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feature2024-08-26 at 8.03.55 PM
Lateral Transitions – No, not Literal. Lateral – moving side to side, sideways.
Why?
Two-fold. 1st, BadGuys move. Few people will stand there and not move once gunshots begin to be fired. You see it with both people in public settings and with animals in the wild. Second, multiple BadGuys are pretty common. Reviewing the most recent Law Enforcement Officers Killed & Assaulted data shows that more than one assailant is present in many incidents. Looking at the most recent data, by my count, from out of the 422 officers murdered between 2011-2018, 66 involved multiple suspects. In 2019 alone, the last year available, out of the 51 murders of officers, twelve of them are known to have involved multiple suspects.
Multiple suspects, threats are still a thing. Look at news reports and video footage (courtesy of AdobeStock).
CHP-Newhall, FBI-Miami, LAPD-North Hollywood, USMS-Medina ND, and many others were all multiple suspect events.
How?
I was first exposed to this with paper targets—the very large, two-dimensional sheets of paper commonly found on police ranges. Shoot at one, traverse to the second target like a tank turret, and fire again. That might be okay as a pre-programmed range drill. However, more often than not, you will be looking to find the targets/threats.
Folded sheets of paper to give two different targets for lateral transitions. Easily worked from left to right and right to left.
Dozier Drill
I was introduced to this in 1994 during my first trip to Gunsite. Five (5) Pepper Poppers were used to provide a way to address the problem a US Army Brigadier General encountered in the early 80s. Communist-backed terrorists entered his off-base apartment and kidnapped him.
The response? Draw and engage all five poppers in as short a time as possible. If you miss, continue on, and then come back to finish it off.
To avoid having to re-set the steel each time, you can use non-falling plates.
Plate Rack
MGM Target’s plate rack in a can is another way to train for these transitions – and it’s portable.
Similar to a Dozier Drill but with up to six targets that you don’t need to re-set. The large, fixed models are a great choice for a range you control all of the time. This is because of their size and weight.
If you do not have a range you control full-time, there are two other options. My favorite is MGM Target’s plate rack in a can. It comes with the plates, hangers, and end caps, which you assemble. I bought mine a couple of years ago for my practice sessions and local classes.
Throom, the maker of self-sealing polymer targets, also makes a version you assemble. I used one during a conference I taught last year, and it worked as advertised—without a worry about distance and spall.
Throom’s portable shoot-through plate rack. It allows lateral transition work in situations where steel targets may not work.
Regardless of which one you choose, you have to supply the 2”x4”s.
I’m told that one military organization that does a lot of handgun work includes plate rack runs in its qualification shoots.
A Better Way
Retired New Mexico deputy sheriff and Gunsite instructor Verlin Rector demonstrates the visual and physical transition from a target on his right to one on his left.
After engaging the first target/threat, move your eyes and actually look at the next one. Confirm it is the next target/threat. Then, aggressively pull the gun over to it. Come off the gas—so to speak—as the gun comes onto the target, but not when it’s centered; that will be too late.
You are not turning with your eyes, sight, and the gun as a turret; rather, you are moving your eyes, looking, and then bringing the sights to your eyes.
In the past, I would use the firearm’s movement under recoil for the shift (when going left to right). Now, I am trying to rip it to the next confirmed target/threat.
Teaching & Training This
Two years ago, I had the chance to take a class on shooting moving targets from John Holschen at the Rangemaster TacCon. Arriving at the range, I saw a bank of target stands with five colored ovals on each.
An Action Target offering that John Holschen adapted for his moving target classes.
During the session, John started us on one oval before working us through a series of engagements utilizing each of those ovals.
Like the folded paper targets, you can create a similar design with stencils and spray paint.
There are two approaches to using these ovals. I will call them by their location—upper left, center, lower right, etc. Last week, I taught with two long-time police trainers who prefer to number each oval. It is entirely up to you.
Another Way
Recently, I co-taught a precision handgun course for armed school staff with Steve Fisher of Sentinel Concepts – more to follow on it in the future. The students worked the following drill using two pieces of paper attached to a silhouette target.
Each started with the shooter pointed in on the first piece. Initially, it was dry, then live.
Sight picture on the first before driving the sights to the second, but not shooting;
A sight picture and a shot on the first, before shifting to the second and getting another sight picture without shooting;
Then, a single sight picture and shot on each;
Next would be two sight pictures and shots on the first before shifting to the second but not shooting;
Then, two shots before shifting targets and one shot;
Finally, they finished with two sight pictures and shots on each of the targets;
While these are all Ways, they are not the only Ways.
Validation
This can be validated in at least two ways. First, it can be done under some pressure, like in a match.
Screen captures from agency-released surveillance footage show multiple suspect robberies. Do your prep work ahead of time.
But, and there is a but here – include a Don’t Shoot or (at the very least) a No Cover. Know when and how to employ muzzle aversion techniques. That is a separate topic that has been discussed before and, likely, will be again. This can also be done in force-on-force training using simunitions with real people as the Don’t Shoots.
