Tap Rack Revisited--How to Not Blow Up Your Pistol.

 

This is an update to an article I wrote several years ago, spurred by a recent incident during a training session. 

I still routinely see competitors trying to catch rounds when they are clearing their pistols or holding their hand over the ejection port in an attempt to catch the round instead of letting it drop to the ground.  This is not a good idea.

I was always somewhat skeptical when I heard stories of rounds detonating in the ejection port. I now have personally witnessed two examples of rounds doing just that.  One as the shooter was clearing the pistol and one when the shooter (a cardiologist) was attempting to close the slide on a round that apparently had not gone into battery. Fortunately, although the doctor's hand was lacerated, no tendons were cut.

Recently during a training session, a shooter was clearing his 1911 pistol.  The round apparently managed to turn sideways in the ejection port and detonated from the primer striking the ejector.  The brass case departed stage right and we did not recover it.  The bullet struck some part of the ejection port and we found it on the ground at his feet. It had minimal damage and could have easily been reloaded and fired.

If the shooter had placed his hand over the ejection port, the brass case would likely have severely lacerated his hand.

At one point, a common response to the slide of a pistol failing to go into battery was to strike the rear of the slide. I do not see this too often as striker fired pistols have come into mainstream usage. However as we see in the incident discussed below, that may not be a very good idea and indeed could be very dangerous as well.

I was serving as the match director in our Short Range Match when I heard a loud pop instead of a bang as a competitor was completing a stage. I looked up and saw the safety officer walking toward me with the competitor who was holding his left hand with blood pouring through his fingers. His pistol was lying on the ground where it had fallen from his hand.

The competitor's pistol had failed to go into battery and he had aggressively hit the back of the slide with his left palm in an attempt to clear the malfunction. As he did this, his fingers went forward over the top of the slide just as the round detonated in the open ejection port. Fragments of brass severely cut his left index and middle fingers. After examining the competitor's injured left-hand, a doctor at the scene determined that he was not seriously injured and only had some bloody but not serious cuts.The competitor was a heart surgeon so this was welcome news indeed!

When I retrieved and examined the pistol, I saw that the remains of the detonated round were still in the ejection port. The round had nosedived into the feed ramp and that in doing so it literally positioned the primer exactly over the extractor. When the competitor slammed the slide forward with his left hand the extractor had crushed the primer causing the 9mm round to detonate.

If you look at photo #1 above you can get an idea of the quantity of brass fragments that struck the shooter’s hand. In photo #2 you can see where the extractor (not the ejector--look at the picture) crushed the primer (pistol was a Kahr 9mm). This particular gentleman was very forceful when he manipulated his pistol. Photo #3 shows where the force of the detonation slammed the bullet into the feed ramp. Photo #4 provides another view.

In my classes I teach that the proper response to a click instead of a bang is to tap the magazine (to ensure it is properly seated) and rack the slide—tap, rack. This will often clear the malfunction. If it does not, the proper response is to lock the slide back, aggressively strip the magazine out, and then reload the pistol and continue to fire if the circumstances warrant. 

After reloading, if it does not fire you probably have a broken pistol that's not going to be easily fixed on the spot. If you are under assault, the proper response at that point is to aggressively depart the area or take other necessary action.

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Blitz Robbery: Could You React in Time?

We recently fired a stage in the Sensible Self Defense (SSD) Short Range Match that was based on an armed robbery in front of a hotel in Houston. Four armed men in an SUV quickly pulled in front of the hotel’s main entrance and two men exited the vehicle. One was armed with a handgun and one was armed with a long gun (it might have been an AR-15 style rifle—hard to tell). The robbers accosted a hotel patron waiting outside the front doors and took several items from him including his watch and backpack. You can watch the video here.

From the moment the patron/victim could see that the person exiting the SUV held a handgun until the robber was on top of him with his pistol in the victim’s face was approximately 1.62 seconds; the distance was approximately four yards. The second robber with his long gun was in position to fire on the victim in approximately 3.40 seconds after the SUV stopped. When the victim saw the first robber exiting the vehicle, he attempted to run; however, he only took a couple of steps before the robber quickly stopped him. In this instance, the victim’s perception-reaction time (I define it as the victim’s first action in response to seeing the robber) was approximately 0.40 seconds.

If the victim had been armed, he would have needed to draw and engage the first robber in less than 1.22 seconds (subtracting the victim’s .040 second perception time from 1.62 seconds) and the second robber immediately after the first. Is this something a reasonably well-trained person could do with a concealed pistol? I think the answer is yes. Would engaging the robbers have been a good idea? Perhaps or maybe not.

