Laser Sight for Close-Quarters Aiming
Rob PincusDescription
Any distance within two arms’ reach is considered extreme close quarters. Rob Pincus demonstrates a technique for aiming a handgun equipped with a laser device at extreme close quarters but not actually in contact.
At this distance, if you extend your gun, the bad guy will be able to take it away by swatting at it or grabbing it. If you keep the gun in at your chest, you don’t really know where you’re aiming it (if you are in contact, you can use body index to understand where the bad guy’s vital organs are, but here we are talking about within two arms’ reach, not in contact). See our other PDN handgun training videos for more on shooting at close quarters.
Laser Aiming Technique
If for any reason you are not able to extend the handgun and get good sight alignment and a good sight picture (for example, if you are injured), this technique works if your handgun is equipped with a laser sight, one of the most useful defensive tools and accessories.
Coming from the ready position, instead of extending the handgun, pull back, anchor the gun against your body with the magazine well and your thumb both touching your body, and fire the shots. You know where you are shooting because you have the laser sight. This technique only works with a laser-equipped handgun (or a handgun with a weapon-mounted light — see below).
For even greater precision, you can take a headshot. Keeping the gun against your body, angle the gun up, place the laser on the bad guy’s head, and press the trigger.
It’s also possible to use this technique if you have a weapon-mounted light but not a laser sight. Same principle, but the weapon-mounted light of course produces a wider beam than a laser.
This is what we consider extreme close quarters anything within two arms reach. Now, usually when we talk about extreme close quarters we're talking about being in contact but it's certainly possible that if I were being pushed back up against the wall or if I'm up against a car if for whatever reason, I couldn't move back any further and this person had a gun that they were pulling out on me. Maybe it was coming up out of the waistband. Obviously, if the gun were already pointed at me at this point, I was this close. I'd probably be dealing with the gun but the Target's really here.
Now, just to show you the spatial relationship for using this technique of aiming with a laser device in extreme close quarters. The idea here is that if I extend my gun, obviously the guy is going to be able to swat at it, grab it, maybe take it away from me. If I keep my gun in here, I don't really know where I'm aiming. It's not like I were in contact. If I were in contact I'm using body index to kind of understand where that guy's parts are and where I'm pointing.
Back here it gets a little bit harder, if I were 10 feet away and the guy were charging at me and I were inclined not to extend the gun. It becomes even harder unless I have a laser. If I have that laser, I know exactly where I'm pointing. Now certainly here, it's going to be hard to miss but even if I extend this back just a little bit if I get back here to just beyond that two arms range, I'm in a situation where coming from my ready where I would normally want to extend. Instead, I'm going to pull back anchor the gun against my body with the magazine well and my thumb, touching my body, fire those shots.
Now firing those shots because I have the laser, I know where I'm actually shooting. If I needed to be even more precise, if I need to take a headshot, which on this range, wouldn't be safe. I could bring that up and actually put that laser right on his head. And that's where close quarters aiming with a laser when you're injured or when you, for other reasons can't get to your good extended sight alignment, sight picture, aimed firing position, extreme close quarters using a laser as an aiming device can be a great advantage. Obviously, this one's also set up with a flashlight so I can have that instant on technology or I can use the press button, get that indication of where that bullet's going to go.
Even when I can't bring the gun to my line of sight.
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this is good for people who don't practice with the fire arm but at that range once I clear my holster i can put rounds center mass every time from my hip and I am an instinct shooter as well at 30 feet I compete with friends who use there sites and I beet them all the time in speed as well as accuracy though I would say the laser would help me at further ranges but out much passed 30 feet self defense is a little harder to prove unless they are already flinging lead at you