Vehicle Pistol Combat: Pistol CQB Engagements from Vehicles

Engaging a threat from the interior of a vehicle involves movements and considerations not commonly addressed during flat-range training. Changes in drawing the pistol, vehicle-specific considerations, and ballistic considerations can present problems not typically encountered during training. The aforementioned issues can be addressed easily with proper training. In this article, we will explore potential issues during vehicle pistol combat and solutions for them.

Drawing The Pistol for Combat in a Vehicle

The draw is dependent on a couple of factors. First is where you are carrying the pistol. Carrying appendix or strong side slightly changes the manner in which the pistol is drawn. How you stage your pistol also comes into play. We will look at staging in permissive and non-permissive environments.

When staging the pistol in a permissive environment, the cover garment is behind the pistol, and the seatbelt is secured behind the weapon. Staging the pistol in a non-permissive environment is simply that the cover garment and seatbelt are over the weapon.

Drawing From Appendix Carry

Begin by driving your support side foot into the floorboard and lifting your hips. This allows the shooter to access the pistol faster and ensures a clean draw. Using the support hand, raise any cover garments while establishing the master grip with the primary hand. Drop your hips while establishing a shooting position.

Drawing From Strong Side Carry

For strong side carry, use the strong side foot to drive into the floorboard, angling your body to the weak side. This allows space to perform the draw. Draw the pistol, then center your body while dropping your hips to align your body. This will aid in recoil management.

Shooting Positions

The orientation of the shooter to the threat will determine the shooting position. There are a couple of considerations for each position.

When shooting through the near window, compress the pistol to avoid contact with the window. Unintended contact can cause a malfunction.

When the threat is at the far window, one-handed shooting is usually the most expedient method. Avoid a limp wrist while firing the pistol to prevent a malfunction.

Vehicle Pistol Combat: When the threat is at the far window, one-handed shooting is usually the most expedient method.

When shooting through the windshield, you can use the steering wheel for support. However, the wheel moves and can cause a miss. When shooting over the steering wheel, make sure to factor sight over bore when using a red dot.

Ballistics

Due to the angle of the glass in a vehicle, the first couple of rounds will generally have a higher impact than the point of aim. The angle of the glass and the design of the bullet will determine how high the round will impact. The best method is to shoot until a positive response is achieved on target. This is much faster than trying to figure out the hold-off points.

The inverse also holds true: bullets coming into the vehicle will angle down. The instinct to duck into the seat must be fought. You lose situational awareness and put yourself into the bullet’s new trajectory. Again, how much the bullet drops will depend on the angle of the glass and the construction of the bullet being fired.

Seatbelt

If the vehicle is not already running, getting out of the vehicle and maneuvering is the best option available. If your seatbelt is on, there are two main methods to disengage the seatbelt.

The first method is to put the pistol on something in the vehicle. This will prevent you from accidentally covering yourself or someone else in the vehicle.

The second method is the support hand retention grip. The support hand retention grip involves transferring the pistol to the support hand, ensuring the fingers cover the trigger and trigger guard. This prevents a negligent discharge of the weapon.

After performing one of the previously listed techniques, hook your thumb on the seatbelt and follow it to the buckle. This will ensure that you find the seatbelt release quickly.

Vehicle Pistol Combat Training

Hopefully, this vehicle-combat introduction provided some material that can be integrated into your self-defense training plan. All of the topics, minus ballistics, can be trained dry fire. This allows for more repetitions and negates locating a range that would allow this type of training.

There are plenty of classes by reputable companies available for a deep dive into this subject. Although the concepts are simple, a live situation is a bad time to work vehicle tactics for the first time.