The other day while doing some range work with a new law enforcement officer on the AR15 I observed this between drills....
The weapon was empty and slung. We were discussing the next drill when I observed the officer's car keys inside the trigger guard. We double checked the chamber to ensure it was empty and placed the weapon on fire. I slowly lifted the keys and the hammer dropped. We set this exact situation up several more times and tried a several common movements such as; getting in and out of vehicles, climbing into and out of the back of a pick up and some weapons retention/DT situations. Out of the 20 different scenarios the hammer dropped 6 times.
This was a great learning point for all those involved. Equipment has a way of getting in places it shouldn't. I see an all too common practice from people taking the weapon off safe for extended periods of time in the name of speed. My "motor program" is the safety selector goes to fire after the shooter has identified the threat/target and is in the process of presenting the weapon system to the threat/target. When the shooter no longer has a threat or target they plan to engage the shooter can lower the weapon system and place the weapon on safe. It is such a simple procedure but shooters skip it all the time. In some instances they simply forget, in others, they choose to keep the weapon on fire so they "can be faster". Speed comes if you practice to be fast. Mistakes happen by cutting corners.
Paul Howe at CSAT has a great article on the use of the safety. I highly recommend it....
http://www.combatshootingandtactics.com/published/the_weapon_safety.PDF
The weapon was empty and slung. We were discussing the next drill when I observed the officer's car keys inside the trigger guard. We double checked the chamber to ensure it was empty and placed the weapon on fire. I slowly lifted the keys and the hammer dropped. We set this exact situation up several more times and tried a several common movements such as; getting in and out of vehicles, climbing into and out of the back of a pick up and some weapons retention/DT situations. Out of the 20 different scenarios the hammer dropped 6 times.
This was a great learning point for all those involved. Equipment has a way of getting in places it shouldn't. I see an all too common practice from people taking the weapon off safe for extended periods of time in the name of speed. My "motor program" is the safety selector goes to fire after the shooter has identified the threat/target and is in the process of presenting the weapon system to the threat/target. When the shooter no longer has a threat or target they plan to engage the shooter can lower the weapon system and place the weapon on safe. It is such a simple procedure but shooters skip it all the time. In some instances they simply forget, in others, they choose to keep the weapon on fire so they "can be faster". Speed comes if you practice to be fast. Mistakes happen by cutting corners.
Paul Howe at CSAT has a great article on the use of the safety. I highly recommend it....
http://www.combatshootingandtactics.com/published/the_weapon_safety.PDF
