Not all good shooters are going to perform well in a self-defense situation. Even fast, accurate, competitive shooters aren’t automatically going to shoot well or do all the right things when faced with a defensive gun use. The reason for this is that all training is, by its nature, artificial. Even if you have access to force-on-force training, there’s always the artificial aspect of knowing you can’t get seriously hurt. We train the best we can, and we work on our draw, our speed, our accuracy and other aspects of good shooting, but there are things we do or don’t do on the range or in competition that simply don’t hold up in a gun fight. These are our training scars.
Now, training is a good thing as long as you’re doing it properly. Competition is a good thing. But it helps to be aware of our training scars so we remember to train around them now and then. There are plenty of ways training scars can hinder our performance in a self-defensive situation.
Waiting for an external stimulus to draw/shoot: If you’re a competition shooter, it’s drilled into your brain through thousands of repetitions that you don’t touch your gun until you’re given permission (generally by a buzzer). You are never in charge of making the “does this thing need to be shot?” or “should I put my hand on my gun?” decisions. Just be mindful if this is you, and do some non-competition training where you are drawing and shooting on your own timeline.
Standing still while shooting or manipulating the gun: If you only ever shoot at the range, you’re probably used to shooting with two hands, standing still, in a perfect stance that you had plenty of time to settle into before you began shooting. Self-defense might not allow all or any of those luxuries. Try to practice moving to cover and even shooting while you do so, if you can find a range that allows it. If not, try a 3-gun competition now and then to give you practice doing this. And keep in mind that even competitors can get in the habit of moving to cover but stopping or slowing down halfway there while they reload or otherwise manipulate their gun. Practice, even if it’s dry-firing, moving while doing administrative gun tasks.
Retaining magazines: At the range, we have the luxury of shooting to slide lock, then removing the empty mag, placing it wherever we want it, and loading a fresh one. In a self-defensive situation, hopefully you won’t empty an entire magazine, but if you do need a reload, don’t waste time trying to keep up with your empty or mostly empty mag. Let it drop and worry about it collecting it later when the dust settles.
Hyperfocusing on the target: At the range, we hyper focus on the target. When we shoot it, we consider it “done.” In real life, there might be more than one threat or bad guy, so develop the habit, if you haven’t already, of assessing the situation and looking for more trouble spots before you reholster or fully lower the gun. But be careful, because this can become its own training scar—it’s very easy to get in the habit of glancing to the left and the right and not actually seeing what’s there. This is definitely one of my personal training scars: My “look and assess” procedure has become a thoughtless habit rather than an actual critical assessment of what’s going on around me.
Moving on to the next target before the first one is handled: For many years, my daughter shot SASP, which is similar to a youth version of Steel Challenge. You shoot steel plates one after the other in the order of your choice, and then finish by hitting the stop plate. It’s all about speed, so it wasn’t at all uncommon for a shooter to be shooting at the next target before their brain registered that they had missed the previous one, and they’d have to go back and shoot it again. If you do a lot of shooting for speed at multiple targets, be aware that this is probably a habit you are in, and try to do some different types of training at the range that let you ensure the primary target is handled before you move on to the next.
Excessive practice with a small caliber: If you carry a 9 mm but do all your practice with a 22 LR, recoil is going to throw you for a loop if you ever do have to fire your 9 mm in self-defense. We love practicing with inexpensive, low-recoil rimfires, but make sure you do plenty of shooting with your actual self-defense handgun, too. This also applies if you shoot .38 Specials out of your .357 Magnum and use the harsher-recoiling .357 loads for self-defense.
Firing a specific number of rounds: Don’t train the Mozambique drill (two to the chest and one to the head) so much that you develop a habit of shooting three times and stopping. In a real-life defensive gun use, three times might be too many. It might not be enough. Practice different drills to avoid developing a “shoot X number of times and then stop” habit.
Keeping your finger off the trigger once your sights are on the target: Yes, keeping your finger off the trigger is a cardinal rule of gun safety, and for very good reason. But Gunsite Academy phrases the rule this way: “Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target.” [Emphasis added.] That means that once your sights are on the target, your finger should go to the trigger so you are prepared to shoot immediately if it’s required. Keeping your trigger finger up along the receiver until you make the “shoot” decision is fine in training if that’s what you want to do, but it costs you time in a defensive gun use. It’s smart to train yourself to bring your finger inside the trigger guard when and only when your sights are pointed at the target. You don’t begin your trigger squeeze until you have made the “shoot” decision, but you’re ready to do so at the moment you decide.
