jdsumner

..........and now to add to my ramblings.

I think one thing a lot of us overlook, myself especially, is the evolution of the enemy.
We see more and more instructors striving to teach situational awareness- in an effort to see the attack early on.
We see more emphasis put on 'scanning' after a shoot. Why? More and more the enemy is utilizing numbers.
We are constantly required to evolve our techniques in an attempt to stay one step ahead of the enemy.
The Speedrock may have been the answer awhile ago, and may still serve under certain criteria. But the enemy on the street is likely a repeat felon. Someone who trains w other felons in the system. Some thugs are taking the lessons taught in the mil and using them against their fellow man. Some are accomplished in mma, or hand to hands of other varieties. I believe the enemy has evolved as fast as the good guys. The enemy is not just a street thug anymore. Give him a lever, he'll use it. Jamb him up, he may be caught by surprise and flinch giving you time to evade draw, or ...not. Step off the x, draw and fire from retention, maybe it works maybe not. But maybe you havent offered him an arm or hand to use against you. One thing is a constant, being that close is a bad thing.

Thanks again to all the instructors out there who press onward and continue to teach survival via the only proven method....evolution.

dan

mercop

No worries. I am not a fan and do not advocate the Speed Rock. I have seen some shooters who are fast with it and get accurate fire. This is with lots of practice. What I see more often was is the other 80% of shooters including in service and entrance level police who more often put rounds high into the left shoulder. Personally I find that what I teach takes less time to teach, in more natural, highly retainable and and provides overall continuity for the use/defense of open hand, stick, knife, and gun, within 7 yards and that is what I do.

Here are one more issue I have with the Speed Rock, the first is that it more than any other technique at this range causes the student to bow his hips forward and his head back, this inhibits forward motion and off balances you.

Again, it is about the application. Most people who are referred to by others as excellent shooters are thought of that way because of great skill when it comes to hitting inanimate objects fast and accurately. This takes a lot of training, time and dedication. But just like doing martial arts with a mirror instead of another live person, it does little to inoculate the shooter against the chaos of a real force on force situation. This level of shooting can take a long time to achieve, mostly because we cannot use the fundamental teaching concept of using the known to teach the unknown when it comes to shooting. Nothing else we do mimics it. I will give you and example. Sage wisdom is focusing on the front sight during a fight right? That is a great idea, but a problem, especially for beginners is that at extension the front sight is usually twice the natural focal distance of 11-13 inches (depending on how old you are;) ).

I take a mixed bad of shooters over a weekend, ranging from competitive shooters to people who are just gun safe CCW folks and buy the end of a weekend have them putting accurate rounds on target from the groin to high chest at 0-10 yards. This while being provoked by a visual stimuli, while moving and taking control of another shooter simulating a loved one. On our targets I only count misses. I also ask that at the end of everyone doing a particular drill for shooters come forward and point out whose rounds are whose in the riddled mass of the middle of the targets. They are unable to do so. Where you see the difference in the shooters is as they get back past 7-10 yards and get to go two hands on the gun. This is where experienced shooter steal the show. Then we move onto force on force where they need to defend against open hand, impact weapons, edged weapons and guns.

I put an incredible amount of information on the net, it is meant to provoke discussion. I have no problem evidencing or explaining what I do. Thanks for your comments and questions- George

__________________
2010 MCS Calander
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgb7wjh3_299f8tncbcz

jdsumner

Thank you for your response. I hope I haven't derailed your thread from its original purpose. I look foreward to your next posting.

As to your original post, I have seen handguns drawn in some rather 'unorthodox' manners when stress is applied. That's one of the reasons I'm such a fan of instructors who take the time to cover personal/situational awareness, so that we (students) on the street don't have to make a quickdraw.

dan