Practice Practice Practice - how many practice shooting from the hip?

[Mkc451]

Reading the recent thread on Red-Dot's for defensive firearms brought up another question to me. I am older, and it seems like a lot of us, without my glasses not exactly sharp-eyed. One thing I've added into my practice shooting is drawing from a holster and shooting cowboy style from the hip. I've practiced to the point I can put three rounds from 15' into an 8" pie plate 99% of the time. I consider that Minute of Bad Guy good enough. The topic on red-dot's noted that most defensive encounters are from under 10' and aiming precisely is not as big a deal at the distance. I do this with my LCPMax .380 EDC gun, with a 686 4" revolver, oddly enough the LCP was more work to master than the .357 686, seems the revolver, for me, points more naturally.

I didn't want to hi-jack that thread so I posted this - I am curious, am I one of the few who have this in my practice routine? This really minimizes the thoughts of night sights, red-dot's, lasers, etc. in my mind at least.

[slingshot77]

Mkc451,

It's not something that I practice a lot but if I am close to a silhouette type target I will sometimes empty the remainder of a mag into the target from a low hold with gun just out of my holster.

It isn't a priority but it is something I do practice with an Air Soft in my basement pretty regularly.

Once the bad guy gets out a couple of yards they will probably be moving & dancing around and that is difficult to practice on. Simply hitting a stationary pie plate at 3 or 4 yards doesn't do much for me as I figure I will probably be dealing with more than one bad guy (very few are brave enough take on a stranger by themselves).

[Bikenut]

I don't remember who came up with the concept of sighted fire in self defense being a continuum but it makes sense.

Paraphrasing...
The continuum starts out with defending from bad breath distance, something like 3 feet/arm's length, where point shooting even from the hip if necessary would be used then picking up just the front sight when distance allows then transitioning to a full sight picture as distance increases. What those distances actually are in the real world would be dictated by the circumstances.

With that in mind I often draw and shoot from the hip (from pocket or from hip holster) while beginning movement from 3 feet away from the target then continuing to move away and to the side transitioning into front sight then further out for full sight picture.

Now that really isn't run and gun like IDPA or such because I'm old and physically messed up so, at least for me, the fight is going to be resolved one way or the other within 25 feet or so. Most likely at much closer distance so there isn't going to be much time to do anything other than sorta see the front sight.

To my mind there are two kinds of range days. Having fun with target shooting and practicing defensive situations that might happen in real life. Real life defensive situations won't give us time or distance to be in perfect stances (really need to be moving and shooting) or to get perfect sight picture.

And from time to time I will get the air soft pistol out and practice clearing/defending my house. At night too. But I have night lights in every room so my house is never completely dark unless the power goes out. I practice that too with a flashlight.

But that's just me.

[Roundballer]

If I witnessed any fast draw from a holster and firing from the hip (outside of a sanctioned cowboy event) on my clubs ranges, they would be stopped. And things would escalate from there.

This is a safety concern, and would not be Allowed on our ranges.

[GreaseMonkeySRT]

If I witnessed any fast draw from a holster and firing from the hip (outside of a sanctioned cowboy event) on my clubs ranges, they would be stopped. And things would escalate from there.

This is a safety concern, and would not be Allowed on our ranges.

What's the safety concern? If the gun isn't pointed over the berm and the shooter is accurate, there should be no issue.

To the OP, yes I practice and obviously not at Roundballer's club.

[Leader]

If I witnessed any fast draw from a holster and firing from the hip (outside of a sanctioned cowboy event) on my clubs ranges, they would be stopped. And things would escalate from there.

This is a safety concern, and would not be Allowed on our ranges.

I LOVE having my own backyard range...

[JLHOG]

That reminds me of when I took my cpl course right after MI made it legal. The instructor pushed shooting from the hip. Reason behind that was hold your gun straight out for 15 minutes while waiting for the police to arrive. It sounds easy, but most people have a hard time doing that. Holding for 15 minutes at the hip is much easier.

[Sledhead]

I practice like this.

[JLHOG]

I practice like this.

Darn near spit my beer out LOL

[castrotikon]

I practice during some of the courses they run at A3. We've run drills where we stand within a couple yards of the backstop right in front of a silhouette and draw single handed->fire several times while creating distance to establish a proper shooting grip.

If you're carrying and practicing with your carry gun (which you should be), there is no reason you shouldn't be practicing shooting from less ideal or compromised positions. If you ever have to use your gun in defensive scenario, you have no guarantee you're going to have enough time to draw and get a proper sight picture at a distance that is convenient for you.