Seven points on Handgun Combat

We’ve looked at melee combat, and now its time to look at firearms. Since that is a broad subject we’ll break it down into categories, and today we’ll discuss handguns.

As to my credentials, I started shooting at the age of four (LBJ was President back then), got my first handgun (a .22 revolver) at age 12, and have been in law enforcement since 1980. I own a wide variety of handguns, and have shot expert on more range types than I can remember. I’ve also used a handgun in lethal encounters. I am by no means an authority, but I am firmly convinced that I have a solid background. More importantly, I have and will again argue for hours on any one of a wide variety of shooting topics, such as the best handgun caliber (.45 ACP) or handgun (Colt M1911A1 or its true copies) or what sort of handgun deviants and wife-beaters carry (any Smith & Wesson automatic, or any S&W made after the 2000 agreement).

Since zombie fiction tends to go heavy on firearms, and not every writer has the opportunity to train with the weapons, here’s some points to keep in mind when writing on the topic (Remember: .45 ACP is what God intended us to shoot things with.)

 

#1: Don’t trust Hollywood

While the movies have gotten much better over the years, a shooter needs a solid shooting stance to hit anything, and all pistols have a very limited capacity. 17 sounds like a lot of rounds until someone is trying to part your hair with an axe after spending three days ingesting meth and you’re an atheist carrying a 9mm.

Turning a handgun on its side looks kewl if you are making a rap video, but a century of sight design and recoil-to-grip ratios are predicated upon holding the handgun properly. (Don’t tell the wanna-be gangstas that, though; there’s plenty of police officers, myself included, who owe their lives to that sort of shooting technique)

 

#2: The 21 foot rule

This is the rule that says if your handgun is holstered and a subject armed with a melee weapon is within 21’, the odds of victory rest with the melee weapon. It is real and well established in lab tests, training sessions, and real-life encounters. This is especially important for authors of zombie fiction to keep in mind.

So how do you circumvent this rule? You put barriers between you and potential attackers, unholster at the first sign of trouble, practice a fast draw, practice drawing and shooting while backing up, and demand to see a subject’s hands at all times.

This is an easy one to test, BYW. Give a friend a chunk of Styrofoam or Nerf weapon, etc, while you tuck a squirt gun into your waistband tight enough so you can walk and run without it jarring loose (simulates a holster). Measure off 21 feet and test it. If the guy with the melee weapon is motivated, he’ll win three out of four times. Pick someone to whom you owe money.

 

#3: Human beings are really tough

Especially if they are amped up on stimulants, extreme emotions, or are zombies. Unlike Hollywood people don’t often drop when struck by a bullet, especially if they have one of the above conditions. Remember the end scene in Scarface? That’s what snorting uncut cocaine will let you sustain. Sure, he would have died from the chemicals in his system, but while he was alive he was effectively immune to shock and its fist cousin, blood loss.

Kinetic impact is your most reliable method in surviving a human-on-human (or human-zombie) encounter. In the scenario noted in #1 the atheist can, and in real life has, send a dozen or more 9mm rounds zipping through the target’s torso, inflicting what will eventually be mortal wounds which do not effectively stop the aggressor because the light-weight high-velocity rounds are just passing straight through. Whereas the pious shooter with a .45 ACP will hit the target with several 230 grain hollow-points traveling at not much about the sound barrier. Upon impact the low speed coupled with the mass of the bullet (just at a quarter-ounce) and foot-pounds of energy generated by the heavy powder charge will cause the bullet to expand to roughly 160% of its initial size which creating hydrostatic shock. HS is the result of blunt trauma (the foot-pounds of energy behind the bullet) being introduced inside a torso made up of organs and tissue that are a high percentage of fluid. HS can rupture organs, knot muscle fibers, and even throw a recipient into cardiac arrest, all in addition to the physical effects of a misshaped metal disk tearing a passage through the body.

Even so, said axe-wielding meth enthusiast will still generally need more than one to fully disable.

