with your left (or weak hand). If shooting from the left side of the barricade, use your left hand, if shooting from the right side of the barricade use your right hand.
Carry a small mechanic’s mirror (or wife’s compact) when searching rooms or buildings. Use the mirror to peek around corners.
If you use a laser sight on your pistol/revolver practice shooting using the mirror. You can poke your mirror and gun around the barricade and see the red dot on the target via the mirror. Try it, worse thing that can happen is you get some fun practice, but I think you’ll find with a bit of practice you can get pretty good.
Now we all know you can’t pull your gun every time you see something suspicious or you’re in a bad area. No problem, learn to draw, if you are within three yards and it takes you more than 1 sec to get a shot into the A/B scoring area, you need practice, or need to modify your method of carry.
I’m old and slow so I need an advantage. I normally walk around with my hands in my pocket anyway so I pocket carry a 642. Using a shot timer I can normally get the shot of in .5 seconds. Many doubt that, so be it, but remember, I start with my hand on the gun. If I see something suspicious then I finger my revolver up a bit, where I can get a grip, yet keep it concealed. Again, its method of carry, method of carry and PRACTICE.
I have a little J frame “blue gun”. I spend quite a bit of time with that rubber gun in my pocket practicing drawing and pointing.
Go to the range with your shooting partner. Both of you face the target. Have your partner point his gun at the target and tell him to fire as soon as you see you start to draw. You’ll find you can get your shot off first so don’t believe is someone has the drop on you they have an advantage. Action is faster than reaction.
It helps if you can get your partner (or bandit in real life) talking. You can not talk and shoot. Try it. You’ll find out you have to stop talking to pull the trigger. Just like breathing. You don’t shoot while breathing, you can’t do it. You stop the instant you pull the trigger. Remember the movie “TAKEN”, the last shooting scene. Bandit has good guys daughter at knife point. Soon as the Bandit starts to say “Let Negotiate” good guy pops him. (Somebody did a bit of thinking when writing that scene).
As to Bad Breath Distance. Bandit has the drop on you, one hand goes to the face/eyes, the other goes for your revolver. Ever see anything come to your eyes that didn’t cause you to flinch?
If approaching a car window with a ticket book, the driver has a gun, the ticket book, flashlight or whatever to the eyes caused one to flinch. Learn automatic reflexes and use them to your advantage.
Face to face, one hand goes to the eyes the other draws, you can practice that getting arms length to your target, palm to face as you draw and shoot.
Now I always preach One handed shooting, there are exceptions and maybe a bit of two handed practice wouldn’t hurt. Get a hostage target and practice shooting it with your revolver. Use the attached target, print it out, dry fire at it and practice shooting. To add stress superimpose a picture of your daughter on the good guy portion of the target. Believe me, that will add stress.
Hostage target:
http://photos.imageevent.com/kraigwy...0Target_1_.pdf
I’m a big believer of laser sights, if nothing else, then for dry firing. You get instant feed back. Ball and dummy work to a point. A dime on the barrel helps, but neither can compare to watching the red dot bouncing around on your target as you dry fire.
Another thing, Snakes, I live in rattler country. I’ve killed several in the yard because rattlers and grandkids don’t play well together. Since I always carry my 642 that’s my snake getter of choice. But it takes practice. I have my own range and have several shotgun hulls laying around. I spend a lot of time drawing and shooting the hulls. Helps in dealing with rattlers.
I use my pocket revolver for everything so I carry it all the time. Besides snakes I’ve had to nail coyotes who are trying to steal my chickens, I’ve put down injured horses, and dispatched wounded animals after traffic accidents. No gun is worth a hoot if you don’t have it.
In a home invasion a pistol in the pocket beats a pistol on the night stand.
These are just a few tricks I’ve learned over the years, they work for me, may or may not work for you, many will disagree, so be it, we’re all different and have different ideals based on our personal experiences.
So take it for what it’s worth.