Last week at the range I tried doing some two handed point shooting: two hands on the gun, come up from low ready on a target 15 ft away, and try to shoot the center of mass as quickly as possible without conscientiously aiming (ie eyes focused on target, only peripheral awareness of the front sight). It was indeed very fast, it seemed accurate enough, but I was able to adjust my grip perfectly ahead of time, had my body rotated at just the right angle to face the target mounted directly in front of me at my own body height, and even then I had a few flyers that either hit low on the target or far off center line.
So, taking that to the real world. If you ever need to use your gun, it will be because somebody is threatening your life the the life of your loved one. You're going to be scared, your hands might be sweaty and shaky, you're grabbing the gun from its holster without having 30 seconds to work your grip in just right, you and your target both might be moving, you might be at some physically awkward relative disposition.... Can you ever practice enough to make instinctive shooting consistent and dependable in the real world?
I'm asking this question not because I'm trying to make a choice between practicing instinctive shooting or carefully aimed shooting, but rather because I strongly suspect that in a self defense situation the only kind of shooting I will manage to do will be instinctive.
So, taking that to the real world. If you ever need to use your gun, it will be because somebody is threatening your life the the life of your loved one. You're going to be scared, your hands might be sweaty and shaky, you're grabbing the gun from its holster without having 30 seconds to work your grip in just right, you and your target both might be moving, you might be at some physically awkward relative disposition.... Can you ever practice enough to make instinctive shooting consistent and dependable in the real world?
I'm asking this question not because I'm trying to make a choice between practicing instinctive shooting or carefully aimed shooting, but rather because I strongly suspect that in a self defense situation the only kind of shooting I will manage to do will be instinctive.
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