The Gunslinger's Bible: A role-player's guide to guns and the arts of gun-fighting

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Considering explosives and gun-fighter support section. Need to make many grammatical edits- too lazy.

*2/15/2021: Added Training principles with firearms in Weapons/Tactics/Techniques.
*2/21/2021: Added hand-to-hand note in Tactics/CQB, effective range for Weapons/LightMachineGuns, muzzle control note in Fundamentals/BodyPosition, Bad Brains added to enlightenment because bad brains.
*3/4/2021: Added Body Armor in Parts and Mechanics/, Grenade Launchers and Grenades in Weapons/, Professional Concepts V: 360 Security in Tactics&Techniques/ 
*3/6/2021: Updated External ballistics and Terminal ballistics material penetration. Added "Shooting Through Glass" to Terminal Ballistics, Zeroed optics and Scope reticle purpose in Parts&Mechanics/AccessoryFunctions/Optics


Gunslinger's Bible

"Go ahead, skin it. Skin that smoke wagon and see what happens."


Welcome to my guide on the arts of gun-fighting. Here I will introduce you to all the concepts in firearms and tactics that I believe will help pave your way to becoming the hotshot bounty hunter/ soldier/ assassin/ armorer/ fantasyweapondesigner you've always dreamed. This primarily details  modern gunfighting techniques and firearms used between the late 19th century and now. I'm sure you'll find something useful here no matter your familiarization with firearms or roleplay genre. So, take and bake!

This is organized into 4 main categories. In experience I will give examples of what someone would experience slinging lead. This should help your sensory-based descriptions. Then I will break down the most common parts and mechanics of firearms and their many accessories. This will give you more insight on the purpose of different components. Also, it gives you a starting point for brewing up your own weapons. Next, the ballistics section will talk about the physics involved in all stages of the bullets life; from the time it is birthed by fire in the chamber, until it unifies with its target. This should demonstrate what you can expect squirting lead every which way. Lastly, the meat and potatoes, I will give an overview of some weapons, tactics and techniques that you might understand being as badass as yourself. This will provide a foundation with which to build your character's style as it pertains to expertly (or ineptly) handling their weapon of choice.

Here's some listenin' for your 45+min journey towards enlightenment.
Tony Fotudo, the ghost of blind willie Johnson
youtu.be/6wL0ZFsF4Ow
X, Nausea
youtu.be/pEJfl5Iwqkw
Mobb Deep, Shook Ones Pt2
https://youtu.be/rTKpYJ80OVQ
Snoop/Dre, Deep Cover
https://youtu.be/n8DoCY1fgFo
Circle Jerks, Making the bombs
https://youtu.be/7hTewwIpAuE
Fugazi, waiting room
https://youtu.be/C3LXkdpHNOQ
The Cramps, the garbage man
https://youtu.be/0N2-jV189Zs
April March, Chick habit/ Laisse Tomber les filles
https://youtu.be/KDPi_cgItcA
Metal Church, Burial at sea
https://youtu.be/YN5HJjD7vd4
Black Sabbath, into the void
https://youtu.be/KSSEzWXqGKY
Savatage, hounds
https://youtu.be/pENdEfmWOx0
Gojira, the art of dying
https://youtu.be/xnHialslu6k
Trigun ost, Knives
youtu.be/oL3KNlnBK94
Panic, Evol intent
https://youtu.be/7kueVovEjcE
Alice in chains, rooster
https://youtu.be/z6QgND6sXbc
Canned Heat, On the road again
youtu.be/qRKNw477onU
George Thorogood, Who do you love
youtu.be/YbRnkmkOhsk
Bad Brains, Don't Bother me
youtube.com/watch?v=TZwb8UPLLj8


Disclaimer: This is not an all inclusive list of mechanics, accessories, techniques, etc.


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"Have you heard a gunshot
before? . . . It’s gonna be a lot
louder than in the movies."
– Dean Winchester,
Supernatural
^
Sight: Every gun has a brief flash signature when the bullet escapes the muzzle. This is caused by the burning powder from the cartridge. During daytime this flash is usually unnoticed and with modern ammunition it is smokeless. During the night it's a different story. Flash is very noticeable, and more so with automatic fire. The barrel of a weapon will heat up rapidly under sustained fire. It may take several hundred rounds, but it will eventually begin to glow red-hot. Also, remember that shooting is creating a contained explosion within the weapon that exits through the barrel. If you are shooting from a dusty wall or on the ground, dust and leaves will be disturbed. Flash can be mitigated with various devices covered in mechanics.
^
Sound: The thunderous crack of shooting is loud! Most of the time. You can stand about 15 meters from someone shooting without feeling like a spike is being driven into your ear. It's still very loud and any closer you can feel the sound piercing further and further into your skull. At point blank, your hearing just shuts down. If this becomes regular, you'll lose hearing for sure. When in a room or other tight space, the sound feels magnified. Typically the larger the caliber the louder the gun. You can learn to tolerate it with familiarity, training and ear protection. Note that some sound from a gun is actually from the bullet traveling supersonic. You can hear the crackling of the projectile sailing through the air. When it passes overhead you'll hear hear a pop shortly after it passes. If it hits you, you might hear it after, if you survive. This is a big reason why suppressors do not silence alone. Instead of a blast, it sounds more like a burst of gas like a hose breaking, followed by the crackle. More information on devices and bullets that mitigate this are in mechanics.
^
Touch: Guns get hot quickly. This is typically around the barrel and chamber. Don't worry though, they are designed so you can reasonably handle them without burning yourself. Also, it won't overheat for hundreds of successively fired rounds. Even then it's user discretion whether to keep shooting or not. As long as the barrel is black, you're good. You feel the concussion of each blast exiting the barrel. This is coupled with the recoil of the firearm. This is the energy of the blast and bullet pushing back into the shooter as it twists out of the barrel. For every weapon system there are techniques or devices to mitigate recoil. Most firearms are designed with reasonable amounts of recoil mitigation. Larger calibers may bruise or rough up your shoulder after several shots. This is something you learn to tolerate and resist with proper technique and experience. Guns can be heavy. Sidearms are light, but have enough heft to smack someone with. A rifle or shotgun can be as little as 6lbs or 12lbs loaded with attachments. Then the big boys; the machine guns and large caliber long guns can be up 30lbs. This is just the weapon system. An appropriate ammo loadout is dependent. In terms of a modern soldier look at another 10-20lbs. Nothing can save you from the weight except training and fitness, you get used to it. Even learn to love it.
^
Smell: Smells like plastic or wood and metal. Nothing special. When you shoot it, that's where the magic happens. Whatever lubricant is in the gun will boil and splash in a fine mist. Wrong, man! If it's splashing that's too much lube. You shouldn't have more than a few drops of oil wherever in your gun. It can cause a slight film of grease around joints and pins, maybe mist out on the first few shots after its freshly lubed. You can't beat the smell of Hoppe's. Otherwise, during long sessions you will smell the gun smoke and carbon building up. It's delicious until you realize it's more cleaning you'll have to do.
^
Taste: I swear, on a good shot you can taste the bullet being sent down the barrel.

