I have a low-recoil Knoxx BreachersGrip™ on my "Kentucky Carry" Mossberg 500 Cruiser J.I.C. with an 18.5" barrel. Anyone that can legally own a shotgun can affordably equip a suitable short-barreled $200-$300 Mossberg or Remington with a $75 Knoxx BreachersGrip™ and proper sights, and then learn to repeatedly fire his pistol-gripped shotgun painlessly and accurately to about ten yards. This proposal runs counter to current popular belief. But seeing is believing.

Some people might like a better way to shoot a pistol grip only - PGO shotgun or want one for a heavy artillery truck or car gun, or to keep in a motel room for added protection when away from home. With practice a stocked shotgun can effectively be fired below the line-of-sight at chest level with the stock tucked under the arm to reduce recoil. Eleven of the great gunfighting instructors of our time have endorsed below-line-of-sight, off-shoulder, chest-level shotgun shooting methods as viable for extreme CQB under seven yards, which is the range of over 90% of handgun confrontations, to wit, Mr. Paul Castle, the late Mr. Jim Cirillo, Mr. Massad Ayoob, the late Mr. Bill Groce, Mr. Chuck Taylor, the late Marine Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Cooper, Dr. Ignatius Piazza, Mr. Gabriel Suarez, Mr. Lance Biddle, Mr. Michael T. Rayburn, and Mr. Randy Smith (plus 58 other C.A.R. system instructors in 22 states in the U.S.A.). By searching about 75 posts on several forums, I noted that about 60%-70% of PGO shotgun owners prefer chest-level, below line-of-sight shooting. I specifically recommend that stocked shotguns are best for HD. But it is also important to practice shooting a shotgun without using the stock, in case one must shoot in a tight space or around a wall, furniture, or a vehicle without overly exposing himself. This long-established LE tactic is the fastest possible shotgun technique for very close quarters. It is an optimum ready position for cornering and "slicing the pie." The shotgun is safer from grabs because it is held close to the body, projecting less muzzle. And the muzzle is always kept oriented in line with the eyes. To learn to effectively shoot a PGO shotgun to about ten yards, one can practice the LE tactic of shooting a stocked shotgun at chest level with the stock tucked under the arm.

The most satisfactory way to shoot a PGO shotgun is from chest level, rather than hip shooting or eye-level bead shooting. Chest-level shooting is the fastest possible shotgun technique for close quarters and the best way to painlessly control the recoil of a PGO shotgun. Because the PGO shotgun is held horizontal to the ground at chest level, the odds of hitting a BG at his chest level, at his center of mass, from 20'-25' are right at 100%. Basically, one holds a PGO shotgun parallel to the ground at chest or nipple height, while standing in a bladed or boxer's stance, front knee slightly bent and hips turned 45 degrees. The arms are held just like in the pictures below. The arms swing together naturally and control the recoil. There is an easy rhythm to it, and a right-handed shooter's left forearm works the forend comfortably by using the left elbow as a pivot point, rather than by contracting the arm backwards in the traditional way. The left elbow is bent comfortably about 90 degrees and the forearm is a little more than perpendicular to the forend. The right elbow swings straight back, and not off to the side. The arms are NOT braced, so they can swing naturally and absorb the recoil. (The arms are NOT trying to "stretch" the PGO shotgun like Mr. Herb Parsons did shooting at eye-level.) Also, one leans the receiver about 30 degrees towards his chest, and his head looks down the barrel, about 6" above the barrel. This is NOT sighted fire, using the sights, but it is not "point and shoot" either. With familiarity from practice looking down the barrel which is 6" below the line of sight when firing, one subconsciously can learn how to effectively aim a PGO shotgun to about ten yards away. Practice, practice, practice, so that as Mr. Jim Cirillo taught, your subconscious mind will pick up all the little visual subtleties of how the barrel looks when it is correctly aligned with the target and hits it as you intended.

