MODULE

MARKMANSHIP AND COMBAT SHOOTING

PROPER COMBAT SHOOTING STANCES
Stance is a crucial element of shooting that can at times be
overlooked. Perhaps the best way to emphasize the value of a
solid stance, which provides the foundation of your shooting
platform, is to look at other examples in different activities where
a strong foundation is important.

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Have you ever observed a new home being constructed? In the

Northeast, where I'm from, the majority of homes have
basements. When the builder is constructing the basement he
goes to great lengths to ensure that the footings are strong and
level.

No matter how well made the upper portions of the house are
constructed, if the foundation is flawed, the rest of the house is
destined for major problems.   

CREATING YOUR STRONG FOUNDATION

When attempting to accurately shoot a handgun, no matter how

good your sight alignment, breath control and other skills are, if
your stance doesn't provide you with a stable shooting platform,
you’re destined to be inconsistent with your shot placement.
Consistency in all aspects of shooting is the key to
accuracy. Download a copy of these stances as a poster to print
and hang in your department. 

When it comes to shooting stances, you have three choices:

1.Isosceles

2. Weaver

3. Fighting

In the past, the standard taught was the Isosceles Stance. The

shooter faces the target squarely, the feet are set shoulder width
(or slightly wider) apart. The toes face the target and are aligned.
The knees are flexed at an angle that varies somewhat and the
shooter leans forward from the waist towards the target. The
shooter’s arms are extended and form an isosceles triangle, hence
the name. 

Pros: The positives include the fact that it feels like a comfortable

and natural position to most shooters. In addition, the body
positioning seems to have a positive effect on accuracy.

Cons: The predominant problem with the Isosceles Stance is that

while it has side-to-side stability, it lacks front-to-rear balance due
to the positioning of the feet.

Isosceles stance (PoliceOne Image)

The Weaver Stance has become very popular and replaced the
Isosceles as the standard taught to most new shooters. The
shooter blades his body, placing the foot on the firing side back
and turning the support side towards the target. The shooter’s
strong, or firing side, arm is extended and the support arm’s elbow
is bent. This allows the shooter to employ a very stable push-
pull grip. The shooter pushes with his firing arm and pulls with the
support arm to stabilize the weapon.  

Pros: The biggest plus is the push pull grip which is effective in

controlling recoil and weapon control in general.

Cons: A major problem with the stance for the law enforcement
community is that by blading the body, an officer is exposing an
area of his torso that isn’t completely covered with body armor. A
right-handed shooter exposes his left armpit, which is an entryway
to the heart. In fact, many officers have been fatally shot in this
area in spite of body armor.

Another problem with the Weaver is that movement while

attempting to maintain the bladed position is awkward and
problematic. Additionally, post shooting studies have shown that
the majority of Weaver shooters reverted to a form of the
Isosceles Stance during actual shootings.
The Weaver stance (Police One Image)

The last stance has a variety of names. Some instructors refer to it

as a modified Isosceles or Weaver. Others call it a fighting, boxer
or tactical stance. For our purposes we will refer to it as
the Fighting Stance.

The Fighting Stance was developed in the military in the special

forces community. It made its way into law enforcement training
and became popular because it allows officers to defend
themselves with their hands, baton or firearm all from the same
platform.

It’s also a great advanced technique for civilian shooters. In the

Fighting Stance, the shooter is square to the target. His feet are
shoulder width or slightly wider and the firing side foot is slightly
behind the support side foot.

A good landmark is for the toe of the shooting foot to be at the

instep of the support foot. This offsetting of the feet eliminates
the forward-rear balance issue of the Isosceles Stance.

The knees are flexed to absorb recoil and to act as shock absorbers
when moving in any direction. The shooter leans slightly forward
and extends the arms straight out, bringing the sights to the eyes.
The head is kept level to maintain balance, especially when
moving.
Pros: Any weapon can be fired effectively from it this stance,
although a case can be made for the traditional shotgun stance
due to the recoil.

Cons: With the fighting stance, there really isn't a downside. By

modifying the Weaver and Isosceles stances, it eliminates the
common drawbacks of the other two stances.