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"Weapons are part of my religion.” — The Mandalorian
^
Triggers: They are a big deal in precision shooting. They are tuned to different pull weights from a few ounces to several pounds. They release a pin in the weapon that engages the action. More experienced competition shooters will use light weight triggers typically since it requires minimal motor input to break(or fire). For more rugged and practical purposes a fighting rifle might have a 5lb two-stage trigger. Meaning it has a "slack" the user pulls through until it reaches 2nd stage where the input is 5lbs of pull pressure to break and fire. Good to maintain control of the weapon in rough conditions and movements. You don't need a good trigger to be a good shot, but to make the best shot you need a good trigger.
^
Actions and Operations: The components of a firearm that charge it. Takes the round or shell out of the chamber and loads another before the pin porks the cartridge.
^-Bolt action weapons are shot by shot, where the user manipulates the bolt with a handle to chamber the next round. This type usually has an internal magazine where you plug in rounds, or a box magazine loaded from underneath. Everyone knows them.

-Lever action weapons (henry repeater much) are charged with a lever from beneath, usually connected to the trigger-guard.

-Pump-action weapon, pump the grip, load new shell. Synonymous with shotgun.

-Break-action, (Think boomstick and elephant gun) trigger the hinged breach, drop the barrel, hand-plug your rounds, pop it shut.

-Double action Revolver's have preloaded chambers which rotate with every squeeze of the trigger or engagement of the hammer. Old single action versions needed to be cocked to rotate and fire, look up fanning. Do it.

The following Semi-automatic types are designed to reload rounds by several different methods. Many are fed a stacked magazine from beneath. Most can fire rounds in quick succession with each trigger pull. This does not mean automatic, only some have burst or automatic functions where holding the trigger begins a continuous cycle of fire.

-Direct impingement, (M16/AR) the bolt is charged with excess gas sent through a small channel.

-Piston stroke, (AK, SCAR) Similar to impingement except the component engaged by the gas is a piston rod that is connected to the bolt.
 
-Recoil operated, (Handguns, M2) The weapon autoloads due to a system that is engaged by recoil. 
^
Barrels: The barrel is half of what creates the profile of your shot. They have internal grooves with a ratio-range matched to specific calibers. This creates a rotational axis in the bullet. This stabilizes the bullet in flight and enhances accuracy at distance. Barrel length is experimented with for different utilities. Ratio example: .308 caliber bullets operate well in a range of (twist/inches) 1/10-1/12.

Shorter barrels are lighter and maneuverable, however the sacrifice in length leads to less muzzle velocity which means the bullet becomes destabilized sooner in flight. Shorter may also mean lots more unburnt powder being spent at the muzzle, so a bigger blast and more muzzle jumping. Longer barrels on the other hand give more time for the powder to burn, maximize dwell time in the barrel, and are heavier. This all means greater precision at a distance because of the tight spin and greater velocity. 

Barrels are constructed in many ways. There are steels that offer more rigidity, chrome-linings that increase barrel life via temperature and erosion resistance, or weight reduction i.e., fluted barrels and carbon fiber shells. Yes, barrels have lives. Depending on the caliber and barrel, 1500-10000 rounds before any accuracy reduction.
^
Muzzle Devices: You can't go wrong with just a flat crowned muzzle for a clean exit, but where's the fun in that? Muzzle devices can provide valuable utilities for certain applications. Lets start with the most famous- the suppressor. This can be a cool but weighty device. It dampens the sound of the muzzle blast and captures the gasses on its inside, effectively eliminating the flash. It does not eliminate the sound of the shot and it does not reduce the energy or range of the bullet. In some cases a suppressor can very slightly increase muzzle velocity. They get hot so a sleeve can be used in long range shooting to disperse the heat. This way the heatwaves won't interfere with a magnified scope. 

Next, flash hiders are modest pieces of metal. They come in all shapes and sizes. Their purpose is to disperse the gasses escaping the barrel in a way that the flash is obscured or smoothed into an unnoticeable puff. This is a good low profile, lightweight alternative to suppressors for flash mitigation. Either or, essential for night operations.

Now, compensators are a muzzle device that redirect the muzzle blast in a specific pattern. This pattern is intended to send most of the blast energy in one or more directions. The idea is you fit an appropriate type of compensator on the weapon system to counter the muzzle climb or drift when firing. This creates more stable and consistent rapid fire shots.

Lastly, muzzle brakes are usually larger than compensators and flash hiders. They are designed with ports that capture and splay muzzle energy to oppose or reshape the direction of recoil. And, you guessed it, this reduces perceived recoil. These are commonly used on large caliber rifles or competition battle rifles.

There are many muzzle device designs that combine elements of flash hiders, compensators, and muzzle brakes for a more well-rounded utility.

