For self-defense purposes, getting the gun out and getting accurate shots on target quickly is the primary (and priority) handgun skill set. 95% of my practice is with my competition rig. What part of competition shooting is going to get me killed on the street?
(Of course, we all know stories of folks who have been hit squarely COM and are very unimpressed. There are times they even manage to kill the defender before expiring, even after being extremely well ventilated. Handguns suck.)
For self-defense purposes, I'll take not getting shot over accurate rounds on target quickly. If you can get accurate rounds on target quickly while taking rounds yourself ... you're a better man than me.
I'll follow up those two sentences with an admission. I don't shoot traditional pistol competitions so I don't know how much they focus on getting to cover/concealment. I watched a little bit of the steel match and USPSA at the member meeting and didn't see any focus on getting to cover/concealment. I did see shooters shooting around barricades, though. That's at least a step in the right direction.
In the "For What it's Worth" category, I don't think competition will get you killed on the street any more than doing nothing but dry fire will get you killed on the street.
The thing about potentially getting killed on the street is that the situation is completely dynamic whereas competition and dry fire and standing at attention and putting slow fire rounds on an 8" plate 25 yards away are not.
The best thing to keep a person from getting killed on the street is training that mimics what happens on the street. Unfortunately, that's almost impossible so we make do with less than optimal solutions.
Well, the article did pretty clearly say "primary handgun skill" not "primary self-defense skill" so I didn't figure that this topic would come up.
You brought it up "self-defense" in the TLDR version but, yes, you specified "handgun skill." I guess my point is that handgun skills are lower on my self-defense priority list than some other skills but that is not necessarily pertinent to this discussion.
{snip a bunch of other things.....}
How am I supposed to interact with Mudinyeri if we aren't arguing?!
:)
Wanna fight? :P
I will stand by my statement that training that mimics what happens on the street is the best training for defending one's self on the street. That doesn't exclude training that addresses things that happen far in advance of what happens on the street.
That would be more normal for us! ....and we could sell popcorn. Probably make a bit of money...
... it isn't even the most common range, much less the one that occurs most.
Most of mine occur at 200 - 600 yards. Beyond that, I'm not 100% sure of the threat.