Do you point shoot or use your sights in a defensive situation?

Question

Front Sight has always told me that in order to guarantee a shot, you must have front sight focus and get a flash sight picture when you shoot.

They said that point shooting is a bad habit, and you can't deliver accurate long range shots and headshots in a hostage rescue situation.

In a defensive gunfight, would you just blast away by point shooting, or would you concentrate on the sight and put accurate shots into the center mass?

I've noticed that I can get a double tap slightly faster by slightly less accurate by point shooting and I completely miss headshots at 10 yards by point shooting, so I've always used the sights.

Sorry if I used the wrong words. I put two rounds through the center mass and a head shot is only if the target doesn't go down.

Answer 1

Front Sight has taught you the correct way to get shot and killed in a "Real World" firefight. 29 years as a Combat Pistol Instructor has taught me they onl method that works is the point shooting method. Bad habit my A**. Every Law Enforcement Class I've taken and all of the NRA Law Enforcement classes as welll as the Government/Military/Special Op's classes all agree on this.
With all due respect you cannot learn this from reading or watching a DVD.You need practical..Hands On experience shooting with a coach who knows what he is doing. The self -proclaimed "Doctor" and founder of Front Sight freely admits he has no experience what-so-ever in actual pistol combat confrontations, and admits he was just a citizen that attended some classes to get his "training". Formal point and shoot training also teaches you to recognize within seconds what is an acceptable risk shot based on range and what is not. The average combat pistol siutuation takes place in 20 feet or less. Why would you be concerned about double head taps at 10 yards (30 Feet !!!) Instintive point shooting is just that "instinctive" and must be learned and maintained by constant practice. USE YOUR SIGHTS AND YOU GET DEAD! Nothing else. I don't know one single PoliceTactical Officer, Military Special Op's soldier,Instructor in my life that would take a distance shot at a "Perp" holding a hostage, in ANY hostage situation where distance away was a factor. Common sense tells you that to be in a defensive posture, you are ALREADY at a disadvantage because the bad guy has spotted you first. Do you really think the smart thing is to expose yourself to fire and take those precious seconds to use your sights? To me this "Hollywood" way of teaching impressionable people, and taking their hard earned cash for pointless lessons, is just plain foolish and is a total JOKE!
Last but not least.PAPER TARGETS do not shoot back! I hope you never get in a situation that warrants deadly force, because of how you are being taught, YOU will be the loser. Combat shooting is all about the right sidearm but more important is the ABILITY of the Shooter. You can't come out a survivor without both.

Answer 2

It all depends on the situation.

In a strictly defensive situation (usually 7 yards or less) you would point shoot. Trying to use sights at these ranges, will get you killed. Just aim like pointing your finger.

Forget head shots, that's for Hollywood BS. You aim for center mass, and double tap the trigger, only if you can do it quickly.

In a hostage situation, I wouldn't use a handgun, unless I had absolutely no choice. You would have to be very well practiced to pull off (I'm assuming) a head shot, without unnecessarily endangering the victim.

Those situations are best left to trained snipers. IE SWAT.

Now if your forced into shooting with the handgun, then I wouldn't be spraying lead. You take your time, aim and wait for the one shot that will do the trick. Then hope like hell you hit the bad guy, in the right section of the brain, to shut him down immediately. If you don't, reflective motor actions of the brain, could cause the villains hand to clench and pull the trigger of his gun.

Thats my 2 cents worth.

I was trained in the military and I've taken private lessons. I didn't know Front Sight existed, until you posted this question.

I train at 10 yards or less. If you look at statistical data, most defensive shooting takes place at these ranges.

I point shoot, but I don't pull the trigger more than twice. I aim and hit center mass only, no head shots. I'm usually placing my shots within 4 inches of the X.

Not overly impressive, but that would drop whoever I'd hit, as this should take out the heart, spine or clip a lung.

Answer 3

Practice both ways.

Not every scenario can be solved with the same method.

For up close fast and dirty shooting, I would not even raise my handgun to a level to see the sights. Just point for the middle and squeeze the trigger.

If I needed to make a precision shot, such as shooting a badguy hiding behind an innocent, I'd use both hands and take a fine aim using front and rear sight.

Answer 4

Depends upon how defensive the situation is.

If I can see the other guy and he is 10 feet or more away from me, I will hold the gun with both hands and use the sights, aiming for the center of mass. What I do after that depends upon what he does.

