While training at my last two classes, it has been brought to my attention that many people have not been introduced to the concept of the Safety Circle. I spoke with a firearms instructor not long ago who hadn’t even heard of it. If you have not heard of it, then let me introduce you to the concept. In the past firearms instructors have had all the shooters on a static line facing down range. We have all been instructed to shoot our targets a certain number of times and then bring our firearm down to the “Ready” position and wait for further instruction or reassess the situation. Here lies the problem. Have you ever tried to move 360 degrees with your weapon at the “Ready” and not sweep another shooter? In the real world off the range your threats may come at you from different angles or areas. We have to be able to move 360 degrees WITHOUT covering an innocent person or a partner with our muzzle. I’ll digress here and ask how many people train with their significant other? Great concept if you would have to shoot and move to address another threat or to get to cover. OK back to the subject. The Safety Circle is a method developed to address the issue of covering another person that you don’t want to. The circle can be used with a handgun, rifle or shotgun. Lets assume you will be using a handgun. The Safety Circle is done by having your weapon pointed down range and then rotating your wrist counter clock wise 45 degrees (for a right handed shooter)(clock wise 45 degrees for a left handed shooter). This puts the side of the handgun pointing up with the sights pointed towards your support side. Then all you do is bend your wrist down. By doing this the muzzle of the gun will be pointed down to a position forward of your feet and in a safe direction. By using the Safety Circle you can move any direction or distance with complete safety. The guys I shoot with regularly train with the Safety Circle as a fundamental part of our courses of fire. Always remember safety and when first starting to practice with the circle, make absolutely sure your weapons are unloaded. It will take practice before you feel comfortable with the Safety Circle. To use the method with a rifle or shotgun simply keep the butt of the weapon in the shoulder pocket and rotate the same way as with a handgun and drop the muzzle down. with the butt of the weapon in your shoulder, the muzzle will be again outside your feet pointed in a safe direction. This method is as fast or faster that having the weapon at the “Ready”. Take the time to try the Safety Circle and see what you think.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 9:24 pm and is filed under Safety, training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.