Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
This data is available for police gunfights, albeit scattered across multiple datasets.
It shows that long range shooting, high cap magazines, and combat reloads are just the stuff of fantasy. Lots of gun buffs watch too many movies.
The vast majority of police gunfights are at 10 feet or less. The typical number of shots fired per officer is 3 to 4. The probability of a hit is low, from 15% to 40% depending on datasets. The number of shots fired per officer is higher, and the probability of a hit is lower, when there are multiple officers shooting ("bunch shooting"). The typical gunfight lasts a few seconds to several seconds. It usually happens in darkness or low light.
I haven't found data for self defense citizen shootings, and there probably is none. Police departments collect officer shooting data for analysis and training. There is no-one collecting this data for CCW shootings - which are extremely rare, anyway.
Read away:
http://www.theppsc.org/Staff_Views/Aveni/OIS.pdf |
So are you proposing we all use 5 shot revolvers and do all our training at 10 feet or less?
Or should we prepare for scenarios that might happen, that HAVE happened to others in the past? I think we should. A lot of shootings require a lot more than 5 shots fired, and some shootings do require a magazine change or reload. Is it the norm? Certainly not, but we are not carrying a gun because we're counting on the norm, are we? I can post an awful lot of stories that required more than 4-5 shots fired. I do pretty much agree with you on the mag change argument- they are probably very rare in real gunfights, but that's not stopping me from carrying an extra mag or two. I'd feel pretty stupid if i got into a gunfight and ran out of bullets.
CCW shootings are probably not as rare as we think, especially as CCW holders proliferate among society.
Some good info here on this google link:
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=what+really+happens+in+a+gun+fight&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=a404a1c26a268bba
"CLOSE ENCOUNTERS For many years, we have been taught that armed confrontations occur at very close distances (often times at arm's length), that few shots are fired and the person involved usually misses. These statistics were compiled from the FBI's Officer Killed Summary, which are released on an annual basis. Note that the operative word here is killed; these are officers that lost their confrontation. Have you ever wondered what happened with the officers that won? Did they do anything different to help ensure they would prevail?
In 1992, veteran police officer Dick Fairburn, now a trainer for the Illinois State Police, was commissioned by the Police Marksmen Association to answer this very question. Mr. Fairburn's original quest was to try and answer the stopping power debate of the time, in which he failed because the database of 241 shooting incidents was too small. However, what he did develop were some interesting trends that showed what officers did when they won the confrontation.
One of the most interesting was the distances involved. While the FBI statistics show distances as being around ten feet, the PMA study showed the average distance being more like twenty. This makes sense, as distance will favor the person with the most training. This relates directly back to awareness as the sooner you see trouble coming, the more time you have to prepare for war.
The PMA study also shows that the hit ratio per encounter was closer to 62 percent instead of the often-reported 18 percent. The history of gun fighting for more than a century has shown that the person that lands the first solid hit will usually win the confrontation. Hitting is hard to do without preparation and relying on luck is an invitation to disaster."
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That's a really informative article, I usually read it every few months to refresh myself.