If I can not see him at all or he is very close to me, I will turn my non-gun side forward and hold out my non-gun hand at chest high level and hold my gun at my waist with my elbow bent. The idea is so he can not grab the gun. By having my non-gun hand out, if he grabs anything, it will be my arm. If he does, he just assaulted me and I am free and clear to shoot. By having the gun at my waist level, I will not risk shooting my own arm.

If he is in contact with me, such as trying to choke me, I place the gun hard into his body and fire.

As far as the double tap, I believe it was invented to protect YOU as the shooter.

If you shoot once, they can say you shot by accident and sue you for accidentally shooting the guy. They will claim the situation did not merit shooting and you did not really mean to do it. They will claim the gun had a hair trigger or was defective and they will go after the gun maker also.

If you rap off the entire magazine, they will claim you were in a panic mode and out of control. They will claim shooting was not indicated and you were a nut with a gun. Way too many cops do this and you keep hearing about cases where a suspect was shot at 40-60 times. NOT good police work!

If you do a double tap, it shows you did not fire by accident and you were not out of control. You fired in a clear, deliberate manner as you were trained and you were well aware of what you were doing and the situation did indeed warrant you shooting the guy. If you must fire again, fire another double tap again.

And for crying out loud, use something bigger than a 9 mm.

Answer 5

Alright,
I have been to the Chapman academy and had training from the urban/close combat trainer at Fort Leonardwood. I actually got a little different story on this issue from both. What is similar: Very close shoot from the hip. You get better retention and missing is hard. A little further (i.e. you shot him from the hip and you stepped back) point the gun at his chest. Anything further use the front sight. Night sights are very useful. There is a reason people cops, operators etc. get them and it is not to ignore them.

My general opinion on training. Listen, give it a chance and if it does not work with practice give it up. Even if you decide not to use the what you were taught it was useful because it got you thinking. Also buy a timer to help you decide which is faster..

As an aside the ten yard limit is a legal issue. If you shoot someone you are going to get sued. If someone is within ten yards it is genrally considered o.k. to shoot him (if he has a weapon) because the time it takes to reach you is so small that he is a threat to life and limb. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer I am only repeating what I have been told.

Answer 6

Point shooting does have a purpose. Depending on the way you were trained, upon clearing from the holster, you can rotate your pistol up and shot from the hip.

This is for that situation when your threat is within your box, up close, and you don't have space to bring the pistol out and up, and definitely not the time to shoot. Its up close, point blank, can't miss point shooting.

For long range shots, point shooting, not a good idea. You just don't know where the gun is lined up.

With lots of practice and experience, a point shooter is incredibly accurate and knows where his / her shots go. For example Bob Munden. He's one, if not, the fastest point shooter.

However, most people don't practice like he does.

Answer 7

for living house protection and variety i hit upon lasers very functional. living house protection having a flashlight and laser is very powerful over using reflex sight, flashlight in basic terms, or ingredient-n-shoot. The flashlight in living house protection use can gentle up the section forward, blind the intruder, on an identical time as the laser greater or much less inform you the place the bullets will hit. I accessorized-out my Ruger 10/22: Archangel inventory, backside accessory rail fixed with: airsoft folding vertical grip, airsoft laser (bore sighted for 10 yards), airsoft LED flashlight. seems see you later using fact the airsoft areas at the instant are not subjected to heavy abuse they do effective used with a actual gun (.22 balk isn't that lots). precise rail I also have a Barska single lens reflex sight Then countless Butler or Eagle 25 and 30rd magazines (perplexing discover in California)

Answer 8

Because you said in a defensive situation Im going to assume you have a limited time to react. IN that case what you want to do is look over your sights not through them. Your already familiar with a double tap wich is a failure to stop drill. You dont have time to look through the sight wich would be optimal but in any case you want to do two the chest one to the head, scan and observe for any other targets.

Answer 9

In my profession most gun fights are under 5 feet, and at that range you don't have the luxury to take time to even see the sights other wise you are giving the gun to the "bad guy". You clear your holster index toward his center mass and fight for control. Either creating distance or over taking you opponent,
every situation is different.

Answer 10

Double tap to center mass point shooting, then follow-up with a sight shot to the head. If you have practiced you should have no problem hitting center mass and contrary to "Hollywood" belief bad people do wear body armor in the real world and a head shot negates this advantage.