The Great CQB Lie

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Bigdawg90

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I've been giving this a lot of thought over the past few months as I have some extra time on my hands.

I've been noticing how many civilians are very very focused on Close Quarters Battle (CQB) training. YouTube is full of videos and many instructional classes have large blocks dedicated to the subject. Many of my friends who are 2nd Amendment minded folks tend to focus their gear and range time toward this subject. I was speaking with my wife about crisis plans and she asked what we do in certain situations and based on my experience, I found myself avoiding CQB in almost every instance. This is of course from the perspective of an individual or small family unit.

I don't think any individual, trained or not could hold a structure against a trained element. On that subject, I don't think an individual or small untrained element could stand a chance taking a structure against a small force. Unless the situation is your family being held hostage, I don't think there is a reason to strike or attempt a CQB engagement. With that in mind why do so many focus their training time and gear towards CQB? I'm speaking of the prevalence of SBRs and the ubiquitous 300 Blk. Not only that, but I see many people who focus on a very slick style gear that is very minimalist to not get in the way for CQB.

Outside of a home intruder, because personally I believe a pistol is far better than the SBRs and such, in what instance do you see CQB training actually being put to use.

I understand that the war on terror taught the military a great deal about CQB tactics, but many of those tactics are applicable to engagements with poorly trained enemies and/or small elements. The only CQB tactics I believe are universally applicable are speed, surprise, and violence of action, but those are applicable to every type of engagement.

The crisis situations my wife and I covered were extended power outages, large scale natural disasters, criminal elements targeting our family, and political instabilities. In all those situations, I would defend held territory and attempt to seek out allies. Unless my family was taken hostage and the Police just did not want to do anything, I can't see a situation where I would have to take a structure. At least not immediately, or by myself.

Final point. I do have CQB oriented arms, but I tend to structure my gear and arms towards scenarios where distance is an issue. For those that focus on CQB training and gear, what experiences/research has taught you to do so? What are you thinking you'll use that for or do you just like the challenge and puzzles that CQB provokes?
 

GIJROB

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Gear is mission dependent. Everyone thinks they are f*$#ing G.I.JOE. People are spending too much time on YouTube and not actually training, that being said 99.9% of Americans will never be in combat, shootings or anything else. Train in a wide variety of disciplines, stay in shape, shot your firearms. CQB has been romanticize by the public, it's fast, ugly, and extremely dangerous.
 

GlockPride

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Well, for one, most attackers are going to be on you or nearly on you by the time the fight starts or you legally have status to defend yourselves. Where is one most likely to be attacked? Your car and or your house/office. That’s where most spend a lot of time. Those are typically confined areas.
I’d rather train for it and not need it, than need it and not train for it.
Also, try taking a 400 yard shot in my suburban neighborhood, it’s gonna be difficult and you’d better be quick.
Additionally, I have several buddies that are trained in CQB, then we can be the small force.
And finally, how else am I going to get my neighbor’s stuff when the apocalypse happens? 😜
 

BrandonM

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So since I have no real world experience it’s probably best I throw my 2 cents out there. As previously mentioned, nearly all civilian gun fights will be fairly close up. That may change a bit if the world goes Mad Max but even then an SBR or AR pistol should have the distance capabilities to do what you need. In many parts of Oklahoma a 500yd shot isn’t even possible due to terrain and foliage and in the places it is possible it’s probably never going to be necessary. Just wait for the bad guys to wonder off and keep quiet while they do; they’re 500yds away for crying out loud! As for the practical side of things smaller and lighter weight is always good, unless we’re talking long range accuracy. A normal person would be much happier at the end of a long day on the homestead, farming and such, having carried a 5-6lb AR pistol on a sling or pistol on his hip as opposed to a 8-10lb, 20” AR set up for distance. Size and weight matter when carrying anything all day long. This is why the Sig P365 and everything else like it are so popular. We have open carry and constitutional carry laws in place now. Nobody is stopping anyone from strapping on a G34, HK USP, Sig P226, or whatever monster hog leg you want, but very few people want to. That’s how my reasoning works anyway. As I’ve put the notion of ever getting back into competitive shooting (3gun) out of my head, and I think about just the shooting I want to do on my 5 acres, suppressed .22 LR and a short AR or AK with a suppressor are on my “need to have” list.
 

rj ︈

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So since I have no real world experience it’s probably best I throw my 2 cents out there. As previously mentioned, nearly all civilian gun fights will be fairly close up. That may change a bit if the world goes Mad Max but even then an SBR or AR pistol should have the distance capabilities to do what you need. In many parts of Oklahoma a 500yd shot isn’t even possible due to terrain and foliage and in the places it is possible it’s probably never going to be necessary. Just wait for the bad guys to wonder off and keep quiet while they do; they’re 500yds away for crying out loud! As for the practical side of things smaller and lighter weight is always good, unless we’re talking long range accuracy. A normal person would be much happier at the end of a long day on the homestead, farming and such, having carried a 5-6lb AR pistol on a sling or pistol on his hip as opposed to a 8-10lb, 20” AR set up for distance. Size and weight matter when carrying anything all day long. This is why the Sig P365 and everything else like it are so popular. We have open carry and constitutional carry laws in place now. Nobody is stopping anyone from strapping on a G34, HK USP, Sig P226, or whatever monster hog leg you want, but very few people want to. That’s how my reasoning works anyway. As I’ve put the notion of ever getting back into competitive shooting (3gun) out of my head, and I think about just the shooting I want to do on my 5 acres, suppressed .22 LR and a short AR or AK with a suppressor are on my “need to have” list.
I also am a filthy civilian, so I know nothing, and of course, this is all for fun. But, in the western half of the state, especially towards the panhandle, you can undoubtedly see 500 yards at any time and it feels closer than I'd ever want to see another human with a rifle wishing to do me harm. Here's a photo for context... That clearing in the picture starts at 200 yards and then where the bushes pick back up is about 350. It's just over 600 yards to the nearest road in that direction and I know the cars I have seen in that direction sure look close.

If there was cover and hills every 50-100 yards, then fine, get closer or get out of there, but in reality, we live in Oklahoma so it's flat as hell and there's a tree every once in a while.

I might not be shooting at extended distances because it's hard to judge intent, but I definitely want to know what is going on over there and it is not at all out of the realm of possibility in this theoretical situation.

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