Why you should almost NEVER use the “double tap”

1. Maybe it’s just terminology. I’ve always called it ‘double tap’, but for me it was controlled, aimed fire. I acquire my sight picture, fire the first shot, trigger reset, sight picture and take the next shot. I’ve never had a timer and don’t know my times, but the shots at 10 yards are almost always decent. I also don’t believe in the 21 foot rule so I always try and shoot at 10 yards.

   • Sounds like aimed pairs to me … and … yeah we are getting into a bit of an area where terminology might “Gray it up” for a lot of people. Thanks for the comment!

2. I may be old school, and most likely have a couple decades on the writer, but I have an issue with his article. I was trained back in the 90’s by a retired NYPD SWAT Commander who opened a gun shop in the town in Florida where I resided at the time. The Double Tap was the the preferred and taught method for engaging an armed threat. The man that taught me was a weapons instructor for NYPD including SWAT, a Lt. and also Field Commander for a NYPD SWAT unit, I am quite proficient with the double tap and will use it any time the situation, God forbid, calls for such force!!! I can draw, put two on the ring in double tap with my 1911 with +P loads without any trouble, unless you have had expert training I request you stop misleading People with bad advice!

   • I’ve had quite a bit of expert training, hence the recommendations in the article and the emphasis that I’ve not had any of today’s trainers recommend an unsighted double tap — the emphasis has always been on aimed, controlled pairs.

     It sounds like — if you “put two on the ring” with a double tap then you know what you’re doing. Carry on.

   • Well said Glenn when you are on patrol and are small in number every time you shoot it has to work. In the jungle where 25m is long range and 4m is short range stick with the double tap best used on a heavy weapon not good on M16 to light.

   • Caleb, as a fellow full time firearms and tactics instructor for over a decade now, and having spent a large portion of my life training with some of the top instructors and firearms academies in the country, I just want to say thank you for a very well written and informative article, based on what all leaders in this industry now know and agree is a far superior method to the old outdated methods of the “double tap” and “point shooting” (which should ONLY ever be used at extreme close contact distances). The advantages of “controlled pairs” or what we should probably refer to as “controlled rapid sighted fire” (since as you said, we should never train to shoot a limited number of rounds, but instead to shoot until the threat is stopped), has been proven superior by empirical evidence both in the field and in training. LAPD SWAT is perhaps the best example of this, by giving up on those old inferior antiquated methods of “point shooting” and “double taps” and adopting modern gunfighting methods of “controlled rapid sighted fire” with a focus on the front sight (which old timers STILL ignorantly repeat you won’t be able to see in a REAL gunfight, even though we ALL SHOULD know better than that by now), LAPD SWAT’s hit ratio in actual gunfights climbed from the average 18%, to the highest in the country at over 27% almost instantly. Seeing the unquestionable benefits, and introducing it to the entire LAPD, they saw similar results in soaring hit rates across the entire department. ALL “intelligent” departments that can bring themselves to let go of the old outdated methods, that simply prove to not work as well, will soon be taking up these superior training methods also, it just takes some “old dogs” more time to accept that the way they have personally been taught, and what they believe has “worked” for them in the past, has now proven to no longer be the best and most effective method in reality. Thanks again.

     • Thanks for chimining in Tommy – I love it – they started using their sites and their hit rate immediately went up almost 10% – who would have thought! haha

3. Jason, if you are referring to first time and low volume shooters, then I would agree. That said, the double tap has been a standard for hard core shooters, especially special warfare operators for years as the second shot accuracy comes from practice and muscle memory. With a pistol, that will usually be two shots inside of 7 yards as one’s primary weapon is either down, or, is in too tight quarters to be used, such as a ship space. If you go to Bob Vogel’s youtube “Grip Basics”, you will have a better understanding. BTW…my sister-in-law just opened a Firearms Academy for Women, armedandfeminine.com Cheers, mate.

