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Shot placement

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sjwsti:
This is a great article from Strike Tactical Solutions Newsletter section. Ive had the privilege of training with Henk (and will be again next month) He`s one of the guys who has definitly "been there and done that" so when he gives advice I listen closely.

TALKING TACTICS - SHOT PLACEMENT
By Henk Iverson
 
LAW ENFORCEMENT TARGETS

A lot has been said about shot placement on the human body to stop violent attacks. I am of the opinion that the targets that are used by Law Enforcement training agencies should accurately reflect the torso of a human body.

Too often we see targets that has a hazy outline of what vaguely resembles a human being. Some ?targets? have several scoring lines so trainers can record the shooter?s ?score?. There are some really good target systems out there, some cheap and easy to set up and use, others REALLY expensive, heavy and impractical.  Most bad guys do not wear t-shirts with scoring lines on them. Also, some of these Law Enforcement targets have the main scoring circle way too low on the body. Center of mass definetely is not in the stomach area of a human being!

I use the old style IPSC cardboard targets in most of my training. I modify these by placing playing cards high up on the chest, just under the throat area. Then I ?dress? the targets with old t-shirts to make them more realistic. I have several faces that a South African friend and artist made up for me, which I stick on the head of the targets. I also use 3-D targets. These are fantastic to work with as it gives my students the feel of engaging a real human being. I place a playing card high on the chest of these targets as well. Some of the very best 3D type torso targets are manufactured and destributed by Innovative Training Concepts. Their targets last for thousands of rounds and sections can be replaced as neccessary. I highly recommend these targets. Please see http://www.trainingtargets.com/ for more info.

The reason I place the ?scoring area? (playing card) so high up in the chest, is that I firmly believe and teach that you only have ONE shot in a gunfight.  Mrs. Murphy is always there to see to it that something WILL go wrong at the most unfortunate moment. You present your pistol from its holster and the magazine falls out, you fire your first shot and you are wounded in your gun-hand, you fire your first shot and you have a stoppage, you fire your first shot only to be run over by the bad guy. Do you want me to continue?

GUNFIGHT SHOT PLACEMENT

With that said, if you only had ONE SHOT, where would you want to place that shot on your adversary? A lot of students tell me that they will shoot the head of the opponent. Again, we know from experience that the head is a very difficult target to hit under duress. The head moves all the time. Also, there are literally HUNDREDS of cases where bullets have bounced off of people?s heads or simply failed to penetrate the skull!

The most famous case in South Africa is when a hijacker took over an airplane in Mozambique and the plane landed on South African soil. The elite South African Police Special Task Force was dispatched to the scene. To make a long story short, the Task Force penetrated the plane, shot the hijacker in the head and rescued the hostages on board. The ?dead? hijacker woke up a few minutes later pleading not to be shot again! The 9 mm Parabellum bullet from the Task Force operator?s pistol did not penetrate the head, but knocked the bad guy unconscious! He is serving time in jail.
To ensure penetration of the skull, we teach our students to shoot for the eye and nose cavities if the threat is presented directly from the front. Also we teach our students to drive at least 2 to 3 rounds into the skull to find and destroy the  brain stem. The brain stem is well protected and we know that most handgun bullets do not have enough power to destroy human bone and tissue EFFECTIVELY to reach the vital area to stop a fight instantly. Again, there are no guarantees! If we get a shot from the side of the bad guy's head, I teach my students to shoot for the ear. I know the brain stem sits slighly back towards the back of the head, BUT if the bad guy makes a sudden move forward, you may miss him completely. Shooting for the ear, you will get a good brain shot. Cover the ear with your front sight and depress the trigger smoothly..... IN A PERFECT WORLD! If the shooter crushes his/her trigger and the shot goes low, you still might hit the bad guy in the neck, putting him out of action.

STANDARD TRAINING AND TACTICS

Shot placement stops fights. The question still remains ... If you only have ONE round, where would you place it on your opponent? Some trainers prefer the so-called ?Zipper? technique where the bad guy is shot low into the stomach or pelvis area and the shots are then ?walked? up higher and higher on the body. In certain circumstances, this makes sense, BUT ?. If you fire your first shot low into the stomach of a homicidal, drugged-up human being, hell-bent on killing you, and you have a stoppage after your FIRST round, you are in deep trouble! If that maniac weighs 300 plus pounds and carries a lot of weight around his stomach, the bullet will most certainly not reach any vitals to stop a fight!

