-> What?  JC was not advocating this in the least.  I was speaking about
-> other differences we have, such as DA pistols and .40S&W vs. .45acp,
You sure?  It sure sounded like it to me.  Let me repost the relevant
part of his newsletter again.
                                *     *     *
In this line a correspondent recently complained to the magazine (not
to me) about my mention of the "shot-cock" system as a means of
operating the trigger-cocking pistol.  This shot- cock system, in case
you have not caught the argument, is a firing stroke by which the
shooter plants his first round as quickly as he possibly can from the
hammer-down position, cocking with the trigger.  He pays little
attention to precise control of the shot, but concentrates on getting
it off as rapidly as possible so that he can place his second shot from
the cocked position -- with accompanying precision.  The correspondent
in this case claims that I must be out of my mind in that such a
procedure is an invitation to negligent discharge.  In the first place
it is not, since the shooter fires his first shot in the general
direction of his adversary.  It may actually hit, though it usually
does not, but it is not a negligent discharge.  Certainly I do not
teach this system, since I consider it a sloppy answer to an
unfortunate mechanical contrivance, but to deny that it exists would be
foolish.  I have seen it work on the range, and I know of a case where
it was used on the street in Phoenix with decisive success.  On the
range I once saw a student place second in the shoot off, though not
once did he hit his target with his first shot.  I had not taught him
this but he had worked it out for himself, and I cannot condemn him for
that.   Our critic goes on further to say that the thumb-cocking
system, by means of which the pistol is cocked with the left thumb as
it comes up on target, is technically unworkable.  In class work I
always permit any student who is stuck with a trigger-cocking pistol
either to thumb-cock or to use the crunch-tick system, whichever seems
best to him.  Thumb-cocking wins almost every time.
                                *     *     *
-> The 'system' you mention is oft refered to as the heinlien
-> manoeuvre, as Robert Heinlein once advocated  "get a
-> shot off fast, it'll throw your opponent and allow you time to get a
-> better aimed second shot in to take him out".  Perhaps this would
-> work in Boondock, where the term lawyer is not even known, and
-> bystanders are always conveniently never behind the bad guy, but as
-> a practical matter on earth of today, I'm sure even Heinlein would
-> see the error of doing this as a general technique.
This is about the only thing Heinlein ever wrote that I disagreed with -
and I've got EVERY book he ever wrote.
Basicly, I think Heinlein learned to shoot at Annapolis in the thirtys
and never found any reason to change or upgrade.
Regards
John
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
---------------