The decades-old LE shooting techniques -- the Taylor Underarm Assault Position which was created by and is still taught by Mr. Chuck Taylor, and the High Tuck Position which was refined by the forward-thinking Mr. Bill Groce (one of the finest weapons and survival LE instructors who ever lived) and is still taught by Mr. Massad Ayoob (retired LEO and owner of the Lethal Force Institute-2) -- both look over the shotgun barrel and do not use the bead or sights. Mr. Paul Castle is a trainer of many thousands of LE and military operators, and his taking advantage of biomechanics is a huge improvement that lets the arms swing freely to absorb recoil rather than pinning the stock between the arm and ribs. Mr. Shawn Dodson of FirearmsTactical.com said, "Any shotgun can be mounted in this manner and used effectively and efficiently." Mr. Randy Smith of Defensive Training Concepts, Inc. for LE Firearms Training in Staunton, Virginia, said that off-shoulder shooting "has been taught in every law enforcement shotgun course I have ever attended and it is a technique we teach as well. It is not 'sighted' fire but it is 'aimed' fire." Mr. Gabriel Suarez wrote: "I want to thank Colonel Jeff Cooper for reviewing the manuscript of The Tactical Shotgun ... and Dr. Ignatius Piazza and the warriors at the Front Sight Training Institute... It is important to keep the master eye directly over the shotgun barrel so that what the eye sees, the muzzle covers. Since no use of the gun's actual sights takes place, the shotgun is indexed by using the body's position as a solid gun mount. This works admirably for coarse shooting up to seven meters. Beyond this, conventional shoulder firing and aiming are required."

Retired LEO and S&W Academy instructor Mr. Michael T. Rayburn of CombatGunFighting.com has a very good discussion of off-shoulder shotgun shooting on pp. 79-83 of his excellent book, Combat Shotgun: The Ultimate CQB Weapon, from which he has kindly permitted me to quote the following: "...Bringing the gun up to your shoulder is always more accurate than shooting from your hip or under your arm, but there may come a time when you'll need to shoot right away because you don't have the time to bring the gun all the way up to your shoulder. Gunfights are won in fractions of a second. In the fraction of a second it takes you to go from your hip to your shoulder, you could lose that gunfight. Besides, in close quarters, underarm shooting is just as accurate as bringing it up to your shoulder..." I do understand that the late Mr. Jim Cirillo was earnest in hoping that other instructors would expand upon his Alternative Sighting Methods (but certainly not to the exclusion of sighted fire), and they have!!

"One is no more armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is a musician because he owns a piano. There is no point in having a gun if you are not capable of using it skillfully." -- Marine Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper

Two photographs of Mr. Michael T. Rayburn looking over the shotgun barrel have been removed at his request. They can be found on p. 80 and p. 82 of his excellent book, Combat Shotgun: The Ultimate CQB Weapon.

I researched the internet for ways that people shoot their PGO shotguns, and about 60%-70% of them fire from chest level. The first time that I tried this method at the "rifle" range, I blasted 112 shells from about 20'-25' to my target, and I noticed that eight or ten officers came over from their adjacent range and were standing with their arms crossed watching to see who was making all the noise. I liked that, because I knew that they were seeing a PGO shotgun being shot effectively and rapidly, without using the sights. We saw tiny pieces of cardboard fly at every shot, all 20'-25' to the silhouette, and I was always deliberately firing about six shots in five seconds or less. I had absolutely NO discomfort or wrist pain, thanks to the Knoxx BreachersGrip. (The Federal Tactical LE132 reduced recoil 00 buckshot works for me, way better than economy Royal RIO full power 00 buckshot.)

To change to chest-level shooting from my previous eye-level shooting, I removed my EOTech 551 from my PGO Mossberg Cruiser and put it back on my Kel-Tec PLR-16 5.56mm pistol. I did not really like the EOTech and my thumb coming so close to my teeth when I fired my springed Knoxx BreachersGrip-equipped Cruiser at eye level. It takes time to both line up sights on a PGO shotgun at eye-level and to not knock your teeth out from shooting too fast. I did not like how that caution for the sake of my teeth really slowed my firing down. That is why I researched and learned that 60%-70% of PGO shotgun users fire from chest level, and so the EOTech had to come off. But the great increase to speed of firing convinced me that learning to fire by lower-than-eye-level sighting is worth the effort.

I found that Mr. Paul Castle's High position of his C.A.R. system allows very rapid firing right on target every time at 20'-25', using the body's own mechanics to deal easily with recoil, and practice builds confidence. Mr. Castle demonstrates his C.A.R. system in two rapid shotgun shooting transitions in the beginning of this amazing Sabre Tactical video, in which he fires from the High position without sights followed by a sighted shot from Extended High. Although in the above left video frame Mr. Castle is using a stocked shotgun with the stock behind him and under his right arm and his head six inches above the barrel, his High position could just as well be used for a PGO shotgun, "pointing" the barrel by the specific way it is indexed to his body and to his eyes, but not aiming with the sights.