The Fighting stance (Police One Image)

Try the different stances, see which one is most comfortable and
fits your needs. Once you have made a choice, practice, practice,
practice. You don’t need to be on the range or have a weapon in
your hands to practice your stance. Muscle memory is real. Make
your stance second nature and watch your shooting consistency
improve.

This article originally appeared on FirearmsU.com

Kenneth DeCicco is a retired Detective Sergeant from the

Somerville (NJ) Police Department. He's served as a Rifle, Subgun,
Active Shooter and Reality Based Training instructor, as well as
an agency supervising instructor, and is currently a shotgun and
handgun instructor and Director of Training at the Tactical
Training Center in Flemington, N.J.
1911A1 COMPONENTS OF .45 CALIBER PISTOL
Basic Components of Ammunition
The basic components of ammunition are the case, primer,
powder, and projectile.

 Case: The container that holds all the other ammunition

components together. It's usually made of brass, steel, or
copper.

 Primer: An explosive chemical compound that ignites the

gunpowder when struck by a firing pin. Primer may be placed
either in the rim of the case (rimfire) or in the center of the
base of the case (centerfire).

 Gunpowder: A chemical mixture that burns rapidly and

converts to an expanding gas when ignited.

 Projectile: The object expelled from the barrel. A bullet is a

projectile, usually containing lead, fired through a handgun
barrel

 History
British section of the International Settlement in Shanghai, during the
1920s.
Combat pistol shooting, as separate from target shooting, began to
evolve in the early 1900s. Modern tactics of pistol combat were
developed in the 1920s by two British members of the Shanghai
Municipal Police. (Shanghai was then governed by an international
government). At the time the Shanghai streets were rife with criminal
activity, and policing in the city was becoming a very dangerous line
of work.
Captain William E. Fairbairn and Sergeant Eric A. Sykes developed
innovative pistol shooting techniques and handgun specifications for
the police force. During the Second World War, they were recalled to
Britain, and trained the British Commandos in their combat tactics,
including their system of combat pistol shooting. Their methodology
was later disseminated through their book Shooting To Live With The
One-Hand Gun, published in 1942. These techniques were also
adopted for the training of American Office of Strategic
Services troops by Rex Applegate.[2] This system lives on today in
modern point shooting techniques.[2]
In the 1950s, American instructor Jeff Cooper was instrumental in
establishing both a combat pistol based sport, International Practical
Shooting Confederation, and a combat pistol training school, Gunsite.
[3][4]
 Cooper's methodology has become known as the modern
technique. The methods promoted by Fairbairn and Cooper differ in
many respects, and to this day there are arguments between
supporters of the different methodologies.[5]

Combat pistol drills

El Presidente
One combat pistol drill is the El Presidente drill, developed by Jeff
Cooper in the 1970s and published in the January/February 1979
issue of American Handgunner magazine.[6] This is used as
a benchmark to gauge a shooter's skills, as it tests the draw and
reload, and requires good transitions and follow-through. [7] The El
Presidente drill is set up as follows:

 Three silhouette targets are placed 1 meter apart in a line 10

meters from the shooter.
 The shooter starts with six rounds in a holstered handgun, and a
spare magazine or speedloader with another six rounds.
 The shooter begins facing directly away from the targets, often
with hands clasped in front or over the head.
 Upon the starting signal, the shooter turns and draws, fires two
shots at each target, reloads, and then fires two more shots at
each target.
Scoring varies; the simplest method uses hit/miss scoring, with a
time penalty (often 10 seconds) for each miss. El Presidente drills
scored under the IPSC Comstock system take the total number of
points on the targets (possible 60 points) and divide that by the time
taken to complete the drill. This generates a number called "hit
factor," which is a numerical representation of how many points the
shooter placed on target per second during the drill; e.g., shooting 55
points in 5.5 seconds would give the shooter a 10.0 hit factor.
Originally, a time of 10 seconds with a stock handgun, and all the
points on target, was considered good. Today, shooters using
modern IPSC raceguns with muzzle brakes and red dot sights are
close to breaking the three-second barrier, and even shooters using
production guns with no muzzle brakes or optical sights routinely
break the five-second mark.[7]