 ^
Grips and Stocks: Commonly referred to as furniture. There are dozens if not hundreds of options for modular weapon systems. With the exception of a stock they serve two purposes, aesthetics and ergonomics. Stocks provide points of contact for your shoulder and face to improve stability with utilizing the sights/optic. Look at them as additional hardpoints on a gun for your hands, shoulders and cheeks. They provide more angles and surfaces for you to control or manipulate the gun. It's up to the user to use these hardpoints to better resist muzzle climb, recoil, and  They are not essential, but can provide a stylistic look or maybe the perfect comfortable shape. Maybe you shoot better comfy. I prefer pain with a side of herniated disc.
^
Bipods: Two legs attached to your gun. They a short and stout and don't show, but they grow! Some machine guns or heavy caliber rifles come standard with a bipod. Others you must attach. They serve to make good supported positions whether standing, kneeling or prone. Some bipods have a swivel and articulate, but not all. Most are extendable to a foot or two to help with setting up on different terrain. Not all surfaces work, or maybe the grass is just too tall to see over.
^
Optics/Sights: They come in many forms and without them nobody would be able to hit shit outside of 20 yards. Iron sights, rear and front; line up their dots or posts, center them and go. Used to come standard on everything. Newer weapons are being produced without them since reliable detachable ones are in production. There are red-dot and holographic sights which are compact with no standard magnification. Requires either batteries or solar power to function. Usually you can adjust the brightness. They are great for CQB and are accurate enough to punch out a few hundred meters. There are magnification attachments specific to some of these. 

Zeroed sights. A zero in an optic is the adjustable baseline setting which determines the bullets standard trajectory. Most weapons are zeroed to function without adjustment so they meet the average engagement distance. This means the sights can be lined up directly on the target and the bullet lands right there. Point of aim, point of impact. Now, when shooting further the bullet will land incrementally lower. When shooting closer it lands slightly higher. Adjust accordingly.

Scopes. They range in size weight and capability. Some are only a few inches in length with 3x to 6x magnification found on battle rifles. You have classic examples of sniper scopes that sit in 8x to 16x range. Then the fatties, up to 30x magnification. There are fixed power scopes and then slightly heavier (usually) variable power scopes. The greater the range of a variable scope the better and more expensive. There are ones such as 1-8x, 3-18x, and 4-27x. Some reticles have a glow setting or drop compensators. Military grade will always have some form of measurement system crosshair. Mildots, MRAD, look it up. The dials on scopes are for parallax (kind of like focus but different), elevation (elevation reticle adjust), and windage (left/right reticle adjustment). You make a zero setting then adjust on the fly, record old data and memorize different settings for different distances. You don't need high power optics to shoot far, but to shoot the farthest you need high power optics.

More on scopes; the reticle. There are is a huge variety in available reiticles in scopes and reflex sights. Reflex sights might be just a dot zeroed out to 100m, have drop compensator dots representing different distances, or have larger illuminated reticle for rapid target acquisition. Magnified scopes a la sniper, have these options and more. Often they are designed with a MOA (angle ratio 1 MOA = 1inch at 100yds) or MRAD (1/6283 slice of a circle) Imagine crosshairs with the 3 or 4 bold dots or lines evenly spaced on the lines. These are mil dots that when set to a certain magnification represent near exact measurements of angle at the distance in view. The space between dots or large hashes is often 1 Mil or the dots themselves may be 1/2 mil, then there might be sub-hashes or dots that represent 1/4 or even 1/10 mil on big optics. Without too much detail, these reticles are used as rulers to measure. There are formulas applying to these measurements giving applicable data like distance to target, target size, and scope adjustment amount. Some are designed in a grid-like pattern that can be used to make second shot corrections without having to do additional math or spotting. These optics can be zeroed in whichever way is most applicable. MOA discussed further in Weapons

There are also night vision optics that function similar to scopes with lower power, since they are not advanced enough to provide a clear image past approximately 600 meters. Alternatively there are infrared scopes that display in either black-hot or white-hot. No, footprints don't emit heat unless someone has been standing there long enough for the ground to change temperature.
^
Lasers: You have two types of lasers. Visible red/green and infrared. The visible laser is seldom used outside urban combat and room clearing. This allows you to maintain greater situational awareness as well as having more freedom to maneuver the weapon; you won't need to look down the sights to aim. Also, you can't see the beam unless in fog, smoke etc. The red dot is not very visible from a distance.

Infrared lasers can only be seen with infrared sensitive devices like night optics (Night vision goggles!). They have two settings, beam and flood. Beam is similar to the vis laser, allowing the user to aim in lowlight conditions without using the optic. The IR beam is different in that it blooms on whatever it is pointed at so it's possible to use for medium ranges shots. The flood setting casts a cone of infrared light like a flashlight. This can be used to mark an area over a short distance or as sort of invisible flashlight for extra clarity identifying things at short range.
^
Magazines: Coming in different sizes as per whatever fits in whatever gun. Just think 20-30 round mags for an M4, or a 7 round 1911 mag, or 15 count Glock mag. Contains the mag body, the follower tray, and a spring that pushes the tray up as rounds are pulled. Some mags are clear or have round count windows so you can keep track of your fill. Some people put fashion loops on the bottom for easy pulling from mag pouches. You can even get clips to double stack mags side by side (don't do it).

There are drums you can buy for many weapons now, but they are only practical with machine guns. A drum can be a hard shell or cloth shell usually carrying 100-200 rounds of belted ammunition(ammo connected with metal links, you know, machine guns). They clip in to the bottom of an automatic rifle(machine guns). The ammo belt is pulled from the slot and placed into the open faced bolt of the weapon system.
^
Lights: Tactical lights are just nice flashlights with a small profile and rugged design. They have a connecting component to fix to your weapon system. The dominant modern style fixes to a picatinny tail system found on many different guns.
Useful for general utility and blinding targets.
^
Night vision: I covered weapon mounted night optics. More practical night vision and thermal vision can be found in goggles. Short tubes that fix to your helmet or a head strap called a skull crusher. They come in single tube(one eye or both eyes, model dependent), dual tube (both eyes), and quad-tube (both eyes). Each one respectively has narrower field of view, but all have their strengths and weaknesses. Quad or panoramic is the ultimate in terms of pure night vision but it is bulky and heavier. Dual has good field of view, deploys and stows easy, older models are a little more prone to breaking and sacrifice some depth perception, however newer models are pretty tough and swivel to be used as a monocular if needed. Single offers the narrowest field of view but is a tough, lightest weight, smallest profile design and keeps one eye free for better depth perception. You wont go completely blind if light floods your night vision eye- where the others this might happen. All contemporary military-use optics have near identical optical performance. There are white phosphor and green phosphor images, the white offering better contrast and green more vibrant lights. 