One can observe how this slight girl holds the gun at chest level, keeps her right elbow straight back, and lets her arms swing naturally together to easily control recoil. The young lady should actually use a boxer's stance, turn the receiver 30 degrees toward her chest, initially hold her left forearm (and the PGO shotgun) less far forward, keep the barrel horizontal to the ground at all times, and look down the barrel with her head about 6" above the barrel. Just give her two more minutes of education and the camcorder could have recorded her making little cardboard clouds at every shot from 20'-25'.

I have every intention of always practicing this way from now on because I want my subconscious mind to remain totally familiar with the little visual subtleties of my correctly aligned barrel at chest level making little clouds of cardboard without using the sights. Practice, practice, practice!!!

I have advantages that did not exist in 1992 when Mr. Ayoob wrote StressFire 2: Advanced Combat Shotgun: a very effective recoil-reducing Knoxx BreachersGrip, a LaserMax Uni-Max red laser, and a $279 LaserMax Uni-Green laser. Mr. Ayoob did not like PGO shotguns in 1992 (his form in the below picture could be better), and these innovations are why I do like them!

The shooting method as I described above is very good for rapid fire at cardboard targets, but what if the targets are moving BGs or if I am on the ground? My (as yet personally untested) guess is that this shooting method will work just fine at moving targets, based on Mr. Cirillo's "tank turret" below line-of-sight alternative sighting method. Our range does not allow crossfire at targets nor moving exercises, so I will have to practice a wide variety of exercises with my PGO shotgun and the C.A.R. system on our family farm. But hey, I can still shoot by bead at eye-level with my PGO shotgun just like I was doing all along before I learned this chest-level method. Repeated eye-level shooting with a PGO shotgun is really slow compared to this method, but it is always an option.

For precision and if time allows when under attack, I have a LaserMax Uni-Max red laser on currently for night use, and I have a LaserMax Uni-Green laser to help me when I am at the range in daylight to get my aim to where it needs to be. (Green lasers in defensive situations should only be used when behind decent cover, because a BG can see the "greenbeam" from the side, day or night.) I strongly recommend lasers on PGO shotguns (and S&W J-frames!), lined up PARALLEL to a laser boresighter, because of the inherent loss of accuracy when compared to a shotgun with a stock and sights.

I exceedingly well like this method of firing a PGO, Knoxx BreachersGrip-equipped shotgun. And one immediate benefit to accuracy is that if I hold my PGO shotgun horizontal to the ground at my chest level, my odds of hitting a BG at his chest level, at his center of mass, from 20'-25' are right at 100%. Also, weapon-retention is very good should I get in a scuffle, because there is MUCH less gun in front of me for a BG to grab. Furthermore, my left arm and ribs are forward, helping a little to shield my vitals from incoming fire, and this stance narrows my profile, showing less target to a BG.

This is NOT sighted fire, using the sights, but it is not "point and shoot" either. With familiarity from practice looking down the barrel which is 6" below the line of sight when firing, one subconsciously can learn how to effectively aim a PGO shotgun. Practice, practice, practice, so that as Mr. Jim Cirillo taught, your subconscious mind will pick up all the little visual subtleties of how the barrel looks when it is correctly aligned with the target and hits it as you intended.

"The late Mr. Jim Cirillo taught this principle in what he called 'Alternative Sighting Methods.' Mr. Cirillo believed that the subconscious mind works faster than the conscious mind, and that your subconscious mind has picked up on a bunch of subtleties about how the gun is aimed. In particular, the subconscious mind knows what the silhouette of the gun looks like if it is aligned with the target, or if the gun has strayed out of alignment. Thus, the gun is visually aimed solely by its shape. The purpose of Mr. Cirillo's 'weapon silhouette point' is to get the gun aligned and fired more quickly, by relying on your subconscious mind.

"Mr. Cirillo also taught two variations on a technique where the gun remains below the line of sight. The trick here is to keep the gun parallel to the ground as you lower the gun from your sighting plane to the level at which you want to strike the target. Mr. Cirillo called the simpler version, the 'geometric point,' to be used if there isn't enough light to see your sights. Mr. Cirillo called the second version, the 'nose point,' and you do a geometric point, making sure that the gun is under your nose. You can then pivot like a tank turret and rapidly engage targets to your sides as soon as the pivot of your body points your nose at them, so long as you have kept the gun under your nose (and you do not overswing your target)." -- Jim Cirillo's Alternative Sighting Methods

In StressFire 2: Advanced Combat Shotgun, Mr. Massad Ayoob demonstrates his below line-of-sight, chest-level shooting methods for both stocked and PGO shotguns that are similar to the method that I have found to be effective.

