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Featured Article: 01-2005

Gunhandling and the
Concept of Muzzle Aversion

By: “SouthNarc”

“SouthNarc” is the on-line pseudonym of a narcotics agent who is currently the assistant commander of a multi-jurisdictional narcotics task force in the southeastern United States. SouthNarc has been an active service police officer for fourteen years and is also the SWAT team commander for his agency. He is a trainer with over twenty-five years in martial arts and a former soldier in the U.S. Army.

As shooters and instructors it’s our job to identify and provide solutions for problems that occur in self-defense. As such, the solutions must be robust and as common as possible to one another. With “common” being a key quality to strive for, what’s the pattern then that we should try and relate all of our weapon’s manipulation to?

One option would be to try as much as possible to keep all of our gun-handling tasks within the movement scheme of draw-stroke. Why? Simply put, draw-stroke is the cornerstone motor skill that gets the handgun into the fight. We as teachers often relate shooting to the student as a hand/eye coordination skill. But shooting is only a small part of the equation. Actually getting the gun into the fight under the stress of a realistic assault by a criminal is usually the most difficult part.

So it would stand to reason that draw-stroke is probably the most important aspect of our combative handgun skills and as such, perhaps we should try and relate as much of our gun handling to this benchmark fighting movement as possible.

Now if draw-stroke is our “pattern” of movement that we try and relate all gun handling to, essentially what we’ve created is an evaluation criteria for accomplishing tasks. When we look at a new “technique” or we’re trying to figure out how to accomplish a task that requires us to move the handgun, we should ask ourselves “Does this technique fall within the movement of my normal draw-stroke”? If it doesn’t then probably the second question to ask would be “Can I move the gun another way within my scheme of draw-stroke to accomplish the same thing that this new technique is accomplishing”? If not, the last thing we should ask ourselves is “Does the merit of what this technique is accomplishing outweigh the negative aspects of the technique being disparate from my cornerstone, fighting motor movement”? With that said let’s move then to the idea of muzzle aversion.

For the most part if the gun is out of the holster, then there is a problem that immediately warrants a high probability of lethal force. It’s only within a very narrow spectrum, that the pistol is in hand but not immediately needed. As such it’s a good idea that the muzzle be oriented on the problem that we are concerned with, whether that’s an un-cleared area for a SWAT team member or a subject that warrants pointing a handgun at, in response to a perceived threat.

However, there are those occasions where we pass an innocent person with the gun in hand. Two things must occur for someone to get shot: a weapon must be pointed at them and the trigger must be pulled. So the idea that we should be able to avert our muzzle from a non-hostile, for a moment in time is probably a good one.

Now that we’ve identified our task (temporary muzzle aversion), can we accomplish that within the confines of draw-stroke? Let’s go back to draw-stroke.

The first thing within the stroke that we have to do is clear away the concealing garment and establish grip on the pistol. We’ll call this step or count number 1.

Count 1

Next the pistol clears the holster up the body in a vertical line and stops at some point. This is usually where the muzzle orients forward on the threat. We’ll call this step or count number two.

Count 2

Keeping within the context of movement, the number one position represents the beginning of the vertical line of presentation in the draw-stroke and the number two position represents the end of that line of presentation. The number two also represents the beginning of the horizontal line of presentation, where the muzzle orients on the threat.

The number three position is where the handgun first becomes visually apparent in the bottom of our cone of vision. If we are using two handed shooting then the support hand mates with the strong hand at this point. Note the photos below for the number three in two and one handed shooting

Count 3 Count 4

Finally the number four position represents appropriate extension or compression of the pistol based on proximity of threat, within the horizontal line to the threat. Note the photos below for various levels of appropriate extension and compression based on proximity of thereat.

Count 5 Count 6 Count 7

Now that we’ve looked at where the gun is at in the stages of each count in the draw-stroke and understand essentially the two definitive lines of movement that have been created (one vertical and one horizontal) let’s try and accomplish our task of temporary muzzle aversion.

The number two position is a strong point within the draw-stroke as the gun is indexed into the torso, preferably with the thumb flagged at the pectoral muscle. The wrist is locked and the elbow is kept high. We do this so that if we have to fire on an adversary in an entangled confrontation, the arc of the muzzle is controlled and consistent, thereby allowing the off-hand to freely fend.

Looking at the number two position it’s not much of a problem to dip our torso forward a bit and raise our elbow while doing this. As long as the wrist is locked, this orients the muzzle downward, for a moment in time. If we want to give this a “name”. Let’s use a term that reminds us that the position is within draw-stroke. So we’ll call this the averted two or A2.

Averted Two or “A2”

So how does A2 work within our normal line of presentation? Pretty simple. In the photo below I’ve engaged a target at 12 o’clock and have a subject that I’ve identified as a non-hostile running into my line of fire and towards me, who is just trying to get out of the gunplay. He’s coming in from about 1:30.

He has closed the gap and I’ve compressed my horizontal line of presentation appropriately. My weapon is NOT pointed at him but if he keeps running towards me we will intersect my line of fire and possibly collide with me.

Coming in from about 1:30. Closing the gap.

As this flailing citizen collides with me the gun moves back to the normal #2 count of the draw-stroke except that I raise my elbow a bit higher than normal and drop my weight forward which not only averts the muzzle downward, but also keeps me from getting bowled over. (Picture 11)

Here’s another angle that shows how the fending arm is utilized to nudge the non-hostile out of my firing line. (Picture 12)

Picture 11. Picture 12.

As I pass him by me my weapon begins to move back up into the horizontal line of presentation. (Picture 13) Finally, as he has now been safely passed, without masking him with my muzzle, I complete my presentation into appropriate extension, in this case one-handed. (Picture 14)

Picture 13. Picture 14.

In closing we can see that the concept of temporary muzzle aversion is indeed valid for the armed citizen. Accomplishing that task within the normal scheme of one’s draw-stroke is preferred, since commonality in gun handling is a key factor in making one’s shooting system robust.