{"id":5778,"date":"2017-03-02T14:00:44","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T19:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?p=5778"},"modified":"2021-07-30T10:59:50","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T14:59:50","slug":"cant-use-sights-gunfight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/cant-use-sights-gunfight\/","title":{"rendered":"You Can’t Use Your Sights in a Gunfight: Another Myth That Just Won’t Die"},"content":{"rendered":"

One persistent piece of gun shop lore is that it’s impossible to use your\u00a0sights under the stress of a violent encounter. Entire alternative shooting systems have been built around this idea and\u00a0many of the arguments used to\u00a0perpetuate\u00a0the myth seem convincing at first, especially to those who are still learning gun fighting basics. While it is true that you can learn to make hits without using your sights, particularly when both you and your target are stationary, all of the alternative, sightless methods of shooting fall apart quickly when movement is introduced and distances\u00a0increase. People tend to start moving pretty fast once a shot is fired, or even before, and hitting moving targets should be something we can do on demand. Unless you are very lucky, this generally requires using sights, and believe it or not, with practice it is possible.<\/span><\/p>

Using Sights in the Real World<\/strong><\/h2>

When I was still in uniformed patrol, I happened to be about a block away when another officer pulled into a restaurant parking lot just as two men were pulling masks over their face and getting ready to enter the restaurant. One had already drawn a handgun. When the suspects saw the marked car, they ran and immediately split up. The other officer chased the one who went east, and I saw the one who went north jump a fence into an apartment complex.<\/p>

I gave chase and the suspect ran down into a creek, tripped in the mud on the opposite bank, and then flipped over on his back. It was night time, but the moon and a street light on a nearby bridge provided sufficient light for us to see each other clearly. The world slowed down for me as he reached into his waistband. I was approximately 30 yards behind him as I drew my pistol, brought it to eye level, and transitioned from focusing on him to focusing on the front sight. As I was pulling the trigger my subconscious screamed out to me that something wasn\u2019t right. I focused back on the suspect and realized what he pulled out of his waistband was a cell phone. I believe you could classify being in a foot chase with an armed robbery suspect, alone, in the dark, and having to decide whether to shoot or not shoot qualifies as a stressful event. Yet, I was able to transition from target to sight to target for the simplest of reasons. I was trained to, and I had been through realistic force on force training that had made focusing on my sights instinctive.<\/p>

I\u2019ve spoken to a multitude of officers and armed citizens who have fired their weapons under stress. In one particularly relevant story, a rookie officer, still in his first few months on the street, was confronted by an armed suspect firing from behind a car door. The rookie had cover and was returning fire. In his own words, \u201cI fired 5 to 6 shots very quickly, realized I was not being effective, and then slowed down and really concentrated on the front sight.\u201d After the initial shock of being fired on dissipated, he was able to realize why he was being ineffective, fall back on his training, and use his sight to get good hits and survive the encounter. <\/span><\/p>

Massad Ayoob relates similar conversations in this\u00a02014 article<\/a>\u00a0in which he says,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI\u2019ve lost count of how many gunfights I\u2019ve studied where the survivor said something like, ‘I was pointing the gun and firing as best I could and nothing was happening. Then I remembered to aim with my sights, and the other guy went down and it was over.’\u201d<\/span><\/p>

John McPhee, the\u00a0owner of SOB Tactical<\/a>, confirms that it is not only possible to use your sights in actual gunfights, but it is key to your success. John, a retired special operations soldier with extensive combat experience from Bosnia and Iraq, has related to me\u00a0that he was able to use his sights during stressful situations. In addition, when witnessing other soldiers shoot, they were obviously using their sights even if they had no conscious awareness of doing so. In his words, \u201cGun comes to the eye, shots are taken and gun is lowered. How does a guy bring the sight to his eye and not see it and… shoot perfect shots?\u201d John also makes no bones that training to use your sights is imperative for success in combat shooting. \u201cYou have to train to see the sights every shot. When the time comes, you will do it so fast that the brain\u2019s subconscious will do all this quicker than the conscious can even remember it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Getting the Most From Your Sights<\/strong><\/h2>

Gabe White is one of the most technically proficient shooters I\u2019ve ever known. Gabe shoots Master class in USPSA Limited using normal every day carry equipment and is currently the only person worldwide to land a perfect score<\/a> on the\u00a0Rogers Shooting School Test from concealment. He also confirms the need to use sights to get accurate hits while moving. An example of his proficiency can be seen here:<\/span><\/p>