Competition vs. The Tactical World
By Arik Levy
Competitors have a drive to win or at least, not come in last. That drive pushes them to practice and go to matches. Follow me, at matches they have to draw fast, reload smooth and move with the gun. How many time have you’ve done that lately? I can go to 2-3 matches a week if I want. I practice every night. My gun handling has gone through the roof since I started competing.
Again I ask? How will this get me killed?
Last time we left off on the crusade to make competition safe for the tactical world, we were making the case that stress introduced into shooting causes interesting results. Being able to work through the stress of the timer will always improve your shooting ability.
I just got back from competing in a major international shooting competition where I saw and experienced different levels of stress. The funny thing about stress (aside from actual physical stress) is that it’s only in the mind. That’s right. Stress is in the mind. Stress has nothing to do with shooting. Does it? What constitutes shooting? Lining up the sights and pulling the trigger. No where in that equation does the word “stress” make an appearance. “I hope I won’t miss”, “I suck at steel”, “I hate qualification” etc. All mental problems that have nothing to do with shooting. Being able to turn off the mental stress (conscious mind) and replace it with subconscious skill comes only with repeated practice. However, you can practice and practice by yourself for eternity, but you need a way to test it. That comes from shooting competitions.
Another by product of both the repeated practice and competitions is a higher ability to handle and manipulate your firearms (note: I say firearms not handgun, because you can practice and compete in handgun, shotgun and rifle these days). What is weapon manipulation? We tend to place high dollar words to make the layman feel our dogma has meaning. But in simple terms, weapon manipulation means being able to draw, reload and move without looking like Mr. Magoo (or Jar-Jar Binks if you were born after 1987).
One of the biggest things I observe a lot of LEOs have issue with when they either qualify or come to classes, is their ability to have effective gun handling. Under normal (non-competitive) circumstances, a draw should be under 2 seconds from either a retention holster or concealment. I’ve been witness to hundreds of qualifications and observed the draw habits of hundreds of officers and the majority have a hard time meeting the 2 second metric. Why? Isn’t being able to get the gun out of the holster an important function of the patrol officer? What I think happens, is once the officer initially learns how to draw the gun, it becomes an awkward exercise in straps, levers and clothing. It’s hard to remember all the steps that are necessary to have a smooth draw, so what happens is one of the following: Either the draw becomes a spastic pull and tug, yanking until the gun gets free OR it becomes ritualistically slow. Both are not good results for getting the gun in to the fight.
However, there is hope. Like any sport, repeated practice guarantees accomplished technique. But what forces someone to practice? I’ve known some pretty “tactical” people in my travels. They are dedicated people who practice their draws, go to range, and work out like madmen. In their mind, they can’t fail. They do what they have to do to keep their edge. God bless them. I sleep better knowing they are out there. But what about the rest of the “tactical” community? Do you spend a hour a day working on your draw? How often to you go to the range? And, what do you do when you get there?
See, there is a definite way to push the skill level up. Wait for it… shoot competition. Better weapons manipulation is a by product of routine handling and shooting the gun. Not everyone wants to go out and win, but I’ve seen even the worst grandmother (truthful) to the youngest shooter “manipulate” their handguns that put a lot of “tactical” folk to shame.
Please don’t take this as “competition” is great and “tactical” is bad. Believe me, I’m not trying to stir the pot for web hits. I’m trying to say if it’s good enough for grandma, then maybe the tactical guys should try it. In fact, a lot of the techniques used in the tactical firearms community come directly from the competitive world. Rob Leatham, Jerry Barnhart and Frank Garcia are a few of the competitive shooters who trained/train our special operations community. Reloading in the “workspace”, holding the rifle rail with the support hand fully extended and the thumbs forward pistol grip are all techniques that these competition guys brought to the tactical community. The way I look at it: If it’s good enough for CAG, DevGru, Tier 1 etc., well..maybe it’s good enough for me.
David B. Monier-Williams
Mar 10, 2014 @ 21:04:51
Sadly, in my experience, most of the LE officers won’t practice, let alone compete, unless they’re paid. For most the handgun is like their handcuffs, just something they have wear around their waist.
You also need to remember that most PDs require only about 50 hr. of firearms training. That’s pathetic! Add to that most qualify a minimal amount of times per year.
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John Veit
Mar 11, 2014 @ 10:43:01
Practice and range shooting is good.
