Is Target Shooting Best For Self Defense?

[Abraham]

I enjoy target shooting, but it seems that "Draw and Point and Shoot" practise at close range makes more sense when it comes to self defense.

That said: Are there courses for this type shooting?

[KRM45]

you are absolutely right. Traditional target shooting does littel to prepare you for a defensive shooting situation. I see lots of recommendations for IDPA style competitive shooting. Or you can go to a range that allows you to create your own scenario. Practice drawing from the holster, shoot and move, night shooting, etc...

Have fun, learn, and be safe.

[seamusTX]

Bullseye shooting is the foundation of all good shooting. There's more to learn, but I think it's dangerous to skimp on bullseye, IMHO.

There are plenty of formal courses. Just google "tactical pistol training."

- Jim

[CompVest]

IDPA is a great for practical shooting. The best thing about it is you do not have to re-invent the wheel. You have other shooters to give you information and pointers on everything from shooting moving targets to moving while shooting targets.

Every good practical shooter practices the basics of good marksmanship on a regular basis.

[HighVelocity]

go to http://www.idpa.com and look for a club in your area. You'll be glad you did.

[G.C.Montgomery]

I enjoy target shooting, but it seems that "Draw and Point and Shoot" practise at close range makes more sense when it comes to self defense.

That said: Are there courses for this type shooting?

The simple answer is "yes." Many nationally and internationally recognized instuctors either host courses in Texas or call Texas home. In addition to this, you can certainly learn a lot from joining IDPA and USPSA clubs. While IDPA and USPSA competition are "just games," they offer one of the very few environments in which we can induce stress. The stress of making a good time and being accurate on even the best field course never approaches that seen combat. But the same can be said about the training stresses naval aviators see in simulators before strapping on a real jet and engaging in air combat, let alone, attempting their first night trap on a carrier at sea.

The way I look at it, USPSA and IDPA are a great place to learn/practice the basic skills needed to run the gun and shoot effectively. An actual class with the likes of John Farnam, Brian Hoffner, Paul Howe or Clint Smith is where you will learn tactics and the remaining skill sets that don't overlap into the games. I will warn you that it can be hard to balance reality with the games. If self-defense is your focus, you may choose to avoid the games all together and instead commit to attending formal training as often as your budget and schedule allow. I'm not going to sell you on one particular school because it's my experience that they all have something to teach you, even if it's simply a lesson in what NOT to do.

If you are in the Houston Area and don't want to do play the IDPA or USPSA games, Gregg Garrett of Comp-Tac holsters helped form, and largely leads, a training group that works out at Top Gun on Tuesday evenings and Shiloh Shooting Center on Wednesday evenings. The existing website to host these events is down right now but shoot me a PM if that's something of interest to you. The idea of both these groups is to share knowledge. Gregg has said more than once that he does not want it to be the "Gregg Show." So if there's a particular skill the group has agreed to work on, that's the subject of the evening. I haven't heard anyone say they left one of the group's meetings claiming they didn't learn something.

[fm2]

Good posts, Jim & G.C.

The short answer is target shooting is not "best" for self defense. Self defense is in a vastly different context than target shooting. That said, good marksmanship is an important part of self defense.

[SkipB]

I'll agree with seamusTX on this. Anytime you go to the range and shot it gives you more confidence. A standard target you stand and shoot at is as good as it get's for many of us. So IMHO take what ever you can for practice.

[txinvestigator]

Skip, I agree to an extent; however, practice does not make perfect. PERFECT practice makes perfect. Shooting often with bad habits and improper technique won't make a person better, that's why I always suggest at least some professional training. I like one-on-one for new shooters.

[seamusTX]

A standard target you stand and shoot at is as good as it get's for many of us.

If you can only shoot at a public range where you can't practice tactics, you can do some additional work with dry firing or an AirSoft pistol.

- Jim

[SkipB]

txinvestigator, I do agree. What I'm trying to say is anything is better than nothing. I have shot some type of gun most of my life. I've shot in military matches with a 1911 back in the early sixties where we shot still targets. I've shot while in Police work and better more advanced ranges. The more practice you get and the better range then the better the outcome in the end. I just think we should not think one is not sufficent enough. For some that's all they get.

[Skiprr]

I think it's worth bringing up Jim's point again about dry practice. I haven't met an instructor yet who didn't place a high value on it, and some, like Gabe Suarez, go so far as to say that dry practice IS your training, that live fire should be thought of as periodic examinations to make sure you're training correctly.

Suarez has written that, "Live fire is an important but minor part of the overall training of a tactical shooter." Now, if that sounds as if he feels you don't need to ignite some primers, it has to be viewed in perspective of his overall training program. Suarez feels that a "perfect practice" live-fire session of about 75 rounds once per week or once every other week is sufficient. But ideally he'd have you doing a 30-minute dry-practice session every day.

And when you think about Suarez's distribution, that's one reason why IDPA and USPSA can come in so handy for most folks. Your local range may not allow you to draw from holster, move while shooting, etc., but an IDPA match will. You get about twice the number of rounds off in USPSA as IDPA, but even IDPA matches meet Suarez's thoughts on live-fire minimum round count.

