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A weapon stoppage at

this range doesn’t leave


much time for clearing a
malfunction or reloading.

THE ART OF THE TRANSI


When Plan “A” Fails § BY TIGER McKEE

You knew there was going to be a fight so you armed yourself with a rifle. Breathing slowly to calm
yourself you step through the door to begin searching.

W
orking around a corner you you shouldn’t—a transition is called for, function clearances—which hopefully
see a shadow coming from the and the quicker the better. you practice until these tasks become
opposite direction. No doubt Compared to pistols, rifles kick ass. subconscious processes. If the weapon
about it now, the fight is here. You stop, Battle rifles normally have high capac- runs empty or a malfunction occurs,
mentally check your stance, and then ity magazines. They allow us to engage the conscious mind acknowledges this
there he is, eyes displaying murderous targets with accurate fire from touching and initiates the reloading or clearing
intent. “Drop the weapon!” you com- distance out to hundreds of yards, and process and then the trained subcon-
mand. Ignoring you he points a pistol at the velocity of rifle rounds increases the scious takes over to complete the pro-
you and advances. You bring the muzzle probability of stopping the threat. But cedure. Our conscious mind also deter-
of your carbine up, slip off the safety, when your rifle ceases to function, and mines when clearing a malfunction or
focus on the front sight, and press the you can’t call in artillery, you better have reloading are not options due to lack of
trigger and—nothing. No bang. No re- the skills to transition to your pistol. time. I’m talking about those situations
coil. Not even a click. It seems strange The Combative Triad, established by where if you don’t send rounds down-
that you notice his lips form a smile as Jeff Cooper, consists of mindset, marks- range immediately you will die. When
he starts running at you, closing the gap manship and gun handling. Marksman- the long gun ceases to function under
between you. What do you do? If you ship is the ability to hit your target. Gun these conditions, regardless of the cause,
have your pistol—and there’s no reason handling includes reloads and mal- the ability to transition to your second-

72 S.W.A.T. SEPTEMBER 2005 www.swatmag.com


The simplest transition is to pull the rifle into the A carry sling, if adjusted properly, can be Clint Smith teaches a technique where
body with the support hand. As mentioned in looped over the neck allowing you to use both the sling is looped over the support
the text, positioning the muzzle of the rifle up hands on the pistol. The disadvantage is that arm elbow. This is a quick and easy
seems to work best. it takes slightly more time, which may not be method that allows two hands on the

ITION
available. pistol.

ary weapon is essential to survival. So for right now let’s forget that high The simplest technique is to use the
Transitions are best when kept simple. dollar tactical sling and imagine you’ve primary hand to lower the rifle’s stock
Complicated actions, or a sequence of got a four-dollar cotton military sling on while the secondary hand, grasping the
acts, consume additional time, contain your rifle. The easiest way to transition handguards, pulls the rifle tight against
more opportunities for you to make a from rifle to pistol would be to just drop the center of your chest with the barrel
mistake, and are difficult to practice and the rifle and use both hands to employ pointing up. As soon as the secondary
retain. However, to prepare for the re- the pistol, but there are several reasons hand has control of the rifle the primary
alities of combat you will need several we might not want to ditch our rifle. hand presents the pistol. Pulling the rifle
transition techniques. Transitions with a Predicting exactly what it will take to tight against the body makes it easier to
tactical sling are fairly simple, but there stop the fight and how long it will last is control since your arm isn’t extended
may be times when you won’t have a impossible. Your engagement may have away from your body, and it’s also a
chance to strap into the sling. Daylight an opportunity to get the rifle back into plus in the retention department. We
transitions will be different from low- action. During the fight you’re moving, point the muzzle up so the majority of
light actions. Maybe the only light you creating distance, going to cover or just the rifle’s weight is lower than the point
have is the one mounted on your rifle. trying to make yourself a more difficult where we are holding onto it. Pointing
Then there is no guarantee you’ll even target for the threat to engage. Drop the muzzle down requires either twist-
be fighting with your own rifle. If I’m your rifle and it’s gone. If the opportu- ing the support hand into an uncomfort-
armed with a pistol and during the fight nity to get the rifle back into the fight able position (and having the mass of the
have the chance to pick up a rifle, you does come, you probably won’t be any- rifle above our holding point) or reposi-
better believe I’ll grab it. where near where you dropped it. There tioning the support hand on the weap-
The point is we need to train without is also the possibility your opponents on, adding a step into the sequence. Re-
all the fancy tactical slings, neon sights, could retrieve the rifle, get it operating member, simple is best.
lasers and weapon-mounted lights—just and employ it against you. Keep the rifle Maintaining the support hand’s origi-
in case. and perform the transition. nal grip on the rifle also reduces the ac-

www.swatmag.com S.W.A.T. SEPTEMBER 2005 73


THE ART OF THE TRANSITION

right: With a handheld flash-


light, the rifle can be pinned
against the chest with the sup-
port arm. The support hand is
free to operate the light.

