Point Shooting VS Aim shooting in home defense.

[Lee Leblanc]

When you think about it, if someone is breaking into your home or have already done so,and you are down the hall from then or closer, wouldn't the time to aim down the sights, focus on trigger pull, stance, be the Last thing on your mind?
Wouldn't that be better for longer distance? Considering you only have a split second window of action before you are shot/attacked etc. I would think that point/instinctive shooting practice/technique would be better suited.
Opinions please?

 

[oldag]

I will continue to practice using sights. In the event that I do not have time to aim, I will trust muscle memory and the 1911 to put the round on target at extremely short distances.

Point shooting at anything but very close distances is a wasted shot for 99.999999% of folks.

 

[Wildcat Diva]

An occasional IDPA match is gonna help me to negotiate a mix of adrenaline and timing and aiming and thus determine accuracy (or lack thereof) in something just a little closer to the real thing than standing still there and aiming and shooting at leisure.

 

[Renegade]

When you think about it, if someone is breaking into your home or have already done so,and you are down the hall from then or closer, wouldn't the time to aim down the sights, focus on trigger pull, stance, be the Last thing on your mind?

I think that is generally true, and explains why so many shootouts have such high miss rates.

 

[Jon Payne]

Sighted fire is a learned skill as is point shooting. One should practice both and be proficient at both. One is predominately proactive while the other is reactive.


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[TxStetson]

And doing more at the range than standing still and plinking helps.

 

[rman]

there was a story about 10-15 years ago in San Jose, CA (santa clara. to be exact) where a dude rented a Colt AR and at the end of the night held the range employees hostage.

Long story short, an employee that eventually shot crazy guy said the only thing that stuck when he drew was raise up the gun, wait for the front sight, and shoot. I think he got 2 out of 5 shots on the guy.

For those of you on CalGuns, the thread is on there where he posted, also any bay area transplants might know the range - forget what it was back then, it's currently Reeds.

Sent from my SIG Sauer

 

[txinvestigator]

The Garland Police Officer who shot those terrorist turds said he remembers seeing the sights and making hits.

A security officer whom I taught years ago and had never shot a gun before, came back to a renewal class two years later. He had been involved in a shooting while on duty, his handgun vs a shotgun. He told me that he could hear my voice repeating "front sight, front sight."

That said, several years ago I was at a shooting school as a student. The question was asked about sights vs point shooting. The instructor had us start at three yards and on command draw and fire three shots as rapidly as we felt we could do so accurately, and to do so without using sights. What I found is that from contact to 10 yards I don't use sights in this type of shooting. At ten yards I wanted that front sight, and when I used it I liked my hits better.

YMMV

 

[F350-6]

Have to agree with TXI on this. Every time you pick up a weapon, the first thought that should go through your head is front sight post.

Think that every time you touch a firearm and it will help not only in the SHTF scenario, but also in safe handling as you become aware of where the muzzle is pointed.

Point shooting can work too, but you've got to factor in, familiarity with the weapon involved, distance to target, adrenaline rush causing you to jerk the trigger, amount of practice with said weapon in point shooting, factoring Murphy's law, etc.

 

[easy rider]

Many of the best gunfighters weren't always the fastest on the draw, but they practiced on accuracy.

 

[Younggun]

Fast is fine but accuracy is final.

-Wyatt Earp

 

[sdismukes]

Not life or death, but one of our dogs out here in the country smelled something different. The ‘different’ smell was a 14” copperhead that got him on his snout. MsDis saw him jump back. She came over and saw the snake. She called for me, and I retrieved a Kimber which had some ratshot loaded. We looked for that snake, finally found it as she disturbed it with a long stick. I saw it move, disappear behind a potted plant then reappear heading for sanctuary of a lot of foliage. I had maybe a second or 1.5 seconds or it would have been gone.

The Kimber came up, night sights formed a straight 3-dot line all aligned on the snake. One BANG and the snake was in 2 solid parts, but about a quarter of it was hamburger scattered over our porch. Some stuck on the wall about 30’ away! I’d guess range was 10-12 feet. Certainly far enough to miss! The pellet pattern couldn’t have been more than 3” wide.

Point is, time on the range all kicked in. Gun up, sights aligned on target and bang, faster than the time it took you to read it. Muscle memory! Plus while I never did it that fast on the range, or even tried, it all came together to scratch one copperhead!

