Remember when I said that there are no absolutes to tactics and that tactics are an art and not a science? Remember when I promised in the introduction that you would see this again? There are times when you may wish to get closer to cover than the six-foot standoff distance. This is when your adversary is shooting at you from above, such as from a second-story window. If you move too far from your cover, he will be able to bypass your cover by virtue of his higher position and shoot down into your position. Yes, by moving closer you may run a greater risk of ricochets, but you run a greater risk of getting shot outright the other way. Additionally, if you are engaging multiple adversaries at different points, you must be cognizant of the possibility that they may pinpoint you and attempt to flank your position. So note your adversary's location and stay alert.
When you are looking around cover in a search or shooting around it, expose as little of yourself as possible. Use a roll-out technique so that the only things exposed to the potential danger or the known hostile are your gun muzzle and your eye. Avoid changing hands to shoot from the support side. Remember, the reason you are rolling out with your pistol is to shoot and stop the so-and-so who is shooting at you. I know very few men who even approach their dominant-side accuracy when shooting from the support side. The purpose of shooting is to hit. To roll out to the support side, turn your weapon 90 degrees to the support side so that it is held in a sideways position. Now you can roll out with much less exposure than if you were holding the weapon in a standard position.
Shooting around cover is preferable to shooting over cover. Here a student rolls out around cover only enough to be able to fire at the target. Notice his distance from the cover itself.
Do not use the cover to "brace" your shooting platform unless the target/threat is a great distance away.The target in this photo is barely visible 85 meters away.
Taking a position this close to the cover may allow ricochets to skip right into you.
A better technique is to stay at least six feet away from the cover you select. Sometimes this may not be possible, but it is always preferable.
The architecture did not allow this operator to increase his distance from his cover, but notice how he exposes only enough to be able to see and shoot. Notice also the rolled-over position of his pistol.This is much more preferable to the old method of switching hands.
The instant you clear your cover, you must be able to shoot.
Learn different shooting positions that will allow you to fully use your cover. Here a tactics student perfects his kneeling position.
Cover and concealment are very useful tools to have and often will become crucial factors in the future of your breathing activities. Study them hard and keep your bases… well, covered!
The only available cover is low, so this shooter must lower his firing platform to conform to the available cover. (Photo courtesy of ChuckTaylor.)
What is this shooter using, cover or concealment? If it does not stop bullets, it is not cover!
NINE
REDUCED-LIGHT
OPERATIONS
Night brings our troubles to the light, rather than banishes them.
A great percentage of conflicts in urban settings occur after the sun goes down. Although most urban areas in the United States are always lighted to one degree or another, learning to manage low-light tactics should be on everyone's must-do list.
The problem in reduced-light environments is identifying targets. If you can see well enough to recognize an attack, you do not need any sight enhancements to solve the problem. In such cases, you simply shoot as you do in the daytime. When the daylight or ambient light begins to dissipate enough that your weapon's sights begin to blend into the background, as well as on the target, you must rely on the inherent reflexive muscle memory of your Weaver stance. This is the level of reduced light where the popular radioactive tritium sights are at their best.
Almost everyone these days has some form of tritium sight affixed to his weapon, whether it is a pistol or a submachine gun. These sights are useful to a certain degree, particularly during that brief time between last light and full-blown night. This is when there is still enough light to see an adversary, but there is also enough darkness that distinguishing your sights from the target mass is virtually impossible. Of these sights, I have found that the three-dot variety serves best for rapid alignment on targets. Some operatives do not have the option of tritium sights because of budgetary or political reasons. Don't laugh. Once when I was training a group of California police officers in the techniques of low-light shooting, two officers from a reasonably progressive department told me, in complete seriousness, that they were not authorized to install "radioactive night sights" on their weapons because their city had been declared a nuclear-free zone! One disadvantage with tritium sights is that they stand out very brightly in the dark and may give away your position.
Operating in extreme low-light environments requires the use of artificial light All weapons that are expected to see low-light action (such as this Smith 8 Wesson pistol) can be equipped with dedicated-light mounts.
Low-light operations primarily require target identification. If there is enougl ambient light to see a target you may do without artificial light.
Colt 1911 pistol with Sure-Fire dedicated-light mount. (Photo courtesy of Laser Products.)
Shotgun dedicated-light mount on a Benelli Super 90.
New-generation pistol dedicated-light mount on a Smith & Wesson Sigma pistol. (Photo Courtesy of Laser Products.)
New mount for Heckler & Koch's USP series pistol. Laser Product's mount is substantially more robust than the factory-issued unit. (Photo courtesy of Laser Products.)
Even rifles can benefit from the addition of a white light unit if they are intended for close-quarters use. (Photo courtesy of Laser Products.)
Beyond this light level, a flashlight of some sort is essential to locate and identity your target. There are many types of lights on the market these days that are as bright as anyone will ever need for an interior or exterior search. Keep them simple. You do not need a light with colored lenses, multiple buttons and switches, or bells and whistles. A simple bright, pressure-switchoperated, focused-beam light is all that's required. A good rule of thumb is to get a light as small and as bright as you can find. (For a source guide on lights, check the appendix of this book.)
There are many methods for incorporating a flashlight and a firearm. The ones I've found to work best arc the highly specialized integral weapon mounts most often found on SWAT weapons. However, although an entry team can cart these lights around on their weapons, the street cop or private citizen will generally not want to do so. Their option is to use one of the bright compact flashlights in conjunction with a modified shooting grip on the weapon.
When using a pistol, the flashlight technique (conceived by Mike Harries) works best. For those using long guns, the compact flashlight can be adjusted for sensitivity and held alongside grip the weapon's fore-end. Held in this way, it is activated by pressure. (For a more detailed discussion on this subject, study the appropriate chapters in my previous books, Tactical Pistol and Tactical Shotgun.)