Shooting For the High A Zone

Shot placement matters. While much of the internet argues about calibers, ‘stopping power’, etc., the reality becomes the intersection of two factors:

  1. The Combatants in the gunfight default to their most innate level of training- that which they’ve committed to the subconscious and can perform without thinking. It is a reflexive action.
  2. Accurate shot placement in critical zones.

While the uninitiated might attribute both of these to luck, it all boils down to training. Your own round count leading to the gross motor manipulation of your weapon becoming innate (mastery of the basics), the conditions or scenarios you’ve introduced as ancillary stressors to test those skills in a dynamic environment (the introduction of movement and decision making) and finally, the aids you’ve used in that training.
Qualification courses and competitions like IPSC accomplish this last goal through the use of scored zones- center of mass being the goal. Makes sense. Its the large natural target. You’ve got the thoracic cavity there in that primary A zone which is usually a fight stopper after a controlled pair. Then again, your adversaries might very well be out there rocking body armor, and while taking a controlled pair from a carbine into the chest is going to take that guy out of the fight, the internal injuries are probably not going to kill him.
That’s not what we want. That bastard is there to kill you, so we return the favor in kind.
Some advocate shooting low in CQB environments, towards the groin for a hit on the junction point between the femoral and the aorta. You’ve got room to work up with the natural rise of the weapon and that makes tactical sense. This is why in class we run the 5-shot zipper drill, running up the center of mass. The thing is though, we can’t always ensure getting those five shots off, becasue in the real world people move, dynamically, and they usually have friends doing things as well. I teach that drill to get students to overcome the training scar of only firing twice then freezing. That said,  controlled pair is realistically the best you’re going to get, and you’ve got to make them count.
So this brings us back to training for shot placement. The High A Zone- that space at the top of the sternum to the center of the face- is the critical juncture in the body. Above the body armor to the center of the face. Top of the thoracic cavity to the ocular cavity. Hits in this space are extremely complicated to treat and are usually fatal. You’ll experience trauma to at least two components of the MARCH acronym (Massive hemorrhage, Airway, Respiration, Circulation, Hypothermia) and likely spinal trauma as well. Further, the High A gives us room for error in CQB or intermediate engagement distance range (0-100m) by still presenting us with a body shot if we’re low and a head  shot if we’re high.
That bastard is out of the fight.
Training for the High A Zone is simple. First, understand that if you’re training yourself or others to fight with a weapon, you’re not fighting flat pieces of paper with a bullseye on it. An IPSC target or similar featureless silhouette is what you want. Add in a small paper plate to represent that space. Its inexpensive and will create a natural point of aim through memory. Another way, as I did in the picture above, is to take a similar sized E-type target backer and paint the critical zone red. In training our amygdala naturally is drawn to blood red as a danger signal, and this ensures the point of reference becomes subconsciously reinforced as your natural point of aim. We’re overcoming what psychiatrists label the amygdala hijack.
None of this is particularly complicated and can be replicated by anyone, anywhere. We’re creating a natural target for proper shot placement in the era of AntiFa filled street riots, thugs harassing decent people with not even a semblance of justice, and many beginning to wake up to the reality that this is not going to end anytime soon. Those who’ve trained with me know I introduce as many concepts to the students simultaneously as possible, usually not fully explaining them at once. There’s underlying psychology behind it, because at some point you’re going to have to replicate these skills with others, introducing as much realism as possible.
For me at least, shooting is not a recreational activity. Its a martial art.
 

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By Published On: March 22, 2021Categories: NC Scout, Training19 Comments on Shooting For the High A Zone

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About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

19 Comments

  1. Anonymous March 22, 2021 at 05:06

    5

  2. OldBreedKalis March 22, 2021 at 10:34

    Outstanding article. It can also be noted that when shooting high thoracic, even if your rounds drift left or right off the centerline, you have very viable targets in the subclavian arteries which are running parallel underneath the collarbones. Great piece of strategic advice. Thanks.

    • NC Scout March 22, 2021 at 10:39

      Thanks brother!

  3. Coyyote March 22, 2021 at 11:21

    Professional hunters in Africa often tell their leopard hunting clients not to shoot at the shoulder but a single rosette on the shoulder. In a similar matter my target that I focus on is the first button under the collar button of the adversary’s shirt. My steel mini IPSCs have a bolt hanger in this location.
    Aim small to hit small!

  4. 71M March 22, 2021 at 11:28

    Interesting that the pie/picnic paper plates are used. And I thought I was being weird in suspending pie plates from a certain low branch tree. Wind offered up moving targets. It was fun before too many neighbors balked. Went to CO2 plastic BB’s afterwards. That was a blast.
    Wife noticed other recyclers looking at her when she dumped cans. Most had bullet holes. They dangle in the breeze too.
    Like I said, fun emptying the cans and zapping the cans.

