Ready Positions: Muzzle Up vs Muzzle Down

[mdmayo]

Voted Sul, and then scratched my head realizing I carry as is situationally appropriate. Not that I ever expect to be schlepping my AR in a chopper again, but muzzle down, while it may rupture a fuel tank if ND occurs, wont shoot those spinny-thingies that keep it aloft. You can control a low/no fuel landing, notsomuch minus a rotor blade.

 

[AD Marc]

I have done my homework. The above is semantics, nothing more. Muscle fibers do not have the neural network to support memory. What is commonly referred to as "muscle memory" is what we remember of how the muscles feel when performing a particular task. Use whatever terminology you prefer, you do seem to have a better than average understanding of the process, but let's not keep the less informed thinking along the path that the muscles do all of this by themselves. The intuitive process is compressed, but the brain still controls the muscles. The phrase "muscle memory" is right up there with the word "tactical".

It's not really semantics as much as it's just a copy paste job from the Wikipedia entry on "muscle memory," but, does it really matter? We just use the term "muscle memory" when we mean conditioning motor neural pathways because we have no interest in confusing our students with fancy language. The first term, while not technically "correct," is easier for people to wrap their brains around. We are doing this so our brains remember this series of muscle movements. Memory...muscles...muscle memory.

That's also why we removed all the various high-speed sounding and non-descriptive terminology from our classes. Saying "gun" conveys the same information as "weapon system platform" except with the prior everyone knows what you are talking about. When we teach low light, for instance, we don't teach techniques like "Harries, Ayoob and FBI" because that is non-descriptive terminology. We just make it "Back of the hand to back of the hand," "palm to palm" and "away from the body". Why needlessly complicate terminology when it's otherwise irrelevant to what you are trying to accomplish?

This is the equivalent of me out on the medic unit treating a patient and telling them "Your heart is in an AV nodal reentrant tachydysrythmia so I'm going to induce a brief period of asystole with 6mg of intravenous adenosine in order to promote normal cardiac conduction." Uhhhhhhmmm, WHAT?!?! It's a bit easier to understand, "your heart if racing out of control so I'm going to give you some drugs to fix it. This will hurt for a few seconds."

Are we keeping them less informed this way, or are we making them more informed by presenting the concept in a manner they can easily understand?

 

[obijohn]

Very well then, Marc. As long as we all know what we really mean, call it what you will. Perhaps we can educate, really teach, so we don't have to dumb down too far?

 

[IndyGunworks]

Have not read the entire thread, but there are some good points. I am almost always against the body w/ a handgun, or muzzle down w/ a long gun. When your muzzle down and someone is going for your weapon you have MUCH better leverage. and w/ a long gun when propery done you can lower your body and actually be able to engage the target even if they have a grasp on your weapon.

I don't see many good things coming from muzzle up.

 

[Josh Ward]

Different situations = different solutions ....

That being said, mostly sul UNLESS there is a reason to do differently

 

[SnakEEater]

We practiced both on the range. "Ready up" drills from low and high ready. We moved to high ready room clearing for a few reasons.

One is that when nut-to-butt in a stack you can easily drop your rifle over the shoulder of the man in front of you as oppose to raising it to the side and around the man in front.

For me, it is also easier to carry your rifle in your hip, muzzle up with one hand empty ready to drop to engage as oppose to bringin your rifle up with one hand to engage - if that makes sense.

Comfort is always important and with radios, mags, secondary, frags everything else on your kit on your chest, I liked having my rifle to the side, not across my chest.

Practice makes perfect and I found high ready with shorty barrels easier to acquire sight picture, move, stand, run but I still practice both.

 

[rhino]

One interesting "high ready" anecdote. I was watching an episode of the shooting show on TV that had a regular "green beret" tactics segment. In that episode, the current active duty SF guy was advocating a high ready position with his rifle. His rationale was that it was faster getting into action. When they did the demo, as e was entering the training building/rooms, he either hit for very nearly hit the door jam on the top with his barrel about where it met the handguard. It was clearly a suprise to him when it happened. My lesson from that: tall guys who use a high ready in close quarters should be mindful of their muzzle when going through doorways.

 

[SnakEEater]

That is a failure of rule #1 which is always look cool. If you follow rule #1 it doesnt matter how you carry - low or high.

 

[rhino]

That is a failure of rule #1 which is always look cool. If you follow rule #1 it doesnt matter how you carry - low or high.

Heh! I'll make a note of that in my giant notebook in which I keep such notes.

I'm still trying to manage looking cool for the first time, much less "always." It's not always easy if you're not inherently cool.

 

[AD Marc]

Looking cool is 90% of the battle...minimum.