The Dozier Drill

This drill was invented by Jeff Cooper after the kidnapping of
Brigadier General James L. Dozier by Italian Red Brigade terrorists.
The terrorists had entered General Dozier's apartment by posing as
plumbers. As many as eight completed the gang and four or perhaps
five entered the apartment. One of the terrorists removed
a submachine gun from his bag of tools while another terrorist read a
political statement to General Dozier. At that time, US military
personnel were prohibited by Italian law from carrying firearms within
their areas of accommodation, which were within the local community
and not on US bases. General Dozier was unarmed and unable to
defend himself. In response to this incident, Jeff Cooper designed the
"Dozier drill".[8]
The range is set with five metal silhouette targets which are hinged at
their base (called "Pepper Poppers") so as to fall backwards when
struck. A second participant stands well to one side and is tasked
with retrieving a pistol and a magazine from a toolbag, which he must
assemble and ready for action. This action mimics the terrorist who
retrieved his submachine gun from his toolbag and provides a datum
against which the shooter must compare his performance. On the
signal, the shooter must draw his pistol and engage the five targets,
representing the five terrorists, before the participant representing the
terrorist retrieves his weapon and readies it for use. [8]
Malfunction clearing drills[edit]
When engaged in combat shooting, sometimes cartridges do not feed
into the chamber properly. These malfunctions must be corrected
quickly so that firing can be resumed. There are variations of
malfunction drills, including the two most often required in
competition: clearing a cartridge that fails to fire, and clearing a
double feed malfunction.[1]

1. User error: Magazine improperly seated, ammunition is not

loaded upon racking of the slide.
2. Stovepipe: Spent round does not fully eject and is often seen
standing upright in the ejection port appearing like a stovepipe.
3. Double feed: Spent or unspent round remains in chamber while
another round also tries to load into same space.
Instinct drills
Up until the mid-1980s, standard police trainers taught sight-picture
shooting at all but contact distances. With the dissemination of the
concept of instinct shooting with a handgun, described and explained
in Chuck Klein's 1986 book, Instinct Combat Shooting, Defensive
Handgunning for Police, the method began to be accepted by the
police trainers. Though William E. Fairbairn, Sergeant Eric A. Sykes
and Jeff Cooper touted the advantages of sightless shooting at close
quarter distances, they did not explain how it was achieved, which
was Chuck Klein's contribution.
Instinct shooting requires the same eye, hand, and mind events as
throwing a baseball or darts. [9] The shooter must devote full attention
on the smallest part of the target whilst drawing the weapon to fire. [10]
[11]
 Once the weapon is at the ready, the shooter must fire immediately,
to avoid losing the intense focus and missing the target. [9] This
technique is most often practiced with a moving target, such as clay
birds.[9] The practical use of this drill is for life or death situations, in
which the gun handler must instinctively and accurately shoot the
target, or die himself.[12] The shooter must almost simultaneously:

 See the target

 Decide to shoot
 Start moving the gun to position
 Focus on a small part of the target
 Pull the trigger the instant the weapon reaches position

Handgun Basics: Identifying parts and functions

How do guns work? Every part that goes into the building of
a weapon has a specific purpose. Firearm owners should be
able to identify the major parts of their weapons. They should
also understand how these parts function together to allow
the weapon fire.
Firearms fall into three distinct categories: rifles, shotguns
and handguns. Each type serves a different purpose.
Handguns are the weapon of choice when size matters, and
are the smallest and most portable category of firearm. They
are easy to conceal and are the perfect choice when the size
and weight of a long gun would not be practical.
Shop Shooting Gear
All police officers carry handguns on their duty belt as their
primary weapon because of the small size and portability.
Many civilians possess concealed carry permits allowing
them to carry a firearm as long as it's hidden from public
view. It's the perfect choice to be concealed in an ankle
holster, under a loose fitting shirt or even in a handbag.
Handguns are also the number one choice for home
protection. They are small, easy to secure and are an
excellent weapon for close-quarters encounters.
Handguns may be the most difficult category of weapon to
master and therefore competitive target shooting is growing
in popularity. Handguns don't have the long range
capabilities of a rifle or the devastating force of a shotgun, but
given their size limitations, they are the perfect weapon for
home defense or target shooting or everyday carry.
The Modern Revolver
The parts on any firearm can be classified as either a
weapon' moving parts or its stationary parts.
Stationary Parts:
The Grip:
This is the area where the shooter holds the weapon. It is usually the
only wooden part of the gun. It will often have a fine checkered
pattern to aid in the shooter's grip and may have an implanted
manufacturer's medallion. Grips can be customized to different sizes
to accommodate the shooter's hand. Some combat grips are
constructed of a non-slip hard rubber material.

