Jon Low's latest Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter can be found here. As always, he has split it into sections and subsections. Ctrl-F to search for specific sections.
First, a few links that he provides that I found interesting and which most of you should probably read:
- An article and blog post by Claude Werner (the Tactical Professor) on "Shooting Practice for a Criminal Encounter." The article was published by Shooting Illustrated and has the meat of the information--basically tips and several drills (lesson plans) for practicing at different ranges. The drills assume a semi-auto pistol, so you will have to adjust the round count for a revolver or some of the smaller semi-autos. The blog post has a few illustrations that were cut from the Shooting Illustrated article, plus a target you can download and use.
- A series of three articles by Melody Lauer on defensive options in the event of someone snatching your child. The first article assumes a scenario where someone has grabbed your child out of concern for the child's safety, but is not returning the child; and explores your legal options. The second article--still assuming no threat to the child but the person not handing the child over--discusses some methods of dealing with the snatcher including using verbal skills and less-than-lethal options. The third article changes gear and assumes that the snatcher is threatening the child or kidnapping the child and discusses some of the issues surrounding using lethal force to someone holding a child (much of which applies to hostage situations in general) including targeting guidelines.
- A link to a 2019 article from Revolver Guy entitled "Dry Practice Safety Deep Dive." Dry fire practice is extremely important, not just for learning the trigger and gripping of the firearm, but practicing the draw and presentation--things that you might not be able to do at a public range. But it needs to be done safely. This article goes into detail on being safe. And on the topic of dry fire practice, Jon links to an article by Adam Winch entitled "Dry Fire With A Live Gun: A Needed Skill", by which Winch means: "We must know how to press the trigger to the wall on our handgun – allllll the way to the wall of the trigger break – and be able to quickly and immediately know how to come off that trigger without breaking the shot."
- A series of four articles by Shelley Hill on reactionary zones--maintaining distance between yourself and others that would allow you sufficient time to react to a threat, what to do when a threat is too close to avoid, and moving in to when you have no time to react.
Trigger control –
Trigger terms:
slack = trigger movement without sear movement (necessary for combat pistols)
break dawn = the hard stop at the end of slack and the start of sear movement
creep = the movement of the sear before the break (there shouldn't be any)
break = when the sear releases the firing pin or striker
over-travel = movement of the trigger after the break (this should be minimized)
reset = releasing the trigger until you hear or feel the click of the trigger resetting
Place your trigger on the center of your fingerprint. Your fingerprint has a whorl, loop, or arch. You should be pulling the trigger with your distal phalange. The distal phalange should be perpendicular to the line of fire when you have taken the slack out of the trigger, so that you are pulling the trigger straight to the rear, no vector component of lateral force. Have your gunsmith move your trigger to achieve this. Instructors, as viewed from the front the cuticle at the back of the fingernail will appear to be over the center of the trigger.
Touch the trigger. Just touch, don’t press. Trigger control is a fine motor skill. We are determining where the trigger is. Your grip might be off (especially if you snapped the pistol out of your holster in a high stress situation), which means the trigger position will be different.
Remove the slack from the trigger. Press until you feel a stop. You must take the slack out of the trigger before starting the press to release the shot. (When you are taking the slack out of the trigger, the trigger is moving, but the sear is not moving.) Smoothly increase pressure. Do not intentionally fire the shot. (Any further movement of the trigger after the slack is out, causes the sear to disengage which causes the pistol to fire.)
Strive for a surprise break to defeat your autonomic nervous system, thereby releasing the shot before any flinch, jerk, freeze, or push. [Your autonomic nervous system is your low-level instinctual system that automatically anticipates the recoil and report, and reacts in anticipation of these events. You cannot train yourself not to react, because it is a reflex response (as blinking when something approaches your eye or kicking when the doctor taps you below the kneecap). So, we are defeating the autonomic nervous system by not allowing the brain to know exactly when the shot will be released, so the anticipatory reaction to the shot occurs after the bullet exits the muzzle.] You are not intentionally firing the pistol; rather you are allowing your subconscious to fire the pistol. Your subconscious is much better at estimating time and distance than your conscious. (Thanks to Col. Kitchen, USMC for this explanation.)
If you are having difficulty achieving a surprise break, try this. Touch the trigger. Take the slack out of the trigger. Apply 1 pound of pressure. Smoothly increase to 2 pounds of pressure. Gradually increase to 3 pounds of pressure. Gently increase to 4 pounds of pressure. Deliberately increase to 5 pounds of pressure. I guarantee the pistol will fire before you reach 5 pounds. And because you never intended to fire the shot, you will get a surprise break. (The trigger of your self-defense pistol should be at least 5 pounds.)
Right-handed shooters who are scattering their rounds low left are not getting a surprise break, rather they are anticipating the shot and pushing against the anticipated recoil before the bullet exists the muzzle. Left-handed shooters who lack a surprise break will scatter low right.
And on the topic of the mechanics of shooting, Jon links to an article on "How to Hold a Pistol" by Tyler Freel which, among other things, recommends a thumb forward grip on the weapon when using both hands. Freel writes:
When shooting two-handed, the fingers of your support hand should wrap tightly around your primary hand’s fingers, and tightly up against the trigger guard. Roll your support hand onto the grip, filling any empty real estate with the thenar (thumb pad) of your hand. Your support hand should nest just in front of and under your primary hand thumb, and both thumbs should be pointing forward.
If left to your own devices, you may find it tempting to cross your thumbs, using your support hand thumb to pin your primary hand thumb against the grip. You might also be tempted to hook your support hand index finger in front of the trigger guard to counteract recoil. Don’t. Doing either of these will loosen the fit of your support hand and reduce the contact area it has with the gun. The exception here is if you’re shooting a revolver, in which case the thumb of the support hand can be used to pin the other thumb against the frame.
Although there is some information that the thumbs forward grip works because it is method of pointing at the target using your thumbs, one of my readers commented that the thumb forward grip works "[b]y pointing the support had thumb forward (not necessarily straight forward) but in a manner that straightens the bones and ligaments of the wrist. This is the part that helps control muzzle flip." Many also use a thumbs forward grip with revolvers (see also here). Others prefer a crossed thumbs grip (aka, thumb wrapped method, where the thumb from off-hand goes over the back of the strong hand). For obvious reasons, this won't do for a semi-auto. And others, as Freel writes, recommend using the thumb of the weak hand to "pin" the thumb of the strong hand.
There is a lot more in Jon's newsletter, so be sure to check it out.
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