ARE YOU AFRAID TO TRY AIMED POINT SHOOTING OR P&S? - PT. 1

Are you afraid to try AIMED Point Shooting or P&S?

Some folks obviously are, because whenever P&S is brought up, a cacophony of hoots, and wails is heard from those whose minds are closed to anything innovative or new, and who blindly cling to the flawed shooting dogma of the past as though it's the holy grail.

Logic says that if there was a simple shooting method and a simple aiming aid that gives any user both automatic and correct sight alignment, and automatic and correct sight placement, and as such an edge in close quarters life or death situations, then they would use it.

You also would think that professionals would be the first to try it and comment on it, since traditional shooting methods (Sight Shooting and FSP), are proven failures in terms of effective use in life or death close quarters gunfights.

And the CQB miss rate of more than 80%, would seem to be a clear mandate for action and change in the world of the gun. But that's not the case.

Well try this, turn away from your computer screen and point at a picture, door knob, or any other target that is 8 to 20 feet away. Then bend your head down a bit and look down your arm to see where the end of your index finger is.

If you see a double image of the end of your finger, close your non dominant eye, and you should see that you are right on target.

That's all there is to AIMED Point Shooting or P&S.

WHY IT WORKS:

When the index finger is placed straight along the side of a gun, it, the sights, and the gun barrel will be in alignment. So, to automatically, fast, and accurately aim your gun at a target, just point at it and pull the trigger.

And to assure fast and accurate target engagement for each shot taken, keep your index finger along the side of the gun. Just point-n-pull, point-n-pull.

Use your index finger, thumb, and your ring and little fingers to grip the gun hard. You can try and squeeze the beegebers out of the gun, and all you will do is increase the strength of the grip.

Here is what the U.S. Army says about pointing in its Field Manual 3-23.35: Combat Training With Pistols M9 AND M11 (June,2003).

"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."

I also don't think the U.S. Army is lying.

MORE ON P&S:

P&S is the simplest of aiming methods, can be learned and maintained with little or no training, and it is deadly effective.

It can be used in good light or bad, to enhance other shooting methods, and imporantly when the sights can not be focused as will be the case in close quarters life threat situations (due to the automatic activation of our fight or flight response in those situations, which in turn results in the loss of close vision).

P&S has been mentioned or acknowledged in books dated: 1804, 1810, 1816, 1829, 1835, 1870, 1885, 1898, 1900, 1903, 1912, 1915, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, and 1941 that I have found on the web. I am sure there are many more that have been relegated to the dust bins of history. This is a link to an article that details the chronology with links to the books

As to why the method never gained popularity in the US is in my opinion, due to the US military's specific caution against its use with M1911 which was the only standard issue sidearm of US forces from 1912 to 1985.

That cautionary language is found the first manual on the 1911 that was published in 1912. And it was repeated in other 1911 manuals that were published for the next 30 years (up to the 1940's).

It's quite understandable that after thirty years of cautioning against its use, using P&S became taboo, and using the index finger to pull the trigger became the established, and today, the unquestionable dogma on how to shoot automatic pistols.

It is of no consequence to the true believers that Sight Shooting, which calls for meeting strict must-be-met-step-by-step marksmanship requirements, is a proven failure in close quarters self defense situations where there is the greatest chance of being shot and or killed.

Sight Shooting looks good, and is good on the range and for competition events, but not in combat according the stats and studies of thousands of combat cases.

Also and astoundingly, there is no proof in the form of pics or videos that Sight shooting has ever been used effectively in a close quarters self defense situation, yet it has been taught for such use for over 100 years.

The robo-instructors of today, think and teach in lock-step with those of 100 years ago. They have turned a blind eye to the results of modern studies of armed encounters and scientific enquiries into how we respond to real life threat situations. Their only defense is that they are just following the orders of 100 years ago.

P&S CAUTIONS:

Common sense and safe gun handling practices are musts with the use of P&S.

If your index finger rests over the ejection port, or will be hit by the slide, or extends beyond the end of the muzzle, don't use P&S with that gun. And don't use it with a 1911 because the 1911 can jam due to the faulty design of the slide stop.

In Part 2, we'll dispense with the fear of your index finger being hit by the slide, the fear of not using a weak "sissy" range/competition grip in lieu of a strong four fingered P&S grip, and the fear of using the middle finger on the trigger.

This is a link to Part 2.

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