   • It’s Caleb but thanks for the comment … and yes the article is aimed mostly at low volume/less practiced shooters who use/abuse the technique without realizing that experienced shooters are “double tapping with aimed, practiced control”

4. Perhaps a caveat should preface any instruction as to whether or not to use this “proverbial” “double tap”, that preface being “if you can control it, and put both shots in very close proximity to each other.” Which is the purpose of practicing it. Especially in the situations it is intended for, ie. taking out a dangerous target, I believe it IS a good idea, again IF you can control it. Otherwise, you are just wasting ammo AND putting a round out there that you really don’t know where it’s going. ALWAYS a BAD idea.
   Especially with a handgun, statistically speaking, one round is not as likely to be lethal. Some say a less than 50% chance of any handgun shot being lethal. The more highly trqined the shooter, the higher the likleyhood, but in MOST shootings, the shooter is NOT all that well trained, so accuracy suffers, and the target is less likely to be killed. One shot-one kill with a handgun happens a lot in the movies, but real life is a bit different. In this case, as in any case where Mr. Murphy and his Law come into play, the double tap< PROPERLY EXECUTED, is probably twice as lethal. The key word there is PROPERLY EXECUTED.

   • Agreed. Big caveat …

     … Hence why I hedged my wording with the title being “ALMOST never” 🙂

     my thinking is that the lesser trained “double tap” to put two shots out there as fast as possible — but aren’t that accurate …

     And the more trained/practiced are actually firing a controlled, aimed pair (even though that “aiming” may be VERY much a flash sight picture), and the beginners think it’s always about going fast.

     As for handgun lethality, yes, A) much less than 50% of handgun wounds are lethal and B) all the more reason to practice long, long strings of fire — not just train yourself to always double tap and call it good. It my take deca-taps — 10 shots lol — to stop the threat!

     Thanks for chiming in!

5. I am afraid that no one has even mentioned why TacTac or double tap was brought into use and the importance of it. First of all the idea of putting two close proximity rounds in a body has never been taught that I am aware of. It was always taught you should create a second entrance to do the most body damage and cause more shock to the body. Secondly the use was introduced because of the wide use of drugs. A person high on drugs may not even pay attention to one body shot but he will with a second rapid round entering his body. The reason for this is because the first round causes a shock wave. (Envision a parallel chart with a line going up 3 inches) and then coming down because of one shot or two slow shots. Now envision the same chart but a second rapid fire shot is placed in the body, before the first round starts down the second moves the chart line up three more inches and causes a higher shock wave by nearly double. This will take any man down high on drugs or not.
   Point shooting talent using double tap at a relatively close range is must have knowledge for all that carries a conceal firearm, since I believe most shooting happen within 7 yards. You don’t have time for a slow point shooting first round when you are in a battle for your life. Sorry just my humble opinion and 33 years of law enforcement and NRA civilian fire arms instruction and multiple schools.

   • Thanks Dave. You are absolutely correct. For a while as I was reading this I was feeling a bit guilty not doing aimed or even front sight flash anymore in life and certainly not teaching anything the way all the ‘highly trained experts’ ae teaching students these days. I was almost starting to think I must have learned the wrong way to shoot even though I thought-because of my profession- that I was always state of the art super advanced tactically skilled?

     Oh well, guess that shows how susceptible we all are to marketing hype and trends. So it seems like this newest OCD with firearms street self defense training as severely opposed to combat CQB is implanting potentially deleterious mind programming suggestions that you can’t shoot accurately -as defined as shot placement good enough for terminating the threat–without at least flash sighting?

     The other thing I noticed that almost no general commercial gun training schools do is teach for actual street conditions/scenarios the average CCP holder will most likely confront if they are ever in need to use their weapon. Hint, it ain’t the 7 freaking meter ‘Mozambique’ drill, LMAO!

     The only bad part of shooting without aiming, ie.,instinctive point shooting, is that it gets boring once you reach the tipping in your muscle-mind synchronism to a point of ‘don’t miss at all anymore’ (enough practice to where you always are vectored in, just like you never miss picking up a can of beer on the first try).

     A lot of people can do this already with bows, darts, knives, pool shooting, etc. but what they don’t realize is that it’s actually easier with a pistol, especially one handed.

     So when you get bored you just have to drink your beer faster so you can have more cans to knock down without missing any as fast as you can pull the trigger…from the hip shot.

