flintknapper wrote:
Chris,
Thank You, for your input.
I respectfully disagree that night sights are anything like "useless", but as I stated earlier they are best utilized under certain conditions.
I don't know what kind of NS you used but mine are very bright. A good example of when they can be of benefit.. is when you are in a darker portion of the environment than your target. Obviously, you need to be able to identify your target AND see it well enough to put the front sight on it. For those with night sights, go into a dark (or fairly dark room) and look into another room that has some amount of residual light, judge for yourself.
You didn't mention if you had any "help" on the house/warehouse "clearing", I hope so. Its foolish (at best) to attempt a dynamic clearing without a 3 to 1 advantage (if you can call it that). Night sights, or the lack thereof, would be the last thing on my mind in that situation.
As for tactics, unless they're unlawful...please feel free to share them. We can all benefit from someone else's knowledge. Unless you have very specialized training, its not likely that sharing it here will be a problem.
Thanks again for your perspective, and your service.
Flint.
many times there were two of us; on occasion, i was alone. in some areas you just don't have the luxury of having someone with you. i've been through everything from houses, wharehouses, and office buildings, to entire schools. most of the time i found nothing, but i've stumbled across people inside more than i prefer. sometimes they knew i was there, others they didn't until i found them. searching stuff by yourself is scary. finding someone searching by yourself is worse. i once searched a used car lot that had about 15-20 abandoned trailer houses behind it. i KNEW there were at least 2 people in the immediate area. i had a dead handheld radio and nearest assist was 25 miles away, but they were tied up. THAT sucks. i almost killed one of those damn cowboy silhouettes that leans up against the wall. when it refused to comply, i was fully prepared to shoot it until i got close enough behind cover to see what it was. no rollercoaster in the world compares to that feeling. fortunately for me, i scared those two off into the woods, rather than find them in an ambush. they slipped into the woods and ended up stealing a car about two miles down the road. irritated me off that i didn't find them, but probably best that way.
i've used meprolights and trijicons. i've used green dots, and a combination of red/green. the dots are just too small to really recognize. trust me when i say that you aren't paying any attention to the sights when things are bad enough to be pointing a gun at someone; particularly those tiny little dots. if you're willing to pay the extra money for another gadget, why not? there's nothing wrong with them, i just haven't seen that they give me any sort of practical advantage that point shooting doesn't cover. most people don't practice running away and shooting behind them. when you see a gun, you're not going to stand there like wyatt earp with them. you're going to be shooting while you run to get behind something. i've done a lot of side stepping for cover. i see all those range people doing their quick draw mcgraws and a double tap. when it goes down, it's probably going to take more than 2 shots, so it's probably not a good idea to just practice two at a time. mix it up. shoot 4 or 5. that's probably what the person you're shooting at is going to do, and that hesitation might be enough to be the end of you. you would be surprised with some of the crap that cops do because they're trained that way. if you get a jam, don't raise your hand and stand there like a fool waiting on someone to help you. fix it and keep shooting. i know of people that have been witness to that very thing in the midst of a shooting.
now what i have found to be somewhat useful (as ironic as it may seem) is a monster of a fiber optic tube on the end of my shotgun. when there is enough light to see your target, there is enough light to make that thing stick out like a sore thumb. for a police application, i've used that setup on felony stops where i have a lot of light flooding the area. strobes make that little fiber optic dot flash at you too. in a typical joe citizen encounter, you're looking at primarily defensive. police, you could have defensive and offensive. i pull a shotgun on a felony stop because i'm going to make a lot of threats to get people to do what i want them to. that's a circumstance where i have time to watch the front sight. plus it's a long gun. a pistol really is nothing more than a defensive tool.
as far as tactics, there are things i just don't want to share. but there are some things that can help you on room clearing. take bathroom stalls. if you shine your light on the floor under a stall, look up at the ceiling. you'll see the shadows. if anyone's in there, you'll see them before you open the door. doing a building search isn't "dynamic". that's what swat does. those guys like to do things quick and flashy. it's best to be patient when searching a building. if you were going into a room that had hostages, and the goal was to eliminate targets, "dynamic" is what you want. you want as many cops in that room and as fast as possible. swat tactics emphasize room domination. one guy runs to the center and the others come up on the sides. you dominate the room. in a building search, it's best to stay behind cover, and against the walls in the shadows. an officer i know on his very first building search went into a business. he swears he never heard the pop, but he did hear the whiz of the bullet going by. another friend of mine silhouetted himself against a glass wall shortly before it shattered with gunfire. if you open a door. stand against the wall nearest the door knob. if someone's going to shoot when the door opens, they'll shoot as the door starts to open out of that tiny opening. as long as you're not in that area, you're good to go. if you see cops knocking on someone's door, you'll see them standing a ways back from the door, but off to the side so if the door opens, the person inside would actually have to come out of the door in order to shoot them.
i hope i haven't butchered this thread too much. i've only been policing for 10 years, so i'm not even close to being good at this type of work, but i've picked up a few things along the way.
