I’m new after 25+ years of not carrying a hand gun. I have seen in videos when you draw the gun they hold it at the chest aim fire pull back to chest then return to holster. Why is that or is it just something some do?
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This is the most secure way to draw the firearm WITHOUT breaking single "safety firearm rule. "
Such drawing is divided into few steps (this is what you have seen on videos)
- make a solid grip on holstered handgun. Support hand close to the chest area
- draw straight up
- rotate handgun toward the threat, move it forward, meet support hand and have a two hands grip (now you are in “compressed ready” position)
- extend, take a shot (shots), once threat is eliminated, you go back to “compressed ready”
- re-holster
Simple and safe… if you practice.
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It’s also a good “ready” position. Firearms aren’t light and keeping it at full extension can get tiring. Keeping it close to your body keeps it in your control and makes it easily brought back into sight alignment.
Another reason is that someone standing in a shooting position with their arms extended “appears” to be more of a threat than someone with their firearm close into their chest. When police arrive at a self-defense situation, you do not want to make yourself a target.
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When firearm to chest, keep your grip, hook your thumb in your off hand into (when you have 2 handed grip), your shirt or jacket. You can support your firearm almost indefinitely.
Practice presentation of firearm, practice work space, while in complete awareness. One doesn’t need to look at firearm while loading magazine, or racking slide. A firearm is a tool, become “one” with it.
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Welcome Scott and glad to have you in the community.
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Or you could be shot by another EDC.
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And practice technique to clear your garment out of the way. I always pull/lift my shirt or jacket up from my chest with my support hand. This way you don’t have wasted motion. In other words, your support hand is already in position to engage and support your pistol. Start slow and practice, practice, practice to build muscle memory. Then practice again.
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Please, Please! Please!!
If you practice the two handed straight push presentation DO NOT make a habit of yanking it back in and re-holstering it immediately.
A major part of the origins of that presentation is that once the gun clears the holster and is ROTATED forward that it is straight flat and level and pointed at the threat. Conceptually, you could press the trigger anywhere along the presentation and hit the target at a reasonable distance. In reality it takes a HUGE amount of practice because it is uncomfortable to get from holster to center grip with the gun straight flat and level.
As to my first point DO NOT be in a hurry to get back in the holster!
To that end,
How many have fired from a close in retention position?
How many have fired WHILE presenting the weapon / or / retracting the weapon?
How many have fired from the hip?
How many realize that feet position and Natural Point of Aim is IMPERATIVE to make those hits?
To do that draw correctly requires an insane amount of practice to rotate the gun horizontal / on target and move it laterally to the two handed grip retention position. It takes even more practice to not drag the muzzle through the mud (swing it up) getting to full extension or conversely kick a field goal (push the muzzle up and bring it back down).
The draw is hard to do and easy to cheat on but when you have it down you CAN shoot from anywhere during your draw and hit a target w/i a reasonable range.
Cheers,
Craig6
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OPOTA Semi-Auto-Pistol-Qualification.pdf (305.2 KB)
Here is a document that is used by OH LE for qualification.
Training needs to include scans before re-holstering. The NRA CCW class does a great job of teaching that.
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Thank you to everyone for your help. Hope to be a help to others as I learn firearms again.
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Welcome @Scott122! When I first started shooting we were trained to keep weapons at low ready. Basically, arms were extended with the weapon pointed forward angles to the ground. Somewhere along the ride, training turned toward keeping your weapon at compressed ready. There are several advantages to compressed ready. The first and most important is that at compressed ready your weapon is tight to your body making it less accessible to an assailant. A second advantage is that going from ready to firing position is only a slight movement up while pushing out, as opposed to swinging your arms up and rarely coming into position to sight a target without further adjustment. Finally, at compressed ready, if there is suddenly an assailant in close proximity, shots can be fired from the ready position with minimal movement of the weapon.
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