In 1992, Mr. Ayoob was an advocate of the bladed boxer or karate stance, and I also recommend this, especially if one knows how to move in any direction quickly from previous karate training. Mr. Ayoob liked the stability of this stance and he noted that keeping the forward elbow pointed at the ground gives the skeleton and muscles their best mechanical advantage when pumping the forend. Similar to Mr. Paul Castle's fluid "High" position of his C.A.R. system, Mr. Ayoob discussed the "High Tuck" position for recoil-reduction. Mr. Ayoob wrote that the below line-of-sight High Tuck "is the fastest possible technique for close quarters." I have also found this to be true. It takes time to both line up sights on a PGO shotgun at eye-level and to not knock your teeth out from shooting too fast.

Mr. Ayoob wrote in 1992, "One of the most efficient close-combat shotgun techniques is the High Tuck as refined and taught by Mr. Bill Groce [head instructor of firearms training for] the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy. It is a dramatic improvement over the previously long-taught Taylor Underarm Assault Position." (The late Mr. Groce was one of the finest weapons and survival instructors that has ever lived, according to Mr. Lance Biddle, former colleague and LE firearms instructor. Mr. Groce personally taught the High Tuck technique to both Mr. Biddle and to Mr. Ayoob.)

The shoulders should be aggressively forward of the hips. Unlike Mr. Castle's preferable method of allowing the arms to swing together naturally and absorb recoil, the High Tuck required the stock to be buried under the armpit. Mr. Ayoob wrote: "This lines up the gun barrel level with the shooter's chest, which will be level with an opponent's torso assuming even ground." (As I noted before, this obviously lines up the barrel with an upright BG's chest and with his center of mass.) "If the butt is low under the armpit instead of high up and touching, the shot will go high, and toward the shooter's weak side; that is, at seven yards the shooter will fire over the suspect's right shoulder if the comb of the stock is not in place." Mr. Ayoob was still teaching the High Tuck technique to his Lethal Force Institute-2 students at least until 2005. Mr. Ayoob warns LFI-2 students to firmly grasp the stock and to not allow the firing hand to come too far forward on the stock in the High Tuck stance. "If you do, you will find that the trigger guard will recoil into your middle finger. This will not feel good." A weak grasp of the stock can actually get the middle finger broken, and this reveals the flaw with the High Tuck technique.

With the method I described, care is taken in practice to always keep the barrel horizontal to the ground, letting both arms swing together naturally to absorb recoil, rear elbow swinging straight back. You keep your head about six inches above the barrel, so Mr. Castle's High position is not "point and shoot," but it is a true indexed "alternative sighting method" like Mr. Cirillo proposed. As you learn to trust your below line-of-sight shots, not using the bead, you will notice that you can improve at directing your shots to high and low, left and right target areas also.

Mr. Ayoob explained, "The High Tuck is inherently a short range technique. It is geared to working at a distance the width of an average bedroom. This is all to the good, since this is where the home defense shotgun will generally be employed, and the technique is free of painful recoil when done properly. However, since the line of the gun's barrel is now lower than the line of sight, by a significant margin, the shot blast will tend to go high much beyond a few steps away. This can be dealt with through practice. One female officer who learned this technique was able to qualify with the High Tuck, using rifled slugs, at a range of 25 yards. She had to, since her shoulder had been dislocated through bad techniques taught by her police department. However, it takes a rare level of commitment and repetitious training to make the High Tuck effective much beyond seven yards."

I found this to be the same with the High position of Mr. Castle's C.A.R. system: Very rapid firing right on target every time at 20'-25' is easy, and practice builds confidence.

These are four pictures of Mr. Ayoob who wrote, "LOOKING OVER THE TOP OF THE SHOTGUN, A SHOOTER CAN FIRE VERY EFFECTIVELY TO A SURPRISING DISTANCE WHILE FOCUSING ON THE TARGET, WITH GUNSIGHT IN PERIPHERAL VISION USING THE 'STRESSPOINT SIGHT INDEX' " (described in his first StressFire book). THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT MR. JIM CIRILLO MEANT BY "ALTERNATIVE SIGHTING METHODS."