I recently did some personal research concerning my draws and those of my training partner Steve. The question was how fast could we safely draw and shoot a target two yards away, starting with our hand on the pistol? We were not measuring reaction to a timer or other start signal, nor were we measuring accuracy per se, but rather how fast we could safely draw and fire a shot. (Safety note: DO NOT try this, regardless of your level of training. There is a very real risk of shooting yourself.)

My average draw for 16 runs measured from the time I initiated the draw (i.e. the first movement of my hand) until I fired the shot was 0.16 seconds. Steve’s average draw for 14 runs was 0.18 seconds.* Frankly, I was surprised at how fast we could draw and shoot. The picture below shows my hits. Remember, the point of the experiment was to draw and safely pull the trigger as quickly as possible. This was rapid point shooting and the spread of the shots demonstrates this. I was initially shooting lower on the target and modified the draw a bit to shoot higher as I dialed it in.

Starting with your hand on the pistol provides a great time advantage over starting with your hands in any other position. I have collected data on over a thousand draws in Short Range Matches and the average competitor gains between 0.75 and 1.25 seconds starting with the hand on the pistol versus starting with the hands at their sides. Highly skilled shooters typically draw, aim, and hit their target with the first shot in 0.60 - 0.80 seconds—some competitors are faster.

If the draw speed (i.e. the reaction) is within the realm of the possible, how about the perception part of the equation? The victim’s perception-reaction time was a key aspect in this event. The time required to respond to a given stimulus varies greatly across different tasks and even within the same task under different conditions. It can range from less than 0.15 seconds to many seconds. The type of stimulus, stimulus complexity, and the observer’s circumstances highly influence stimulus response time.

If we place it in the context of Boyd’s Observe, Orient, Decide, Act model, the victim in this robbery would have had to go from Observe to Act almost immediately. Shooters routinely do this in classes and competition. For example: “At the start signal, draw and shoot Targets 1-3 with two hits each.” The difference between the range and the real world is that on the range we typically know what our course of action must be in advance and we are prepared at that moment to execute the course of action the instant we perceive the expected stimulus. Even when faced with a blind stage, we still know that we are going through a scenario that will likely require us to shoot at some point and therefore we are mentally aware and prepared for that eventuality.

Mental awareness or mindset is a critical component to surviving any defensive encounter involving deadly force. However, mindset alone is insufficient. It must be coupled with awareness, proper training, and a willingness to act.

The practical aspect comes into play as well. Even had the victim been armed (I am assuming he was not), from the victim’s perspective the odds of successfully drawing a pistol were likely very poor. Do you place your hand on a concealed pistol every time a car pulls up in front of you? Probably not given that the odds of the car containing a robbery team are generally extremely low (however, they are not zero as we see here). In this instance, the victim’s response in surrendering his valuables was probably the best option given the totality of the circumstances as he saw them.

Most Sensible Self Defense Short Range Match stages are designed based on real life events that are video recorded. The concept behind the match is to prepare shooters for the variety of use of force scenarios they might encounter in daily life to the degree that you can do so in a match. Crime often happens very quickly so many SSD stages (like the name suggests) are at a relatively short range and very fast.

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* Note: This did seem pretty fast and I double checked my data; I am confident in its accuracy. I also compared it to fast draw records; the current record is 0.208 seconds. Our average is faster; however, fast draw competitors must react, draw, fire, and hit a target. The lock time (the time it takes the hammer to fall) of the single action pistol also comes into play since the competitor must cock the hammer and then pull the trigger in the process. The reaction times of the best fast draw shooters is in the 0.150 second range which means that the current record holder drew, cocked, aimed (from the hip), and fired in less than 0.06 seconds. That is much faster than we were. I also came across a video of Randy Harris of Harris Combative Strategies drawing from concealment and pulling the trigger in 0.46 seconds: click here for the video

Note again, there is a very real risk of shooting yourself if you try this experiment. Steve and I are IDPA Masters and have excellent trigger control. Even so, I do not think I will repeat this experiment. I state flatly, DO NOT try this, regardless of your level of training. If you do, you are solely responsible for the consequences of your actions.

Practice 2022: The No Fail Drill Expanded

A "Failed" No Fail Drill

I recently saw the No Fail Drill on the Active Response Training website and decided I would try it. The No Fail Drill is attributed to Chuck Pressberg of Presscheck Training and Consulting; however, I could not find the drill’s description on the Presscheck website so I went with the description on Primer Peak. (https://www.primerpeak.com/no-fail-shot-drill/).

