My way of thinking has always been two to the chest, one in the head. Usually in a stressful situation, youre not going to have the muzzle control as when youre slow firing, to keep all three in the chest, but if you aim low enough, like right at the belly button, the rise from recoil will put one in the bread basket, one in the chest, and one in the head. But this is only my way of looking at it. Always two to three shots in my opinion, but this is also dictated by how many adversaries you could/would encounter.
Brad
but if you aim low enough, like right at the belly button, the rise from recoil will put one in the bread basket, one in the chest, and one in the head. But this is only my way of looking at it.
Brad
Ayoob has written some great material, but is only one of the many people in the know (but is still in my opinion the number one authority. ) Different situations dictate different measures, and its not always "two the chest, one to the head" and as you stated, you may only get the one shot. When I said aim at the belly button, its more because of the trigger control that some people loose in stressful situations, and knowing the way I shoot during drills, I always pull high, and sometimes, a foot high or more, depending on the distance.
But to put it in order, center mass is where I would aim and shoot, and if it doesnt stop the attacker, then that is the cue that head shots are in order.
Brad
Most people seem to pull low under stress with a handgun. I've also seen a lot of people tend low with carbines under stress when the hit zones on an IPSC target were covered with a t-shirt.
I have to agree with txinvestigator on generally center of mass until the threat is gone. Some situations will be different, but in 90% of the ones I can imagine this is how you'd want to shoot.
Going with the fact that the majority of people wound up shooting very low (belly button) with carbines at 10-15 yards when the target was wearing a t-shirt, I'd have to say that center mass shooting needs to be practiced regularly on a silhouette that has no hit zones defined on it (turn an IDPA or IPSC target backwards, cover it with a shirt, whatever). IMO the reason most people shot so low was because the shirt made the target too "human" for them to hit it with good stopping shots under pressure. Shooting for a square in the middle of a torso-shaped target is mentally a lot different than seeking out the heart area of a shirt and peppering it.
How bad is the muzzle flip during your drills that you're jumping the whole length of a person's body?
knees? Thats an awfully small target or a really big person... I wouldn't aim for a knee first knowing how I shoot.shoulders and knees first.
knees? Thats an awfully small target or a really big person... I wouldn't aim for a knee first knowing how I shoot.