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1)Concentrating on rifle skills instead of mastering the handgun you can carry every day. “But I can´t hit the broad side of a barn with a handgun”. Then practice more! Whatever happens, chances are you won´t have the time to go get your rifle when you need a weapon. At the very least don’t count on having the time to do so. Now carrying every day and begin proficient, that’s how at least you’ll be armed when you need it the most.
2) Lack of firearms training and ignoring the local laws (because there will be no law after SHTF, WROL, remember?). Expecting to rise to the occasion is foolish, you wont gain the skill you never developed by magic and target shooting, hunting, skeet, plinking or whatever other activity you do that involves firearms DOES NOT count for defensive shooting training. Ignoring the laws may not kill you but it can land you in jail for most of your adult life. Know when and in what circumstances it is legal for you to use your firearm. That’s how you learn what happens if you “shoot to wound” or what happens if you shoot criminals on the sidewalk and “drag them inside” like its sometimes adviced by self-claimed experts. Knowing the law may mean the difference between rotting in jail or not. As things get worse, these things will actually happen more often, soon enough the odds will be that it may happen to you too.
3) Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. Don’t ever underestimate the lethality of a knife. Most fights occur within zero and seven yards, and within that range chances are you will get cut. If you lack the basic training and plan on improvising, you will most likely get killed by a determined attacker.
4) Throwing stuff at armed robbers. I read this one in a survival manual and didn’t know if I should have cried or laughed. This expert believed that simply showing hostility of some kind was enough to send bad guys away. The truth is that an excited criminal, probably high on drugs and full of hatred towards you, will shoot you if you do something like that in such a dangerous moment. Either know what to do, have the weapons for it and fight like you´re supposed to given the situation or don’t, but acting like a hysterical brat will do little to increase your survival rate.
5)Houses pretending to be abandoned and/or empty. Make it look as if there’s nothing worth stealing, use blinds or shutters so that no one knows there’s people inside. How many times have you heard or read these nuggets of wisdom? Truth is that a house with no people inside is a temptation and favorite target of any criminal. Even good people during desperate times may try to take shelter in an abandoned house, maybe see if there’s something they can use. You want your place to look clearly occupied, and spotlights places around the perimeter so as to make it clear you´re ready to defend yourself is even better.
6)Distance equals safety. It doesn’t. Its just a false sense of security and the only reason nothing may have happened to you yet is because no one ever tried to get to you. Its even easier to attack a house that is isolated than pulling off a home invasion with neighbors near by. Isolation and distance doesn’t mean you’re too far away from anything. If you go t there, so can others.
7)Bug out! Where? How long will it take? Why abandon a defendable, safe, stocked position? You better have a reason for it. Don’t just run like a fool at the first sign of trouble because someone told you to do so. 99% of the time you’re better off staying put. If you have to leave, have a place to go to. Its not just a matter of abandoning your current location. Even if you have a bug out location, if it has been left empty chances are that during the disaster someone may have broken into, stolen what was of use, or even worse, decided to take for themselves that nice place you so conveniently left ready in case there was trouble. If you cant leave the place with people watching over it, then its better to count on friends and family members and make arrangements ahead of time so that there’s no surprises.
8)Gear and Supplies, but no money for emergencies, medical bills, medicines, no financial preps for the future and ending up in the poor house. Certain experts will say money will become useless after the “ballon goes up”, the same ballon many of them have been predicting for almost half a century. You don’t need to worry about the system because it will utterly fail, money is just paper with pictures and “…. After SHTF”, people will barter and trade for whatever it is they need. That’s a great way to end up broke once you get old, suffer some injury and have to face medical bills or be in desperate need of a real investment that creates actual income flow.
9)Running and jumping across jungles, forests, and freaking volcanos, Baer Grylls style. You don’t run, jump and dash through places you don’t know, hang over cliffs with a vine or shrub that just happened to be there. Do that for real in a forest or jungle and you’ll break a leg or neck in a matter of minutes. Jumping your way across land covered in lava that may or may not give under your weight, not to mention melt away your shoes, is a ticket to an excruciatingly painful death.
10)Going barefoot. 95% of the survival TV “advice” is dangerous. Its about having a minimum rating, not teaching you true survival skills. People actually watching it and having fun is the real priority for them. When you see a guy going barefoot just know that’s short of actually cutting off your own fingers or pocking an eye out with a stick on purpose, its one of the best ways to cripple yourself, limit your possibilities and endanger you basic mobility. If there’s debris, glass, and sharp objects after a disaster or terrorist attack you’re doomed. If you have to deal with snow and cold weather, cut yourself in the city and risk an infection, its such a bad idea for so many reasons and has no benefit whatsoever.
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FerFAL
17 comments:
Where did you even find these tips. I can't believe anybody would think these thing. Thanks for the post, it was a fun read!
Most of your advice is good, but you can't honestly believe that plinking, hunting, etc. does not help with defensive skills.
I had been handling guns, target shooting, etc. for years before my first defensive shooting class, and my skills were much better for it.
Many of the best shooters in the military started their training by hunting in their childhood and teens.
Any generic tip applied without careful consideration beforehand is just a disaster waiting to happen. For example, 1) can conflict with 2) depending on location, criminal record of the individual, etc.
9) Once I did run in an unfamiliar forest. I had unknowingly disturbed a hornets' nest and I ran away as soon as I was attacked. In such a case of clear danger, running away is the proper act to avoid being stung dozens of times.