below: If the only light you


have is mounted on the rifle
you must use the support hand
to hold the rifle and manipulate
the light, freeing the primary
hand to present the pistol.

tactical sling you simply lower the rifle


down with the support hand while the
primary hand presents the pistol.
Clint Smith, originator of the Urban
Rifle doctrine, teaches a technique where
the support arm slides through the sling
and you lower the rifle down so that
it hangs from the crook of the support
arm elbow. His reasoning is that if you
tions required to transition back to the sling it over the support shoulder, in the
rifle, which you should do at first oppor- muzzle down or African carry position,
tunity. Yes, you could continue the fight as you move around the sling will slip
with the pistol, but our task is to stop the off the shoulder and fall down to the el-
threat, and the rifle does this so much bow anyway. This technique is simple,
better than the pistol. In fact, documen- quick and allows you to use both hands
tation reveals that over eighty percent of on the pistol.
people shot with pistol rounds survive Low-light transitions using a hand-
the injury, meaning they are still capable held light are basically the same only
fighting. Of those shot with rifle rounds with slight modifications. For example,
less than twenty percent survive. the first technique described (where
You can also use the sling during the the rifle is pulled into the body with
transition process. With a simple carry the support hand) works if we trap the
sling there are a couple of options, but rifle’s handguard in the elbow of the
keep in mind these techniques add steps support arm and clamp it against our
to the transition sequence, which means body. The support hand operates the
additional time. The support hand can light and the primary hand is freed up
loop the sling over your neck as the pri- to present the pistol. As mentioned pre-
mary hand lowers the weapon down, viously, this technique works best with
letting the rifle hang on the sling from the rifle’s muzzle pointing up. The sling
your neck. This allows you to use both techniques described above can also be
hands to deploy the pistol, and with the employed, only instead of having both
sling adjusted properly you can leave it hands on the pistol the support hand
looped around the neck using it in the holds the flashlight.
same manner as a tactical sling. With a To employ weapon-mounted lights in

74 S.W.A.T. SEPTEMBER 2005 www.swatmag.com


THE ART OF THE TRANSITION
The rifle can also be positioned under the support hand and
clamped against the body. This is a good stable position
that could be maintained for extended periods of time.

functions.” Then you need to mind must be trained to make quick as-
practice more than anyone, sessments and decisions and the body
because when it does happen trained to perform the actual physical
it will be a real surprise. To techniques without delay or hesitation.
practice transitions take every It is essential we have the ability to flow
precaution possible to ensure from one weapon to another, and even
safety. I have my students more important that our mind and body
unload their rifles and start function as one unit.
out slow and by the numbers, “When in a fight to the death,” Musashi
walking through the process states in his Book Of Five Rings, “one
prior to live fire drills. wants to employ all one’s weapons to
Normally our training seg- the utmost.” He continues by saying that
regates rifle from pistol. What “to die with one’s sword still sheathed
we should be doing is com- is most regrettable.” Although Musashi,
bining both into a seamless a samurai in feudal Japan, fought with
package. You should practice swords, the same is true today of fight-
transitioning from the rifle to ing with firearms. Training for success in
pistol, from pistol to rifle—and combat means becoming proficient with
even from pistol to knife. Ide- every weapon at our disposal.
ally you want to flow smooth- (Author’s note: Although the primary
conjunction with the sidearm we need ly from one weapon system to another focus of this article is on the rifle the
techniques that will keep the light of the without any gaps. same techniques can be applied to any
rifle indexed on the threat. One option is To achieve this level of proficiency long gun.) §
to leave the rifle stock in your shoulder, you must unify mind and body. Not
controlling it with the support hand. The only do we segregate our weapon train- Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Fire-
primary hand presents the pistol while ing but for far too long we have sepa- arms Academy, located in Huntsville, AL.
the support hand operates the weapon- rated the mental from the physical. The (256) 721-4602 www.shootrite.org.
mounted light, assuming your weapon
is configured where the support hand
manipulates the light. This is the sim-
plest technique, and therefore quickest,
but the downside is that it takes a good
bit of pressure from the support hand to
ensure the rifle doesn’t slip out of your
shoulder as you move. When you are
looped into a tactical sling this may be
your only option.
If you are using a simple sling you
could shift the rifle to the support side
of the body, sliding the stock of the ri-
fle between the support arm and your
side, and use the support arm to trap
the rifle against your side. The support
hand maintains its original grip on the
handguards, indexing and operating the
light, and the primary hand presents the
pistol. Although this technique does take
slightly more time to shift the rifle from
your shoulder to your support side, it
provides a good stable hold on the rifle
that can be maintained for extended pe-
riods of time.
Right about now I can hear some of
you saying, “But my rifle never mal-

www.swatmag.com S.W.A.T. SEPTEMBER 2005 75

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