Wondering if anyone here makes it part of their training at all.

Question:
How much do you practice point shooting?

Choices:
Never have
Sometimes when I'm just plinking
I tried shooting from the hip at point blank range a few times
I've made hits past ten yards a few times
I buy aspirin just to shoot them out of the air

 

I point my pistol at the target each and every time. I find I hit things better than pointing it away from the target.

(Thought I would get a wise assed comment in early, way before this thread catches fire and explodes/gets locked)

I couldn't really vote since my answer is I used to a lot before they closed the local indoor handgun range, and my current outdoor range does not allow silhouettes.

I didn’t select an answer because I’m not sure what you mean by “point shooting.”

Up to about 5 yards or so when speed is more important than pinpoint accuracy I shoot without using my sights. I also teach it as a defensive technique.

If by “hip shooting” you are referring to something like the ancient “FBI crouch,” I haven’t done that since it was no longer required for Army CID revolver qualifications decades ago. The only can’t see your gun shooting position with the gun tucked against the body I currently teach is if the target is within a yard or so, but the only time I actually shoot like that myself is for demonstration purposes.

When I was 11 my dad gave me an Old Model Ruger Single Six and the non adjustable sight shot so high it wasn't like you were even aiming at what you were aiming at. So I probably did 90% of my shooting with it point shooting or shooting from the hip. Wasted a lot of ammo but developed some skill at it.

I'll do a little hip shooting now and again when I have ammo I know isn't very accurate, reliable, left over odds and ends or culls.

I have in the past and I get what you're talking about when saying "point shooting".
Very fast, close yardage, draw and fire usually with no sight picture.
Its been a while since I've done it and I'm probably very rusty but at one time, it was a part of my drills I'd do.

I’ve shot some IDPA stages which required shooting from the “hip”. (The key, as I was told, was to drive the elbow into the side, to give an additional point of contact. Decently useful out to maybe 5 yards.)

In this poll point shooting shall mean without using sights.

"Use the force Luke." That sort of thing.

Carry on.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
In this poll point shooting shall mean without using sights.

Didn't vote as you're talking pistols. Back in the late '60s I taught the "quick kill" technique at Fort Dix. (Yes, I was Army enlisted before getting my Naval commission.) The M16 had been recently introduced and many of the troops headed to 'Nam got this training. They were given a BB gun with no sights (taped over, etc.) and taught to use hand-eye coordination to instinctively shoot a small rubber ball tossed in the air about 10 feet away from them. Most all were eventually able to make hits 9 times out of 10. Gave them confidence to effectively use their "Mattel" guns from the hip.

There is a time and place for unsighted fire:
1- Contact distance to about 3 yards = No sights.
2- Further than 3 yards = flash sight picture.
3- If time and distance allow it = full sight alignment.
Most training I conducted was flash sight picture with at least one drill unsighted at very close contact distance. And with one handed strong hand and weak hand.

Most of my pocket pistol practice was point shooting style rather than aimed. It’s surprisingly accurate for not using sights.

I’m big on ‘point shooting’, or ‘bent elbow’ shooting, no use of sights. At many/most CC events, it’s the norm, Indiana Mall aside.

I’m talking inside 5 yards, usually, inside 3.

There are different kinds of point shooting. There are "alternative sighting techniques" like, for example, the Fairbairn/Sykes style or the Jim Cirillo "silhouette point." They accomplish the same thing in a slightly different way, i.e., putting the gun in your line of sight but focusing more on the target and not so much on the sights. I try to do ~25% of my own shooting this way. Then there is the kind that Massad Ayoob calls "body position index," a fancy way of saying "hip shooting." This is not feasible to practice at a formal range (they'd probably kick you out), and too expensive in terms of ammo expenditure.

Didn’t vote. But I’m like YOop…in my police and CG training we shot with no sights from 3 yds…at 5 or 7 I just looked over the gun at the center target..anything beyond that I use the sights

Currently, when I go to the range if I take a pistol I do a 5/5/5 drill. Cold.

5 shots, in 5 seconds, at 5 yards into a five inch circle or the A zone of a USPSA backer

First one is always with my edc. If I brought another gun I give it a whirl too.

If I can do this I feel pretty good about my skills.

I’ve also done the Dicken Drill (40 yds/10 shots)…no worries either-but you gotta use your sights

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Wondering if anyone here makes it part of their training at all.

Your poll does not have enough choices.

I practice point shooting both strong hand and weak hand. Been doing it for decades

I practice point shooting every time I go to the bathroom to take a leak. Get pretty good at it over 75 years. Now if the stream would just cooperate like it did 25 years ago.

I don't practice unsighted fire, but I have been doing a lot of dry practice drawing and presenting to natural point of aim...bringing the gun out of the holster and presenting it, with the goal being that my grip and presentation are consistent so that when the sights (or the dot) come between me and the target, they're already in alignment with the target.

ETA: if by "point shooting" you're referring to shooting from the hip, I don't do that.

I do it almost every day with an exact copy of my carry pistol with a laser cartridge in that pistol.

None of this is "from the hip". but with two hands, griped correctly and pushing and pulling at the same time.

I do a lot of top of the holster shooting. From my police days most contact with people was up close and personal. Violence of action wins so I never used my sights inside of 7 yards. Beyond that I would draw, fire and have a sight picture at round 8.

quote:

Originally posted by colt_saa:

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Wondering if anyone here makes it part of their training at all.

Your poll does not have enough choices.

I practice point shooting both strong hand and weak hand. Been doing it for decades

You've my approval to use either of the last couple choices...I mean, close enough right?