Where would you shoot a bad guy in self defense?

[youngda9]

Where would you shoot a bad guy in self defense?
Left Nut, FTW.

HICOM is the correct answer.

 

[jfed85]

I would shoot for center mass of the largest visible area.

 

[bmwdud]

i was always told 2 in chest and 1 in head or don't shoot them at all

 

[bigiron]

I would suggest that all here get ahold of some airsoft equipment and attempt to implement your plan (whatever it is) on real human targets that think, move and fight back. Until we all at least do that, what we think we will do in certain situations is purely hypothetical.

Airsoft isn't perfect, but it's about the best we can do without actually shooting one another for real. When set up correctly, it's going to be the most eye opening experience any of us will have with regard to what does and doesn't work in a gunfight.

i wonder how willing my wife would be to doing this. i'm a little pissed at her right now so i could take out some frustration with an airsoft gun. thanks for the idea!

 

[fyrefyter101]

shooter521 has it right! center mass and/or what ever is presented to you, once disarmed and injured they are no longer the present threat.

 

[INRanger]

I guess I would shoot him wherever we happened to be at the time. If you wait until later you'll get in trouble.

 

[Lanser]

Taking into account the different versions I've read and heard, and taking from the most scientific ones:

One shot or up to two double taps (depending on the number of opponents) to the center of mass, and if that does not create a psychological reaction that causes the attacker to fall down, shift fire to the only place that will guarantee instant incapacitation: the head.

Even where the heart and/or lungs are destroyed, there is enough oxygen/energy stored in the brain and muscles to continue full function for another 10-15 seconds.

The idea that a round, even a .45, has enough kinetic energy to physically knock someone down is unrealistic. Such energy is also directed back at the shooter (Newton's Third Law), meaning such a round would knock the shooter down as well.

Rather, the greatest (immediate) effect of a torso hit (or any other hit) is psychological. We have been conditioned by the entertainment industry to think that to be shot is to fall down. Thus, many that are shot fall down from a psychological reaction rather than physical incapacitation.

Those that are in such a state of mind, or whose mind is so disciplined, as to be immune to these psychological effects can only be reliably stopped by a head shot.

Or by shooting out the heart and surviving the ensuing 15 seconds of chaos. With a guy who must be extremely dangerous. I recommend the head shot.

Information derived from an FBI report on caliber effectiveness and stopping power that I'm nerdy enough to have saved to my computer.

 

[jeremy]

Try to shoot them next to the hog pen makes clean up easier...

 

[E5RANGER375]

i will deliver a head shot to disable motor functions so rounds dont go bouncing around my house and hit my family or me. but in under a second he will also be recieving 2 rounds to his heart and lungs, just to make sure the threat is terminated. If more is needed then 2 more rounds to the chest will be delivered. but i am sure the first one will have done the job and #2 and #3 are just for insurance hes dead. but i assure you HE WILL BE DEAD WHEN HE LEAVES!! and unless you wanna go to jail for murder, dont shoot him after hes already down. thats why you better make sure your first shots count.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

i will deliver a head shot to disable motor functions so rounds dont go bouncing around my house and hit my family or me. but in under a second he will also be recieving 2 rounds to his heart and lungs, just to make sure the threat is terminated. If more is needed then 2 more rounds to the chest will be delivered. but i am sure the first one will have done the job and #2 and #3 are just for insurance hes dead. but i assure you HE WILL BE DEAD WHEN HE LEAVES!! and unless you wanna go to jail for murder, dont shoot him after hes already down. thats why you better make sure your first shots count.

I agree, but if they only find one hole and it's in his head. You are going to get, why did you shoot him in the head first? Which legally might haunt you!

 

[NathanJefferson]

Center mass, repeat as necessary.

Repeat until empty?

 

[Roadie]

I agree, but if they only find one hole and it's in his head. You are going to get, why did you shoot him in the head first? Which legally might haunt you!

Care to elaborate on your supposition?

If he is in your house, and you are defending yourself and/or your family, why is it you think WHERE he is shot will matter?

