Why Was Hip Shooting Ever A Thing?

[BET7]

Chris Baker from Lucky Gunner, gives an interesting history on pistol hip shooting. Article/video below:

Why Was Hip Shooting Ever A Thing?

Hip shooting was a favored pistol technique for half of the 1900s despite its poor accuracy and steep learning curve thanks to one man named Jelly Bryce.

www.luckygunner.com

 

[HansGruber]

It’s faster, and plenty accurate at close range.

Do you make tight groups? No.

But you can put your shots in the A zone easily enough with a little practice; I can, and do, break clays placed at head level at 3 yards with pretty much all of my carry guns fired “from the hip”.

These are lessons from people who actually were in a LOT of gunfights; not talking heads on the internet who’ve never been close to a real gunfight.

 

[ECS686]

I remember back in the day we use to do a stage of “hip” firing at 7 yards in a PPC match as well as a USAF qual with the S&W model 15’s . It could be done but the difference in qual vs the when something kicks off. With a qual you have that set up prep time where we’d all game it and set up with strong foot Sligo to the left of the center.

 

[Bassbob]

It’s faster, and plenty accurate at close range.

Do you make tight groups? No.

But you can put your shots in the A zone easily enough with a little practice; I can, and do, break clays placed at head level at 3 yards with pretty much all of my carry guns fired “from the hip”.

These are lessons from people who actually were in a LOT of gunfights; not talking heads on the internet who’ve never been close to a real gunfight.

It depends on who you are obviously. Or rather how much time you spend doing it. I assure you there are people who can nail a gnat's ass to a wall from the hip. John Wesley Hardin was supposedly an amazing shot, with either hand or both hands at the same time without relying on sights.

The modern equivalent is shooting from retention. Something everyone should practice.

 

[ECS686]

You know as hip shooting was a thing from some legends in LE like the video mentioned. Jelly Bryce and others the funny thing they made it work with a 6 shot 38 special and Lead Round nose bullets .

To hear some today they wouldn’t survive without a higher cap gun red dot and WML!!!’

 

[Wirenut]

Bob Munden was always fun to watch..

 

[Bassbob]

You know as hip shooting was a thing from some legends in LE like the video mentioned. Jelly Bryce and others the funny thing they made it work with a 6 shot 38 special and Lead Round nose bullets .

To hear some today they wouldn’t survive without a higher cap gun red dot and WML!!!’

Well, I do like my red dots and high cap mags. No WMLs though. They really are no help on the range.
I also do a fair bit of point shooting and do not consider myself a good shot with a pistol to begin with. I strive to excel at combat accuracy though and do a fair to middlin' job of it.

That's why I like shotguns so much.

 

[Shibadog]

Speed, pure and simple. It allow one to get a round away significantly quicker than a more traditional shooting position. That said, mastering it is Hard! And it’s a short range thing only. There’s and old video of Bill Jordan holding his strong side hand palm down with a pingpong ball on top of it. He then moves that hand, draws a model 19 Smith from a duty holster and hits the pingpong ball with a shot before it hits the ground. That boys and girls is fast! Jordan advocated all police officers master shooting from the hip for targets out to 3-5 yards noting that a first shot on target usually wins the fight. Makes sense, and even an old man like me can get a shot away from the hip a lot quicker than any other way (based on results using a shot timer). The trick is to be able to actually HIT with that first fast shot.I’ve been practicing this a lot at 3 yards with my 3” EMP.(that’ll make you humble). In an SD situation a few tenths of a second can be critical, so I’ll continue working on this. However, just about the time I think I’ve “got it” I’ll miss several in a row.. YMMV

 

[ChanceMcCall]

I'm old enough that all of my early trainers were hip shooters. Given what their law enforcement lives were like the fact they were still alive to train others meant something.

 

[Bassbob]

Speed, pure and simple. It allow one to get a round away significantly quicker than a more traditional shooting position. That said, mastering it is Hard! And it’s a short range thing only. There’s and old video of Bill Jordan holding his strong side hand palm down with a pingpong ball on top of it. He then moves that hand, draws a model 19 Smith from a duty holster and hits the pingpong ball with a shot before it hits the ground. That boys and girls is fast! Jordan advocated all police officers master shooting from the hip for targets out to 3-5 yards noting that a first shot on target usually wins the fight. Makes sense, and even an old man like me can get a shot away from the hip a lot quicker than any other way (based on results using a shot timer). The trick is to be able to actually HIT with that first fast shot.I’ve been practicing this a lot at 3 yards with my 3” EMP.(that’ll make you humble). In an SD situation a few tenths of a second can be critical, so I’ll continue working on this. However, just about the time I think I’ve “got it” I’ll miss several in a row.. YMMV

John Wesley Hardin had holsters sewn into his vest and pulled crossdraw. He said it was the fastest way. The man likely exaggerated some, but his confirmed kill count still puts him near the top. There are playing cards with his bullet holes still out there and for sale actually. And someone paid 80k for the bullet that killed him.

 

[FNFAN]

I'm old enough to have gotten to watch Bill Jordan of U.S. Border Patrol fame pulverize aspirin at 5 yards with wax bullet loads, shooting from the hip. He was a friend of my college instructor and gave a demo. The more modern version of this is Taran Butler running plate racks shooting from the hip.

 

[Jester560]

It’s faster, and plenty accurate at close range.

Do you make tight groups? No.

But you can put your shots in the A zone easily enough with a little practice; I can, and do, break clays placed at head level at 3 yards with pretty much all of my carry guns fired “from the hip”.

These are lessons from people who actually were in a LOT of gunfights; not talking heads on the internet who’ve never been close to a real gunfight.

^^^^this^^^^

 

[HayesGreener]

My first formal handgun training with Air Force police in 1970 included a lot of hip shooting, what I referred to as FBI Combat Crouch. Very effective at close range and holster choice is critical. Takes much practice to master. LE training more or less dropped the crouch and Jeff Cooper's teachings became prominent. I still end all my range sessions with CQB/hip shooting/failure drills

 

[shanneba]

Made me think of shooting clay targets from the hip.
I had a gentleman that worked part time for me that shot for Winchester after WWII.
He could hit 25 straight skeet targets from the hip.
I saw John Satterwhite back in the 1980s do a show like this:

 

[KillerFord1977]

Well, I do like my red dots and high cap mags. No WMLs though. They really are no help on the range.
I also do a fair bit of point shooting and do not consider myself a good shot with a pistol to begin with. I strive to excel at combat accuracy though and do a fair to middlin' job of it.

That's why I like shotguns so much.

 

[Sld1959]

It's another form of point, or instinctive shooting, it could be called rote memory shooting. When practiced it can be very accurate, and very fast.

Instinctive shooting shooting is also used extensively in traditional archery like I practice.

 

[Shibadog]

I’m pretty fair with a stick bow, and snap shooting a scattergun on quail or pheasant. I’ve still got a fair piece to go to master hip shooting though. When I run drills I’ll get several good hits in a row, then score a few misses in a row. No pattern I’ve found yet

 

[Bassbob]

Made me think of shooting clay targets from the hip.
I had a gentleman that worked part time for me that shot for Winchester after WWII.
He could hit 25 straight skeet targets from the hip.
I saw John Satterwhite back in the 1980s do a show like this:

I got a buddy that shoots skeet with a Ruger 10-22 and almost never misses.

 

[Sld1959]

Hip shooting, if it's good enough for Bill Jordan, it's good enough for me .

 

[Shibadog]

And as Bill said, there is “No Second Place Winner”