The No Fail Drill is relatively straight forward. You start with the pistol concealed. You must draw and place a hit inside the 9-ring on a standard NRA B8 target center placed at 25 yards within 3.5 seconds. It must be shot cold. You do this 10 times; any shot outside the 9-ring is a miss and you fail the drill. I did not have difficulty making the time limit; however, I failed the drill with three rounds outside the 9-ring as shown in the picture on the right.

Shooting the No Fail Drill works on drawing from concealment, establishing a solid grip and stance, acquiring a rapid sight picture, and trigger control. The time limit of 3.5 seconds means you cannot dither on the draw and your presentation must place the sights on the target. At 25 yards, if your trigger pull is not well executed you will likely miss.

 

As I continued to work on the No Fail Drill, I decided my initial goal would be to shoot the drill clean using the 4-inch circle on the target I use for my classes. This is a slightly more difficult standard since it is 1.54 inches smaller than the B8 nine ring.

 

I will post a running update as I progress with this drill.  The pictures below show two of my attempts in mid-Aug 22.  Both were fails due to shots outside the circle. Only nine shots on the right target, one shot missed the target completely.

 

If/when I am at the point where I consistently pass with the 4-inch circle scoring area, I will change it to the ocular cavity triangle.

 

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Practice 2022: To Drill or Test?

One mechanism for improving your shooting skills is to shoot drills. Most sports have a set of drills designed to improve a specific skill or a combination of skills—shooting is no exception. There are literally hundreds of firearms training drills and some are better than others.

 

Shooting drills that challenge you is a great way to improve your shooting assuming that you can recognize what you need work on to improve. I have been working on refining my grip from a draw, acquiring a rapid sight picture, and trigger control.

 

2x2x2 Example

The primary drill I have been shooting is Dave Spaulding’s 2x2x2 Drill. The 2x2x2 Drill is shot on a 3x5 card placed vertically on a target backer that is 20 feet away. At the start signal, the shooter must draw and fire two rounds in two seconds with two hits on the 3x5 card. If a round breaks the card’s edge it is scored as a hit. The picture on the left shows an example sequence with seven runs, 14 shots, and one miss.  Any shot outside the card or over the two second time limit constitutes a failed run. So in this particular sequence, the miss would be a failed run.

 

 

You ideally should shoot several different drills that complement each other in working on the specific skill you are trying to improve. This adds variety to your practice and keeps the drills from becoming too tedious. I recently saw the No Fail Drill on the Active Response Training website and decided I would try it. The No Fail Drill is attributed to Chuck Pressberg of Presscheck Training and Consulting; however, I could not find the drill’s description on the Presscheck website so I went with the description on Primer Peak. (https://www.primerpeak.com/no-fail-shot-drill/).

 

A "Failed" No Fail Drill

The No Fail Drill is relatively straight forward. You start with the pistol concealed. You must draw and place a hit inside the 9-ring on a standard NRA B8 target center placed at 25 yards within 3.5 seconds. It must be shot cold. You do this 10 times; any shot outside the 9-ring is a miss and you fail the drill. I did not have difficulty making the time limit; however, I failed the drill with three rounds outside the 9-ring as shown in the picture on the right. Shooting the No Fail Drill adds one additional item to the skill set—drawing from concealment. With this drill however, I am still practicing establishing my grip from a draw, acquiring a rapid sight picture, and trigger control.

 

People occasionally mis-characterize shooting tests as drills and vice versa. So, is there a difference between a shooting drill and a shooting test? Yes, drills are a means to an end but not the end itself. A well-designed drill permits the shooter to work on a specific skill or a combination of skills in isolation. Tests (and qualifications) on the other hand measure the shooter’s ability to combine their skills to perform a specific task or tasks to a specific standard.

 

If you compare Spaulding’s 2x2x2 Drill with Pressburg’s No Fail Drill, you see similarities. Both drills allow the shooter to focus on obtaining a solid grip from a draw, acquiring a rapid sight picture, and trigger control. Neither is easy; however, both provide a mechanism to identify your shortfalls and measure your improvement.

 

Although they are different, a drill can also be used as a test with some modifications. In his classes, Dave used the 2x2x2 Drill as a test at the end of the class. The same starting position and other requirements as the drill; however, the shooter had to draw from concealment. Students who successfully passed the test with two shots on the 3x5 card in two seconds earned an engraved belt buckle and belt from Handgun Combatives.

 

When assessing whether a given shooting drill will address your improvement needs, the old adage that you should not practice what you are already good at comes to mind. If/when I reach the point that I can shoot the No Fail Drill or the 2x2x2 Drill from concealment successfully on demand, I will move on to shoot ever more difficult drills and continue to try and improve my shooting skills. I enjoy improving my shooting and drills help me with this process. I’m not sure I will ever hit the point where I decide that my skills are “good enough.”

