The Quest

AzQkr

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Since the very beginning of the development of modern handguns man has acknowledgement and understood that these implements could be used to defend ones life when carried upon their person. Man learned and developed the skills to use the handgun. Inventors got busy designing better, more proficient implements in that vane to enhance ones ability with a personal defense firearm.

Sam Colt and John Moses Browning, acknowledged geniuses in this fields area, developed handguns that were more reliable, had more stopping power, were more accurate, had better ergonomics which fit the hand and thus helped ones performance in the use of these personal weapons.

For over a century, men have worked hard to develop and hone the skills necessary to use these weapons more effectively in defense of themselves when imminent death at the hands of others was upon them.

Men like Applegate, Fairbairn, Sykes, Jordan, Bryce, McDaniel and a host of others developed skills that enhanced survival with the handgun. They studied human responses to threats, extensively studied mans natural reactions to imminent dangers, worked and then developed techniques which took advantage of these traits in man. These traits that have been preconditioned into us from the very beginning of man on earth.

These responses were a natural selection process in the development of mans survival throughout time. These preconditioned responses have become known today throughout the world as “fight or flight” responses. They have been so ingrained into our brain wave patterns and neurological systems since the beginning that it is hard to train them out of humankind.

Make no mistake about it, wrong paths have been chosen in attempting to train these natural human responses out of man for decades, all in the name of “advancement”. In this particular instance, we are talking about the exclusive reliance of the use of the handguns sights. Sights were put on handguns to allow men to be able to shoot more accurately, shoot with more precision.

That chosen path has taken man down some very narrow and twisting turns on the road to “improving” ones skills using a handgun or revolver for self defense. It is my opinion that the fact that sights were there on the weapons, men became more reliant on them over the decades. In fact, I think most of mankind came to rely on them exclusively and took a path that lead to developing self-defense with the handgun around the use of the sights.

Sights were developed over time and were marketed as enhancing ones skills with the pistol. A whole cottage industry developed over decades around sight development. Gun manufacturers tried many different sights on their weapons over the following decades.

We’ve seen red inserts, white outlines, fiber optics, dots, bars, dots and bars, all black, all white outlined and numerous other assortments and combinations put on handguns, all in an attempt to help man use their sights. The mentality seems all too self evident and clear now that I think about it in depth. “If they are there, we need to use them”. It was just as simple as that. Man had to learn to use them or he would not be able to shoot to his utmost potential, be able to make use of the guns inherent accuracy which had also been being developed right along with the sights.

The more the guns were made to be accurate, the more man seemed to need better sights, and the more man became reliant on their use. The training to this end led down many paths over these same decades.

Jack Weaver developed the “weaver stance” in 1956 to compete in Jeff Coopers “Leatherslap” matches. In March of 1982 the assistant director of the FBI, James McKenzie, officially informed Jack Weaver they had adopted the Weaver Stance. As history has shown us, where the feds go, most of the states and local PD’s follow within a short time. Police agencies all across the US embraced the Weaver stance. Two handed shooting had not been the norm in the past with the general public, including the law enforcement community.

This two handed technique [the weaver] was proven to have better hits at the “Leatherslap” in the late 50’s and into the 60’s at Coopers digs. Here’s the rub with that as I see it.

Weaver developed his two handed stance to shoot at 21 feet in fast draw competition against men who were accustomed to slapping leather and blazing away from the hip or one handed from the shoulder like bulleye shooters would use.

The mentality to make use of the sights using the weaver stance became even more entrenched within the elite circles of law enforcement. Normal everyday citizens jumped on the bandwagon and then everyone seems to have gotten in on the craze Jack created and the FBI furthered it by adopting the same for their field agents and new trainees.

More of the same down that road to using the sights, more entrenchment in the publics general mindset of having to make use of the sights to be “accurate” and “fast” with a handgun.

Throughout all this so-called “advancement”, the majority of men trained themselves to further rely solely on their handguns sights to make the hits. Just more training away from ones natural responses under stress.