But, strange as it may seem, there is no established connection between performance on the range and performance on the street. And saying or inferring that competition shooting equates to tactical shooting (combat shooting), does not make it so.
Do competitors do things to make the competition more like real tactical (CQB), situations?
For example, in real life or death situations where one has the greatest chance of being shot and or killed (at < 21 feet), SCIENCE SAYS that 1. you will have an immediate and great increase in your heart rate, 2. you will lose your fine motor skills that are needed in drawing a gun from a holster (retention holster), and then coordinating its correct alignment on a target, 3. you will lose peripherial vision, and 4. you will be unable to focus on near objects like the sights (so no flash sight picture), due to an automatic and unstoppable dump of adrenaline in your system which results in a change in the shape of the lens of the eye and allows focusing only on far objects.
So, do competitors do pushups and/or sprints just before shooting to drive the heart rate over 150? Do they put on heavy fabric or leather gloves to make drawing and manipulating a gun difficult? Or do they wear glasses that have only small openings in them to reduce the visual field when shooting? And how about shooting with one hand, using stock guns with 12 pound triggers, and standard factory loads?
Said another way, are they practicing/competing/shooting for real or as close to real as can be, or just for fun?
This is not to say that practicing gun manipulation, dry firing, airsoft practice, and range and competition shooting are not all good.
And doing that certainly may not get you killed.
It's just that apples and orangs are not the same.
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John Veit
Mar 12, 2014 @ 09:56:44
Claiming that competition and competition shooting developes combat shooting skills, has a nice ring to it, but competition is not equivalent to combat. And competition means and methods are decidedly different from combat means and methods. Also competition honed skills may or may be applicable to combat situations, so spending practice time on them, is time not well spent.
Saying that one is not trying to stir up the pot of controversy over the issues, is a bit odd given the title, the statement that he is on a crusade to make competition safe for the tactical world, and his statement that ” I’ve seen even the worst grandmother (truthful) to the youngest shooter “manipulate” their handguns that put a lot of “tactical” folk to shame.”
In life or death combat situations at killing distances, one mostly likely won’t be using a tricked out gun, light loads, a light trigger, a customized holster and custom gun belt. Also, the combat participant will experience a greatly accelerated heart rate, the loss of small motor skills that are necessary to sighting, a loss of peripheral vision, and the loss of near vision which is necessary for focusing on the sights.
Combat studies also have established that in the majority of dangerous situations, Officers had their gun drawn and ready, reloading was seldom if ever needed to continue a fight, and with only an occasional exception, Officers fired with the strong hand.
This is not to say that practicing gun manipulations, dry firing, airsoft practice, and range and competition shooting are not all good.
And doing them certainly may not get you killed.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Mar 13, 2014 @ 13:57:26
Yes, ignore competition shooters and look only to experts in law enforcement:
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John M. Buol Jr.
Mar 13, 2014 @ 22:49:38
Yes we do. At matches like All Army and AFSAM a number of the shooting events start with things like timed sprints, timed distance runs of several miles and obstacle courses or equipment/casualty carries. Run Down events require a series of 100 yard sprints, yard line to yard line, with timed target engagements at each firing point.
Yes we do. Wearing issue equipment is a requirement at some events.
Yes we do. Specifically, we shoot some courses of fire in protective/gas masks
Yes we do. All military matches require rack grade, as-issued small arms and accessories firing as-issued ball ammunition. DCM required as-issued ammunition for decades and still maintains strict provisions on firearm types. USPSA, IDPA and NRA events have had Production equipment divisions for many years, all requiring common, as-issued firearms. These “regular gun” divisions are more popular than match/race divisions.
If people would actually participate in organized events and learn from the good shooters there instead of criticizing and condemning something they’ve never done and don’t know anything about they would find real value there.
Successful combat veterans (police, military and civilian) universally praise their competition experience. The only people complaining about competition shooting are those that have never participated or have failed to demonstrate any significant skill there. In other words, people that don’t really know much about it.
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johnveit
Mar 13, 2014 @ 23:58:10
Thanks for the info John.
Glad to know that at least the Military is doing what makes sense. Haven’t seen or read about those practices being adopted by the top guns.
As I understand it, most modern police training has its roots in competition shooting and the “modern technique.” But there are no pics and/or videos of sight shooting ever having been used effectively in a CQB situation. And police studies on CQ gunfights have clearly established that sight shooting is not used in them.