The Front and Rear Sights:

These are located on top of the barrel and allow the shooter to align
the weapon with the intended target.
The Barrel:
The barrel is secured along the top of the weapon and is built into
and affixed to the frame. The inside of the barrel has a spiral pattern
of cuts called lands and groves. These cause the bullet to spin as it
travels through the barrel. This spinning action continues during the
bullet's flight, greatly improving its accuracy.

The Muzzle:
The muzzle of any firearm is the end of the barrel where the bullet will
exit. The term muzzle-awareness refers to always knowing in what
direction your weapon is pointed.

The Trigger Guard:

This is the piece of metal that encircles the trigger preventing
accidental trigger engagement.

The Frame:
The frame can be described as the "bones" of the weapon. It is
generally a single piece of metal that is precisely machined to accept
all the other parts of the weapon.

Moving Parts:
The Trigger:
This is located inside the trigger guard toward the bottom of the
weapon. When the trigger is pulled to the rear, either one or two
things will happen depending on the type of revolver. If it's a double-
action model, as the trigger is pulled, the hammer will move to the
rear and the cylinder will rotate, aligning the next chamber with the
barrel. As the shooter continues to squeeze the trigger, the hammer
will be released, traveling quickly forward, striking a firing pin and
causing the weapon to fire. Some models have the firing pin
incorporated into the design of the hammer.

If the revolver is a single action, the shooter will have to manually

cock the firearm by pulling the hammer back and locking it in place.
When the trigger is squeezed, the hammer will be released, traveling
quickly forward causing the weapon to fire.

The Cylinder:
The cylinder is one piece of steel usually with either five or six
chambers. Each chamber holds one round of ammunition. The
cylinder gets its name from its cylindrical shape. As the hammer is
drawn back, the cylinder rotates aligning the next chamber and round
with the barrel.

The cylinders are loaded differently depending on the type of

revolver. Most modern revolvers have a release that allows the
cylinder to swing out to the side and down. This makes removing
spent cartridges and reloading easy. Many shooters use speed
loaders to accelerate reloading.

The Ejector Rod & Extractor:

The ejector rod runs through the center of the cylinder and acts as a
fixed axis allowing the cylinder to turn. The extractor is attached to
the end of the ejector rod and is recessed into the cylinder. When the
revolver is loaded, each cartridge rim rests against the extractor.
After the last round is fired, the cylinder release is pressed and the
cylinder swings out to the side. The shooter then pushes back on the
front of the ejector rod. The rod travels back, catching the rims of the
spent cartridges on the extractor. The extractor forces all the spent
cartridges from the cylinder at the same time. The extractor is spring-
loaded and returns to the forward position to allow for reloading.

The Cylinder Release:

The cylinder release is usually a small spring-loaded slide lever that
is located behind the cylinder. Depending on the revolver model, it is
either pushed forward or down. Depressing the cylinder release
allows the cylinder to swing out to the side and down for unloading
and loading.

The Hammer:
The hammer is located just behind the cylinder and centered with the
barrel. The purpose of the hammer is to strike either a firing pin or the
cartridge primer, causing the revolver to fire. If the striking surface of
the hammer is flat, the weapon uses a floating firing pin. If the striking
surface of the hammer is pointed the weapon does not have a
separate firing pin. The pointed area of the hammer is the firing pin
and comes in direct contact with the cartridge primer.

