I talk a lot of trash about ‘aimed fire’.
That sometimes gets me a lot of hate mail from people who get bent out of shape any time someone tries to slap some reality into how to train for real gunfights.
But actually, I have lot of respect for aimed fire… in the right circumstances!
I mean, the reality is, if you’re ambushed in a parking lot by some thug hiding behind a parked car, you’ll be lucky to even get to your gun, let alone ever use your front sight to get an ‘aim’ on your target.
In these attacks, ‘point shooting’ is all you’re going to be able to use.
But there are other very specific instances when your front sight is your best friend, and here are 3 times you must master ‘aimed fire’ to survive.
Basically, the best time to use aimed fire instead of point shooting is when you’re not the person directly under threat.
Or, you have the time and distance to react to a threat before it’s on top of you.
Let me give you a few potential scenarios where aimed fire is your best chance at survival…
Active Indiscriminate Shooter You’re in a crowded area: a shopping mall, a schoolyard, a busy street.
You hear gunfire and screams, see people diving out of the way or dropping like flies.
You’re not in the immediate line of fire, and you have time to assess the threat and take the shooter out. Aimed fire all the way.
Mentally Ill/Homeless Threat Right now, a vast array of homeless people are ‘off their meds,’ which means you could easily find yourself in a situation where a mumbling, armed vagrant is threatening you from a distance.
You should feel confident in drawing, giving strong commands to ‘Back off!’ and use your aimed fire skills for all they’re worth if your life is threatened.
Home Invasion Hostage Your loved one has a gun to their head or a knife to their throat.
The attacker is threatening to kill them – and you believe they mean it.
This is probably the situation all aimed-fire proponents train for.
Your wife or child’s life hangs in the balance of scumbag’s sadistic whim, and you have to take the shot.
Those are solid examples of true ‘aimed fire’ scenarios and I’m sure that there are more you can come up with.
But the real question isn’t whether this list is all-inclusive.
The real question is . . .
Are you ready to meet these threats?
The reason I ask is because, while you can certainly get marksmanship training down at your local range, trying to get your 1st shot group inside that tiny circle on your paper target…
With the right equipment, you can safely train these (and other) scenarios using simple, dirt-cheap dry-fire drills you can do at home.
And you can practice on life-like targets if you get something like a Bob Training dummy.
In fact, home-based dry-fire drills aren’t just way more realistic than any range training you’ve ever done, but they can also be a lot of fun because you’re putting yourself in a real-world scenario instead of just target practice you’re probably currently doing down at the range.
In other words, using a safe and empty gun, you can clear your house, you can move up and down stairs, you can create all kinds of scenarios in your home to practice dealing with a threat.
Just remember, if you do this, always triple-check that you are using a safe and empty firearm.