 

#4: Its life or death

I habitually shoot in the top 95% on ranges and shooting courses. In actual combat conditions I’m more likely to hit 50%, and the average police office hits 15-20% (criminals go 10-15%) of the time. The simple fact is that in real life situations your accuracy will suck. Even great shooters do so-so, and novices spray and pray.

If you want to write something that resembles realism keep this in mind. There are few things in life more stressful, exhilarating, and chaotic than combat, and that is with the ‘can I shoot a human being’ issues set aside. Don’t have your hero moving like a gazelle, dropping a bad guy or zombie with each shot, and seeing everything that is going on. I don’t care if he is an ex-SEAL, Spec Ops, or whatever stereotype you’re using: those guys miss all the time. The difference training makes does not mean that they don’t struggle to reload, lose count of their rounds, miss, or trip while moving, it means that they have practiced enough so that they know how to react and continue with the mission when a mishap occurs, while a novice panics and gets killed.

The key to surviving a firefight is not an absence of mistakes, but the ability to cope with mistakes. In a firefight emotion kills as much as anything. The participant with the greatest focus generally will win. Zombies and chemically amped subjects thus have a tremendous advantage.

 

#5: Get behind stuff

Unlike long guns (rifles or shotguns) a handgun is not easy to shoot accurately. You have no stock to brace against your shoulder, you have a short barrel, and recoil is a much greater issue; its pretty unlikely you can reliably hit anything beyond 75 feet. The only advantage to a handgun is that you can carry it easily, and its handy in tight quarters. If you get a choice pick a long gun every time, but often there isn’t a choice.

Given that accuracy is hard to come by, the first issue in a fight in which you are stuck with a handgun is to put something between you and your attacker. Concealment is defined as anything that hides you from the enemy’s vision but which will not stop a bullet; for example a large cardboard box, a cloud of smoke, a sheet of tin. Cover is a barrier which will likely stop or deflect a bullet, such as a cinderblock wall, the engine on a motor vehicle, or a large fat person.

Never discount the motivation factor of incoming fire-lying behind a curb is cover providing you’re willing really hug the asphalt. A non-weightlifter can make pretty solid use out of a fire hydrant.

Cover is not the end-all to a fight because you have to expose yourself to shoot back, and you generally cannot see through it.

 

#6: The three F’s

The US Army’s mantra of winning a firefight is fix ‘em, flank ‘em, finish ‘em, and its very true. ‘Fixing them’ means to achieve fire superiority, to put out so many aimed rounds that the enemy is forced to take cover (see #5) and remain behind it (‘pinned’).

Flanking means that while one shooter or detachment is pinning or fixing the enemy a second is circling to the left or right into order to reach a position from which the enemy’s cover is no longer of value. Say the enemy is pinned behind a steel Dumpster; a flanking element moves to a position where they can see behind the Dumpster.

Finish them means just that: end them as combatants.

 

#7 Vision and movement trumps all

Another thing that separates trained or veteran from novices is the ability to process data. While a firefight is Chaos personified, a novice can easily develop sensory overload and get ‘tunnel vision’ where they focus on one thing, allowing the enemy to flank them (See #6) and finish them easily. Cover is another issue because it is seductive-its easy to hunker down and hide, forgetting that the bad guys can be flanking you.

So a trained individual is like a fighter pilot, always checking to the sides and rear, and never getting too attached to a particular piece of cover. If the enemy is pinning you down, try to retreat before the enemy’s flanking units can get into position, and so forth.

But above all be constantly aware of your surroundings and be ready to move to prevent from falling to the three F’s (see #6).

 

That is a small look at a large body of material, but of you’re a writer with a minimum of weapon experience these details should give you some descriptive text that will please your educated readers.

And remember, if you don’t have access to real guns, look at paintball markers or the more affordable Nerf weapons and get out there to put these to the test. Sure, people may look askance at a grown man or woman shooting bits of foam at other adults or children, no one said writing was going to be easy.