 

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Update:

Little Boy Rousts Home Invaders

We recently fired a stage in the Sensible Self Defense Short Range Match that was based on a home invasion in Indiana.  Four men armed with handguns forced their way into a home after kicking in the kitchen door. The son of one of the residents, four year old David picked up his toy trucks and threw them at the home invaders and began to hit the men. The boy’s actions startled them and they quickly exited the home, leaving empty handed.

Short Range Match stages like this one are generally based on real life events that are video recorded.  You can watch an edited version of the invasion video here and a video of me shooting the stage during the match here. 

 

During the match one of the men in the squad I was on commented to me that “this would be the perfect stage for a pistol caliber carbine.”  I asked him if he carried his PCC with him in the house and he said he did not nor did he carry a pistol.  I told him I always had a pistol on me when I was at home. He said that seemed a bit paranoid and asked if I lived in a bad neighborhood; I replied that I lived (in so far that there is such a thing) in a safe neighborhood. I asked him when he was most likely to experience a home invasion. He replied “at home?”

 

Obvious answer.  Most people are not prepared for home invasions and are caught off guard.  Your pistol is a piece of emergency equipment and it is useless if you cannot access it quickly in an emergency.  I routinely read of people trying to access their firearm during a home invasion—many successfully, many not.  It is impractical to carry a PCC with you at all time while in the house or most other places for that matter.  However, you can carry a small pistol or revolver in a proper pocket holster without much inconvenience and the time required to access your pistol is significantly reduced.

 

Would be home invaders can kick open most residential doors in a few seconds. Reinforcing your doors helps buy you time if that option is available and within your means. The Armor Concepts door armor and similar products are relatively inexpensive, simple to install, and make kicking a door much harder.

 

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Shotgun Woes and Lessons Learned from the Short Range Match

This is a guest post from Dixon Gunther who attended our 29 May 2022 Sensible Self Defense Shotgun Match.

I’d just returned from a work trip when I noticed that Sensible Self Defense was hosting a Shotgun Match. Still reeling from the twelve previous hours of ‘planes, trains, and automobiles’ that tend to bookend my frequent work trips, shooting a match the following morning wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind. Which brings me to my first point. Never pass up an opportunity to train. Ever. Doesn’t matter how tired you are or how bad the weather is supposed to be. Always go train.

I knew it’d been a minute since I’d run a shotgun defensively, so the next morning, I sorted my gear out, and headed for the range. These ‘matches’ (‘Short Range Match’) as the host/founder, Eric Lamberson of Sensible Self-defense titles them, have consistently proven to be excellent opportunities to run through real-world defensive shooting scenarios using either your EDC or home defense set-ups. I’ve been shooting them periodically for the past eight years. In this match, shooters could use pistol, shotgun, or pistol-caliber carbine. There were four scenarios, with 3-9 targets at various distances, all of which had to be engaged using cover where available, against the clock. Some mandated reloads, with others you just reloaded as you deemed necessary.

During the first scenario, I experienced a total malfunction with my shotgun on the second shot. The shotgun is a Mossberg JM-Pro, which I’ve used extensively in the past. I attended Eric’s Defensive Shotgun Course, modeled after Tom Givens’ course in January 2020, and had run the same gun with same ammo with zero issues. I was using Federal Law Enforcement Flight-Control buckshot. When I fired the first shot, the gun cycled, but failed to fire the second round. I racked the slide, ejecting the unfired second round and loading a third round, attempted to fire – nothing. While the gun would fire the first round loaded into the chamber, it was failing to cock the hammer on the subsequent shots. After repeatedly performing immediate action to reduce the malfunction to no avail, I informed the Safety Officer that I was going to use my backup gun.

I wound up shooting the entire match [clean] with my Mossberg 500 which I’ve had for 38 years. It worked flawlessly. And it was good to refresh myself on running the slide action. I focused on achieving solid target hits, use of cover, and even ran the gun on my non-dominant side for part of a stage in order to negotiate the corners properly.

Lessons Learned:

I say again: Never pass up an opportunity to train. Ever. Doesn’t matter how tired you are or how bad the weather is supposed to be. Always go train. Reading about it and thinking about it are no substitute for actually running your life-saving equipment and actually practicing your skills.

Run your gun: Not to be overly dramatic, but this match could have literally saved my life, as the malfunction I experienced with what had been my home defense shotgun could have gotten me killed in a home invasion scenario. You should periodically practice with the gun and defensive ammunition.

