This topic is covered often on other forums I frequent... many times with humorous posts that make me laugh out loud. I noticed we have a lot of veterans here so I would like to hear your rules of a gunfight. Most of you have already heard the ones passed around on the Internet Ad nauseam:
1. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns.
2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap life is expensive.
3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.
4. If your shooting stance is good, youre probably not moving fast enough or using cover correctly.
5. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral and diagonal movement are preferred.)
6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun.
7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.
8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running.
9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on pucker factor than the inherent accuracy of the gun. Use a gun that works EVERY TIME. All skill is in vain when an Angel blows the powder from the flintlock of your musket.
10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.
11. Always cheat, always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
12. Have a plan.
13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one wont work.
14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible.
15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
16. Dont drop your guard.
17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees.
18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. (In God we trust. Everyone else, keep your hands where I can see them.)
19. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.
20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.
21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
22. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.
23. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.
24. Do not attend a gun fight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with anything smaller than 4.
25. You cant miss fast enough to win.
If I had to choose just one rule to tell every new shooter (new = less than 50,000 rounds fired) I bring into this hobby it would be:
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Or
Fast is fine but accuracy is final.
I think that helps people slow down and concentrate on muscle memory so when they do get up into the hundreds of thousands of rounds fired their form is good and we don't have to retrain as much. I was guilty of developing bad shooting form when I was 10-14 years old and had to overcome that later in life.
Another one I was thinking of today when looking at my new wooden posts is how to properly shoot from cover. I notice a lot of rookies peeking out beside their cover to shoot where ricochets will tear them to shreds rather than standing back 6 inches to a foot. For new Shooters what I mean is this:
Good cover
Bad "cover" with ricochet potential off the pillar. It might be better to scoot back a foot or two depending on conditions of the firefight. This is over-simplification but useful for new Shooters to visualize.
Here are the results of standing beside cover rather than behind it. Most of what you see embedded in the 4x4 is simple 9mm ball ammo. Ouch!
1. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns.
2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap life is expensive.
3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.
4. If your shooting stance is good, youre probably not moving fast enough or using cover correctly.
5. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral and diagonal movement are preferred.)
6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun.
7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.
8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running.
9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on pucker factor than the inherent accuracy of the gun. Use a gun that works EVERY TIME. All skill is in vain when an Angel blows the powder from the flintlock of your musket.
10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.
11. Always cheat, always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
12. Have a plan.
13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one wont work.
14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible.
15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
16. Dont drop your guard.
17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees.
18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. (In God we trust. Everyone else, keep your hands where I can see them.)
19. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.
20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.
21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
22. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.
23. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.
24. Do not attend a gun fight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with anything smaller than 4.
25. You cant miss fast enough to win.
If I had to choose just one rule to tell every new shooter (new = less than 50,000 rounds fired) I bring into this hobby it would be:
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Or
Fast is fine but accuracy is final.
I think that helps people slow down and concentrate on muscle memory so when they do get up into the hundreds of thousands of rounds fired their form is good and we don't have to retrain as much. I was guilty of developing bad shooting form when I was 10-14 years old and had to overcome that later in life.
Another one I was thinking of today when looking at my new wooden posts is how to properly shoot from cover. I notice a lot of rookies peeking out beside their cover to shoot where ricochets will tear them to shreds rather than standing back 6 inches to a foot. For new Shooters what I mean is this:
Good cover
Bad "cover" with ricochet potential off the pillar. It might be better to scoot back a foot or two depending on conditions of the firefight. This is over-simplification but useful for new Shooters to visualize.
Here are the results of standing beside cover rather than behind it. Most of what you see embedded in the 4x4 is simple 9mm ball ammo. Ouch!