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Incident 1
I just had dinner with another shooter that suffered a home invasion recently. He wasn’t carrying and got surprised by bad guys when entering his father in Law’s home.
Very violent, the three bad guys tell them to stay on the ground. They hit his 20 year old son in the head with the gun, he starts bleeding a lot, but nods to his dad to let him know he’s ok. The bad guys hit him a few times over the head as well, threatening everyone, fingers on the trigger shouting out how much they’d like to shoot someone. Two go through the house while another one keeps an eye on the victims. They get more violent as they don’t find money. Finally the wife finds an envelope with money after looking where his father usually keeps it.
The nightmare seems to be over but then one of the bad guys says he’s taking the 11 year old daughter. That’s when the father (the person telling me the story) stands up and in spite of getting hit again over the head with the gun, he tells them they’ll have to kill him, but they are not taking his daughter with them. The criminals apparently happy enough with the money decide to leave. He tells me he had a hard time overcoming the experience, that he saw their faces in every person he saw on the streets. When I asked him if he wished he had had a gun in that moment right before being forced inside and if he would have used it, he replied “Oh, yes, if I had a gun, having gone what I went through, I would have killed the SOBs”
Incident 2
This shooter used to claim that you don’t need to carry with a round in the chamber because you always have that split second to chamber a round. In contrast to safer places where such claims end up only in internet debates, in Buenos Aires it unfortunately happens that your theories and beliefs regarding guns and techniques are put to test in the real world. He was wrong, of course.
During a home invasion he sees a couple bad guys entering his home. He draws his Steyr pistol, aims at the closest one and pulls the trigger… click. As the criminals bring up their own guns he instinctively does a “stop” gesture with his other hand. The criminals don’t stop. The first round penetrates his palm, goes all across the inside of his arm and exits through his shoulder. Unlike sometimes when you don’t even realize when you get shot, this time he says it instantly hurt like hell and the pain was overwhelming. The other 10 shots he receives all over his abdomen don’t hurt as much. He spends time in the intensive care unit, takes years for him to recover including 12 months with a colostomy but he survives.
Incident 3
Another shooter that took classes with my instructor suffers a robbery in his store. He sees the armed criminal and goes for his Glock .40 as he opens the door that goes from the back room to the front of the store. The criminal sees the door opening and kicks the door right into his face, sending him falling on his back to the ground. Before he recovers a rain of blows falls over his head as the criminal brutally pistol-whips him. Fortunately he remembers his training and cries begging for his life, covering his head as well as he can with his left hand, the right hand still hidden by his torso as he sits in the ground. When he wimps out crying and begging for his life, the bad guy’s confidence only grows, taking wider swings as he hits his victim. When he’s wide open taking another one of these swings, the victim rotates his torso in a textbook extreme close quarter shooting technique, pistol against the right side of the chest, shooting four quick shots. Shooting from a lower position into the chest of an attacker standing over him, the four .40 hollow points rip diagonally across the bad guy’s chest, through his heart. The shots seem to push the bad guy back, he’s falls dead right there. ( this victim, he had a round in the chamber)
These are just a couple of the stories that happen in Buenos Aires every day. Luck is always a factor, but usually those that have an adequate weapon and training fair better in comparison to those that don’t.
FerFAL
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7 comments:
This is an actual home invasion in the USA recorded on video-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnYV4nrNdjA
The things others theorize about, you've seen and done. That is why I follow you so closely. We just had a 5man home invasion in the neighboring county. The thugs are getting bolder and more ruthless.
Excellent use of actual events to dispel myth!
If there are multiple home invaders, the best weapon is a shotgun- not a pump-action, but an autoloader.
Counter to what internet commandos will tell you, Auto loaders like the SLP offer Quicker follow-up shots, reduced recoil, AND more reliability in a high-stress situation due to the simplicity of the action. (simply point and pull the trigger). Do a google search on "short stroke" and "home defense" and you'll see what I mean about the Achilles' heel of the pump shotgun.
A good auto-loader shotgun is to a Glock as a pump is to a single-action revolver. (And by single action, I mean that you have to cock the hammer for every shot).
While you may be able to pump a shotgun quickly and reliably when hunting birds, it may be a very different story when three thugs are shooting back at you. If you short stroke the pump shotgun (meaning you don't pull all the way back when you pump), not only will you not chamber the next round, but you may very likely jam the weapon, rendering it useless.
1) This is one shortcoming with the 1911 45 ACP compared with the Glock -- the 1911 is a wonderful gun at the range when you can flick the safety on and off and can use the light trigger pull.
But I have to wonder if someone would remember to flick the safety off when hit with a sudden ambush.
Even with training.
When hit with sudden shock and fear, you may want to grab something simple like the old Kodak camera commercial: "Just point and shoot".
Don, you sound like someone who doesn't handle 1911's much.
Anyone who does so develops the muscle-memory to only grasp the pistol with their thumb riding on top of the safety.
Once one trains this way, it's essentially impossible to hold the gun tightly without pressing the safety down/off.
The whole question is whether the natural, instinctive pointing and short trigger stroke of the 1911 would facilitate hits under the terrifying conditions and chaos of combat vs. misses with the Glock due to its less instinctive pointing and more challenging trigger. The Glock requires a whole lot more training to grip it exactly the same way each and every time.
The answer to this question is unknown, and probably varies person-to-person. You pay your money and take your chances.
I agree with David. Practice enuf with a chain saw and you could probably use it.
Steve
David and Anonymous,
This criticism of the 1911 is a valid one and is always answered by 1911 diehards as a training issue.
If you hang around competitive shooting very long you will see people flub the safety disengagement. It happens under just the pressure of competition which is NOTHING like the real thing.
I like the 1911 as much as anyone, but all my practical defensive handguns are simple point and click devices to minimize potential "issues."
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