The Semi-Automatic Handgun

While some of the stationary and moving parts found on a revolver
are also present in a semi-automatic handgun, the weapons function
much differently. The front and rear sights, trigger, trigger guard,
hammer, and muzzle all have the same location and function as the
revolver.

The Parts of a Semi-Automatic Handgun and Their Functions

The Grip:
The grip on the semi-automatic handgun isn't just the handhold for
the weapon. The grip is hollow and houses the weapon's ammunition
in a magazine. The bottom of the grip is open and is called the
magazine port or loading port. It also has a magazine release button
within the grip.

The Magazine:
The magazine is a removable ammunition feeding and storage
device. It can be separated from the weapon when empty and
replaced with a full magazine. Cartridges are stacked against spring
tension which allows the magazine to feed each round into the
weapon's chamber. Magazines allow semi-automatic handguns to
fire more rounds than revolvers and are much faster to reload. In
recent years, the capacity of magazines has come under scrutiny
and many states now regulate the number of rounds that a magazine
is legally permitted to hold.

The Magazine Release:

This is a button generally located in front of the grip behind the trigger
guard. When a loaded magazine is inserted into the weapon, the
shooter will hear an audible click. This is the magazine release
mechanism locking the magazine in place. In order to remove or
replace the magazine, the shooter must depress the button. Most
magazines will drop from the weapon when the button is pushed,
making reloading much quicker.

The Slide:
This is the top portion of the weapon. It is the part that slides back
and forth when the weapon is fired. The slide must be pulled back
and released to load a cartridge into the chamber. When the bullet is
fired, three things happen. The recoil forces the slide to the rear. As
this happens, the extractor, which is attached to the slide, removes
and ejects the spent cartridge. The rearward action of the slide also
re-cocks the hammer for the next round. As the slide moves forward,
it pushes the next cartridge out of the magazine and loads it into the
chamber.

The Safety or Decocking Lever:

Many (but not all) semi-automatics will have a decocking lever, which
is also referred to as a safety. It will usually be located below the rear
sight. This is a two-position lever. If a weapon has the hammer back
in the cocked position, the shooter may lower the hammer by using
the decocking lever. A second feature of the decocking lever is that in
the down or safe position, the weapon will not fire. The shooter must
move the lever up to the fire position for the weapon to function.

The Frame:
The frame of a semi-automatic is generally the single part of the
weapon that the slide rides on. Unlike a revolver, the frame of a semi-
automatic may be made of metal or a plastic polymer. Glock
handguns are famous for this innovation.

The Takedown Lever:

These levers will be slightly different depending on the manufacturer.
They are located above the trigger, but just below the slide. The lever
serves to release the slide and barrel to field strip the weapon.

The Slide Stop:

Also known as the slide release, this is a lever located behind the
takedown lever. The slide stop's function is to lock the slide in the
rear open position after the last round in the magazine is fired.
Pushing down on the slide stop releases the slide, allowing it to snap
forward. With many semi-automatics, forcefully seating a fresh
magazine will cause the slide release to disengage and the slide will
cycle forward.
The Recoil Spring and Guide:
The recoil spring and guide are located inside the weapon, usually
just below the barrel. When a semi-automatic is fired the slide is
forced back by the weapon's recoil. The recoil also compresses the
recoil spring which is responsible for returning the slide forward,
seating the next chambered round. Many models have the recoil
spring and spring guide as one connected unit.

Handgun Disassembly:
Revolvers are seldom disassembled and remain completely intact
for cleaning. Semiautomatics will need to be disassembled into five
pieces to allow for proper cleaning. First, use the magazine release
button to remove the magazine. Then use the takedown lever to
release the slide and barrel, which are easily separated. The recoil
spring and guide can then be removed. That's as far as the weapon
needs to be disassembled for cleaning.

Having a working knowledge of your handgun and its parts is

essential. Each shooter should understand the various components
that go into their firearm and how they function. Learning the proper
names of the weapon's parts will allow the shooter to communicate
accurately and professionally.