  5. Anonymous March 22, 2021 at 12:19

    4.5

  6. American Yeoman March 22, 2021 at 13:04

    Another thing that Louis Awerbuck always stressed about shooting flat paper targets was that they do nothing for you in terms of seeing proper shot placement on ROUND humans. What he used to do was to take a paper target and push the sides in before stapling it up. That would give the target a more round/bowed appearance- especially good with photo realistic targets. Then he would have you shoot at various distances and more oblique angles to the target to show how you had to change your aiming point to hit vitals instead of just a meaty “through and through” hit. One of the great masters Louis, I miss that man…..

  7. Frank pagowski March 22, 2021 at 13:06

    Perfect advice for shooting with a variable power optic with tactical bdc reticle, or a Trijicon combat optic.

  8. SGR March 22, 2021 at 13:24

    Thank you, sir. Well taught and not molly-coddled.

  9. Historian March 22, 2021 at 13:43

    NC Scout:
    Excellent points, all well made. Especially when considering the relatively low power of pistols, which with few exceptions do not penetrate soft armor, the need to hit an immediately fatal area is paramount. Targets showing CNS (brain and spine) such as modified “Q” targets, are an attempt to address this issue.
    Anyone who has killed big game has probably seen a fatally struck deer run for many yards before collapsing, even when heart shot. I have never had to fire more than one shot at any deer I have killed, but most of them have run after receiving their lethal hit. These are undisturbed mammals, with no adrenaline flowing. Bad guys doing things for which they can be justifiably shot are likely to have a full measure of adrenaline circulating before the good guys can shoot them; they have the advantage of initiating force and know they are going in harm’s way.
    While a single torso hit may be sufficient to stop an aggressor, it may not, too. The literature is replete with cases of persons with multiple fatal wounds continuing the gunfight for minutes *after* receiving those wounds. The infamous Miami gunfight in 1986, involving two suspected bank robbers and 8 FBI agents, is one of the more well-known cases, but there are numerous others, including one case where a suspect was shot through the heart with a 12 gage slug who then ran down a set of stairs, across the street and collapsed over 75 yards from where he got his fatal wound.
    “Fast is fine, but accuracy is final!” – Old gunfighting maxim. Fast misses matter not, and slow accuracy may never happen. You need to run just as fast you can hit; a good goal to strive for is 1 second from draw to hitting a 6″ target at 10 yards. It can be done; all it takes is training and practice.
    With regard to all who seek the Light,
    Historian

  10. SOG March 22, 2021 at 17:53

    Make sure to stack up on Magazine in case HR 8 gets rammed through like the stolen election, see AP advertisers Natchez, Gunmag warehouse PSA etc!
    God Speed Patriots

    • Weezy March 23, 2021 at 13:48

      Gunmagwarehouse.com is a site advertiser? Perfect, one of my favorite places to shop for magazines. I’ll be placing an order today or tomorrow.

      • NC Scout March 23, 2021 at 14:51

        Yeah brother!
        Make sure you click the link in the sidebar. It gets us a little bit of a commission to keep the lights on.

        • Weezy March 23, 2021 at 15:38

          Order placed. Snagged a few of those Bulgarian metal-lined polymer AK mags you recommended too. Least I can do to support a wealth of knowledge.

          • NC Scout March 23, 2021 at 15:40

            Outstanding brother! You’re gonna love them.

  11. Rock Salt & Nails March 25, 2021 at 09:18

    Thanks for the article. I read the linked excellent article on Amygdala Hijack.
    My daughter stresses out alot and forwarded the article to her. Hopefully she will heed the advice given and get off of the anxiety med.
    Being self-employed with employees for most of my life, I learned how to control my emotions (not always lol) to situations -not to the degree of shooting at or being shot at or conflict but just day to day stresses of keeping on schedule and supplier/employee screw-ups.

  12. Josey Wales March 25, 2021 at 13:07

    A few rounds to the eye socket or ear will do the trick. Shoot em in the neck.
    The ruff n’ tuff hiding behind mommygov face diapered up “gangstas” will be running after the red red kroovy starts flowing.
    Of course chest and lung area is prime but just make sure and make commies good lil’ commies.

  13. Sven March 25, 2021 at 16:59

    I gotta say this. I’m really glad I found and am learning from you guys. The posters and the commenters. You guys are great.

    • NC Scout March 25, 2021 at 17:08

      Thanks brother!

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