Point shooting was long advocated by Col. Rex Applegate, world-renowned firearms expert. He describes it as “whether one-handed or two-handed, the employment of the handgun in close quarters combat without the use of sights.”
Now, before you start defending lasers, red-dot sights, tritium sights or even iron sights, let me say that I am not advocating that you abandon sighted shooting practice. Instead, what I am suggesting is that you consider adding a certain amount of point shooting to your training program.
Just as in golf, basketball or any other physical activity, all practice, if conducted properly and repeated sufficiently, helps develop what we often erroneously refer to as “muscle memory.” In reality, such repetition effects the development of new neural pathways in our brains that, once established, contribute to both speed and accuracy.
Remember when you first learned to drive? You had to think about every move. As time went on, your steering became more smooth and precise, your breaking more gradual and controlled. Everything became more intuitive, until you could do it, literally, without thinking.
Point shooting exercises establish the same neural networks as sighted shooting, as long as the movements are repeated a sufficient number of times. Laboratory testing indicates that after about 300 repetitions of any complex movement, the first signs of neural network growth occur.
At somewhere around 3000 repetitions, the pathways are formed sufficiently to produce “unconscious competence” — being able to react quickly without conscious thought. After that, modest regular practice will maintain your skills.
But be warned, while you never completely lose them, over time all such skills will degrade somewhat — hence the term “perishable skills.” The same applies to shooting, whether you use the sights or not. This includes things like practicing how to draw rapidly from concealment.
OK, if you have achieved a decent level of shooting skill using your sights, why bother with point shooting at all? The answer is in the conditions under which a defensive scenario unfolds. Facing someone who appears to be intent on harming, or even killing, us is entirely different from shooting at paper or metal targets that, in the words of one top competitive shooter, “don’t shoot back.”
The psychological effects of a lethal force encounter have already been well-documented: soaring blood pressure and heart rate, an adrenaline dump, temporal (time) distortion, diminished hearing, loss of close-range visual acuity (the inability to focus on things like, say, sights). The stresses are enormous. Ask any combat veteran.
Here again, I’ll quote Col. Applegate, who emphatically stated to a convention of law enforcement officials: “[Point shooting] is the only battle proven method of self-defense that works under actual high-stress combat situations.”
The specific mechanics of point shooting, and the associated drills required, can be learned from any competent instructor who is skilled at teaching it. Not all are, however, so do your research and, ideally, ask for a demonstration. Any instructor worth his or her salt will be more than happy to oblige.
I’ve lived long enough to know that there is no such thing as “knowing it all” — the more I do learn, the more I realize what I don’t know. Lifelong learning is a sound philosophy, and it should be embraced especially by those of us who carry firearms. Point shooting is just one more skill to have in your “toolbox.”
