Now, there are two other positions that need discussion. These are positions you will work from when on the range, but also positions you may need to assume before, during, or after an actual confrontation. These are called “ready” positions
The Low Ready Position—It may become apparent during presentation that the need to shoot is not immediate. If so, once a two-handed grip has been established, the ready position can be assumed. With the low ready position, you have a two-handed grip and the handgun is orientated in the direction of the threat, but the muzzle is at about a 45-degree angle, ideally pointing at the ground somewhere between you and the threat or potential threat. In the low ready position, the finger is held straight and parallel with the barrel, outside the trigger guard. This is a gun-out position you might use when moving and when expecting a threat to appear (or when practicing on the range).
The High Ready Position—The high ready position differs from the low ready position in that the handgun is on target but held just low enough that the target can be seen clearly. Without a laser, the sights should be aligned to point at the pelvic area of your attacker and your eyes should be intently watching for a visual clue that it is time to shoot. Given that clue and pelvic area sight alignment, you can pull the trigger immediately or raise the handgun for a center mass shot and then fire. If your sights are on the target, your finger is on the trigger. However, just because you are in the high ready position does not mean your finger must be on the trigger. Your finger being on the trigger is dependent on your sights being on a target. Depending on the circumstances, you might actually be moving in this position or you might be waiting behind cover for an opportunity.
From the standpoint of the modern, laser-equipped handgun, the high ready position involves lowering the handgun just enough so that the full threat can be seen over the handgun. However, the laser sight remains center mass so that, if necessary, you can engage without having to reacquire the sights.
When should the high ready position be used? Immediately after engagement, when you are attempting to assess the situation, or immediately prior to shooting an attacker you may have been holding at gunpoint, or one who is possibly on the brink of crossing the line that would allow the use of deadly force.
Another ready position tracks back to position three. As soon as the handgun is rotated towards the target and the laser is seen on the target/threat, you have established the laser-ready position. In this position, you can engage a threat as needed without any further movement.
As a side note, the question that always surfaces is, “When should/can my finger be on the trigger?” The answer is simple: anytime you have confirmation your sights are on target.
Ninety-nine times out of 100, you should never be in a hurry to put your handgun back in your holster. When you holster your handgun, you are giving up a large amount of control over any situation. So take your time returning the handgun to its resting place, not only to ensure you remain in control of a bad situation, but because one of the most common instances in which someone shoots themselves is when they try to holster in too much of a hurry.
When you have decided it is time to holster, you should probably be in a ready position; the situation has been assessed, ammunition concerns have been tended to, and no threat currently exists. At that time—with your finger out of the trigger guard and extended parallel to the barrel—you can engage the safety and move in reverse through positions three, two, and one.
The flash sight picture is exactly what it says. It is nothing more than a visual recognition that it is the correct time to fire the handgun. What most shooters do not understand is that to get vital zone hits at defensive handgun ranges, it is not necessary to perfectly align the sights on the exact spot you want to hit.
This will be further discussed in the chapter on handgun sights, but consider the notion that a flash sight picture is nothing more than a visual indication it is time to pull the trigger. When you master the secret, you will better understand how what you are essentially doing is pulling the trigger of your handgun with your eyes.
Cooper taught and believed in the surprise break when pulling the trigger. In other words, he felt you should be surprised when the handgun fired. This is indeed, and almost without question, the best way to learn the secret. If you anticipate when the trigger will break (causing the gun to fire), you will almost, without fail, flinch or jerk the handgun off target.
Ideally, with the surprise break, you ever increase the pressure on the trigger until it breaks, firing the gun at a moment during which you were expecting the bang, but did not know exactly when it was coming. Cooper called it a “compressed surprise break,” and the more difficult the shot, the less the break was compressed, meaning the smaller the target and/or the longer the distance to that target, the longer the time between when you start applying pressure to the trigger and when the shot should break.
When it comes to teaching a new shooter or a shooter with accuracy problems, the surprise break is the only method to teach. Actually, it is the best method to teach regardless the student, but, somewhat ironically, once a student has mastered the secret, they should never be surprised when their handgun fires. You do not want to set before a jury and have to admit you were surprised your gun fired and mortally wounded the man who was attacking you. You don’t want to explain how you had time to gradually apply ever increasing amounts of pressure to the trigger until the gun fired and that you were surprised when it did. No. Someone who has mastered the secret by conducting the 3,000 to 5,000 repetitions it takes to get there should know exactly when their handgun will fire, and they need to be able to say, “At this precise moment I knew I had to shoot to save my life, and that’s the exact time I pulled the trigger.”
Learn with the surprise break, but learn well enough you don’t need to use it. This may seem to be in direct contradiction to the Modern Technique, when it is actually no different than the proper execution of handgun presentation. Handgun presentation has five distinct steps, and entwined in those steps are various points where decisions must be made. However, when a shooter properly executes the presentation of his handgun, it is with one fluid motion. It is a feat that can be accomplished only after thousands of correct performances.
The difference between Cooper’s compressed surprise break and knowing the exact moment when your handgun will fire is no different. After thousands of correct compressed surprise breaks, you will indeed know when your handgun will fire — and even then there will be situations and conditions that require you to rely on that compressed surprise break to ensure you hit the target.
Cooper’s idea of a semi-automatic pistol in a large caliber was a 1911 in .45 ACP. He did not appreciate the 9mm Luger and figured the .45 was twice as effective. Gunsite currently defines Cooper’s semi-automatic pistol in a large caliber as a “heavy-duty pistol,” meaning “the pistol must be sufficiently robust and powerful to hold up in a combat environment and stop a fight.” This could be any number of modern and even not so modern handguns. Cooper’s prime suspect was the 1911, a gun that has been with us for 100 years and is still a viable candidate. So are many, many other handguns.