Today I thought I would touch upon some actual techniques, as a nice break from all the posts on defensive philosophy.  I would like to focus on the draw technique, specifically drawing from a concealed inside-the-waistband (IWB) holster located on your dominant side.  I know this is basic nuts and bolts, but in my experience the draw is the first thing we get sloppy on, and it can lead to misses with our opening volley.  By concentrating on developing good consistent drawing technique, we can maximize our efficiency and accuracy.  I would also like to share the Four Forms that I practice daily to tune up my draw method.

There are five basic steps to the draw:

  • Lateral movement
  • Sweeping away the cover garment
  • Establishing positive grip
  • Bringing the weapon to high center chest
  • Fully extending arms

Lateral Movement

You may be asking yourself, “Why lateral movement?”  There are a few reasons for this.  Rob Pincus’ Combat Focus Shooting goes into great detail about this topic, and I highly recommend you read his book and study the techniques presented within.  According to Rob’s studies, the predatory part of the human mind is designed to track moving objects, so by incorporating lateral movement into your draw and then stopping to fire, you have gained valuable time to react to the threat.  This should always be done in conjunction with orienting your body to face the threat.  We want to maximize our ability to engage the opponent, and we do so best by squaring up to them so that our body is in line with our head.  The theory behind incorporating lateral movement into our draw is that the threat’s brain will expect you to continue moving in the same direction and speed of travel.  So when you stop moving at the end of your draw their mind will take a split second to recognize the fact that you are no longer moving toward the space it predicted you would occupy.  In the corresponding reactionary gap, you now have created a chance to respond appropriately.  While practicing the below four forms, I often only practice taking a single step to one side or the other while in the home due to space limitations, but when practicing on the range I do so utilizing dynamic movement to either side or toward one of the oblique angles.  Any lateral movement in relation to a lethal threat should be done explosively taking a random number of steps, and that movement should take us toward previously identified cover.  If there is no cover available within a few steps, in an attempt to seize the initiative movement may be made toward the threat at an angle or it may be angling away from the threat to create distance.  All of these variables are dependent on the scenario and should be practiced on the range.  Gabe Suarez calls this “Getting off the X.”

Sweeping Away the Cover Garment

This aspect of the draw is relatively simple to master, but should not be neglected.  I prefer a one-handed thumb hook technique rather than the often-taught supporting hand garment clearing method.  We cannot always count on both hands being free to respond to a threat, so we must train for such a contingency in our daily practice.  Assuming the holster is located just behind the seam that runs down the outside of the pants leg, this technique calls for you to extend your thumb and hook it under the edge of your shirt as your hand travels rearward to establish a firm grip on your weapon.  After a little practice the movement becomes quite natural and if done properly will clear multiple layers of jackets, vests, shirts, and so forth with no problem.  Just make sure you perform a practice draw before you leave the house to ensure you know the proper motion to clear your particular outfit for the day.

Establishing Positive Grip

This is the most important part of the entire draw process.  I define Positive Grip as a firm hold of the grip with the webbing of the thumb as high as possible on your pistol’s back strap.  A firm positive grip is the foundation for good shooting, as it facilitates bringing the gun’s bore into proper sight alignment quickly and helps minimize recoil.

High Center Chest

We bring the weapon to high center chest and align the bore with our head, keeping the weapon close to our chest to protect it from disarming attempts and to facilitate our supporting hand gripping the weapon.  This stage of the draw is where we meet that supporting hand if we are establishing a two-handed grip, being careful not to sweep any part of our body in the process.  Bearing in mind that recoil follows the path of least resistance, the grip of our supporting hand should fill all the gaps in the grip left by the dominant hand.  We use the hitchhiker’s thumb method for our dominant hand, raising the thumb as we establish a firm grip with our supporting hand, and then sandwiching our dominant thumb down on the top of our supporting thumb.  At the same time, we want to thrust our hips back slightly, bringing our center of balance forward.  Foot placement isn’t as important as maintaining proper center of balance, but it is important to get your weight up on the balls of your feet to facilitate rapid motion in any direction depending on circumstances.  For any manipulations of our weapons system, such as malfunction clearances or reloading we want to draw the weapon back to this high center chest position.

 Extension of the Arms

From the high center chest position we can fire our weapon using a body index method, extend our arms, or shoot as we extend our arms.  When extending our arms, we always extend them as fully as possible in an attempt to maintain consistency in presentation.  We want to remove as many variables from our draw as we can to free up our brains to process the situation at hand.   Rather than trying to maintain a 60/40 extension or some other combination of push-pull we elect to extend both arms as far as possible.  At this point the sights should be aligned properly and naturally with our line of sight.  We do not want to severely drop down our head to align with the sights, but raise our arms high enough to establish a consistent sight picture without the need to drop the head.  Much like an archer always draws the bowstring to the same point of contact on the chin and corner of the lip, I always shrug my shoulders just a bit to establish a consistent contact point between my shoulder and my jaw line.  Ensuring your extension is consistent helps eliminate misses on the first shot.  I know that personally, if I do not consistently establish that contact point between my shoulder and jaw, I miss high because my eyes do not align properly with the sights.  You may find a completely reference point works for you based on anatomy, sights, eye dominance, etc.  I always teach the importance of keeping both eyes open while aiming and shooting.  Closing one eye severely restricts our peripheral vision at a time when it may be vitally important to our survival.  Learn to keep both eyes open while using your sights.