Mr. Ayoob also wrote, "Firing from the hip, once taught as a standard police procedure for ranges of seven yards and in, has long since been discredited, [being] more likely to miss than to hit. This is because, with violent movement occuring on both sides of a real-life gunfight, the 'body position index' that can work well on a static target is no longer able to line up the weapon with the ducking and weaving opponent." I say that the solution is to fire the PGO shotgun at chest level by looking down the barrel from 6 inches above the barrel, and to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Below was a woman officer pictured years ago using High Tuck, which creates several felt index points, allowing the shotgun to be fired accurately at close distances. Mr. Bill Groce considered the High Tuck to be his refinement of Mr. Chuck Taylor's Underarm Assault Position. Mr. Taylor is one of the four best trainers in the world. He has trained several hundred thousand personnel for several major military powers, and he still has his students engage multiple targets at seven meters in timed drills with his Taylor Underarm Assault Position, which was used decades ago by the two men pictured below.

Two photographs of Mr. Michael T. Rayburn looking over the shotgun barrel have been removed at his request. They can be found on p. 80 and p. 82 of his excellent book, Combat Shotgun: The Ultimate CQB Weapon.

Eleven of the great gunfighting instructors of our time have endorsed below-line-of-sight, off-shoulder, chest-level shotgun shooting methods as viable for extreme CQB under seven yards, which is the range of over 90% of handgun confrontations, to wit, Mr. Paul Castle, the late Mr. Jim Cirillo, Mr. Massad Ayoob, the late Mr. Bill Groce, Mr. Chuck Taylor, the late Marine Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Cooper, Dr. Ignatius Piazza, Mr. Gabriel Suarez, Mr. Lance Biddle, Mr. Michael T. Rayburn, and Mr. Randy Smith (plus 58 other C.A.R. system instructors in 22 states in the U.S.A.). Many police agencies have adopted Mr. Castle's C.A.R. system, and many others are moving to point shooting for use at CQ distances. There still is a need for sighted shooting and it still is being taught. However, officers are at greatest risk in close quarters, and in those situations the C.A.R. system makes life over death sense. Our military has hired Mr. Castle to teach the C.A.R. system to special operators for several years now. I am fairly certain that Mr. Castle was influenced by studying the late Mr. Jim Cirillo, so I will first quote how MR. CIRILLO PERSONALLY DISCOVERED THAT HIS SUBCONSCIOUS MIND HAD SHOT THREE BG's (TWO OF THEM OUT FROM BEHIND A HUMAN SHIELD) WITH SIX SHOTS IN THREE SECONDS WITHOUT USING THE SIGHTS OF HIS .38 SPECIAL REVOLVER FROM 60-75 FEET AWAY!!!!!

Mr. Cirillo's conscious mind not only did not use the sights, he honestly could not even understand who was shooting his .38, and afterwards he first thought with embarrassment that he had missed all 3 BGs. Mr. Cirillo's conscious mind could never again use the sights and repeat his feat with paper targets. Mr. Cirillo's great lifelong desire was that his discovery about his SUBCONSCIOUS MIND could be used to save other officers' lives. Of course Mr. Cirillo taught sighted shooting, but his entire purpose in also teaching Alternative Sighting Methods was to save other officers' lives. All of the little visual subtleties remembered by your subconscious mind from "Practice, practice, practice" and "learn to run the gun you have" could save your life someday. Mr. Paul Castle wrote, "To resist new ideas or to discard new thinking or to turn a blind eye is to put our ego in front of the safety of an Operator's life."

"Mr. Jeff Cooper called him ‘Cirillo the Great’. Mr. Massad Ayoob said he was one of the great law enforcement gun-fighters of our time. Few firearms instructors, if any, could match the cumulative street combat experience that Mr. Jim Cirillo offered to students. As a member of the New York City Stake-Out Squad (1968-1973) Mr. Jim Cirillo’s only job was to confront the most hardened and dangerous armed criminals in the city. During this time he was involved in seventeen shootouts and more armed confrontations than can be counted. During the years following his retirement from the NYPD Mr. Cirillo worked as a firearms instructor for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center from 1976-1991." -- Jim Cirillo Killed in Car Wreck

