Life’s lesson - Moving Horizontally

Recently I was doing some paint ball training in real life scenarios, and during an “ambush” I turned into the attacker, fired and “killed” him, but also took a paint ball to my face. I accomplished my mission, and we “won” the scenario, but I was “dead”. What could I have done differently to both win the mission and survive the encounter? Once the gun fight has started our options are limited. Most shoot outs are fired from a distance of 5’ and an average of 5 shots between both shooters is fired. How could two men from 5 feet away (almost two meters for those of you in Europe) miss 4 times?

Unlike when we were children, pointing your hand at the target does not mean that your firearm is pointing at the target. The only way to know that your weapon is inline with the person you want to kill is to visually see the front site post on his chest. How many times in a gun fight, do you think the shooter can put his front site post on a target and shoot accurately? Not very often. Accuracy is usually replaced by quantity of rounds. Maybe some would use the term spray and pray.

The other thing we can do is to move. The next time you are at a range, notice the set up. A single target, in front of you. What I will substitute straight ahead, with vertically. Most public gun ranges will not allow you to shoot on any target other then your own. Meaning left to right, or for what I will call here, horizontally. Horizontal shooting is by far my favorite scenario. It is a skill that is not very often taught, but one of the more valuable skills. I will let you in on a little secret, please don’t tell bad guys or Ali-Babbas. The human eye does not track horizontally. Doesn’t do it. Put two hands in front of your face. Your right hand in front of your nose, your left in front of your right. Now…move your left hand to either side, left or right. Just after you move your hand, cover it again with your right hand. Not both hands at the same time, one then the other. Notice how it takes a second for your eyes to adjust to the target hand. If that were a person standing in front of you about to be shot, all they would have to do is take a step to the side, and you would miss. I guarantee it.

In the year of our Lord, 2000, Michael Biehn did a movie called, The Art of War. At the end or near the end of the movie, Michael Biehn gets into a shooting match with Wesley Snipes. (by the way, Michael Biehn would kick Wesley Snipes ass) Both shooters are running towards each other, both firing rapidly, but both shooters are moving to the side as they are shooting. Yes, it is Hollywood Land fiction, but it holds an element of truth. You will not get your front site post on a target that is moving from side to side.

In another Hollywood example, the recent television series, Battlestar Gallactica, Starbuck, played by a female tom boy, is in a room with a sexy female Cylon. Starbuck is trying to shoot the cylon, but the cylon is running around the room in a circle. Starbuck fires all the shots in her hand gun, but just cant seem to hit that rascally robot. Why? Because it is fantasy, science fiction, and that is how the writers wrote the episode. But another reason is, because the human eye cannot track horizontally.

But here is the good news. If you read my blog and the guy your shooting does not, he will stand still like in the movies, or even better, he will do that navy seal, delta, S.W.A.T bent knee duck walk thing, where the shooter bends his knees and walks straight at the target. I pray for the day that the guy I am shooting at walks in a straight line right at me. If that is how you train to shoot…your going to end up dead. A better way, is to maintain your front sight post on your target, and move to your left or right. Yes, you can still do the cool bent knee duck walk thing, as it may help maintain stability and decrease the bouncing of the front of your weapon, but more importantly, when you move horizontally your adversary will not be able to get his front sight post on you. Lets think about this. You can shoot him, but he cannot shoot you. This sounds good to me.

When you are moving from left to right, your front sight post is not! The front sight post maintains placement on the object you are shooting. There is no horizontal movement when you are moving. When you are standing still and the object you want to shoot is moving side to side, your eye wont be able to track the target.

Ok, I know a bunch of you are dying to tell me how wrong I am. Everyone has a story about the time they shot a horizontally moving deer at 300 yards with an iron sight 30/30, or the Marine Sniper that spends hundreds of hours and thousands of rounds of ammo learning how to shoot a target that is moving to the side. Yes, it can be done. This is called “Leading”. Leading is where you shoot to the left or right of the moving target, and basically the target runs into a bullet. You ask any sniper or hunter which would he rather shoot. A target standing still; a target moving toward him; or a target moving to the side? Leading your target is an educated guess. Your guessing where the target will be AFTER you pull the trigger. There are many, many more misses then hits. If the deer stops running in a straight line, or suddenly changes speed or direction, no amount of leading is going to work. The human eye does not track horizontally. Remember, the deer you shot moving to the side was not shooting back at you. The idea is to limit your misses while increasing your opponents. If you want to survive a fire fight, learn to move horizontally.