IC 35-41-3-2
Use of force to protect person or property
Sec. 2. (a) A person is justified in using reasonable force against another person to protect the person or a third person from what the person reasonably believes to be the imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person:
(1) is justified in using deadly force; and
(2) does not have a duty to retreat;
if the person reasonably believes that that force is necessary to prevent serious bodily injury to the person or a third person or the commission of a forcible felony. No person in this state shall be placed in legal jeopardy of any kind whatsoever for protecting the person or a third person by reasonable means necessary.
(b) A person:
(1) is justified in using reasonable force, including deadly force, against another person; and
(2) does not have a duty to retreat;
if the person reasonably believes that the force is necessary to prevent or terminate the other person's unlawful entry of or attack on the person's dwelling, curtilage, or occupied motor vehicle.

(emphasis mine)

 

[Archaic_Entity]

From IC: 'reasonable means necessary.'

If they determine it's not necessary force, you could be in trouble.

Secondly, the best way to think of shooting someone in the head (so far as I've been taught) is to place a Coke can sideways on the bridge of the nose. Where it goes across on the eyes and everything in between is the best place to shoot someone in the head for a kill.

If you can train to reliantly hit that area in a moving combat situation then you're amazing. I know I can't.

I can reliably put a round on a target in between the shoulders (for Rhino) if he's standing straight at me.

I can honestly say, though, in this position... I'd probably draw and fire at them while trying to find cover. As soon as I have cover, if it's fully retreatable cover, you best believe I'll be out of there if the situation warrants it. Otherwise I'll draw myself up into a defensive position and await their wishes to come into my line of fire.

If I have a reason to go into the offense, then I royally screwed up and will start praying while I try to pull a 'Behind Enemy Lines' slide across the ice shooting everyone with my pistol while they miss with their AKs.

 

[Boomer372]

Just like all training says, center mass untill the threat is neutrealized.

 

[SavageEagle]

I'd say 99% of the responses were CoM but after 40 posts I stopped reading. I certainly train for CoM when I practice, but like this post that follows....

I do like the confidence I'm reading here!

If one chooses to believe that "two to the chest, one to the head" is something that can be practically applied to reality, then hooray for the good guys, and I hope it goes that way for all who practice it - Seriously!

Personally, I'm not good enough to hit a bobbing brainstem running 15mph right for me. I also don't believe that in the heat of a knife attack I'll have any chance to "assess" the effect of those first two shots to the chest before I'm being sliced and diced by Captain Methhead.

I do, however, understand that when these thing happen, EVERYTHING is in motion, and I don't pretend for one second that punching cute holes in a piece of static paper prepares me for the reality of a gunfight.

I'm with him. Unless we've been in the situation, we don't know how we're going to react and what we're actually capable of hitting. Sitting at the range or training with professionals, our levels of adrenaline from practice to a meth head running at you or shooting at you is going to be very different.

I know that when I'm talking with someone online I can get my thoughts together before I post. However, if I'm arguing with someone IRL, those slow thoughts aren't going to cut it and I'm going to stutter and get flushed and walk away. Not saying that's how I'd handle a SD situation, I hope not, but never being in that position, I just don't know until it happens.

I will continue to strive for CoM, whatever mass that might be. I'm not sure I'd shoot through a door or wall to get them though. They could have one of my kids on the other side.

 

[INRanger]

Everyone thinks their going to be John Mclane in a gunfight. At the range the closer you are to target, the tighter your groups will be. In combat the opposite is true. Any hit inside PISTOL range is a good hit. Hope and train for the best expect your worst.

 

[Spanky46151]

Depends on my distance from him. Under 7 ft, head, any further than that, center mass. The first thing to go in high stress situations is fine motor skills, including your ability to effectively use your gun sights. Point & Shoot my friend, point & shoot!

 

[roscott]

Perhaps this thread should have been a poll. Oh well.

High COM for me.

 

[RedDot]

Perhaps this thread should have been a poll. Oh well.

High COM for me.

 

[Roadie]

You do realize that it is 50 QUALITY posts, right?