^
Body Armor: Let's talk about modern armor and how it protects you. The effectiveness of each armor depends on the angle of incidence, or the striking angle of the bullet. The rating descriptions explains are based on direct hits. First, Helmets. You're probably wearing some form of hard kevlar helmet if you're warring. They offer good protection from blunt force and fragmentation or shrapnel. They are good protection from handgun calibers but don't hold up to high velocity rifle calibers. Still, it may be enough to redirect the bullet's energy where it doesn't crack your dome, otherwise, a direct hit with rifle calibers will penetrate.

Body armor typically consists of kevlar vests and hard plate inserts. The vest may be full kevlar with lots of torso coverage, some even have attachments to cover the shoulders, biceps, thighs and groin. Or they can be low-profile, even simply some sturdy stitched harness with panels to stuff in plates —plate carriers. Kevlar body armor functions just like a helmet but it is soft, malleable to your body, but knives can penetrate.

Most weight comes from armor plate inserts. They are typically worn as a larger front and back plate to protect your vitals, and optionally are side plates, smaller squares that fit over your obliques. There are three basic types of plates. Steel plates are the heaviest and vary in thickness for handgun protection or rifle protection. They have good-multiple hit resilience but need to have a special coating to prevent bullet fragments from splashing and ricocheting into your face. Armor penetrating rounds and high velocity rifle rounds usually punch through it. Polyethylene armor is somewhat thicker than the others but is very light and durable to weather conditions. It preforms much like steel to include having trouble with high velocity armor penetrating rifle calibers. Ceramic armor is thinner than poly, thicker than steel, and weighs in the middle as well. It offers the best protection to armor penetrating and larger rifle calibers but has less multi-hit resilience to its highest rated calibers and is more sensitive to careless handling.

Getting hit in armor still packs a punch because your body is still absorbing all of a bullet's energy. A rifle caliber can still put you on your ass for a minute, but you're likely not going to pass out because of it. Just remember, if you get hit don't be a bitch and lay there, you've still gotta earn your life and fight.
^
Weight: It's important to understand that all the above parts add ounces and pounds to the weapon system. It may not seem like much piece by piece, but you will notice the difference when you compare a decked out weapon vs its naked brother. In this way handling the heavier weapon system means less mobility or slower manipulation. This does not need to be a handicap. You can train both strength, endurance and muscle memory to handle and move with the weapon just as quick.
^
The Bullet: A copper, steel, or lead projectile. It is housed in the opening of a usually steel or brass casing filled with gunpowder. The bottom is capped with a primer. The primer is struck by the gun, then the powder ignites and sends the bullet down the barrel.

There are many bullet designs for different purposes. For armor penetration you look at having a tungsten or steel core. For a larger wound cavity or distributed impact energy, hollow point bullets, which have a grooved-out tip which aids in expanding upon impact. For better in flight ballistics you can have a boat tail design where the bullet is a long cone with smooth receding back angles. There are bullets designed as hollow points with a plastic ballistic tip that will maintain good flight dynamics until it impact. Also, there are bullets designated as incendiary, explosive, or reduced penetration for special purposes.

Tracer rounds are the kind that glow red when you shoot, the ones you see in movies and games. They are usually used in 3 ways. They are used in machine guns, dispersed in a belt every 5 rounds. This helps the gunner keep track of his bursts and their effective location. They are used by soldiers in a designated magazine so they can mark target location or track their fire. Also, they can be placed near the last few rounds of a magazine to serve as a visual cue that it's almost empty. Everyone can see your tracer.

There are probably a hundred different calibers of bullets. Generally, the bigger the number the bigger the bullet and casing. Don't mix up NATO sizes with caliber e.g., 7.62x51 is basically .308.

Lastly, I want to mention sub-sonic ammunition. This can be any caliber fitted with a casing and gunpowder load that lowers performance by design. The idea is that the bullet's velocity will be less than that of the speed of sound. Because of this the bullet will travel silently, but will lose stability much quicker. A subsonic bullet works very well with a suppressor but has greatly diminished effective range and delivers less energy on a hit.

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"Definition: Love is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope... Love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticule, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds." 
~ HK-47, SW:KOTOR
^
Internal: If a bullet came from the slums, it's going to perform like it. Internal ballistics is all about how precisely fitted a barrel and chamber are to a caliber of bullet. The bullet should fit in the bore of a barrel neatly and form a tight seal, otherwise gases will escape and reduce efficiency. The barrel quality will determine what kind of frictional force is applied to the bullet. Too much will reduce efficiency and erode the barrel.
^
External: This type of ballistics describes a bullets performance in flight. It is determined by the bullet's profile, meaning aerodynamics and weight, and the rotational velocity imparted by the twist rate of a barrel's groove. Too little rotation and the bullet loses stability fast, too much and the bullet could break up mid flight.

There are many external factors that affect a bullets performance. Gravity, duh, is what causes the bullet to lose altitude and is why when you are aiming at a distance, you are aiming high. You send a bullet much like you send an arrow from a bow. Wind is a huge factor in long range shooting. You can account for wind by understanding the ballistics of a specific round and adjust based on wind speed in its flight path and distance. The bullet is more affected by wind the further along its trajectory because it loses velocity and stability with it. Temperature effects air density; hotter weather, less dense air, less air resistance, less bullet drop. Humidity is a measurement of moisture in the air; less humidity, less moisture resistance, less bullet drop. Air pressure is lower at higher altitudes; less pressure, less resistance, less bullet drop. These last three are typically considerations when shooting longer ranges.

