Move and shoot, or shoot and then move? Here's an in-depth look

Adding a dash of movement to your shooting can change the game. It’s easy to get sucked into the static world of range work, where we don’t do much moving. In the real world, bad guys aren’t polite enough to stand still while you launch rounds into them. Movement can be a big part of fighting. With that in mind, is it better to move and shoot at the same time, or to move, shoot, and then move?

Personally, I thought the answer was easy. Off the top of my head, I’d say it’s better to move, stop, shoot, then move again. This is a conclusion honed by a lot of competition shooting, which is often sprint, shoot, sprint. The more I thought about it and the more I reflected on my own experiences in gunfighting, the more I realized that the answer is a lot more complicated than that.

Sadly, I’m beginning to think there is never a simple answer when it comes to anything to do with guns, self-defense, or shooting in general.

Move and shoot — bottom line up top

It’s hard to accurately shoot while moving. The more you “press the gas,” the harder it is to land accurate shots. It takes a fair bit of training and practice to become proficient at moving and shooting accurately. Standing still and taking a shot will always be the more accurate approach. It’s a skill that only applies to close-quarters shooting and goes out the window when the range increases much beyond spitting distance.

Standing still has its downsides. You’re vulnerable. As soon as you stop, the enemy has an easier time targeting you. You’re no longer disrupting your opponent’s OODA loop when you stand still. When you need to move, you’ve lost momentum, which might interrupt your OODA loop.

The ability to move and shoot simultaneously has several significant advantages. Moving targets are harder to hit. You can create distance, which makes you harder to hit. When moving, you’re forcing your opponent to react to you, which can put them on the back foot.

If you have to move and shoot, you want to do it quickly. You don’t want to do a slow walk while shooting. Slow targets are easy to hit. You have to find the right combination of speed and accuracy to make moving and shooting worth it.

Tasks and goals

Shooting is a wide world that encompasses hunting, competition, defensive use, offensive use, and plain old plinking. When we break down the idea of “move and shoot” or “shoot then move,” we have to discuss the different tasks and goals a shooter may have.

Competition

In the competition world, I’m trying to land accurate shots as fast as I can on a multitude of targets, and I’m often being forced to move by the layout of the stage. What works best for me is a sprint, stop, shoot, and then sprint to the next portion of the stage. Moving and shooting is rarely beneficial, but it can be a valuable tool depending on the stage.

For action shooting matches, my go-to move is to move, stop, shoot, rather than move and shoot at the same time. Competition shooting can vary, and while I’ve never shot PRS or competed in the Tactical Games, I imagine standing still and shooting makes more sense.

Civilian defensive situations

If we leave the match and hit the defensive applications of firearms, you fall into the world of “situation dictates.” Most defensive shooting encounters won’t require any movement at all. However, “most” isn’t “all.”

Let’s approach this from a realistic perspective. A lot of ranges aren’t going to allow you to move and shoot at the same time. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to build the skills necessary to move and shoot quickly and accurately. If you’re blessed with a range or training opportunities that allow you to move and shoot, then you have an edge most people don’t.

For most average concealed carriers, shooting while moving isn’t going to be an extremely viable skill. If you have to move during a defensive encounter, your best bet is to sprint to cover as fast as you possibly can and engage from cover. The difficulty curve of shooting while moving opens up the chance of misses, and misses could equal innocent people getting hit.

This could change for an inside-the-home defensive encounter. You might have to shoot while “pieing” a corner, and since the range is so short, it’s less likely you’ll miss. As someone with a family I love, I have a more aggressive stance for inside-the-home defense, and I’m going to close on the threat rather than try to survive long enough to escape.

Police and military

Police and military forces can take the offensive, which might encourage shooting and moving at the same time. If your fireteam is clearing a room, you can’t stop in the doorway to shoot a threat. You have to move and shoot at the same time. You might have to gain an advantageous position while laying down cover fire.

I’ve fired a SAW while moving across an open field, and I had to move to stay on line with my fireteam. If I fell behind, they could cut off my field of fire, and then the machine gun is out of play, so moving and shooting became necessary to get across that field.

Police and military forces have the benefit of range access where they can train these skills. If you don’t train to move quickly while shooting accurately, you’ll be at a disadvantage.

The platform matters

I geeked out about this subject. I went to the range, set up some cones, and ran drills with a handgun. Then I started thinking: what differences will we see between platforms?

I ran some shooting drills with an optic-equipped handgun, a rifle, a shotgun, and a 9mm subgun. I did some basic linear and lateral movements. Finally, I did runs where I moved and shot, and others where I sprinted and shot.

What I found was that it was always easier to sprint, stop, and shoot. It was faster and more accurate. Speed and accuracy are important, but I’m also shooting at targets that aren’t shooting back and aren’t moving.

As you’d imagine, long guns are much easier to shoot and move with. The third point of contact helps stabilize the gun. Shotguns also tend to be well-suited for moving and shooting, which makes sense since they tend to be better at hitting moving targets. The spread of buckshot can help make it easy to put shots into the A-zone.

Rifles are easy, but shorter is better. It’s easier to control shorter guns than longer guns when moving. Red dot-equipped handguns appeared to be easier to use in motion than iron-sight-equipped handguns and proved more accurate to shoot.

It’s generally better to move quickly, be able to pump the brakes, shoot, then move quickly again. The old “exploding off the X” comes into play, and you don’t want to start gathering momentum; you want to be momentum.

With that said, if you have a range that allows shooting and moving, or can take a class that teaches it, it’s another skill you can put in the box when you need it.

Republished with permission from AmmoLand.

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