What happened with the hit ratios on the street where the police relied solely on jumping on their sights like their training had forced them to learn to do on static police lines at their respective range training. Hell, it worked just fine “on the line”, standing still and at targets that were not posing imminent dangers and weren’t moving.

What followed? Poor performance on the streets in police shootouts, that’s what followed. Why? Can we extrapolate anything from the known data and history? I think it is pretty obvious when one takes an objective look at it. It would seem to the logical thinker, that what worked on a static line very well, didn’t have the same results in gunfights on the streets.

One would then, of course, look at what differences there may be between the training and the street. Of course everyone sees where this is leading right?

The bad guys were moving under threat of getting shot or running away from the cops while shooting at them, the cops were moving to try to avoid getting shot or moving to cover [yes, later they would be trained to move to cover when possible and make use of cover as it was necessary], NO one was standing still very much and cooperating like those neat targets in a row on the police line. HHHmmmmm. Interesting observations don’t you think?

While all of this was going on for decades, every cop was trying to use that training and attempting to get his sights on the bad guys. Them bad guys just would not cooperate and stand still. What really exacerbated the situation further was the fact that the cops were trying to keep from being shot at the same time and moving.

Ever try to shoot at a moving target while moving and trying to find your sights at the same time?

Well, it isn’t very conducive to getting hits, any hits, let alone “accurate” and “fast” hits which is exactly why the FBI and then other agencies adopted the Weaver stance to begin with.

We see that along that road that was traveled by those who followed the feds lead back in 1982, that everyone was even further entrenched in finding them sights and the mindset really became over time that if you could not make hits trying to use your sights [after all everyone was being brainwashed they had to use them or they wouldn’t hit anything] then you certainly never stood a chance of doing so not using them.

When I mention people were not standing still on either side above in gun fights, I mean they were running, and sprinting to get out of the kill zones from combat distances. Not duck walking, not groucho-ing, but running full tilt under extreme stresses which man has very much ingrained into his mind [the fight or flight responses we are all familiar with]. The closer the threat to us, the more danger perceived by the mind, the faster we run to get out of harms way.

RUNNING and getting hits is not possible while trying to make use of the sights on a handgun. If it were, it would have been brought to the fore and developed long before now. If we can’t stop from moving rapidly [running] out of the kill zones under dire threat of death from another, and we can’t make hits on movers while moving with any real success except for “luck” once in awhile, we have only a few options left.
 
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AzQkr

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We can stand and deliver sighted fire using our sights as we have all been brainwashed to do, learn to ignore the flight response to immediate danger and “get er done” [the fight end of the fight or flight response], taking our chances that we connect with our lead before they connect with theirs.

We have the option of running out of the kill zone to safety, to available cover [if there is any near us], and then under some semblance of safety make use of our sights and hope that we deliver lead on the threat before they have connected on us while we were running [they might get lucky in doing so], and hope we are better shots if they are going to stay and shoot it out with us, or they may run away themselves.

Some other options are available if we have been observant enough to see what is about to happen and get inside their game plan [their OODA]. It’s been recognized that it is important to be vigilant to ones surroundings at all times, to give ourselves that small measure of time that could and can at times save our bacon by beating them to the punch [sorta speak].

Who here thinks they can be ever vigilant enough all day, everyday to keep some measure of time on their side that MIGHT make the difference? If you think you can, I suggest you take a very hard look at yourself, as I’ll also suggest you are suffering from serious self-delusion.

Anyone think the options above are really the only options? I hear that others think so. I hear people are exploring this moving and shooting since January from some experiment that occurred between a few trainers and their students. I hear they are trying to find the key to unlock the door that no one has ever been able to unlock before.

It’s the “holy grail of self defense using a handgun” to everyone’s thinking. The “keys to the kingdom” are what they are looking for. What everyone has sought for a very long time and not ever been able to develop with an acceptable hit rate and little if any success.

What’s an acceptable hit rate when you are behind the reactionary curve in a gunfight, and you have to run, and I mean sprint and try to make hits? 50%? 40%? 70%? It may be best left at a personal level and one best answered by the individual dependant on their own personal acceptance and thoughts on the issue.

