THE U.S. ARMY NOW BACKS THE USE OF P&S, WHO BACKS YOUR METHOD?

The U.S. Army Now Backs The Use Of P&S, Who Backs Your Method?

P&S or AIMED Point Shooting uses our instinctive pointing ability that the U.S. Army says is both fast and accurate, to rapidly and accurate aim a handgun. It is the simplest of shooting methods, can be learned with little or no training, and maintained with minimal practice.

Basically, you place your index finger along the side of a gun, point at a target, and pull the trigger.

Here's what the US Army says about our instinctive pointing ability in its 2003 Field Manual 3-23.35: Combat Training With Pistols M9 AND M11.

"Everyone has the ability to point at an object.

"When a soldier points, he instinctively points at the feature on the object on which his eyes are focused. An impulse from the brain causes the arm and hand to stop when the finger reaches the proper position.

"When the eyes are shifted to a new object or feature, the finger, hand, and arm also shift to this point.

"It is this inherent trait that can be used by a soldier to rapidly and accurately engage targets."

With P&S, you get automatic and correct sight alignment, and automatic and correct sight placement, both of which are needed for accurate shooting. That is because when the index finger is along the side of the gun: the index finger, barrel, and sights will be in alignment. So to aim rapidly and accurately, all you do is point at a target, and without the need to perform the step-by-step-must-be-met marksmanship requirements of Sight Shooting,

P&S is natural and effective, and it can be used in good light or bad, when you can't use the sights or see them, when moving, and for shooting moving targets. It also can be used with and to enhance other shooting methods.

THE TRIGGER PULLER:

To fast and accurately aim each shot, the index finger is kept along the side of the gun, and the trigger is pulled with the middle finger. You just point-n-pull, point-n-pull, point-n-pull....

Now if you are wondering as many have, what's that about using the middle finger to pull the trigger? - there's nothing wrong with shooting that way, but most all shooters in the U.S. don't know about it, or do it.

And that's because a 100 years ago, when the 1911 was adopted as the standard issue sidearm of U.S. forces in 1912, and for the next 30+ years, 1911 shooters were specifically cautioned not to use P&S because of a design flaw of the 1911. Here's a link to a listing of those manuals.

THE FLAW

If the index finger is placed along the side of a 1911, and the middle finger is used on the trigger, the index finger can press against the slide stop pin and the 1911 can jam when fired.


Here's the cautionary language from the first manual on the 1911 which was published in 1912. It was repeated almost word for word in other manuals on the 1911 that were published up until the 1940's.

"3. The trigger should be pulled with the forefinger. If the trigger is pulled with the second finger, the forefinger extending along the side of the receiver is apt to press against the projecting pin of the slide stop and cause a jam when the slide recoils."


After 30+ years of cautioning against placing the index finger along the side of the receiver that message sunk in, and using the index finger on the trigger became the "only" way to shoot a pistol.

That was the case for the 70+ years (1912 - 1985), that the 1911 was the standard issue sidearm of U.S. forces. And it still is for 1911 shooters and most all other shooters as well.

Using the index finger on the trigger of a revolver seems to be the way to shoot one, because if the index finger is placed along the side of a revolver, it may be burned by hot gases escaping from the cylinder during firing.

But, Jack Ruby did just that when he shot and killed Oswald. Ruby's index finger was along the side of his revolver and used for aiming. As seen in this photo, he used his middle finger to pull the trigger. In the photo it is seen sticking through the trigger guard.


A CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT SHOOTING CONUNDRUM:

Now, because P&S, which was a known method of shooting in the early 1900's, and also a fast and accurate method of aiming per the U.S. Army's 2003 Combat Pistol Manual, could not be used with the 1911 due to the design of its slide stop, for 70+ years, members of the U.S. militaryforces did not have the option of using that fast and accurate method of shooting in close quarters gunfights where their chance of being shot and/or killed was the greatest.

In short, they were left with no effective means of shooting because it is now known that Sight Shooting is not or can not be used in most all of them. That has been established via the study of thousands of Police combat cases, and scientific inquires into our instinctive response to life threats.

1.5 million Tokarev pistols, which were similar in design to the Browning pistol, were produced by the Soviets. They dealt with the slide stop conundrum, by fixing it with a simple two pronged clip.


Why the U.S. did not fix the slide stop of the 1911, is unknown.

What also is unknown, is the number of U.S. forces that were shot and/or killed because they did not have the option of using P&S, which was a known and effective method of shooting since at least since 1835.

A reasonable estimate of the casualties due to the "faulty" design of the 1911 would be in the thousands, because during the 70+ years the 1911 was the standard issue sidearm of U.S. forces, it was carried by U.S. forces in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.

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See the main index page of www.pointshooting.com for more info, videos, articles, papers, and data that are related to or support using P&S. Included are articles that provide the full details: on P&S, on using the middle finger to pull the trigger, and on the P&S grip which is a strong 4 fingered combat grip that is superior to the weak 3 fingered range and competition grip.

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