“High Sticking” a Carbine for CQB

I’ve attended a few shooting clinics in my day. I’ve been watching a number of training videos recently too. One glaring thing I’ve noticed about ALL these training sessions is the tendency of the instructors to teach quickly transitioning from the rifle or carbine to a side arm, instead of teaching rapid reloading drills with their primary weapon.

Now don’t get me wrong…. I too have been practicing the transitioning technique to my pistol as well. It’s to be more adaptable to your situation. I think it’s important to be able to do that to become more flexible. However — I also can see this as a potential problem. With the emphasis on today’s FPS video games, the trend toward transitions to a secondary weapon provides a false sense of security. A pistol is an extremely short range firearm and the cartridges are relatively weak compared to a rifle or carbine cartridge. The punch and penetrating power is just not there, and you can’t effectively pierce barricades like you can with a rifle. I had one instructor actually tell me that switching to a pistol negates the chance of a bad guy grabbing the gun if you’re coming around the corner. Ummmm…. No… I argued. You shoot a handgun from an extended arm position and it sticks out just like a rifle muzzle. Apparently he didn’t have much of an argument with me about that other than to say he was the instructor and I was the student. Obviously he had never been in a real life shooting situation before, either.

I tried to explain the “high stick” method of placing the carbine on top of the shoulder and choking up on the weapon to present a shorter profile. The downside to this is that the muzzle is pointing downward at an angle. The upside is that by facing at a downward angle, the targets lower torso and legs are nearly impossible to miss at close range. The carbine is flipped sideways on the shoulder so the ejection port faces upwards and brass is ejected into the air, clear of your body.

I searched the internet for this technique and could find nothing. Every article says this is an improper way to shoot your long gun. Of course it is — if you’re engaging targets in the open in a conventional manner. You can’t see the sights. But why would you want to switch to a pistol in an urban environment ? Less power, less magazine capacity, firearm further away from your body.

Let’s say for the sake of argument that you have to enter a room, and you are going to fan out and “pie” the room with your team. The first man in would want to “high stick” his carbine upon entry so he won’t telegraph that he’s coming in. In other words — his rifle barrel is NOT sticking out 2 feet in front of him for the enemy to see. Then once he makes entry and started to peel off to his prospective side of the room, he can quickly switch back to holding his carbine like you normally would. The team could then “pie” the room as they normally would divide it into sectors.

Here’s the kicker for “high sticking” your carbine. You can’t use the sights. However — if you tuck your forward elbow into your rib cage, you lock the carbine in the forward muzzle slightly down position…. Creating a natural point of aim. Wherever you turn your torso is where the muzzle is going to naturally point. Depending upon how close the enemy is, the impact zone of your bullets will be anywhere from the diaphragm to the upper thighs or knee caps. A double tap from a rifle in those areas won’t necessarily be an instant kill shot, but the injuries will be severe enough to take them out of the fight until you can finish them off.

I don’t understand why this method is not being taught more often. First things first….. NOT everyone on the team should be doing the “high stick”. Just the point man going in….. maybe the second one behind him depending on your situation and how the team enters into a room. Especially if you peel off right and left for “pieing” the room and establishing sectors of fire. The high sticking of carbines for the rest of the team means they will be muzzle sweeping the backs of team members in front of them. This is a NO-NO, as you can hurt your own teammates by accident. Always be cognizant of where the end of your muzzle is pointing at all times.

High sticking your carbine for close up shooting while entering an enclosed space.

Transition back to standard hold once inside the enclosed space.