Anybody else practice failure to stop drills?

Rob-Black99RT · Post by **Rob-Black99RT** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 11:48 am

Just wondering if anybody else practices failure to stop drills... At my CHL training around two years ago the instructor told us to simply shoot COM and continue to shoot COM until the threat stopped. During a break I told him about bad guys wearing armor, being on drugs, etc... which all would cause a failure to stop, and again, he said to just shoot them in the chest. I'm not sure if that is just the "NRA line" or what, but to me, it was setting a CHL holder up to get killed because doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity... If I shoot two times in a spot and don't get the desired reaction, two more there likely isn't going to do a darn thing either...

That said, I practice failure to stop drills with two to the chest immediately followed by two to the face. It's just the default... If I *have* to shoot, 4 will be delivered each and every time. Anybody else do something like this?

The reason two are sent to the face/head is that by the time you are performing a head shot the bad guy is likely VERY close to you and you HAVE to stop him. Missing is a possibility, but so is putting a round into his jaw or just grazing him which wouldn't stop a guy on drugs and intent on doing you harm. One of the two *should* stop the guy with a good hit to his CNS, which *should* keep me from getting cut, clubbed, punched, knocked down, etc if you side-step as he gets close...

So... anybody else have any failure to stop drills/techniques they use?

GWC · Post by **GWC** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 12:32 pm

Post by **TunnelRat** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 12:41 pm

Jeff Cooper wrote: As time passes we discover that there are a good many readers who have not been to school and who are puzzled by our reference to "The Mozambique Drill."

I added The Mozambique Drill to the modern doctrine after hearing of an experience of a student of mine up in Mozambique when that country was abandoned. My friend was involved in the fighting that took place around the airport of Laurenco Marquez. At one point, Mike turned a corner was confronted by a terrorist carrying an AK47. The man was advancing toward him at a walk at a range of perhaps 10 paces. Mike, who was a good shot, came up with his P35 and planted two satisfactory hits, one on each side of the wishbone. He expected his adversary to drop, but nothing happened, and the man continued to close the range. At this point, our boy quite sensibly opted to go for the head and tried to do so, but he was a little bit upset by this time and mashed slightly on the trigger, catching the terrorist precisely between the collar bones and severing his spinal cord. This stopped the fight.

Upon analysis, it seemed to me that the pistolero should be accustomed to the idea of placing two shots amidships as fast as he can and then being prepared to change his point of aim if this achieves no results. Two shots amidships can be placed very quickly and very reliably and they will nearly always stop the fight providing a major-caliber pistol is used and the subject is not wearing body armor.

However, simply chanting "two in the body, one in the head" oversimplifies matters, since it takes considerably longer to be absolutely sure of a head shot than it does to be quite sure of two shots in the thorax. The problem for the shooter is to change his pace, going just as fast as he can with his first pair, then, pausing to observe results or lack thereof, he must slow down and shoot precisely. This is not easy to do. The beginner tends to fire all three shots at the same speed, which is either too slow for the body shots or too fast for the head shot. This change of pace calls for concentration and coordination which can only be developed through practice.

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 12:41 pm

I often run the mozambique drill in my classes.

Edited to add: dangit, Tom beat me by mere seconds!

Rob-Black99RT · Post by **Rob-Black99RT** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 1:02 pm

Daniel wrote:I often run the mozambique drill in my classes.

Edited to add: dangit, Tom beat me by mere seconds!

Glad somebody's training folks in it. I know neither my or my wife's CHL classes stated anything about failure to stop drills or what to do when the bad guy doesn't do the "hollywood stop" when he's shot and fall backwards when hit by any/all calibers.

The two Center Axis Relock courses I've had always made two to the body/two to the head as part of just the way it operates. There is no "stop and assess after the first two"... it just assumes there will be a failure to stop since you're dealing with inferior ballistics in a pistol and after the second body shot you simply move up for the head/CNS shots. Of course, if the head isn't there and he's on his way down, then the second pair are not needed since the bad guy's stopping, but if it's there, hit it twice to keep him from hurting/killing you.

It's also handy that you can do the CAR training drills with a rifle/carbine or shotgun, too... A pair of 00 to the chest plus even one to the head of a bad guy trying to get you in your home would definitely keep him away from you.

Mad Duck · Post by **Mad Duck** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 7:07 pm

We call it the "Mark Wilson Drill" after the Texas CC holder who had an encounter with a guy & an AK who was wearing a BP vest & a flak jacket.
Sadly Mark lost, I admire his courage, but not his training.
two CM then one to the pumpkin

Redhorse · Post by **Redhorse** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:46 pm

Hey...I thought it was two in the head and save the third one for the next target...

One thing that shooting in pistol matches will do for you. The IDPA style scenario shoots help drive that home for ya. Two in the chest and one in the head, while running through a staged scenario, engaging multiple targets, reloading, and not shooting the safety targets (civilians).

ArcherAce · Post by **ArcherAce** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:00 am

This months issue of American Handgunner has an article called 100 Rounds. It tells what drills you should perfom when you have 100 rounds to practice with. I figured there was more to practicing then just burning though a box of ammo, and this info was just what I was looking for. I typed up the article, printed it out, and took the "cliffsnotes" version with me to the range.

One of the drills is similar to the Mozambique Drill. The author suggests that you stack two paper plates on top of each other, and a 3x5 index card just above the top plate. The plates represent the pelvic area, and center mass. The 3x5 index card is the head.

The author then suggests you shoot two on center plate and one on the card twice. Shoot three on the center plate and one on the card twice. Shoot two on the center plate, two on the lower plate, and one on the card once.

Like Mr. Cooper, he suggest varying the cadence of your shots.

dan_sayers · Post by **dan_sayers** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:24 am

By typed it up, you mean in a text file on your PC that would make it easy to post here, eh?

Sounds great. I was mostly burning through ammo before and am finally to a point where practicing this and that is my aim. Or should I say agenda? Aim was a part of it all along

Post by **TunnelRat** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 11:43 pm

dan_sayers wrote:By typed it up, you mean in a text file on your PC that would make it easy to post here, eh?

Or maybe (in order to avoid copyright issues) you could PM it to some interested parties for personal use...?

Put me down with Dan as an interested party...

ArcherAce · Post by **ArcherAce** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 12:17 am

tommcnaughton wrote: Or maybe (in order to avoid copyright issues) you could PM it to some interested parties for personal use...?

Put me down with Dan as an interested party...

Dan and I just discussed this.

PM sent, Tom.

rouger10 · Post by **rouger10** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:27 am

ArcherAce wrote:
tommcnaughton wrote: Or maybe (in order to avoid copyright issues) you could PM it to some interested parties for personal use...?

Put me down with Dan as an interested party...
Dan and I just discussed this.

PM sent, Tom.

I would also be an interested party, if you don't mind.

Roger

ArcherAce · Post by **ArcherAce** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:40 am

PM sent, rouger10.

If anyone else wants this, pm me and I'll pm my notes back to you.

mtbrass · Post by **mtbrass** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:50 am

The article is in the Jan/Feb 2006 issue of the American Handgunner and is in the column "Reality Check" and written by the incomparable Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch. Very good stuff, and very good practice for novices and experienced alike. I use this, or a variation, in my classes as well as my own practice.
It may be available online, but I've not checked.

Brian D. · Post by **Brian D.** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:33 pm

I do a few failure-to-stop drills at almost every practice session. There are certainly many other good things in that list of Mr. Smith's, all of which you can practice by yourself.

There are some good "surprise" drills that you need a shooting partner for at the range though, too. Don't ignore those!