No two shots are exactly alike. Despite any minuscule factory asymmetries in a bullet, the barrel sort of flexes and wobbles when you shoot. As it heats up it flexes more. This is called barrel harmonics. The motion is likened to the type of force that is being applied as the bullet rotates on its journey through the barrel. Because of this, the precision profile of a weapon looks more like a narrow cone. Where if shot 1000 times in perfect and accurate conditions at the same target point at 1000 meters, there would still be a narrow area shot out at the base of the "cone". The more precise a rifle is, the tighter this imaginary cone. You can think of it like in any shooter game. The crosshairs expanding when you are running and are the tightest and most accurate when prone. Those crosshairs are fixed on your screen but when looking at a distance it creates a cone.
^
Terminal: A bullet's impact can be devastating or disappointing. Terminal ballistics is the nature of the bullet after it makes contact with something anytime after it exits the barrel. This can be a hit on target, breaking through glass, or even just cutting through some leaves on a tree on it's way to the target. The density of the object and angle of impact will determine the effect. I may have said this already but any instance of penetration will drastically change the ballistic profile of a bullet and it severely reduces your ability to reliably estimate its performance after penetration. A car windshield for example can actually deflect smaller caliber bullets or alter the direction of travel if hit at an angle. Bullets chew through wood and trees fairly well due to their fibrous nature so even thick pieces of cover offer limited protection. Use it, but not for long. Thin metals are easily penetrated, look for at least 1cm thickness for decent cover. Even here, most high velocity and steel core rounds will eventually penetrate. Furniture = Not good cover. It is better than nothing, but don't rely on it. Lastly, the best generally available cover from penetration is dirt, sand etc. That's why sandbags exist. They are dense and distribute impact energy and have lots of surface area etc to resist penetration. Big rocks are good but they can produce ricochets and fragment up in your grill, so be cautious there. 

A bullet tends to widen and fragment when it makes contact with something. This eliminates much of the rotation and distorts the profile enough where reliable estimation of what the bullet will do after penetrating the object is not always possible. You can't just expect a guaranteed hit on something through a good window or through thick brush. Even when a bullet enters a body it will decelerate and ricochet off bone. Some high velocity rounds will end up bouncing and ending up somewhere else in the body. This is why digging out a slug right in the wound or finding an exit wound is important; you know where it went and what damage it did. Needless to say, getting shot ten times might not kill you, getting hit once the wrong way might.

If you're familiar with the stopping power argument, it's a myth. Bigger bullet does not automatically mean more power. It's all about (kinetic energy=(m/2)v2) the ratio between the mass, velocity and the intersectional surface area of the bullets vector. Velocity has a greater impact on how much energy a bullet carries, mass is a multiplier. The issue is energy transfer. Even if a bullet is carrying more energy, it needs to deliver it via newtons laws, otherwise it just zips through a target- which can be good or bad. Hollow-point, ballistic tip or soft point ammo helps this. Then just whatever whatever bullet has a nice ratio of velocity to mass. If you can ring in more hits with a smaller caliber easier, you're putting more a stop than with a larger caliber with more difficulty shooting.

Let's further explore shooting GLASS. You see the target, you are well within range but a 2'x3' pane of glass stands between you. First, there is no reason to shoot through glass on your side of the field offensively. Once the bullet penetrates it is subject to the chaos of terminal ballistics through deflection even with high velocity rounds. Shooting through a window 2 ft in front of you or from inside a car through the windshield is most practical when the target is very close on the other side and when used defensively; you need to send bullets in the enemy's direction. If you need to do this plan on shooting up to several rounds just to shatter the glass to negate its effect on your bullets.

 If you want the first shot of the engagement to clear the glass and hit your target you must consider several things. First is the type of glass for two reasons, effective angles of fire and collateral damage with shatter. Without getting too into it, you have tempered glass which is tough and can deflect greatly so it is advised the first round is used to shatter the glass or that the shot has little to no angle. This glass shatters into small pieces and doesn't fall apart like a normal window pane. Laminated glass like a windshield holds together well when shot, so it is advised all your shots are as close to each other as possible to exploit the small area where the integrity is compromised.

 Next, how far the target is through the glass and or if they are likely going to be in range through it. For the best chance of success think within 20 ft past glass. The further you are away the less velocity and energy your bullet will have on target which means the more effect the glass is going to have on the accuracy of your shot. If you are 500m away I wouldnt engage unless the target is within 10 ft of the glass —and probably wouldnt try a shot like that unless I was shooting something big.

Which brings me to the next consideration, the bullet. In short, larger caliber bullets will be able to penetrate thicker glass. There are formulas to determine within reasonable bounds how a bullet performs when penetrating at different angles. All you need to know is the best results are when a bullet intersects with the glass from 60-90 degrees. Note that horizontal angle also effects trajectory. Shooting through steep angles of a car windshield has significant effect. Think backwards on this, if you are shooting from inside through the front, the bullet will deflect upwards something like 5-20 degrees. When shooting from the outside through the front it will deflect downwards like 5-15 degrees.

