Review of Vehicle Gunfighting Fundamentals

[A.J. Holst]

I wanted to share my experience serving as @Cruel Hand Luke 's adequate assistant at this Suarez International one day class.

Hosted by Bill at the Ridge out in Dayton. Classroom, bathrooms, range layout works really well for this type of training.

This class definitely highlights the critical application of trigger discipline and making a conscious decision to shoot.

While sitting in an automobile, if you need to draw your pistol, something will get swept with the muzzle; you, your car floor / dash, windshield, non threats outside your windshield, front seat passenger plus second, maybe third row passengers.

Talk to your significant other about the what if plan - discharging a firearm in front or behind your passenger's head, with hot brass flying is disconcerting.

After 20+ times, you get innoculated...

Morning was lecture, then dry fire on the range from a seated position to mimic sitting in car.

Students paired up, dry fire,  each person went through the exercises shooting from  the driver and passenger position.

Appropriate tunes on the radio.

Live fire mimicked the dry fire excercises.

Then it was time to mount up.

Each student had an opportunity to shoot from his or her vehicle, from different points of the clock.

Randy kept the traffic flowing pretty well, way better than the drive through at Bojangles in Oolewah.

Day finished up with each student engaging a target three times through the passenger window, across an unpaid volunteer and danger seeker.

With the current environment and simply transitting larger metro areas for business or personal travel,  even from your vehicle you can pay attention and evade / escape.

We did discuss what if you have to bail out, if you've got a long gun, do you grab it?

Consensus was, it depends. 

A long gun is conspicuous.

AR / AK pistol in a covert backpack has some appeal.

[i1afli]

Wow, that’s interesting. Never would have expected one of these classes to include shooting from your own car. Sounds like a great way to make a “dry run” of what it may be like.  Thanks. 

[hipower]

Thanks, A.J. A question I had wondered about. Most of us I think have the mental picture/perception that all desperate occasions when we might actually draw and even fire, will take place in a wide open environment, or in a situation with lots of cover and few bystanders. Just like Hollywood movies.

This brings much thought. I need more(actually about any professional) training. Seems as though something breaks down on me just about the time I start thinking of getting involved.

Hopefully my current crop of liabilities will be corrected soon and I can get started.

Thank you for posting this.

 

[Cruel Hand Luke]

13 hours ago, i1afli said:

Wow, that’s interesting. Never would have expected one of these classes to include shooting from your own car. Sounds like a great way to make a “dry run” of what it may be like.  Thanks. 

There probably are other schools who don't shoot from the students' cars but we do. That is the easiest way to make sure you have a car for each student and it is the best way for a student to learn just what all they will have to deal with in their own car if they ever have to try and access their pistol and use it in the car. 

Edited August 17, 2020 by Cruel Hand Luke

[E4 No More]

5 hours ago, Cruel Hand Luke said:

There probably are other schools who don't shoot from the students' cars but we do. That is the easiest way to make sure you have a car for each student and it is the best way for a student to learn just what all they will have to deal with in their own car if they ever have to try and access their pistol and use it in the car. 

And if they shoot their car then it's no biggie. Oh, wait!

[Cruel Hand Luke]

We joke about people shooting their car but in all honesty it simply comes down to controlling their muzzle and controlling their finger. If they can’t keep from shooting their car from INSIDE it then we probably need to be really suspect of whether they should be pulling a gun out and using it in public.

[A.J. Holst]

Posting for Tom F from Indiana

 

Randy Harris' teaching continues to deliver. We had a focused group of students intent on learning and getting on with business.

 

We began with the requisite safety discussions and then proceeded to discuss the evolution of vehicle threats, i.e. switching from a carjacking focus to also include the riot scenario.

 

First actions on the range were dry drills from a folding chair followed up with live fire. We worked shooting from the chair in all positions, much like the CRG drills (sans getting off the X). Many shooters were probably introduced to firing positions they had never experienced, which is where having attended CRG courses will make Vehicle Gunfighting go smoother. We are building on the fundamentals.

 

The afternoon had us working with a partner from the seated positions. Shooters got to experience both driver and passenger positions while working the around the angles of engagement. As usual we began running these drills dry before switching to live fire.

 

Now it was time to get customized. We lined up in our vehicles and worked dry presentations to targets placed at multiple angles around our vehicles. This made the student understand what works for their body in their vehicle. I found myself making arrangements to my vehicle to maximize line of sight for various engagement angles.

 

Our final shooting drill was engaging a single target with live fire from inside our own vehicle. Lots of brass in the defroster vent and elsewhere. No vehicle parts were destroyed, so the dry fire work was worth the effort. The tightest line of engagement for me was shooting through my truck's extended cab passenger rear window.

 

We ended the class with a discussion on what is cover vs concealment on a vehicle. 


 

Another worthwhile class, even with practice ammo being as tight as it is. We weren't just shooting groups and patting our selves on the back for paper hole-punching. We were getting to experience first-hand what shooting from inside and around our own vehicle will feel like.


 

Timely and valuable.

 

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Edited August 18, 2020 by A.J. Holst

[Cruel Hand Luke]

Tom is a serious student and practitioner. He has trained with me several times before and he drove 6 hours from Indiana to take this class. 

[chances R]

Hate I missed it.  Had to sub in for a carry class....maybe next time.