"Mr. Cirillo’s first gunfight was his most famous. It occurred just two hours into his very first stakeout with the new Stake-Out Squad. Three armed robbers hit a New York City dairy store. They positioned themselves in such a way that Mr. Cirillo’s partner, armed with a buckshot-loaded shotgun, could not fire for fear of hitting customers. Only Mr. Cirillo had an acceptable shooting angle. He told the story in his book:

“I was never so terrified in my whole life. They never told me in the academy that the targets were going to jump and move all over the place. There wasn’t one 3' by 2' target to shoot at like on the police range. One gunman only gave me a 6" circle of his moving head to shoot at. The other two jumped behind the cashier and only exposed about 9" of their bodies on each side of her. During those hectic microseconds when I popped up from concealment, my protective crotch piece fell off my bullet-resistant vest. I prayed that none of the gunmen would hit me in what I considered a most vital area.

“When the metal nylon-covered crotch piece fell to the floor with a resounding clunk, all three turned toward the sound and pointed their handguns in my direction. The next thing I knew I heard shots. I felt my Model 10 Smith & Wesson bucking in my hands, and I was asking myself mentally, ‘Who the hell is shooting my gun?’

“When the smoke cleared, I did not see one gunman anywhere. I cursed myself for the fear that overcame me and was terribly embarrassed by what I thought was a total loss of control and accuracy. When the cashier told me that one robber was still there, I quickly drew my second revolver, but she stated, ‘Don’t worry. He isn’t going anywhere.’ As I jumped down from the manager’s booth where I was positioned, I was partially relieved that at least I had stopped one of the robbers.”

"He had done better than he knew. The robber who wasn’t going anywhere was mortally wounded by a bullet through the brain. Jim had hit him three times in the head with 110 grain Super Vel semi-jacketed hollow point .38 Specials. Two of the bullets had skidded off his skull, leaving him up and running. The third had ended his deadly threat. The other two thugs had escaped, one half-carrying the other. Both were arrested that day when they attempted to seek treatment for gunshot wounds. Mr. Cirillo had hurt each of them badly enough to make them desperately flee the fight.

"Sergeant Joe Volpato, acting commander of the Stakeout Unit when I visited there in the early 1970s, told me that reconstruction showed that MR. CIRILLO HAD FIRED SIX ROUNDS AND SHOT ALL THREE ARMED FELONS IN THREE SECONDS.

"Jim told me at the beginning of the fight he was so scared his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth; but when his .38 came up and he saw a sight picture, a strange calm seemed to descend upon him, as if something was telling him he was in his world, on his turf now. Automatic pilot took over as his finger rolled the trigger, the way it did in PPC matches, of which he had already won so many. Jim experienced a phenomenon known as psychological splitting, a sense there were two of him. There was a passive, “Conscious” Jim, who focused on the front sights and watched the blurred figures he was aiming at react to the shots, as Conscious Jim thought to himself, “Who the hell is shooting my gun?” And there was the active, “Subconscious” Jim, who was tracking the moving targets and smoothly stroking the double action S&W’s trigger.

"Mr. Cirillo would later write, “I could not comprehend how I was able to take out three gunmen when I was so consumed with fear prior to the gunfight. I dared not speak of the strange phenomenon where I felt that someone else was shooting my revolver. Later, I understood that this miraculous reaction, which most probably saved my life, came from the subconscious … It was now evident to me that the subconscious can take over during moments of great stress. When it does take over, it is infallible — it can only achieve perfection. The shots that I made in that first gunfight were so precise and so quick that I have never been able to duplicate the feat at a range on paper targets.”

"To fully understand why Jim’s performance that day, some 40 years ago, has become so widely recognized as a genuine “feat of arms,” one has to remember the distances involved. Jim fired those shots at 60 to 75 feet — up to 25 yards — from the perpetrators, in a crowded market, shooting two of the perps out from behind a human shield." -- American Handgunner

If the following makes sense to you, as it does to me, then examine Sabre Tactical and maybe call Mr. Paul Castle at (615) 969-3377 or e-mail him at pcastle@visi.net or info@sabretactical.com.

"Traditional shooting methods which utilize the weaver or the isosceles stances are not getting the job done. Here is what "GF" Fmr. SEAL 'Team 3 point/Sniper' said about the system: "The C.A.R. system is the first training system I have experienced that has truly been designed around the idea that the Operators must train for Gun Fights, unlike conventional systems that have evolved into training Operators to address paper targets, from a static line position." Mr. Paul Castle has recognized what all true Operators know in their hearts to be true: The isosceles and weaver stances that we have been taught are fairly effective in a range environment, but they have been proven IN BLOOD to be wholly ineffective in real gunfights."