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"A man should know how to handle a gun, use it with
discretion."
– “J.B.” Books, The Shootist
^
Discipline: To responsibly wield one of these marvels of human innovation you should be disciplined. Here is a short list of unspoken rules that should be second nature.
-Muzzle: Be aware of where your barrel is pointing, don't flag friendlies.
-Trigger: Keep finger off of the trigger until ready to fire.
-Safety: If the weapon has a safety, have it engaged unless shooting.
-Load: Assume its loaded, know your load and if a round is chambered.
-Target: ID your target, know what you'll hit if you miss or overpenetrate.
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There are four fundamental principles for effective shooting. Most shooting errors are attributed to mistakes in these areas. They are body position, aiming, breathing and trigger pull. After these are mastered you can more successfully explore alternative techniques.
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Body Position: Good body position enables a shooter to take near effortless shots. In terms of a rifle it involves having firm grip, relaxed arms, the buttstock seated in the pocket between your shoulder and clavicle, relaxed neck, and cheek resting on the buttstock. In prone or kneeling, your posture should be supported mostly by your bone structure, with little muscular effort. Mobile standing should be with a fighting stance as if grappling, your elbows tucked in. Your supporting arm should be extended comfortably, or near-locked out when standing and moving while shooting. This helps control the muzzle by reducing the leverage the barrel weight creates in movement or when coming into contact with anything. Handguns are slightly different. You should hold with both hands high up on the grip, arms extended.  One hand grips firm with the finger in the trigger well. The other is a supporting hand to create equal pressure on the opposite and pull on the opposite. Arms extended and relaxed, shoulders and wrists firm, core relaxed.
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Aiming: Proper sight alignment means proper aim. Your body should be set so you can easily see through your sights/optic. Everything is about symmetry here. Rear and front sight posts should merge in your vision and should form a symmetrical and flat pattern, the center post tip of which is your point of aim. Optic reticles are easier for our eyes to acquire so they tend to be quicker and there is no alignment other than putting the crosshairs/dot on the target. However, when looking through a scope it's not so simple. Proper spacing from your eye and the scope will allow a full clear view, without you are not accounting for parallax between the scope lens' and your eye. It's best to learn to shoot with both eyes open. An experienced gunslinger would because it keeps the muscles in your face relaxed so you can aim without fatigue. Also it keeps your field of view open for better situational awareness. 
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Breathing: Your breathing creates motion in your aim (sight picture), effects heart rate and eye sight. Steady breathing creates a rhythm you can anticipate for precise shooting. The idea is you shoot on the bottom or top of your breathe when your body is still and relaxed. Since you are continually breathing you should not experience much fatigue.
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Trigger Pull: Now the fun part, squeezing the trigger. Pulling should be with uniform pressure rearward from the tip of your finger. It should be one steady draw with no anticipation of the shot. After pulling you should "follow through", meaning consciously holding the trigger with pressure then control your release. This allows your body to connect with the weapon and ensure proper application of fundamentals.
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Malfunctions: Additional to the basics is an understanding of malfunctions in weapons. They are not perfect, they are tools prone to failure. They get dirty and abused so eventually they're going to jam up. It's uncommon but normal so it should be trained on. Generally all weapons are the same. Slap up on the magazine (if it has one) to ensure its locked in. Charge the weapon (slide/charginghandle/pump/boltaction) to extract the round and look into the chamber to see if there's an obstruction or double feed (remove it). Release the slide/handle or charge forward the (pump/bolt). Tap the forward assist if there is one (to seat the bolt). Continue firing.

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This section will cover weapon specific concepts, strategies, and handling techniques. 

