One of the most integral firearm drills the CO can practice is the Snap Drill. Whether with Rifle, Pistol or Shotgun, the Snap Drill solidifies the ability of the CO to get the gun up, either out of the holster or from low ready (with rifle or shotty), and make a solid shot on target, quickly and effectively. More often than not, the shot will be taken before a fundamental sight picture can be obtained, so the drill incorporates several ALTERNATIVE types of “sighting”, including some Applegate point shooting techniques.
Also we must understand that accuracy is always a relative concept in a combat situation; we are not shooting to score points as in target shooting, we are shooting to stay alive, thus, ANY SHOT in the chest area/”boiler room” is acceptable and will have an effect on the threat to some degree. As far as head shots, we will come back to that in a minute, but contrary to popular belief, they are low percentage shots and unless certain criteria are met, forget about it. You must also always remember that accuracy is either enhanced or decreased by distance…the farther away you are from the threat, the more accurate you have to be (deviation); the closer you are to the threat, the more devastating EFFECT your bullet will have on the target, thus, your accuracy can decrease by some margin, but still must be “Combat Accurate” ie, center mass. Having said that, in your snap pistol drills, keep your minimum distance to around 3 yards and your max out to 10-12 yards.
SPEED is gained by being SMOOTH in every movement you execute during the presentation of the weapon (Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast); you must strive to polish every action you make and eliminate every un-needed action. Eliminate “jerky” actions, you want your arm and hand muscles to work in unison and to remain (to a degree) relaxed…tense muscles do not flex!
The Key FUNDAMENTAL concept to remember when working with a handgun is to always pay close attention to when your trigger finger comes in contact with the trigger. As the safety adage states: Keep your Finger off the trigger until ready to shoot. In this particular drill, that will be when the barrel of your weapon comes horizontal with the ground and is pointed toward the threat..this is the KEY position and is the most important position in your presentation. (Watch the video below to see what happens when you DO NOT follow this rule and place speed above safety). I cannot say this enough guys: NEVER sacrifice safety for speed!!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-rGnMKszxg]
ALWAYS remember in a combat situation, nothing is going to be pretty and neat..it is going to be fast and dirty! Remember: You may have steps 1-4 in your draw, but you can always SHOOT when the barrel of the weapon is horizontal (parallel) with the ground and pointed in the direction of the threat, no matter what step you are on. That may be as soon as the gun clears leather, it may be one-handed, it may have to be done after you are knocked flat on your ass in a dark parking lot..whatever and however it is done, remember to stay flexible in how it is executed..never get too tied up in technique like a 4 step draw.. the battlefield (and the threat) could care less about it.
How we use our sights in this drill is going to be varied, to replicate (as close as we can) what we may find out there on the street. I hear the question all the time “With your pistol, When do you use your sights?” and I always reply “When I have too”. Is the threat 25 yards or is he right on top of me? Is he running at me with a knife or does he have body armor on? Understand, we can only prepare ourselves for what “might” happen out there, we can never prepare for what will “really” happen..there are just too many variables, especially in a close quarters pistol situation. More often than not, a pistol snap shot will be taken one-handed with either no sight picture or a “metal on meat” (gun super imposed on the target) sight picture. A rifle & shotgun snap shot will often be taken with just seeing the front sight or maybe nothing at all. Remember the point of this drill: TO GET ROUNDS ON TARGET QUICKLY, NOT TO GET A PERFECT SIGHT PICTURE AND PUT THREE ROUNDS IN HIS EYE!
Since we have mainly discussed pistol drills up until now, let’s talk a bit about snap rifle and shotgun drills. The key thing to remember is that snap rifle drills should be limited to around 15-20 yards and no more than 10 yards for shotgun. One of the integral techniques for AK and AR Rifle Snap Shooting, is the “Poor Man’s EO-Tech”: Simply super imposing your front sight assembly on the center mass of the target and squeezing. Remember: we are not looking for nice tight “Camp Perry” groups here, we are just trying to get rounds on target quickly. For Shotgun, keep it simple and use OO or #4 Buck in your drills, staying away from slugs, since that is a specialty round IMO. Obviously, the shotgun will have the most devastating effect at these ranges, but since a lot of folks use one for home defense, it makes sense to drill with one.
Although it is well beyond the scope of this article, I would be remiss not to mention Retention. Anytime you are doing CQ drills, where your threat is under arms reach, you need to be aware of weapon retention..alot of gun “schools” promote sticking your gun out in front of you like some magic “talisman” that will ward off bad behavior or something..all this does is begs the bad guy to grab it and turn a gunfight into a wrestling match with you on the losing end. When drilling under arms reach with any firearm, keep your muzzle back; if using a pistol, use some form of “compressed” high/low ready, and be ready to use some serious combative striking. If using a rifle/shotty, when clearing a structure, never turn a blind corner muzzle first, and when scanning with your rifle, “look over” your rifle, where the muzzle is canted slightly downward and your vision is unimpaired. There is a myriad of gadgets out there to help you in this area, including lanyards and striking bezels (on a flashider).
Lastly, let’s talk about movement, cover and ambidextrous ability. As I mentioned before, the snap drill is one of those unique drills that you build upon as you go, concept upon concept. After you feel comfortable with the drill and get your speed up to a level you like, you need to integrate movement. Remember: On the street, encounters do not happen in a static vacuum; they are fluid and fast..often being over before anyone knows what has happened. Using a clock for our movement directions, we must integrate our weapon presentation and movement simultaneously. In all our drills, we need to always be thinking about moving to COVER if it is available..COVER is something that will stop a bullet from hitting us or at the very least, slow it down. If you have not already, every time you shoot ANY of your weapons, you need to shoot with BOTH the right and left hand. The benefits of this are too many to name here, but suffice to say it can save your ass.
Stay Dangerous and Snap that Weapon up and Shoot!