The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Some questions on point-shooting

Bartholomew Roberts · May 6, 2010, 02:26 PM

(I apologize in advance to the mods - nothing personal against you, I promise)

Based on my readings, point shooting advocates suggest that it provides acceptable accuracy with better speed. If this is the case, then it should be something we can easily measure with a shot timer and it should be widely used in shooting sports where speed and accuracy are important (IDPA, IPSC, etc.). Which leads to my first question:

1. Who are the leading competitive shooters who advocate point shooting?

The second point I hear a lot is that competitive shooting isn't the same as a gunfight and that point shooting is based on REAL gunfights. Typically I hear this after asking the first question above. To me this is a non-sequitr. Whether you are in competition or a gunfight, you still need to hit with sufficient speed and accuracy to win. If it works in a gunfight, it should work in a competition just as well. However, it did bring up a related point that led me to my second question:

2. Which of the current instructors or prominent advocates of "point-shooting/threat-focused shooting/term du jour" have been in multiple real life gunfights?

I'm aware of Fairbairn, Applegate, etc. I am more interested in living, breathing instructors that are currently teaching or practicing these methods. While I'm sure Applegate and the rest were very skilled, they are not around for me to ask directly and interpreting the writings of the deceased can yield some varying conclusions (as anyone in religion or law can tell you).

So basically I am curious about:

1. Who advocates and uses point shooting successfully in competition?
2. Who advocates and has used point shooting successfully in multiple gunfights?

Since point-shooting threads have a tendency to stray into contentious areas, I would appreciate it if those responding could keep their answers fairly close to those two questions - though if there is some special reason point shooting does not work in competition; but only works in gunfights, then I would be interested in learning about that too, provided the theory can be backed up with actual data and not just opinion.

May 6, 2010, 02:26 PM	#1
Bartholomew Roberts member Join Date: June 12, 2000 Location: Texas and Oklahoma area Posts: 8,462	Some questions on point-shooting (I apologize in advance to the mods - nothing personal against you, I promise) Based on my readings, point shooting advocates suggest that it provides acceptable accuracy with better speed. If this is the case, then it should be something we can easily measure with a shot timer and it should be widely used in shooting sports where speed and accuracy are important (IDPA, IPSC, etc.). Which leads to my first question: 1. Who are the leading competitive shooters who advocate point shooting? The second point I hear a lot is that competitive shooting isn't the same as a gunfight and that point shooting is based on REAL gunfights. Typically I hear this after asking the first question above. To me this is a non-sequitr. Whether you are in competition or a gunfight, you still need to hit with sufficient speed and accuracy to win. If it works in a gunfight, it should work in a competition just as well. However, it did bring up a related point that led me to my second question: 2. Which of the current instructors or prominent advocates of "point-shooting/threat-focused shooting/term du jour" have been in multiple real life gunfights? I'm aware of Fairbairn, Applegate, etc. I am more interested in living, breathing instructors that are currently teaching or practicing these methods. While I'm sure Applegate and the rest were very skilled, they are not around for me to ask directly and interpreting the writings of the deceased can yield some varying conclusions (as anyone in religion or law can tell you). So basically I am curious about: 1. Who advocates and uses point shooting successfully in competition? 2. Who advocates and has used point shooting successfully in multiple gunfights? Since point-shooting threads have a tendency to stray into contentious areas, I would appreciate it if those responding could keep their answers fairly close to those two questions - though if there is some special reason point shooting does not work in competition; but only works in gunfights, then I would be interested in learning about that too, provided the theory can be backed up with actual data and not just opinion.