Walking around bearfoot can be good; it is a way to deal with athlete's foot. Having a suitible place to do it is critical; such places are limited in number and also by season. Also it requires spending more time and care to avoid getting hurt than walking about in shoes.
11) Believing you can live off the land like a pre-18th century native. While there are a handful of places in the world where a lone "survivor" might succeed at this in most places it is unlikely to impossible. The food is either too seasonal, too sparse or the weather is too unfriendly.
"Most of your advice is good, but you can't honestly believe that plinking, hunting, etc. does not help with defensive skills."
No it doesnt, one is no replacement for the other. I know of world class hunters (as in having unted everything in every continent) that dont know the first tihng about defensive shooting. PLinking helps have fun, you cna practice a bit of trigger control and such, but it does not mena you know even the basics of defesnive shooting.
That's why the people you mention GET training in the military. Maybe they are better shooters than those that never shot a gun before, but its in the military were they will learn how to fight.
FerFAL
On FerFAL's previous post: He is correct. Defensive shooting is about shooting and FIGHTING, not about target shooting and hunting. Most people have to learn how to fight these days.
"but its in the military were they will learn how to fight"
Good point, but you talk about fighting like it is a single, separate skill from many others. Fighting with guns involves being completely comfortable with your gun - thousands of rounds at the range or plinking do that. Gun fights involve rapid action, blood, and loud noise. Hunting can teach you that. Gun fights involve moving targets. Skeet shooting can teach you that.
A boxer knows footwork, endurance, and how to take a hit and keep going. But a seasoned hunter, clay shooter, or plinker may often have the advantage in a gun fight.
I'm not downplaying defensive shooting schools, though there are probably more bad ones than good ones out there. I'm simply pointing out the common sense idea that years of gun handling in any area will help in a gun fight.
Don't take this the wrong way, but THANK YOU for returning to the topic we come here to read about. (Enough of the politics junk!)
At the most basic level, defensive shooting is drawing your carry pistol from concealment very quickly on a target. If you hunt or target shoot doing the above then a good argument could be made that those skills will serve you in a defensive encounter.
But of course few people do this cause it's difficult and dangerous. Most shooting ranges don't allow drawing from the holster, let alone a concealed holster cause people shoot themselves accidentally. Hunting with your carry pistol and drawing from concealment the instant you see your prey, sounds very dangerous as well as very difficult. This difficulty of performing the most basic aspect of defensive shooting at a comparatively low level of stress is why it's a different set of skills.
Most sport fighting not being relevant to real life fighting Ferfal has talked about before. (primary issue being you are facing multiple armed opponents with no referee)
I know Army Basic was easy for me, because I was used to walking for miles, barefoot, used to physical activity, poor food (I thought Army food was great and it was!) and I'd had a BB gun when I was 12, so had a good basic feel for weapons. Army grenades were a lot more impressive than the homemade firecracker ones I made when I was 9, too!
Walking around barefoot in areas where it's SAFE is good training, but shoes were invented for a reason.
For gun training, perhaps a mix of firearm familiarization starting in childhood, hunting, plinking, airsoft and paintball play, and perhaps some participation in IDPA-type matches, are good things.
Having been through a national economic SHTF event in another country what caught us out was not violence, but not having the money to pay for the power bill and children's school fees and uniforms. Life goes on even when the SHTF and more and more people become unemployed (including you). The violence never occurred in our country, the money supply never totally crunched and life went on with very little money. But we still had to look good to apply for the few jobs out there. We still had utility bills and mortgages to pay. Middle class people still need their washing machines and stoves to work. We weren't used to walking long distances with heavy bags.
There can be a long slow decline into and through a SHTF while bills have to be paid. So I recommend getting finances in order and learn how to live VERY frugally as a top priority. Make sure you have alternatives to electrical power for basic household services especially heating if you live where it gets cold.
! AWESOME !
! AMAZING !
! Best video you ever did !
The #10 tip about not going barefoot is good. We are more stupid than people 5000 years ago. Even the Ice Man found in the Alps after 5000 years had handmade woven footwear to protect even in near stoneage times. Other poor peasants found preserved in bogs 1000 years old had shoes. I laugh when people joke they are smarter than a cave man.
Interesting post. Many make sense.
Going barefoot...that guy is nuts. I have learned some stuff from his partner, the former Army ranger, though not urban warfare.
Along with some others, I disagree with your perspective that plinking and hunting aren't good preps for TSHTF. Any number of Medals of Honor winners in the U.S. military developed their skills before they enlisted. They are not exactly similar to those required for rapid self defense shooting in urban areas but good gun handling skills and marksmanship are better than nothing.
You do what you can based on what you can afford and what is available.
Steve
A man who lived a war (Bosnia) said me: Sometimes the bad guys surround your city, so you can't go away to your retreat. Remember it before to put all your money and supplies in a survival retreat five hours away from your house...
Denis W.
It's pretty funny that paintball shooting and water pistol fighting are likely more relevant to defensive shooting than hunting and target shooting.
'11) Believing you can live off the land like a pre-18th century native. While there are a handful of places in the world where a lone "survivor" might succeed at this in most places it is unlikely to impossible. The food is either too seasonal, too sparse or the weather is too unfriendly.' - There is a reason while most hunter-gatherer cultures were nomadic or semi-nomadic. Also why they were always kicked off the most pristine lands by better organized and equipped agricultural civilizations.
And agriculture, even on the tech level of the ancients(never mind modern stuff like imported pests and diseases only treatable by chemicals) is a group effort.
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