Friday, November 28, 2008

Left Handed

  Just occurred to me that I shot this deer left handed.  The branch I was sitting on only allows for left hand shots to his position.  I practice a bit both ways but hadn't thought about it before.  I do notice: THIS would be a left-handed shot.  THAT would be a right handed shot.   The rifle is in my lap while hunting bucks.  Does: more relaxed.   You don't get a lot of reaching time when a buck shows.  

Update: In comments in the debate about the best tactical training I always say:  Hunt deer.  Kill something.  Then talk to me about SOB vs inside-the-pants.  Jim Cirillo, the NYPD stakeout and shootout specialist said he picked his guys on three criteria:  Shoot competition.  Reload ammo.  Hunt big game. 

Update:  Here's the link to Amazon and Cirillo's first book.  I'd never shoot another human being but if you are of the defensive mindset it's good to know how from someone who did it a LOT.  Cirillo probably shot more people in face-to-face gunfights than anyone else in American history.

Update III: Still shaking my head over how anyone ever survives being shot.  I've killed 10 deer the last two years and been in on the shooting of another 10.  All single shot kills.  Shoot above the diaphram no matter what the caliber or jacket and it's over.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How amazing. I just finished reading Cirillos book Tales From the Stakeout Unit. Highly recommended to anyone interested in how those things went down. At one point there was a criminal group that was hunting the stakeout guys.

Cirillo was a firearms instructor that was more or less ordered into the Stakeout Unit when his pistol range was closed. He was a distinguished pistol shot with a revolver (very hard to do as he shot everything double-action).

About 200+ active stakeouts resulted in 43 shootings. The average record for the bad guys was 10 convictions for something felony-related. Definitely an American hero. He died this year in a car crash with an 18 wheeler.

They definitely practiced left-handed shots, on the range anyway. This guy coined the phrase "new york reload" since all their guys would shoot the first gun empty and switch to a second and then if necessary a third.

Robert Langham said...

Cirillo was a hell of a guy. I haven't read Stakeout but will put it on my list. His first book is certainly good and he had real experience.

Vote For David said...

Re: people surviving being shot:

80% of people shot with handguns live
80% of people shot with rifles die

(at least, that's the numbers I heard onna ray-dee-oh)