When we teach a group of students the defenses against Long Gun from the Front (Live and Dead Sides), the most common mistake we see is putting one of the hands or arms in the line of fire during the redirect to control transition. This video explains what this mistake is and why it happens. It demonstrates several key details to be aware of to avoid it.
Transcript:
“Hello, this is Randall and Glenda with KravMagaTraining.com. In this video we’re going to discuss one of the long gun defenses from the front and, specifically, I want to focus on the transition from redirecting the line of fire to controlling the weapon properly because this is where I see most beginners make a mistake when they first learn this technique. They tend to put their free hand or their other hand in the line of fire which is very dangerous.
This is what I’m talking about. Glenda’s got the shotgun pointed at me. Most people tend to do a good job with redirecting the line of fire initially but I see this mistake a lot and I’m going to exaggerate it. All right. So what they’re doing is a lot of times is waving their hand in front to control the weapon properly. And this is a big mistake. I think the reason why this happens a lot is because people are so focused on the steps after controlling the weapon. Getting into the counterstrikes, taking it away, that they forget ‘Hey, make sure you don’t put the other hand in the line of fire’. Because of this arm, this hand gets blown off the rest of that stuff is going to be obsolete. It’s not going to matter. I’m not going to be able to do any of it. I have to make sure that I do this properly.
Now here’s the thing is, when I redirect the line of fire, first of all, the arm should be straight and this hand should be sliding up close to my body as I’m blading my body. The first mistake that people make is this hand right here they tend to wave it out in front like this which is no good. The line of fire is temporarily crossing my hand or my arm. That’s not acceptable. If I keep it close to my body and slide it like this it keeps it a little bit safer.
Now the next thing and the most important thing to transitioning from here to controlling the weapon properly is think of this arm right here is a path. This hand is going to follow that path to grab. If you do that, it tends to stay away from the line of fire. So follow your path and when you grab it should be very close or right next to your hand. I don’t care if it’s a “C” grip or a monkey grip. That’s going to depend on the shape of the long gun. But it should be close to your hand.
Another common beginner mistake is they do control the weapon but they tend to go in to deep like this and now we’re not in a good control position. Ideally, I want one hand up higher on the shotgun here and one hand a little bit lower. So I have control on both sides. If I do this and grab too deep I have control here but not as much control over here. So it’s really important when I go from here that I follow the path right next to the hand like that or like that. So that’s the important thing.
I’m going to do it from a different angle so you guys can see this a little bit better. Right here you can see the line of fire is pointing away from me. Basic mistake beginners make is, once again, this hand. See how it’s waving in front. Very dangerous. Now watch when I take this hand it’s going to stay close to my torso. Now watch how it follows the path, grab, grab. One hand up high. Higher on the long gun. One hand lower on the long gun. So I have maximum control. One more time please Glenda. Hand stays close. Follow the path. Grab it close to your other hand and make sure when you grab that’s when it’s okay to let go of this hand. Do not let go until this hand gets securely on. ‘Boom.’ Now it’s safe to let go to get the second hand on.
So those are all the key details to going from redirecting the line of fire to transitioning and controlling the weapon properly. And the reason why I’m emphasizing this is because this, that I’ve found, is the biggest mistake that I’ve found beginners make when they are doing the long gun defense. Whether they are redirecting to the live side or dead side, I see the same mistake. So be aware of those little key details to avoid that and make sure you don’t get your free arm blown off and your long gun defenses will be a lot sharper. Thanks for watching.”
“In addition to handguns, in the Krav Maga firearms defense curriculum we learn to deal with long guns such as shotguns and assault rifles.”