     But before you knee jerk comfort zone intransigents get all out of whack and say your double tap training is designed for average entry level utility shooters not pros with lifetimes of experience, I once made a lot of money and became part owner of a franchise betting some years ago that I could take a random average five people who never shot a pistol or any weapon much or at all, and he take five and teach his ‘two to cm and one to the head’ training, LOL! And we would do something a little different, and we see how fast we can get them proficient enough in far less time to outperform this guy’steam to a point where he would be too humiliated to speak. In fact it took him a long time to recover from the embarrassment.

     ‘Point’ being, As in Martial Arts, natural instinctive muscle coordination movement is often easier to learn for a specific movement function and works just as well as precision finer motor functions for most pragmatic applications. Self Defense shooting is a good example where this type of training works well and often better than most of what’s out there today.

     The dirty reality is that shooting a person with intent to end his life is something that really doesn’t offer a ‘best’ methodology approach. You must consider and know a variety of situational and tactical applications. One size never fits all in these scenarios. Unless you consider the main first lesson all concerned should burn into their brain until they ‘never miss’ with it. And that’s to first master AVOIDING all such encounters in the first place with practiced situational awareness at all costs if possible.

6. Are you describing a true double-tap or a hammer? My understanding is that the hammer is the one-sight-picture two rounds shot, whereas the double-tap is nearer to two very fast sight pictures.

   As for myself, what I work on is aimed bursts of 3-5 rounds. I teach students how to run those with control because I show them how to structure grip and, if they can get it, stance for recoil MANAGEMENT. (You can’t really control recoil, but you can manage it.)

   If someone cannot manage recoil to the point of running a (true) double-tap, they need to get somebody to show them how. There are a number of trainers and schools that do this.

   • Yeah we’re getting into semantics here but I’m talking about untrained people firing two shots as fast as possible basically with no control over the second shot 🙂

     • Caleb. I see that you have not responded to my comment or that of the other gentleman Darrell that agreed with me. . That’s OK I just wanted to make a point. I have taught my conceal carry students the basics of point shooting and how it works for years. I start my class off by telling of one of my schools where we had what they called fun day, (the last day of the class). They had three turn bobber targets up with two bobber targets in front of each one of them with a 4″ gap between them. The back turn targets were the bad guys and the front were hostages. Our goal was to take out the back bad guys without hitting the hostages. We had two seconds to do so. This was shot at about 21 feet or more. In two seconds. I was able to take out the back targets by putting 1 in the head of the first target, one in the second targets head and four in the third targets head, again in 2 seconds from the draw for a total of six head shots.
       I will tell you that I was much younger then but probably could still come close to it today. I tell my students that this story is not to brag about my abilities but to explain to them that you can’t do that with aim shooting. I then have the line up and tell them to pick a spot on their target, at low ready I tell them to concentrate on the spot and raise their firearms up until the sights instantly break their line of sight to the target and pull the trigger. My students are amazed at how much better they shoot this way verses aim shooting. I advise them that this take practice and to start off slow and build their speed as they go. I don’t disagree with you I just have a slightly difference of opinion on double tap usage than you. I enjoy your writings or I wouldn’t be responding to them.

       • Dave

         Didn’t mean to ignore your comment …

         I guess you’re talking about what I would call “index shooting” — you’ve practiced your draw/presentation so much — and you know to lead with your eyes, that intensely focusing on a spot on a target, you can “draw to it” and fire the first shot — often hitting the target — before you really visually confirm that the sights are indeed aligned …

         That comes with practice as you know and is definitely an important skill to develop. However, I think you’ll agree that the practice of 1.) consistent presentation/draw along with 2.) aimed fire as fast as possible develops this “index” or “point shooting” ability …

         Whereas the converse is not true. I.e. just practicing point shooting will not improve your aimed fire and once you move past the 7 yards or so that index/point shooting can be primarily utilized — you’ll find accuracy lacking.

         That’s my take. Sounds like we’re mostly on the same page. “Aimed shooting” looks a lot like index/point shooting with a VERY quick “Flash sight picture” to confirm the sight aim/alignment at the last second?

