Distance and self defense

[locosway]

For most of us a SD shooting will occur in the home. So, go into your house and find the longest place. Maybe it's a hallway... What's the distance there? This is the distance you'll likely have to shoot in. The notion that you need to shoot 25 yards is ridiculous. Yes, it's nice to put lead on a target at longer ranges, but it's not something that is common for a SD type of shooting. I can shoot several hundred yards with a handgun and hit a man sized target, but this isn't practical.

When I shoot at the range it's 7-10 yards. I can shoot longer distances if I take my time without any problems, it's the fast and close shots that matter.

[creekside]

Up close, not so much. Only placing the front sight on the target and a good trigger press. But the shooting at 187' you bet I was. In fact I, without thought switched from double action to single action. (I trained using both modes).

Sometimes it's better to be luck than good.

I was armed with a S&W M37 .38 2" revolver. The bad guy had a sporterized German K98k 8mm rifle. I hit him once in the torso. His shot did not strike me.

The angels were on your side that day, because the odds certainly were not. In rifle versus snubnose wheelgun at 60 yards, the rifle has a vast advantage. I distantly recall a study that claimed that a rifle was 270 times more deadly than a handgun.

You made your own luck, and it is very fortunate that you were trained to use your revolver in single action. The importance of training cannot be over-emphasized.

To answer the OP, distance is just one of many other factors. Most handgun shootings take place at astonishingly close range and the hit to miss ratio is poor even in police shootings. Also, I might have trouble convincing a jury that I was in danger from a derringer 300' away. That's not to say that long range fights cannot happen, just that they are comparatively rare.

[Decoligny]

In a life or death situation, such as home defense, it is probably going to be close quarters, and it is probably going to be closing the distance between you and your target at a pretty fast pace (bad guy running towards you). Lots of people pratice shooting at 25 yards at the range, not too many people practice at arms length or just down the hall distance.

Some guy half a city block away is probably not going to be an immediate threat to your life (single active shooter in a mall may be the exception).

A good skill to learn is "point and shoot" using your own natural aim point without the use of the sights. Learn where your hand naturally sends the bullets, and learn how to get them center mass at close range.

[glock22fs]

like everyone else said your "average" SD shooting will be within 21 meters and more likely at bad breath distance so perfect sight alignment and trigger control are not as critical BUT remember it is going to be nothing like what you do on the range.
You and the adversary will both probably be moving and the adrenaline of having someone try to kill you is going to significantly reduce your skill level. With that in mind you need to train the fundamentals (sights, trigger) so that even with your degraded ability you will be able to get good hits and hopefully not get shot. Also remember Mr Murphy, you will find yourself in the situation where you need to make a "precision" shot and if you just train to thrust your gun out there and slap the trigger knowing you are going to hit the paper target 10 feet away from you are not helping yourself. remember he will not be standing still directly facing you, as you pie out a corner (which you will be doing if you are clearing your house) you will only have a small portion of the adversary available to shoot at.

[SVT-40]

The angels were on your side that day, because the odds certainly were not. In rifle versus snubnose wheelgun at 60 yards, the rifle has a vast advantage. I distantly recall a study that claimed that a rifle was 270 times more deadly than a handgun.

You made your own luck, and it is very fortunate that you were trained to use your revolver in single action. The importance of training cannot be over-emphasized.

To answer the OP, distance is just one of many other factors. Most handgun shootings take place at astonishingly close range and the hit to miss ratio is poor even in police shootings. Also, I might have trouble convincing a jury that I was in danger from a derringer 300' away. That's not to say that long range fights cannot happen, just that they are comparatively rare.

Yup many angels!!

This occurred back in the early 80's. Just about every cop carried a 2" S&W off duty. There was not really any other good option for a small handgun other than a Walther PPK. So yes I was very lucky. The shooting occurred in a city park, and I was off duty with my wife. The shooter had over 100 rounds of ammo with him and was also drunk. Later he said he was just going to do some "target practice" . But it was believed based on info from his family that he was going to shoot people. I surprised him, and acted aggressively during the encounter so he had to react to my moves verses me reacting to his.

I fired all five of my shots, hitting him on the last shot before I reloaded. It was shoot move to cover. shoot move to cover each time closing on him keeping him down.

As I said. It's sometimes better to be lucky than good.