The Four Forms

Now that we’ve defined our presentation technique, let’s move on to the Four Forms.  These four forms should cover presentation in most situations that find us on our feet during a lethal encounter.  I strongly recommend practicing these forms daily, with a dry weapon.  When practicing, visualize a threat, orient toward them and draw as appropriate.  Imagine performing a string of fire until the threat is neutralized, break your tunnel vision by performing a 360 degree scan, and slowly reholster if you feel that is appropriate.

I personally don’t feel that reholstering in a real incident should be done hastily.  I have read many police reports of threats that were shot until they went down only to have the threat get back up and continue the fight.  Therefore practice ensuring your threat is out of the fight before reholstering.  Another aspect of practice draws that often gets overlooked is the way you should focus your eyes.  When you draw, stay focused on the target while you verbally demand compliance (shouting “STOP!” or something similar).  When the time comes you will say something, so rather than shouting an expletive I recommend you practice demanding compliance.  If the target does not comply, as your sights enter your line of vision your focus should transition from the target to the front sight.  Obtain a clean trigger break, repeat as necessary until the threat is neutralized, and then shift your visual focus from your front sight back to the threat.  Remember the mantra, “Front sight, press” as you squeeze the trigger and as the threat goes down make sure to continue to keep the muzzle pointed at them.

Your visualizations should be realistic enough to cause a physical response while practicing these forms.  When my palms get sweaty, I start breathing hard, my heart rate increases, and my back muscles knot up then I know I am practicing as realistically as possible.  This applies both to dry practice and live range practice.  Make your practices as realistic as you can, because your brain is unable to discern between extremely realistic practice and the real thing, and if a lethal threat really does present itself you will be better prepared to face it.

Form One- Base

I define this as our basic form.  It is simply a presentation per the draw technique described above, ultimately assuming a two-handed grip.  The two-handed grip is the optimal response to any armed threat because it controls recoil in the most efficient manner possible while providing the most stable platform.

Form Two- Guard

This form is a one-handed grip with full extension of the dominant arm, while our support side hand assumes a guard position.  This guard position is performed with an open supporting hand held at eye level or beside your temple.  The arm muscles should be tense and your supporting side shoulder shrugged.  This is a blocking position borrowed from Mike Janich’s Martial Blade Concepts.  The reason we practice this technique is to develop the ability to present consistently one-handed because we acknowledge that there is a good chance that we will be accosted when both arms are free to respond.  There may be a scenario when we need to protect our head and neck while obtaining a full extension sight picture, but that seems unlikely from all of my studies.  Rather, it is somewhat more likely that we will have one hand tied up with grocery bags, keys, a phone, etc.  While we may attempt to drop such items and obtain a two-handed grip, the reality is that there are cases in which we are unable to free one hand in time to react with the more desirable two-handed grip.  Therefore, we practice our Guard Form to prepare for such an encounter.

Form Three- Protect

This form is designed to prepare us to react to a threat in a scenario in which we need to sweep a loved one or innocent bystander behind us as we draw.  This ultimately puts our body between them and any incoming retaliation, and is a good opportunity for partner training.  I have taught my wife and son to grab hold of my belt as I sweep them behind me, so that they can stay behind me as I move as necessary to respond to the threat or head toward cover.

Form Four- Retain

This form uses a modified draw technique.  Based on the circumstances, we may or may not incorporate lateral movement with this form.  We sweep our cover garment away, establish a positive grip, and clear the holster.  Once the gun has cleared the holster, we pivot the muzzle up until our thumb comes into contact with our bottom rib.  Keep the grip of the weapon in contact with your side to aid in retention of the weapon in the event of a disarming attempt while slightly canting the ejection port away from your body.  This prevents malfunctions due to clothing getting caught as the weapon cycles.  Since we may be firing into a threat while in physical contact with them, we want to leave the muzzle pointed slightly downward but toward their center line as much as possible.  This minimizes the risk of hitting our supporting hand while we use it to fend off strikes or to push to drive the attacker onto their back foot while we fire.

By practicing these Four Forms while utilizing the prescribed draw method, I believe we can prime ourselves to react to a lethal threat in an armed encounter.  Remember that proper practice makes perfect.  If possible perform your dry practice in front of a full length mirror and don’t be afraid to critique your form and push yourself to the point of failure.  Only by pushing ourselves can we identify our weaknesses and train to overcome them.

-Grizz