Also, we see more and more bad guys wearing body armor these days. Where do they get it you may ask. Well, a quick browse through ?Ebay? and you will be most shocked! Body  Armor is sold to the highest bidder!

For years and years training doctrine has been ? double tap? to the chest, access and follow up with a headshot if necessary. These so-called ?tactics? are not only irresponsible, they have deadly consequences! If you fire two quick shots into the body of an attacker then take you muzzle of your pistol off the danger to access the effects of your shots, you are playing with your life! If he is wearing body armor your shots might have no effect, if you missed, well ?. You get the picture!

THE CASE FOR THE HIGH CHEST SHOT

If you look at diagrams of the human body, you will see that the heart delivers oxygenated blood from the lungs to the BRAIN via a ?highway? of veins and arteries. That highway of veins and arteries is the PERFECT place to shoot a bad guy. That highway sits above the heart, just below the throat area. The throat is where the arteries and veins split on their way to the brain. If we can blow out the highway of veins and arteries, the oxygenated blood will not reach the brain. Without oxygen, the brain cannot function.

After a few seconds the attacker will collapse from blood loss but more importantly, loss of oxygen. Please note, this is NOT an instant stop in a gunfight, BUT it does ensure that we have at least a chance of stopping the violent attack within a reasonable amount of time! The only time an INSTANT STOP can be guaranteed is when the spinal column or the brain stem is destroyed or severely damaged.

If you look at most soft body armor sold today, you will see that the front of these vests are low cut, mostly into a ?V?. That ?V? is exactly where we place our shots in a close range gunfight. Even if the bad guy is wearing armor, by placing your shots high onto the chest, you have a chance of  stopping him.

Also, we know from years and years of actual shootings and interactive force-on-force training, that you have a high percentage chance of being shot in your hands as the attacker might well focus on the threat (your gun) when he engages you.

By targeting the high chest area, you have a more than 50 percent chance of hitting the bad guy in HIS hands during the fight. Is this a bad thing? I say absolutely not. If you have only ONE shot and you can shoot bad guy in his gun hand, you have enough time to move, clear your stoppage, reload etc and finish the fight!

I had the privilege to train Schaumberg Police Department?s firearms and defensive tactics instructors. In our interactive force-on-force section, we had 11 gunfights where rounds were exchanged between the good and bad guys. In those fights, 37 rounds were fired of which 23 were hits in the arms or hands! Enough said! We also found that in several hundred force-on-force encounters, not ONCE did any person duck down to avoid being shot at close range. There is a valid argument that if you go high too quickly, the bad guy might duck underneath your muzzle and you will miss your shot. Although this statement might carry some water, it is highly unlikely to happen because of the dynamics of close range gunfighting. You are moving, the bad guy is moving, low light conditions etc. Too much information overload for most people to handle effectively. Also, if the bad guy ducks down, you might get lucky and shoot him in the face.

We shoot to STOP the threat. We keep on shooting until the presented threat is over. No more two shots and access! Shoot until the threat is no more. How many shots you may ask? As many as necessary to stop the threat! Stay in the fight, never give up!

Until next time!

Mudinyeri:
Good read. 

I went through some training quite a few years back that taught a modified version of the zipper technique that he mentions.  I was double-tap and then head shot.  Three quick shots, no pause to see if the double-tap worked.

We also shot a LOT of life-like targets - three dimensional, photo-realistic, etc.  My personal budget doesn't allow for the automated, three-dimensional targets but I've found a cheap place for photo-realistic, situational targets that can be tacked to a backer.  Here's the website: http://www.letargets.com/estylez_ps.aspx?searchmode=category&searchcatcontext=~010000  They also sell zombie targets if you want to practice for that eventuality.  :-)

I've found that nothing beats the bang-for-the-buck of practicing on photo-realistic targets.  I like the idea of placing a playing card in the vital area that Henk describes.  We have a bunch of old decks laying around the house that would be well put to use in this fashion.

Thanks for the article.

Roper:
good article,thanks for sharing.

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