Six shots is not a lot in a gunfight, particularly with no way to truly execute a speed reload (as you can with a revolver or pistol). One of the stages in this match had nine targets, each of which had to be shot twice – 18 rounds total, engaged from cover or while moving. Even reloading twice from cover after engaging the first six targets, that still required me to reload on the move prior to engaging the last three targets. My Mossberg 500 has an 18.5” barrel, and an unplugged magazine capacity of five rounds, for a maximum of six rounds in the gun. With five additional rounds carried on the side of the receiver, that brings my maximum round capacity to 10 on board. One of the features that initially attracted me to the 930 JM Pro was the 9-round magazine capacity, which enabled me to carry 9+1 in the gun, with an additional five on the receiver for a total of 15 rounds. But in the final analysis, I believe the 930 is too long to be practical as a defensive platform. The shorter 500 is much handier.

Reloading: Should be done the same way, from the same place (either on the ‘side saddle’ or on the body) EVERY SINGLE TIME! Though I had previously trained fairly often on reloading a shotgun in a defensive scenario, it has been nearly two years since I’ve practiced with any regularity. Prior to that I had literally shot tens of thousands of rounds with various shotguns, mostly shooting Sporting Clays and dove hunting. With the latter, I’m typically loading two rounds at a time from a belt-mounted cartridge pouch/shell bag. So running the gun defensively, I discovered my skills were at best rusty, and at times down right awkward. During the match, I generally had time to plan my reloads and at least rehearse them mentally, which helped, but it was still far from smooth. This is a skill that you must practice periodically – even dry/with dummy rounds. As I have learned in the past: you can’t expect to remain proficient at skills you don’t practice.

Concerning the specific model of firearm and the nature of the malfunction I experienced: A cursory internet search of the various Mossberg 930 forums yielded a plethora of shooters that had experienced the identical (and many other) problem(s) with this particular platform. While I am still in the process of diagnosing problem. The cause is not immediately apparent; the firing pin isn’t broken and the gun is clean, properly assembled, and has no missing or obviously broken parts – my confidence in the platform has evaporated.

From what I can ascertain, the Mossberg 930 JM Pro was introduced as an entry-level shotgun for use in 3-Gun competition, and was not specifically designed as a serious defensive platform (read: expected to be inherently reliable). I base that observation on the fact that (if the internet forums are accurate) many, if not most 930 owners have had to modify their shotguns just to make them function, and continually ‘tweak’ them or tinker with them to keep them running, irrespective of variant -- SPX, JM Pro, or Pro Waterfowl. My personal experience bears this out.

I own two Mossberg 930s, the JM Pro as well as a 930 Pro Waterfowl. I’ve replaced a number of internal components with “upgrades” (“performance” parts from OR3Gun) just to get them to run, but continue to have reliability problems with both. I selected the Mossberg 930 based on the the tang-mounted safety, which is easier to manipulate as a left-handed shooter (I’m cross-dominant – right-handed, but fire long guns left-handed based on eye dominance). While I’ve owned six Mossberg shotguns since about 1979, five of which I still own and shoot, Mossberg’s forte seems to be their pump shotguns. In my opinion/experience, the Mossberg 930 shotguns, at least the two that I have, are too unreliable to serve as a defensive shotgun, and as mentioned previously, the JM Pro is probably too long to be practical for such use.

The two semiautos that seem to ‘rule the school’ at the moment are the Beretta 1301 and the Benelli M4. The latter of the two is almost prohibitively expensive, and are somewhere between difficult and impossible to locate locally. Semiautos are definitely faster, as you obviously don’t have to cycle the action yourself. Eric shot one stage clean with his 1301 – five targets in 2.36 seconds. I shot the same stage clean with the 500 in something more like 11 seconds. But my personal experience this past weekend has me internally debating the appropriateness of a semiauto as a defensive platform. I’m almost inclined to favor the simplicity and reliability of a pump over the speed of the semi. I have a Remington 11-87 that I bought new in 1989, that I’ve hunted with for the past 30+ years, which has functioned flawlessly with me seldom doing more than swabbing the bore and feeding it ammo. That, and I could literally buy 3 Mossberg pumps for what it would cost me to buy a Benelli. We’ll see. At the moment, my 500 has replaced my 930 as the one by my bedside.

                                                        Dixon Gunther 31 May 2022 

 

Side Note:  On 30 May 2022 I taught a Home Defense Shotgun Course and one student using a JM Pro had the exact same problem. He made it through by pulling the bolt partially to the rear without ejecting the round.  This cocked the hammer and enabled him to fire the next round.  Obviously not an optimal solution.