7. I’ve never taught double tap as a matter of course. I teach it as a possibility depending on circumstances. But Dave is correct in that multiple hits to the body cause much more damage, shock to the system, etc. than just a single shot. This is why 9 mm submachine guns are so effective…it’s not the size of the round, it’s the multiple hits in a few seconds,

   Now, as an off-topic aside, as you don’t have a comment section for products you push via your sponsors, I do have some comments regarding the Girandoni air rifles.
   I bought one of those Girandoni air rifles you’re pushing., much to my regret. I had bought it a couple of months ago through a different site that was touting this air rifle.
   It’s not that good. Accuracy is so-so. My Ruger 10-22 is much more accurate.
   Velocity is mediocre. I checked it through my chronograph. Not real consistent. Averaging around 374 fps.
   All in all – a total bust. And their customer service sucks!
   For an air rifle, I’ll stick with my Beeman and my Gamo. Much better rifles, more accurate and not that much pricier.

   Darrell
   Life Member NRA
   Life Member CRPA
   Life Member USPSA
   Life member Front Sight
   NRA Certified Instructor
   USPSA Certified Range Officer

   • Sorry to hear about your experience Darrel. I have a Ruger 10/22 and love it for accuracy as well … I’m not that experienced with air guns and the one you didn’t have a good experience with seemed like a good deal to me.

8. For me double tap always meant putting two individually aimed shots on the target to assure effectiveness even in the high stress environment that exists when you are too defend yourself with lethal force.

9. Caleb, I’ve been reading your stuff for a few years now, and I have to ask you: have you had a stroke or something? Your writing is a LOT less elitist, and your comments are a LOT less scornful (they’re actually kind and helpful) — in fact, you’re actually nice to people now. What in the hell happened?? Are you OK?

   • LOL that’s hilarious. Thanks for noticing though!

10. I was drilled in the double tap by a Vietnam Marine Recon veteran, and the technique as he taught it has nothing to do with taking two shots off of one sight picture. I guess terminology changes, so now we call it “double strikes” or whatever. Call it what you will, accurately getting two rounds into the center of mass of a perp asap is at least twice as good as one.

11. I was taught more of a 1+1+1+how many more it takes to be sure the threat is neutralized. Some of the “Tacticool” wanna be snipers shooting up churches and schools are now days wearing armor, creating a possibility of one or both of the first two rounds being ineffective. That’s another reason to practice more than two shots. If it’s a semi auto rifle against your pistol, you may not have time to fire twice and then wait to see if that’s enough. There was an incident near my home town where a disgruntled patron left the bar and came back in pointing a shotgun. The bar keep emptied a 357 (6 rounds) to the mid section, and the guy still stumbled forward a ways before collapsing….and the shotgun wasn’t even loaded.

12. As a competition shooter myself, I can assure you that Bob is in fact shooting ‘controlled’ shots. He has a sight picture for each on.
    It comes down to how MUCH sights he needs to see at that distance to make the required hits. You spoke about ‘flash’ sight pictures, which is 100% valid, but you need to expand on that concept a little more.
    An acceptable sight picture at (how aligned the sights need to be, or how much of the sights you need to see) at 6 yards is substantially less than at say, 15 yards. In fact, it would be prudent to point out that there is a very high likelihood that Bob is sighting\aiming using the edge of the slide (either the top, or side) at that distance… and actually doesn’t use the slot and post at all. In fact, I do the same, but nowhere as fast as he does.
    The point here though, is that he is seeing enough in order to make the shot… and that does not mean a perfect sight picture, nor does it mean that the muzzle needs to be still either (the gun could still be wobbling at that point, due to induced momentum from recoil\returning to battery).

    Average splits for more senior\experienced shooters at about 6 yards are around 0.1 to 0.13 secs, controlled, and still making solid Alpha zone hits. I run that with a 40S&W pistol loaded to make Major factor while pushing hard during practice. With enough time and practice, almost anyone can achieve those sorts of numbers, if they willing to splash the cash on the ammo required to get to that point.

    Good article though. Spot on!

    • Brendon, thank you for chiming in!

      I wrote this article a couple years ago, went back and read it and I’m in agreement with everything you just said.

      You are correct on they’re “seeing enough in order to make the shot” is the point of it all.

      I guess my original intention in writing the article – especially for the intended audience of the concealed carrier – was to make sure you’re not just practicing “double taps” without shooting two, real, aimed shots. Great input thanks!

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