We had thankfully inoculated our dogs for snakebite. Apart from a lot of pain, with Benadryl and some good pain meds that boy was right as rain come morning.


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[Mikewood]

When you think about it, if someone is breaking into your home or have already done so,and you are down the hall from then or closer, wouldn't the time to aim down the sights, focus on trigger pull, stance, be the Last thing on your mind?
Wouldn't that be better for longer distance? Considering you only have a split second window of action before you are shot/attacked etc. I would think that point/instinctive shooting practice/technique would be better suited.
Opinions please?

You should really consider some good self defense training. Having an instructor who knows what they are doing teach you how to shoot accurately and properly will go a long way to helping you understand the nature of self defense. Sure, we can all pull the trigger and most of us can hit a target but there is a ton more to good self defense technique than that. It isn’t cheap but for the price of a good gun you can learn to shoot not only well but properly and not get shot by the perpetrator.

 

[Kar98]

When you think about it, if someone is breaking into your home or have already done so,and you are down the hall from then or closer, wouldn't the time to aim down the sights, focus on trigger pull, stance, be the Last thing on your mind?
Wouldn't that be better for longer distance? Considering you only have a split second window of action before you are shot/attacked etc. I would think that point/instinctive shooting practice/technique would be better suited.
Opinions please?

What's better, .45 or 9mm? 1911s or Glocks? AK or AR? Ford vs Chevy... That horse of a subject of point and shoot vs aim and shoot has been beaten into a putrid mush.

Train yourself to use your sights, proper trigger squeeze etc. and develop muscle memory to point and shoot while actually lining up your sights and focus on the front sight without having to make a dissertation out of it every time.

 

[oldag]

Many of the best gunfighters weren't always the fastest on the draw, but they practiced on accuracy.

One of them (can't recall now) was quoted as saying it is not the first shot that wins the fight, it is the first hit.

 

[Lee Leblanc]

The Garland Police Officer who shot those terrorist turds said he remembers seeing the sights and making hits.

A security officer whom I taught years ago and had never shot a gun before, came back to a renewal class two years later. He had been involved in a shooting while on duty, his handgun vs a shotgun. He told me that he could hear my voice repeating "front sight, front sight."

That said, several years ago I was at a shooting school as a student. The question was asked about sights vs point shooting. The instructor had us start at three yards and on command draw and fire three shots as rapidly as we felt we could do so accurately, and to do so without using sights. What I found is that from contact to 10 yards I don't use sights in this type of shooting. At ten yards I wanted that front sight, and when I used it I liked my hits better.

YMMV

This makes a lot of sense. Focus on the front sight for quick, closer intense scenarios, and for longer distance scenarios, where you could potentially have more time, aim down the back and front sites?
Does that sound fair?
It just seems like it takes forever to get in perfect sight with my Glock 17. I have heard there are better sights out there.

 

[Younggun]

You should never be focusing on the rear site. If you have more time to spend on sight alignment then you may opt to use more time, dictated by the situation and consequence of a missed shot vs consequence of spending too much time aiming.

Only way to find the amount of time needed to keep your rounds on target is to practice fundamentals and test your self.

 

[Mikewood]

Your Glock 17 is designed to put the front sight on the target and press the trigger. Don’t worry too terribly much about the rear sight. It’s kind of like a peep sight in that you can get good hits if the front sight is somewhere between the rear. Sure if it’s exact it’s a closer hit but if it’s close it’s close enough out to 20-30 yds or so. If however you focus on the rear sight or the target you stand a good chance of missing completely.


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[Lee Leblanc]

Your Glock 17 is designed to put the front sight on the target and press the trigger. Don’t worry too terribly much about the rear sight. It’s kind of like a peep sight in that you can get good hits if the front sight is somewhere between the rear. Sure if it’s exact it’s a closer hit but if it’s close it’s close enough out to 20-30 yds or so. If however you focus on the rear sight or the target you stand a good chance of missing completely.


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Aaaaaah I see now. Don't know why I was so focused on putting the dot in the middle of the I__I of the rear sights. There was a video on YouTube of a man that blackened his rear sights, and this can be a good idea if they are just in the way, or are for far far targets. You guys are being really helpful.

 

[Mikewood]

It’s all part of getting good training along with grip, platform or stance, reloading, use of cover, movement and all the rest. We can tell you things but a good instructor can teach you things by evaluating what you are doing and helping you to do them better.



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