Carnivore writes an excellent “42 Theses” piece on firearms that includes some excellent advice (some of which I did not know, but am grateful to learn).
Or I should say, almost writes an excellent piece.
Because after 41 excellent pointers, he concluded with…:
It’s OK to hold your Glock sideways, as long as no one else is looking.
Don’t use the John Woo grip if anyone is in the same county as you. Sheesh, Carny. Did you poop out in the stretch? Anyone seen using the Woo Grip should be castigated and humiliated.
The John Woo grip is why the safest place to be in a gang shootout is the target. And the most dangerous place is 45 degrees off the line of fire, watching TV in an upstairs apartment.
Bane claims the sideways grip makes sense for urban gang-bangers engaged in drive-by shootings because the hot empties eject straight up, reflect off the roof, and go mostly straight down onto the floor of the car, rather than flying to your right and burning the other people in the car.
Yes, holding your Glock sideways affects your aim. Hot brass down the shirt has a similar effect, as does shooting at a moving target from a moving vehicle.
It’s the waltzing bear all over again (the most surprising thing about a waltzing bear is not how gracefully he dances, but that he dances at all).
What’s so surprising about sideways Glock gangbangers is not how often they miss, but how often they hit. Testament to practice, I guess.
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It’s OK to hold your Glock sideways, as long as no one else is looking.
and as long as you don’t mind having hot shell casings thrown in your face.
I used to watch the drug dealers when they would have their little shootouts – they closed their eyes and pulled the trigger until the bullets were all gone ( or more often until the gun jammed) which is why my house had more bullet holes than they did.
FBI agent to me after a few beers (paraphrased for polite company): “We gotta figure out whoever made that sideways grip popular with gangbangers. They’ve saved so many agents they deserve a medal!”
Hey guys. You got me…..sort of.
I was trying to inject a little humor at the end and I literally meant “hold” your Glock sideways, not fire it, and do it when you’re alone because it’s so stupid looking. It’s like holding a rifle at your hip. It’s fun to hold it there like the movies, but you wouldn’t shoot it like that, even for fun, because you don’t know where your muzzle is pointed.
Just bustin’ ya, Carnivore!
I’ll reprise the famous story of the drive-by that happened in front of my house about ten years ago.
3AM; one pusher drives by on the street, sees a rival (a neighborhood kid) walking in front of my house. Fired eight shots from a .22, reloaded, and fired eight more. We had a holed window, a hole in the porch facing, and I found a hole in the frame for a third-floor attic window.
The target? Not a scratch.
I’ve contemplated the idea for a “drive-by” shooting range marketed to the urban youth.
Sounds like they really need it. And, if it reduces collateral damage, then it’s a worthwhile project.
In the 2000 Gun Digest a gentleman did a controlled series of tests, using standard bullseye targets, a Colt 1911A1, a Walther P38, the Egyptian copy of the Beretta 951, and a Makarov. Shooting both left and right hand he shot targets with each gun, first with the pistol held in the conventional manner we have all been trained in. Then he proceeded to shoot the same pistols at a new set of targets with the pistol in the John Woo/Gangsta style. To wit 90 degrees off top dead center. While the groups opened up most could still be covered with your hand. The Makarov group actually tighten up.
Of course this is a man who has shot pistols for years in competions, and knows how to hold a sight picture. Which is the difference in his results vis-a-vie your local untrained punk.
It’s of course been a few years but IIRC he had no failures to feed or eject. Wheather he held the pistol with the ejection port up or down.
My theory is that Woo saw one of those ad that were in many of the “shooters” magazines of the time that advertised a course in the deadly pistol arts of Israel assasins. Again IIRC the picture for the course pictured the pistol being held sideways.
It can be done, and like shooting while moving, sitting or lying on the ground it should be practiced. Just as weak hand should, but I wouldn’t spend a lot of time on it until you get real good the regular way.
PS Mitch how come I never see you out at Bill’s. You could also come out to Oakdale for the Thursday night IPSC shoots some time.
ShawnR,
I will do that. Time is tight these days, but I’ll be spending more time at the range when I get some personal brushfires put out.
Soon!
shawnr advised: “It can be done, and like shooting while moving, sitting or lying on the ground it should be practiced. Just as weak hand should”
Cause who knows when you’ll want to shoot somebody while you’re channel-surfing with the other hand.
The origin of the silliness was one guy’s (I’m blanking on the name at the moment, or I’d give credit where it’s due) observation that, when shooting one-handed, if you rotate your hand about 10-15 degrees toward the centerline, it gives you a mor stable platform, for roughly the same reason that most people do better with ergonomic keyboards: no pronation.
(Try it. Hold your hand straight out, vertical, fingers extended but not held rigidly. Now relax your arm slightly; it’ll tend to rotate a bit toward the centerline.)
When I practice one-handed shooting — rarely; the other stuff’s more important, IMHO, and all — I do rotate it just about 15 degrees from the vertical. Works for me.
Mitch — you’ll find me at Burnsville Pistol Range most Saturdays after you’re done with your NARN stint. Let me know when you’re going to come out, and we can play with some of this stuff.