1911Forum banner

How many shots in a gunfight?

23K views 115 replies 62 participants last post by  DeltaKilo 
#1 ·
I've heard any number of shots from different people but I am looking for a legitimate source that reports the number of shots on average that are fired in a gunfight.

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
#104 ·
Some excellent, and realistic, responses above.

It is very important for folks to remember that the fight maynot follow your script - the fight will write it's own script.

Perhaps we dont need to prepare for every eventuality, but we should certainly not allow "averages" to lull us into being poorly prepared.

Jim H.
 
#105 ·
The January, 2011 issue of Police Chief Magazine (available online at http://policechiefmagazine.org ) has an article on handling officer-involved shootings.
This article does a good job of covering the importance of explaining why numerous rounds were fired in an officer-involved shooting, including the fact that (1) immediate incapacitation of a target with handgun rounds is not a reliable factor, even if there is a direct central nervous system shot, and (2) direct shots that cause lethal blood loss are also not immediate.
This article also points out that in the average shooting, less than half of the shots fired hit the intended target, and that the FBI study, "In the Line of Fire:...a Study of Felonious Assaults on Law Enforcement Officers," (acknowledged to be a limited study), 41% of officers who fired hit their intended targets, and the average distance to the target was 21 feet.
Very informative.
 
#106 ·
I could be wrong...
But isn't that organization staunchly anti gun...Or more specifically anti "Private Ownership" of guns...?
 
#113 ·
In every class I've taken with Clint Smith and in every video of his that I've watched, he makes a point of informing his audience:

The fight will be what it wants to be.

That pretty much sums up what I've read here.

I've gotten training, will get more training and practice what I've been taught. I do shoot some competition, but not nearly enough. (Job gets in the way.) The odds of being involved in a fight for yours truly are very low. I live in a pretty sedate part of the country and seldom will you find me outside past 10 PM. I certainly don't hang out in c-stores at 2AM. :)

Still I practice. One never knows what lies ahead. Besides, shooting a handgun well is challenging and there's always a bigger challenge in some form or another just ahead. It's fun learning and developing skills.

And besides, one can never be "too good."
 
#116 ·
Frankly, i carry as much ammo as I can carry comfortably and easily. This translates to 2 spare magazines plus what's in the gun. In a 1911, that's 2 spare 10-round magazines, plus the 9 rounds in the gun, giving me 29 rounds.

Do I expect to have to shoot that much? Nope. But as stated before, the fight is going to do what it's going to do and while I have maybe 150,000 rounds (jesus i've really been shooting that much/long?! :eek:) down range, some in competition and some not, I make no assumptions about my abilities under stress when I have no fine motor control, only gross motor skills.

My focus is going to be on shooting until the subject is no longer a threat. I'm not counting rounds because, frankly, ammo's cheap.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top