Plus, you have the advantage of scenarios that you didn't create yourself; you're seeing them for the first time and have to apply some mental skillset to decide, tactically, how you should shoot the CoF. For example, I've seen scenarios simulating hallways and room clearing; going in, of course you've viewed the layout and know where the "bad guys" are, and I've seen some shooters move quickly--within the rules--and others slow down and be a lot more careful, as if they were truly clearing a blind doorway. And that's a great thing about IDPA: you don't have to feel pressured to turn in the best times. Folks that shoot it know that people are there for different reasons and bring in different skill levels. As long as you are a safe gun-handler and shooter, any club will welcome you to its matches.

On the matter of professional training, I'm a huge advocate, even for ex-military and law enforcement. Though many of the technical foundations were established in Jeff Cooper's generation, things have continued to evolve...including equipment. And I find it fascinating to compare and contrast the methods and philosophies of the different trainers. As G.C. noted, another reason we should be happy to be in Texas is that puts us, probably, in the top five states for amount of advanced instruction without having to leave the borders. Springtime always offers a lot of options, including visiting instructors who make it to the state a few times per year.

[Liko81]

Find a range that allows holster draws and a shooting buddy with a whistle, and a few dozen B-27 targets. If no local range allows holster draws, get some target holders and go outlaw in a vacant field; remember municipal gunfire bans and proper backstops/runoff when choosing a location. Do draw-point-shoot drills. From an everyday stance, hands at your side, at the whistle you must free, aim and fire your weapon just like you would in a real-life situation; as fast as possible while putting shots on target. Do this while concealing and you should have a good idea of how good your real-world abilities are. It's similar to qualifying for your CHL only you're going for the fastest time at close range (3-5 yards). There's no two-second time limit; you could be dead in less than one.

Do the same thing with multiple targets, targets behind "friendlies", targets with "friendlies" around and behind them (your targets becomes smaller with the risk of overpenetration; in a split second you have to fire such that if it DOES overpenetrate it does not strike a friendly). The more complex it gets, the more you'll probably want to find a good spot in the middle of nowhere as a range that allows you to set this kind of thing up will generally be expensive.

Here's a fun one used by sniper teams; it probably won't help much with real-world unless you're a sniper though. Get balloon-making equipment (balloons, helium, ribbon/string, etc) and an off-road r/c vehicle. Find a good spot for some outlaw shooting that the car can handle, fill two balloons of different colors to about head size, and tie them with a foot or two of ribbon to the same point on the R/C car. Designate one color the thug and the other the hostage. Your buddy will drive the car around a given distance away, the balloons will twist around each other, wave in the breeze, and generally give you a difficult target. You hold your aim on the BG, positioned so you're roughly at the level of the balloons (kneeling or prone work). On a whistle or "GUN!" call from your buddy you have one second to shoot the thug without hitting the hostage. It's really hard, really fun, and really increases your ability to make a fast shot. It's usually a rifle exercise, but it can probably be done at the appropriate distance for a handgun. You can TRY a draw-point-fire exercise but you'll probably have issues as it'll be difficult to get the targets up to stay around chest height and still get the same behavior without some tinkering with the car to add a tall rod out the top for the tie point.

[seamusTX]

I think it's worth bringing up Jim's point again about dry practice.

Thanks. There's an additional point that I failed to make earlier: Practicing holstering and unholstering with an AirSoft pistol allows you to experiment safely and get past the initial fumbling problems, dealing with cover garments, etc. Repeated practice gets the movements programmed into muscle memory.

- Jim

[txinvestigator]

Find a range that allows holster draws and a shooting buddy with a whistle, and a few dozen B-27 targets. If no local range allows holster draws, get some target holders and go outlaw in a vacant field; remember municipal gunfire bans and proper backstops/runoff when choosing a location. Do draw-point-shoot drills. From an everyday stance, hands at your side, at the whistle you must free, aim and fire your weapon just like you would in a real-life situation; as fast as possible while putting shots on target.

I always recommend doing this dry first.

Here's a fun one used by sniper teams; it probably won't help much with real-world unless you're a sniper though. Get balloon-making equipment (balloons, helium, ribbon/string, etc) and an off-road r/c vehicle. Find a good spot for some outlaw shooting that the car can handle, fill two balloons of different colors to about head size, and tie them with a foot or two of ribbon to the same point on the R/C car. Designate one color the thug and the other the hostage. Your buddy will drive the car around a given distance away, the balloons will twist around each other, wave in the breeze, and generally give you a difficult target. You hold your aim on the BG, positioned so you're roughly at the level of the balloons (kneeling or prone work). On a whistle or "GUN!" call from your buddy you have one second to shoot the thug without hitting the hostage. It's really hard, really fun, and really increases your ability to make a fast shot. It's usually a rifle exercise, but it can probably be done at the appropriate distance for a handgun. You can TRY a draw-point-fire exercise but you'll probably have issues as it'll be difficult to get the targets up to stay around chest height and still get the same behavior without some tinkering with the car to add a tall rod out the top for the tie point.

I saw that on Discovery too. Pretty cool drill.

One we have done in training is to attach balloons to standard targets and just try to hit them. On a windy day it is pretty funny.