Numerous Police Departments in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, and other countries are using Mr. Paul Castle's training systems. He has conducted training sessions for the Marine Corps out of Paris Island and Marines from the NavConBrig in Charleston, S.C., concentrating on the C.A.R. system. He has trained elite special operations units of the British Army and R.U.C. E4B in the C.A.R system. This was for small arms and shotguns. He has taught a great many S.W.A.T. operators the C.A.R. system for anti-ambush vehicle drills and advanced firearms training. In 2003 US military instructors began teaching the C.A.R. firearms system to active military operators posted overseas and in various hot locations. For several years Mr. Castle has trained USN SRT in Greece and USMC Force Protection Units overseas. He continues to operate at the NCLETTC center WV and at various off-site locations. He has recently prepared close protection operators for specialized tours of duty in North Africa. Mr. Castle has 58 C.A.R. system instructors in 22 US states, solely for training LE and military operators (no civilians).

Mr. Paul Castle explains, "My experiences have taught me that it is a combination of Power and Pressure, Balance and Technique, both from within and without. These are manifest through the correct application of Stance and Form, Flexibility and Strength. In my mind traditional shooting stances offer little of these basic requirements, resulting in not hitting what we are aiming at when we are under the stress of lethal force combat. We are taught that only a perfectly centered fighter can attack in any direction. It is important to own your attacker's center. With a firearm you must be able to deliver multiple rounds to the center area, and in quick succession on the move. Gun fights occur from difficult angles, unlike traditional style range practice when you are perfectly centered on your target. Many experts continue to debate the weaver and isosceles stances, and which one is the most natural in CQB combat? The answer has been shown time and time again. It is that neither of them offer the same levels of performance as C.A.R. as a gunfighting / marksmanship shooting system. In my opinion, it offers the best weapons retention technique to be found anywhere in the world today, and has been proven in blood, to be wholly effective in real world gun fights. I believe it’s time to move away from the “sports shooter” training theory. Time to move away from the paper/steel shooters. The traditional weaver and isosceles stances simply put you at a disadvantage. Standing square on to the target puts you off-balance and makes you a big target.

"Two things need to change. One is we need to start teaching breathing techniques under stress. The other thing that we need to address is failure to properly sight. We are simply not hitting what we are aiming at. One of the most overlooked facts is the shooting line training techniques of standing students to shoot a set-distance static flat paper target, allowing students to close their non-shooting eye. This is wholly ineffective, and in my opinion is simply setting students up to get killed. Take your finger and push out to your arms length, cover an object as if you were sighting your weapon on it. Closing an eye and getting sight alignment, breathing, and then taking that well-controlled shot is just not real. For example, as soon as you open both eyes, the target doubles. You get twin vision. It is a recorded fact that in a CQB gun fight both eyes remain open. Plus, if you push the front sight out past your natural reading distance of 12-14" for the average person, the cillary muscle in the eye is unable to focus quickly enough from sight to target and back before you have shot your weapon. In other words when you look at the vast majority of police shootings, they are in fact shooting point or sense of direction.

"Yet we continue to avoid this fact. The statement is heard: “We cannot teach anything other than aimed fire due to liability issues.” Well here is the dilemma, we are fooling ourselves if we do not address the facts. The answer is the C.A.R. system which uses both sight and sense of direction; they work in harmony with each other, not against each other. Yet we continue to teach the following doctrines: Front sight clearly in focus, Target blurred, Trigger pressure increased until surprise break, Shot discharge. Most Operators who have been involved in a CQB gunfight will tell you the same thing, “The target was always the main visual stimuli; the weapon itself was the threat, and I shot towards the threat. I did not get time to sight, it just happened all too fast." So the issues remain, should we teach gunfighting or range application? Or find a solution to deal with both? Officers are at greatest risk in close quarters, and in those situations the C.A.R. system makes life over death sense.

"Police casualty rates have not gone down in ten years. Over 90% of handgun confrontations occur under 7 yards. CQB shooting accuracy is under 20%. In short, traditional shooting methods which utilize the weaver or the isosceles stances are not getting the job done.