So, if you have a gun for self defense, and what your doing doesn’t happen in real fights as established by hard evidence produced by videos of them, maybe you should think twice about practicing to be the fastest and slickest in the land at just what you are doing.
For example, positive mention is made in the article that the thumbs forward grip came directly to the tactical community from the competitive world. Here are links to 3 pics showing a drugstore guard who is moving – using a semi Issoceles grip – and has both thumbs pointing up. He clearly is not using the sights or a sight picture, and shoots and kills a robber who is an instant away from shooting the guard: http://pointshooting.com/rob10.jpg http://pointshooting.com/rob11.jpg http://pointshooting.com/rob12.jpg
Also note that the guards arms are not fully extended as was stated by top competitors in those excellent classic shooting videos posted in the prior blog. Here’s a link to the article on it: http://www.pointshooting.com/1arobber.htm
I think protocals, means and methods, should flow from hard evidence of what is found to work in real killing situations. And to not do that rigorously and religiously, is to set a gun user up to be shot and killed.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Mar 14, 2014 @ 21:15:47
Again, these practices are used and not just in the military. Do you honestly believe active competitive shooters haven’t already considered and adopted these ideas?
Don’t tell that to the most successful gunfighters of the past century, men with dozens of fights to their credit, who have. General statistics point to the average police, military and civilian gun owner, and they remain largely under trained and skilled.
Organized shooting, to include competitive formats, can take any protocol, mean or method you want. Set something up, organize it, and get others to do likewise.
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Tyrus Moulder
Mar 15, 2014 @ 08:58:08
As a currently serving law enforcement officer and firearms trainer, I agree with the comments that relate to the need for more realistic and relevant training for our men and women serving as police officers across our nation. If you are interested in the current state of law enforcement training, I would encourage you to read Gregory Morrison’s “Police Firearms Training Survey Final Report”
.” It provides a real picture of what my profession is doing with regard to firearms training.
Is competition a useful format to improve real life performance? Yes, but it is not sufficient by itself for preparing a person for a lethal confrontation. What regular practice and skill-building and testing (aka competition formats) provide is a way to develop skill-based actions that can be drawn on without the need for conscious thought during a life-or-death encounter. Competitors and those who are disciplined enough to conduct regular practice log thousand of hours and tens of thousands of repetitions and manipulations with their weapon(s). I am not a competition shooter, but I cannot deny the value of developing the skills these folks bring to the table.
On the issue of stress and its effects in a fight for your life, there is often a disconnect in our understanding of the science of hormonally induced stress versus purely physiologically induced stress. When the brain (via the Amygdala) identifies a threat to the survival of its host (you, me, everyone) it triggers the Hypothalimic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis response (aka fight, flee, or freeze) and the physiological effects that it beings with it. You cannot simulate / induce the HPA-axis effects on the flat range or even in the competition setting where there is no perceived survival threat. True, there will certainly be varying degrees of anxiety, but it is not going to be enough to produce the phenomenon most commonly associated (tunnel vision, increased blood flow to the large muscles / complete loss of fine motor control, altered perception of time, the loss of the ability to think and process information consciously, etc.) with the life-threatening encounter. Running or some other form of intense exercise to raise your heart rate to 174 BPM is not the same as the heart rate (and the simultaneously added effects) of a hormonally induced heart rate of 174+ BPM that can happen in less than a second in a life threatening encounter. Understanding the science of stress and how we as humans are impacted by it is critical to developing our training programs.
The positive effects of regular training and competition is the reinforcement of the manipulations and techniques that we want our men and women to be able to do in a real fight. Incorporating force-on-force training, mindset training, and training on the legal and moral aspects associated with the use of force are all necessary components of a well-rounded firearms training program.
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John M. Buol Jr.
Mar 16, 2014 @ 06:46:47
>> Competitors and those who are disciplined enough to conduct regular practice log thousand of hours and tens of thousands of repetitions and manipulations with their weapon(s).
THAT IS THE POINT. Competition is “just a game” but the skills needed to win are very real. More important, the knowledge and discipline of good training and practice methods are the real benefits. Earning high marks in formal competition is a worthwhile destination but the real benefit is the journey needed to get there.
A Master/Distinguished competitor can put that training discipline towards ANY skill, including tactics, better than most gun owners, police and military. The ability to obtain high scores proves it.
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