{"id":1966,"date":"2020-02-27T08:28:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T08:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ammoman.com\/blog\/?p=1966"},"modified":"2020-06-29T17:32:04","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T17:32:04","slug":"mozambique-drill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ammoman.com\/blog\/mozambique-drill\/","title":{"rendered":"Standard Pistol Drills: The Mozambique Drill"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mozambique Drill: Making The Stop More Certain<\/span><\/h1>\n

A defensive pistol’s small size and your ability to carry and conceal it comes with a price. Pistol caliber cartridges, even larger ones like 10mm and .357 magnum, just don\u2019t have the same effect on the target as a rifle round. This means we have to train to make multiple hits on our target with our pistols. Ideally, we’re getting hits in the upper chest region where the important bits are. But what if even that is not enough to stop the threat to our lives? That\u2019s where the Mozambique Drill, or Failure to Stop Drill, comes in handy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s pause for a moment and talk about our goals as armed citizens. We are not the police. It is not our job to go look for crooks and arrest them. Attacking and holding territory is also not our job; it’s the military\u2019s. Our job is to stop the threat of imminent death or bodily harm to ourselves and those in our care. Our job isn\u2019t to kill someone, it\u2019s simply to stop the threat to your life. If that threat runs away because you suddenly produced a pistol, congratulations, you win. If they don\u2019t, well, that\u2019s what this blog is all about.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason why firearms trainers teach you to aim for the upper center chest (<\/span>and why some targets are better than others<\/span><\/a>) is because it\u2019s full of the parts that will bring us to a grinding halt if they get damaged. The heart and lungs keep us going. If our lungs are poked full of holes, we tend to shut down. At that point, we’re not a threat to others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Origins Of The Mozambique Drill<\/h3>\n

Note that I said \u201cmost of the parts\u201d and \u201ctend to.\u201d There may be times when hits to the upper body aren\u2019t stopping the threat. That\u2019s when perfecting the Mozambique Drill comes in handy. The drill itself was born out of just such an incident that happened in, you guessed it, the African country of Mozambique<\/a>. The country suffered through a bloody war of independence from 1964 to 1974, and mercenaries were often brought in to bolster the beleaguered forces on both sides.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of those mercenaries, a man named Mike Rosseau, happened to round a corner in the midst of a battle and ran into another man on the opposing side armed with an AK-47. Rosseau drew his pistol and was able to engage his opponent with two 9mm rounds to the chest. Unfortunately for Rosseau, those rounds did not stop his opponent. Seeing this, Rosseau took careful aim and dropped the rifle carrier with a shot to the head.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That incident would have gone unnoticed in history if it weren\u2019t for the fact that, years later, Rosseau spoke with noted firearms trainer Colonel Jeff Cooper. Col. Cooper was the founder and owner of Gunsite<\/a>, the world\u2019s oldest firearms school for armed citizens. He was a lifelong student of the gun. Rosseau\u2019s tale intrigued Col. Cooper because it showed one of the inherent flaws of a pistol (limited firepower) and what you can do to stop it (go for the head shot). The Mozambique Drill became a standard at Gunsite, and has since spread around the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent years, the drill has become a popular staple in Hollywood Action movies. The John Wick movies in particular are known for having our hero dispatch his foes with two shots to the body and then one to the head. Tom Cruise also did a masterful job of both shooting from retention and performing a Mozambique Drill in the movie “Collateral<\/a>,” which kinda went like this.
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