CCW Training: Are We Practicing the Wrong Skills?

[jkdbjj]

A more relevant article might be: Are We Practicing?

 

[Coach]

A more relevant article might be: Are We Practicing?

Logic and reason such as you are using here make a lot of people uncomfortable.

 

[doddg]

I thought this article was fascinating with getting input from experienced shooters & teachers and their feedback from someone writing about the reality of what to train for & not the "what-ifs" that apply to the statistical nonevent.
I read the addressing of real-world events of what the vast majority will experience, and I read those preparing for a more expanded event, trying to evaluate where my roll is.
Logical & good points on both sides.

Some will have a more "reserved" approach about which guns to carry for actual use than others.
Understandable: different people with different viewpoints.
I speak from someone with limited experience who carried when I moved to the big city from a small town in '85.
I truly believed that I was at risk more living in the 13th largest city in America, and acted accordingly.

Before I got my teaching job in IN in '85, I remember checking my handgun with security to put in the safe at St. Vincent Stress center where I worked b/c they didn't want the carrying people to leave their guns locked in their car.
I felt the need to have protection driving home at midnight in case my car broke down.

After I got my teaching job, I could not have a gun in the car, and certainly not on my person, so I got away from carrying.
30 yrs. later when I realized I was an old man, I got my license again.
I bought a CC revolver again, explored the semi-automatic genre, putting in the time practicing at the range, taking some classes, reading articles, reading here on INGO, and bought a book just yesterday about the law and actual self-defense scenarios in the real world, by a world-renown author & buying certain DVDs about the same.

I want to be prepared for someone forcing their way into my home, car or after knocking me down, will not go away.
I did take note of what Coach said about small capacity sounds good until you are in a situation (not an exact quote).

 

[Trapper Jim]

Logic and reason such as you are using here make a lot of people uncomfortable.

You think?

 

[Denny347]

For me it isn't as much about capacity as it is control. I have trouble getting a good purchase on the shield. The M&P2c doesn't make enough of a difference for me to switch from the full size. Sight distance might make a difference for me from the tiny gun to the full sized, but follow up shots are definitely better with the extra weight of the full size.

Solid concerns

 

[Coach]

For me it isn't as much about capacity as it is control. I have trouble getting a good purchase on the shield. The M&P2c doesn't make enough of a difference for me to switch from the full size. Sight distance might make a difference for me from the tiny gun to the full sized, but follow up shots are definitely better with the extra weight of the full size.

The shield is too thin?

 

[Brad69]

Hmmm?

IMO
The shield with the 8 rounder is the smallest pistol I can really shoot anything smaller is a backup or last ditch weapon. When I say really shoot is like complete a standard qualification with it.

The Compact 2.0 is like a little dream pistol I normally carry it with the full size magazine like a commander size M&P!

It’s OK to train on some “high speed” stuff as long as you can shoot 1st ! While practicing speed reloads in a pistol carrying 15 plus rounds is probably not going to be needed until the zombie apocalypse you never know?

 

[rhino]

Completely understandable.

Only if you share the disdain.

 

[dudley0]

The shield is too thin?

The problem for me is gripping it. The shorter grip isn't comfortable for me with the 8 round mag. The seven is just short enough that I have to let my pinky wander around or stick up like I am at a fancy tea party.

I can hit with it. The gun shoots well, but I keep thinking about the proper grip and I do not need another thing to think about.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

The problem for me is gripping it. The shorter grip isn't comfortable for me with the 8 round mag. The seven is just short enough that I have to let my pinky wander around or stick up like I am at a fancy tea party.

I can hit with it. The gun shoots well, but I keep thinking about the proper grip and I do not need another thing to think about.

Are you familiar with Ayoob's "wedge grip" technique? I found it helped my Shield shooting quite a bit. It's a little slower on the draw, for me anyway, because it's a little harder to build then the standard thumbs forward. It gets more of your support hand involved, though, and lets your front-to-back pressure do more grip and recoil control making the thinness and relatively smoothness of the Shield's grip less of an issue.

I also can't go any smaller than the Shield for anything magazine fed or I feel like I'm holding it with chopsticks. The Ayoob wedge got me to the point I shoot my Shield better than my LCR, though, and that wasn't the case for quite awhile.

 

[dudley0]

I will toy around with the wedge grip. At first try it pushes my pinky down even more, which is the problem to begin with.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I will toy around with the wedge grip. At first try it pushes my pinky down even more, which is the problem to begin with.

Thanks for the heads up!

It's a grip you have to build in the proper order. You need to get the bottom three fingers set then wedge in the next finger. This is why, at least for me, the trade off is a slower presentation. I don't have the muscle memory where it needs to be yet as I frankly don't practice with my Shield as much as I should.

 

[Lex Concord]

Logic and reason such as you are using here make a lot of people uncomfortable.

Denny's gonna Denny

 

[Jackson]

They get disarmed because they have zero ECQC skills combined with that lack of knowledge about managing unknown contacts. It's literally irrelevant how good a shot you are if you can't get the gun in play, and a lot of losses die without ever firing a shot, and that includes some pretty well trained shooters both with and without a badge.

Where do ECQC skills rank in the hierarchy of statistically likely-to-be-necessary skills? How frequently are they a deciding factor in the outcome of self-defense scenarios?

 

[Vigilant]

Where do ECQC skills rank in the hierarchy of statistically likely-to-be-necessary skills? How frequently are they a deciding factor in the outcome of self-defense scenarios?

For me, enough that I’ve taken the class and got the head burn. Is it likely, probably not, but I also have insurance on my possessions in case of a statistically more apt fire.