A foreword on this: The effective ranges displayed are about average between many firearms with different capabilities. This number is based on MOA and kinetic energy/velocity of a shot. MOA stands for Minute Of Angle. It's a ratio used to gauge the precision of a gun and bullet combination. The ratio is range of bullet spread in inches per 100 yards. 1 MOA means that the bullet will land within 1 inch of the aiming point at 100 yards. At 200 yards, it will land within 2 inches of the aiming point. At 1000 yards, within 10 inches. This is of course in perfect conditions and no mistake on shooting fundamentals.1 MOA is considered accurate enough for long range shooting purposes, so most sniper systems will be capable of this. Today, many are capable of even 1/4 MOA. Many AR, AK, and machinegun style weapons sit between 2-4 MOA. Then submachine guns, handguns, and shotguns are not usually gauged by this system since they are close quarters weapons. This means if you have 3 MOA and are shooting something at 1000 yards that's a 30 inch spread, you might miss the target even when everything is perfect. The second factor in effective range was the velocity and energy of a round. The less energy a bullet has, the less damage it does, decreasing likelihood of incapacitating the target. Also, the less velocity the more effected it is by external ballistic factors and thus loses stability faster. Both of these decrease as a bullet travels through the air.
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Handguns: Up close and personal. You can't trust taking anything down outside 50 meters with one unless its some impractical custom lobber. The average engagement is more like 5-10 meters. They are primarily used as sidearms for situations in extremely tight quarters or when there isn't enough time to reload/fix your primary weapon. The only exception is for self-defense purposes as in with law enforcement or with operations that involve maximum discretion -where fighting is plan C- and it can be easily concealed. They are relatively easily to conceal and with training, you can draw just as fast from inside your waist, your ankle, or beneath a jacket. You would use a holster or purse or something. There are many low profile or concealed options, or even a pocket.
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Shotguns: Up close and personal with a vengeance. A reliable niche weapon that offers power at close range. They are typically used for their utility in door breaching or crowd control or in engagements under 25m. You can use slug rounds for more range or buckshot for distributed impact at close range. There are flash rounds that emit a loud bang and bright flash for disorientation/intimidation, breach shells that specialize in breaking locks and door hinges, and non-lethal shells with bean bags or large rubber pellets. Note that it does not blow holes through targets unless pointblank to the dome, but it can tear chunks if you're hitting the edge. Also, the spread of buckshot is not extreme unless being shot from a real short barrel. Think 1 inch per meter of travel. Even at 20 feet its only a 7 inch or less spread.
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Sub-machineguns: A breed of firearm designed to put handgun calibers in a compact, high capacity or automatic platform. This belongs where you are fighting close quarters, but need capacity and firepower without the weight, bulk and penetration of other weapon systems. They are usually only effective out to 100-200 meters depending on the caliber. Likewise to other bullets, there are close range armor penetration and hollow-point options. This system would only be employed if all engagements are expected to be within 100 meters. For this reason it is only employed in law enforcement and for special missions in the military.
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Rifles: ARs and AKs oh, my. This is the most diverse group of guns out there. Many of them are highly customizable having the most options when it comes to gun parts and accessories. They are typically medium caliber with huge variance in quality and performance. They are small and light enough to be able to reasonably maneuver indoors, yet have an average effective range of 300-400 meters. Some even have a burst or automatic settings but won't be used unless urgent. Short barreled versions combine the power, velocity and modularity of the rifle and sacrifice accuracy at range. They may have an effective range of 200m, and threaten the usefulness of submachineguns- especially since ricochet resistant/low penetration bullets exist for them. On the other end of the spectrum are special purpose high-performing rifles that can hit near 800m accurately when paired with good ammo. This versatility is why they are the the standard issue for any military arm. 
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Light Machineguns: Heavier rifles, usually belt-fed, always automatic. Effective point range of 500-800m, effective area range of 800-1000m These beasts range from 15-30lbs and use medium caliber bullets carried in the hundreds. You can, but you won't single fire this unless clearing rooms, 1-3 rounds. Nor will you dump your load in one heated trigger pull unless you are surrounded by a descending horde. 5-7 round bursts will do it. The idea is you are creating a dead zone for the target with a good chance to hit what is in that dead zone. They are not inaccurate. The idea is to send as much lead towards the enemy because it increases your chances of a hit when well aimed and suppresses them from moving or returning fire. Much of machinegun strategy is positioning. You find angles and positions that will cover dominant pathways and firing positions so you can deny the enemy. This is called support by fire. This allows other members of your team to find enemy flanks or occupy the positions themselves. Only lighter weight machineguns like the M249 are used in room clearing or fired standing. This requires a certain level of fitness and lots of training to achieve effectively, but makes a valuable asset.
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Precision/Long Range Rifles: The only thing that might spread more fear than an automatic weapon is the pinpoint accurate shots of a sniper rifle. They can be bolt-action or semi automatic and comprise of rifles that can shoot 600+m extremely accurately. Most bolt-actions take 5-10rd magazines, the semi-autos take 10-20rd magazines. The standard between weight and performance reach 1000-1200m effectively. This will be perfect for 90% of situations. There are short barrel precision rifles or even match-grade AR-style rifles used for precision shooting under 600m. These usually are employed by law enforcement marksman in urban or suburban situations where the engagement is only from 50-200m. The biggest and longest rifles can reach over 2000m accurately. They are heavy, bulky, require good ballistics knowledge and patience to use which makes them impractical for most situations. It is not often you find a 2000m sightline anyway. With precision shooting its all about consistency in the shots. You select the targets and shooting position based on where you are confident you can make the shot while remaining either undetected or out of range. This type of shooting requires mastery of fundamentals. Your breathing, shaking and heartbeat causes motion in the scope, more noticeable the more zoomed in you are. Half the time you don't witness bullet impact because of recoil or muzzle rise. When you shoot, you should be set in the rifle, it should feel like part of your body.
This'll be rough for perspective: With a 15x power scope on a target at to 300m, it will look like your classic sniper view of a person. At 500m you can see their whole small body in the scope. At 800m they look like action figures. At 1000m and beyond they look like quarter-machine action figures or smaller.
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Grenade Launchers: Launches 40mm grenade projectiles. They typically have a range of 400m but are most accurate within 200m. The 40mm grenades they shoot have an arming distance of on average 15m, this way they don't detonate if they contact something in the shooters proximity. When 40mm is fired they issue a distinctive loud thump and travel well-below supersonic velocity. There are three kinds of grenade launchers commonly used: Weapon-mountable launchers typically attach under the barrel of AR/AK style rifles. This adds some at-hand capabilities but adds considerable weight to the front end of the weapon system. Stand-alone launchers (my preferred) are typically shoulder fired but some are sawed-off or have folding stocks to fire. This allows you to have the capabilities without it fixed to your primary weapon.  Some can be reconfigured to be shoulder fired or weapon-mounted. Lastly, there are heavier MGL revolver types. All the types previously are single-shot breach loaded, a slow rate of fire. The MGL has 6 revolving cylinders that can be fired rapidly. These launchers are multipurpose weapons that fire a variety of 40mm grenade types. The standard High-explosive Dual-purpose grenades offer fragmentation effect with some penetration capability for light cover and vehicles. Thermobaric grenades deliver high heat explosion with a concussive effect. 40mm smoke grenades can be used to mildly obscure a target area, they are much better used to mark locations and signal for the team on the ground or aircraft. They come in several different colors. 40mm flares come in two types, cluster and parachute. Cluster is a short-burn area marking flare. Parachute is a parachuting flare that is launched high above to illuminate a large area. There are IR spectrum marking and parachute flares for night operations.
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Grenades: It's all about leaving presents for your enemies, they are the ones you want to keep close after all. Most grenades have a fuse of 3-7 seconds to give the user time to place/aim/throw safely. The fragmentation grenade detonates with high probability 5m kill radius, 15m wounding radius. Incendiary grenades ignite their immediate area to around 4000 degrees for a good 30+ seconds. This is great for setting fires or destroying equipment. It can even melt steel so it will jack up firearms, engine blocks, even light artillery barrels. There are frangible and napalm versions for a more firey/offensive effect. Smoke grenades are as they are. They come in different colors and emit a steady thick stream of smoke. Note that its effectiveness in obscuring an area relies on placing it slightly upwind of the zone, or placed in confined areas that it may spread i.e., in a room, alleyway/between buildings. It is not immediately effective, taking several seconds for the smoke to billow up. Stun and flash grenades come in several forms but are based on either creating loud concussive forces or bright flashes. Some are designed to emit several blasts and all-in-all they are a diversionary tool that may inhibit the target. It's not like CoD, but the flashes would be akin to blinking at the sun a few times. Only in the dark is the blinding effect more significant The noise is at least as loud as a gunshot and when employed in a contained environment is much of how it disorients and distracts a target.
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Maintenance: Basically, you clean the barrel, chamber and bolt. These have the most impact on weapon function. You can clean everything else if you've got time. You scrub off the carbon then apply a light coat of cleaning oil, scrub it again, then a very light coat of oil on all of the friction points on the internals. You run a cloth rope or cloth patches on a post through the barrel to clear any debris and carbon.

