Firing from the Hip?

[ingodwetrust1975]

I went to a class a few months ago that taught me to go from a face to face encouter to a shoot out. They used a palm heal strike to gain distance and you placed the gun sideways with the mag aginst your lower ribs to stabalize the shots. Just remember to retrieve the strike so you dont blow a hole in your hand.

[Arc Angel]

When I was shooting IDPA, the shooters in the weekly practice sessions did a lot of this. In fact it used to worry me that our RO encouraged the group to go faster and faster. Nothing bad ever happened; but I wasn't, 'comfortable' having the other shooters around me push themselves like that. What did I learn? I learned I could draw and fire an accurate shot in .45 second. Maybe this isn't all that fast; but it's the best I could do and still reliably hit the target without putting one in my leg.

A more relevant question is, 'Is this, really, an important skill for a modern gunfighter to have?' I don't know? To my mind it's kind 'a like these civilians who carry a Glock around in C-1 all of the time. The vast majority of people who do this are never going to find themselves in a face-to-face close quarter ambush - Never!

(Maybe I just need to get out there and get jumped more. Like I said, 'I don't know?')

[Stan45]

I also teach a speed rock.

[lostone1413]

Need to take a course in point shooting. That will cover close in gun fighting. I would recommend seeing who Gabe Suarez has teaching in TX and get a hold of him. You can find out at Gabes site warriortalk.com Him and his instructors put gunsite to shame and I'm about 1 1/2 hr from Gunsite as I type this

[Bttbbob]

There are many methods of point shooting. I learned from the original Rex Applegate in his first class at Quantico Va when the USMC took on his manual "Kill or Get Killed". He was the best I have ever seen at getting a gun into play quickly without shooting yourself. I am an NRA Training Counselor so I teach bot PPITH and PPOTH which teaches a method of quickdraw and point shooting called "the speed rock". Quite honestly Applegate's method was faster and smoother.

[gun papa]

My girlfriend shoots with me fairly regularly. I am a LEO Firearms Instructor in California living in Nevada. My girlfriend has chosen to get a CCW permit and has been training with me regularly, both out shooting as well as defensive tactics and firearms in the house with the use of a semi auto soft air gun, and me as the perp. A person can get to you very quickly and shooting as you clear the holster, speed rock, hip shooting, or whatever you want to call it is a very valuable technique. It is the technique I was showing my GF this weekend. She said, " That kinda startled me. You did that so fast", as I ripped off several fast shots in succession striking the target in a cluster just left of the center chest. In reality, it was just the the normal draw, but as the muzzle clears the holster, the muzzle rotates, elbow drops, the gun hip is rotated to the target, and the gunside knee is slightly bent as the hip rotates toward the target. I keep my forearm/wrist against my side for stability.
I am 6'4 245lbs. Our attack scenarios with the airsoft gun really shows the usefulness of the hip technique, as I, as the wouldbe assailant use harmless smalltalk, like, "My child is injured, may I use your cellphone", "do you have jumper cables" etc. as a means to get you off guard and close the distance to my attack. The hip shot may be all you have before physical contact. Having the gun down/ and close to the hip, it is a lot harder for an attacker to take away from you as opposed to bringing the gun to your center chest or out in front where you may have to wrestle for it. papa

[walknotinfear]

I have been trained for this and I believe every law enforcement officer is trained to fire from the hip. It is a great tactic and is used by many LEOs. This is a tactic I will speak about in my course but do not use it on the range because it is not practical in the in door ranges here in south Florida. I would suggest that a new weapon handler do not use this method unless you have no choice at all. This is a tactic you would use if your suspect is right on top of you and you are drawing from a holster that is on your duty belt or concealed hip/side.