Can it be done [run and make hits] at all with any reliability? Can the “holy grail of self defense using a handgun” even be considered within the human species reach one day?

Why yes it can, and we know it can because three people have found the “keys to the kingdom”, and have finally unlocked the “holy grail of self defense using a handgun”.

I have news for the shooting community and our readers. Between 7677, Sweatnbullets, steve2267 and myself, we now have a firm hold on those keys ladies and gentlemen. It has taken some major research and development. Taking years in the developmental stages by each one of us on an individual basis, on our own strengths and training, we have it.

The three of us put our heads together, set out to unlock the doors by finding that key and working as a cohesive team, we figured it out. We can run out of kill zones and shoot with over 90% hit rates.

There are many elements that needed to be used, that had to be brought together. 7677 has spoken at length for a few years with Sweatnbullets [SNB]. SNB has sought out 7677 for his considerable knowledge of the inner workings of law enforcement and military service in his quest to learn how to move fast and make the hits. 7677 brings much to the plate and his observations and knowledge of the subject are above reproach.

I held several of the necessary elements for 25 years and had not considered putting them together to develop them further until SNB approached me last year and put the bug in my ear. His lengthy conversations with 7677 in his quest to the grail and the key to unlock this door had him convinced I held the missing elements.

The three of us started discussing it between us. Without 7677’ base knowledge and experience, without SNB’s quest for the grail and keys, and his pushing me in many conversations in this direction to have a look at it and consider figuring it all out with them, without the three of us testing it as the Research and Development team of this site, I don’t know if it would have come together. BUT IT HAS.

SNB recently spent a weekend here at my home and we shot two long days with no lunch and only water breaks. We tested some theories based on 7677’s writings and experiences and ideas he had for us to test through long conversations with both of us, we tested SNB’s ideas [which were spot on by the way], and we used the elements and knowledge and experience I have held for 25 years and we figured this out.

Brownie
 
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AzQkr

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We can run, sprint, and shoot with phenomenal results. We can do so on multiple threats, individual threats, running [both feet off the ground] laterally left and right from 15 feet away, running obliquely away from 5-6 feet out to 15 feet and more while getting out of the kill zone, running obliquely at the threat while getting out of the kill zone, and more.

We have set up drills which will become the standards we use when we train others in these skills, which will test them to their limits after they have the base skills we found need to be used in conjunction with each other.

Prerequisite courses have been established, necessary to be able to dynamically move in any direction required to get out of the kill zone and ALL without conscious thought using SNB’s fluid situational responses that utilize everyone’s natural abilities and the skills we bring to the table to make it happen.

One handed, two handed, from the hip, from compressed ready and using my “startle response” research and development over the last decade [developed from the defensive edged weapons classes I offer] into and including 7677’s sight and fight continuum’s and techniques, to SNB’s developed and tested “fluid situational response” techniques which make use of 7677’s and my own specific skills which brought them all together.

How do we do it you ask? It seems impossible you say. Others who are well known and supposedly cutting edge and innovators haven’t got it, and many have tried over many decades and lost interest due to the time it was taking in figuring it all out.

Well, I’m not about to tell everyone what took three men their adult lives and experiences to get to openly. In fact, if we did tell you, you would not be able to just go do what it is we have figured out [and tested over long hours of drills both cold and warmed up to make sure they worked both ways equally] as you would not have the base skills necessary and the training which was developed by the three of us.

I’m sure there will be major fallout on this within the shooting community. They will be telling anyone who will listen that we can’t own what was spoken here. That we don’t have the keys, we haven’t possibly found the grail.

I will not argue with these people about it anywhere. I don’t have to. One of the things this forum is going to do is put up viewable short clips of us doing exactly what we can do, in real time. No need to argue with the results we have that will be presented at different times.

We will be offering courses and other major announcements will be forthcoming in the near future.

Brownie
 

SFC JeffJ

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I'm looking forward to leaning more about what you have developed.

Jeff
 

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