"C.A.R. reduces recoil by 95% and that is no exaggeration. It works. For example, in front of 30 FBI/Violent Crimes task force agents and officers in Youngstown, Ohio, I placed four rounds of 00 buckshot from a shotgun on two targets set 10 feet apart, and the timer showed 0.86 seconds for the fourth shot. Every C.A.R. basic class student achieves 4-5 rounds under one second on center of target with standard Glock .40 pistols. One student achieved 6 rounds under one second, nothing out of the 9/10 ring on a timer. C.A.R. students know how to hit the target hard and quickly, to destroy it, to stop it in it’s tracks, to finish it. C.A.R. works and our students prove it in the field." -- Point Shooting - Why C.A.R.?

My ideas for shooting PGO shotguns came immediately after I read a poster elsewhere who observed that PGO shotguns could be shot by imitating the Sabre Tactical video, where Mr. Paul Castle does not use the stock in the High Position, followed by a shouldered shot in the Extended High Position. I still hope to take his C.A.R. course sometime. I have his manuals, and they make sense to me. I do understand that Mr. Jim Cirillo was earnest in hoping that other instructors would expand upon his Alternative Sighting Methods (but certainly not to the exclusion of sighted fire). It seems to me that Mr. Castle has made more progress in that field of Alternative Sighting Methods than anyone else. I also think that this fraction of his C.A.R. concept probably comes from Mr. Castle's upgrade of the decades-old LE shooting techniques, the Taylor Underarm Assault Position which was created by Mr. Chuck Taylor, and the High Tuck Position, which was refined by the late Mr. Bill Groce, one of the finest weapons and survival instructors who has ever lived, and later taught by Mr. Massad Ayoob, which look over the shotgun barrel and do not use the bead or sights. Mr. Castle's taking advantage of biomechanics is a huge improvement that lets the arms swing freely to absorb recoil rather than pinning the stock between the arm and ribs.

Mr. Shawn Dodson of FirearmsTactical.com said, "Any shotgun can be mounted in this manner and used effectively and efficiently."

Mr. Randy Smith of Defensive Training Concepts, Inc. for LE Firearms Training in Staunton, Virginia, said that off-shoulder shooting "has been taught in every law enforcement shotgun course I have ever attended and it is a technique we teach as well. It is not 'sighted' fire but it is 'aimed' fire." -- Rapid Off-Shoulder Shotgun Technique

A Navy man wrote: "During SRT, SSET, Ca Post, AIT, and anywhere else I've received training on the handling of a shotgun, firing from the hip has been taught. The Navy's shotgun qualification requires that you shoot from the hip. Just because you are not using the sights doesn't mean that you are not aiming." [Mr. Massad Ayoob has written, "Firing from the hip, once taught as a standard police procedure for ranges of seven yards and in, has long since been discredited, [being] more likely to miss than to hit."]

Mr. Lee Lapin assisted armored car guards that were required to qualify with a PGO. "I started out with a full stock to show manual of arms and safety lessons. For company reasons the full stock was taught as if it was a PGO. My idea, my choice, and I got this approved (it cost a bit more for training, but I was able to sell the idea and reasons). This instead of training 'cold' with PGO. Often times starting with primer-only hulls. Correct basic fundamentals, repetition becomes faith, faith becomes habit. Then super light reloads, and worked up to 'duty loads.' I/we went from the range to learn to shoot out of an actual armored car. Transition from full stock, to PGO, learn the differences, and again start slow, repeat, with light loadings, and end up in armored car. Everything from toting, entering car, exiting - everything. Now, after all the company lessons and quals were done - I would take the same folks and teach using a full stock shotgun."

Mr. Gabriel Suarez: "I want to thank Colonel Jeff Cooper for reviewing the manuscript of The Tactical Shotgun ... and Dr. Ignatius Piazza and the warriors at the Front Sight Training Institute... Taylor Underarm Assault Position -- To react to an unexpected threat at spitball distances, a better and faster option is the Taylor underarm assault position as developed by none other than Mr. Chuck Taylor. This position involves tucking the buttstock high into the armpit against the pectoral muscle, with the butt itself just inside the armpit. Simultaneously orient the muzzle onto the target with both arms bent and the elbows pointed toward the deck. The physical posture is aggressively forward, but not overtly leaning. It is important to keep the master eye directly over the shotgun barrel so that what the eye sees, the muzzle covers. Since no use of the gun's actual sights takes place, the shotgun is indexed by using the body's position as a solid gun mount. This works admirably for coarse shooting up to seven meters. Beyond this, conventional shoulder firing and aiming are required."

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