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These professional conventions and drills are the proven backbone to the flow of combat. Many alternative strategies derive from them.
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CQB: Nothing gets your blood pumping like silently rolling through a compound four-deep with weapons up. Every corner, window, doorway, and stairwell holds a potential threat; you and the bois are ready for it. If Call of Duty got one thing right, it's check your corners. Urban combat gets messy, same goes for room clearing. Success depends on how consistently you and your team drill it. It is very difficult and dangerous to do alone but possible. Unlike games etc, you don't have eyes in the back of your head and the goal is to clear the objective without getting shot once. It's more a team game where the well drilled team dominates. Teams will breach and storm in tight flow, alternating direction of travel to maximize coverage of the space and split incoming fire. Another saying for you; you don't rise to the occasion, you fall to your level of training.
Surprise, speed and violence of action are key elements to a good house cleaning. You take every measure to maintain the element of surprise. Steer clear of walls to avoid making noise, and to help avoid ricochets from bullets coming your way. If the target is sleeping, tag team his ass. Gag, zip-tie, put your gnarly muzzle in his face. Surprise your greatest advantage and when it's gone, it's gone.
Speed keeps the momentum and keeps you from getting shot. You may have heard the phrase "Slow is smooth; smooth is fast." This is a training and practical principle. You want to be smooth. You train starting slow, and eventually you'll get to be smooth and quick. Otherwise, smooth is never bad. A well-trained team will be able to flow through compounds smoothly with few stops but to stack on a room entrance for the clear.
Violence of action is your deliberate aggressive posture. Especially when the element of surprise is gone, the only thing that matters is neutralizing the enemy. You blow through obstacles, you storm the objectives (tactically), you have confidence in your team, and most of all, you keep vigilant of your surroundings, ready to adapt and act. Your new advantage is how relentless the assault is. This gives the target/opposition minimal time to react and devise their own strategy.
Exploiting angles is the name of the game. You should think to maximize your coverage of any rooms and door ways by both moving at angles, and using corners as pivot points where you can clear a space by moving around the corner while stand behind the corner for cover. Often called "pie the corner". Every corner and open doorway leads into what is referred to as the fatal funnel. Essentially a funnel, a high probability pathway you can expect to find a target. Once you enter the funnel you are most vulnerable- consider if someone is invading your home, you look at the door or windows for them, those are fatal funnels. When clearing rooms or fighting in an urban setting, you navigate these danger areas a quickly and smoothly as possible, even if you need to setup before hand.
Lastly, understand that as a gunslinger your greatest strength is your mind gun! When a guy pops out of a closet with a knife and he's all in your shit, you'd do best to grapple as little as possible. Always try to "create space". Do what you need to, but ideally you will shove, step, and plant 2-5 hot ones in his poor little heart. None of that martial arts shit. You've got a gun, you've got the super saiyan keiokenx10 kamehameha. Skip to episode 10 and fuckin' use it. (Not to discount the value of hand-to-hand techniques, it just doesn't work so beautifully in reality)
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Sniping: There is peace before you pull the trigger. The gods of the wilderness embrace you as a spider laps a web on your shoulder. Then there is peace after. The spider falls, and the target falls. Zen? A good shooter does not make a good sniper. Shooting is easy. And you should be good. It is the sniper's fieldcraft that makes them. Stealth, adaptability, and autonomy while conducting target interdiction and reconnaissance. They can operate independently, however they are more effective when in pairs or part of a small team. When in a pair there is the shooter and the spotter. The spotter is usually more experienced and is expected to make more difficult calculations, read wind conditions, navigate, and provide additional security support to the two man team. He would typically carry a rifle, explosives and a spotting scope. When employed as a team they must operate without guarantee of close support so they have to plan how and when and where they move more carefully.
 If you're not familiar with a ghillie suit, it is a uniform or outfit that is usually custom made with extra stitching, padding, and netting with burlap or jute strands all down the backside. Also they usually make a ghillie hood, ballcap or boonie cap. The ghillie material is not supposed to be thick and won't be on the frontside of the suit or around the calves and forearms. This is to prevent the suit from catching on things or getting in the way of the sniper's hands. A sniper will washout his suit and essentially marinate it in dirt, mud, and natural debris in all weather conditions to give it a weathered natural look. The key to blending in is using the suit as a base and attaching natural vegetation to it via tying it to the jute or whatever, then consistently "vegging up" whenever the terrain and vegetation changes. In this way they can drop down wherever they are in a moment's notice and blend into the environment. Urban ghillie suits are usually more uniform like, with a bunch of tie downs and cloths in neutral muted colors, rather than the traditional jute look. In an urban setting they may not have much of a suit at all and instead just carry nets and cloths to use whenever they setup a hide site. The shooting position should be away from doorways and windows. You want to conceal your weapon and your body as best you can.
A sniper stalks their prey. They exercise patience and move stealthily, using camouflage like a ghillie suit. Their movement techniques involve deliberate, smooth motion to appear as little like a human being as possible. This care only needs to be used when approaching a target. Then they set up a firing position, taking more care to be well camouflaged, and tailor their shooting environment to be undetectable even when being directly looked ar from the target location, to include shooting through loop holes (between obstacles) that appear to be between them and the target.
Spotting is attention to detail. A spotter would typically use a stand-alone high power optic with 40-60x magnification. This is to observe target areas in detail or make range and wind calculations. They read the wind by going on a high magnification and observing the magnified moisture in the air over the whole distance as it waves in the wind. A vertical stream means little wind, a horizontal stream is lots of wind. Wavy to no stream means wind moving in their direction or away from them which has no significant effect on the bullet.
Direct action sniping is different. They will still operate as shooter and spotter, however, both will most likely use a more versatile semiautomatic sniper system. This will reduce their effective range to under 1000m but will offer a larger ammo capacity and rapid fire capabilities to fit an urban environment where most engagements will be from 50-300m for them. This is not all cases. Sometimes snipers will be attached to teams who are conducting urban operations and they will support them in a direct action capacity. This involves positioning to cover the team, then repositioning to a better vantage point every opportunity while the team on the ground hits their targets.
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Quickdraw: The western quick draw. Equal parts sexy and savage. You can get a shot off in less than a second, and if you are top tier, 1/4 second. This type of shot is done from the hip and is probably only effective out to about 5 meters, beyond that the hit probability is too low even for the most trained. Its seen in some cases the revolver is holstered low on the hip with a cutout so the trigger is exposed and easy to grab. It's more likely there were custom holsters with a completely exposed gun. For example, the Bridgeport rig was a clip that fastened to your belt. You could replace the screw on your revolvers hammer to slot into the clip. Then you didn't even need to draw your gun, just rotate it up from your hip while it's still attached and fire. Or you could use tie-downs on the gun so it could hang at your disposal. Even pocketing it could work. Note that firing from the hip like a quick draw is only practical when doing it on the draw. If you've got the gun in hand you might as well aim.
Fanning is a technique used to fire single action or even double action revolvers fast. You know it, where you aim and rapidly hammer back with your palm as you fire. Faster from the hip as you're not aiming down the sights.
For modern firearms, you can train a fast draw with aiming down sights. It's no different than a normal draw, just trained with smooth speed. You can get down to one second if you're a beast. Take it out to 10 yards even.
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Professional concepts I: A well disciplined leadslinger only shoots as much as he needs to ghost the target. Let's call it the single-shot mentality. Every bullet you send should have the name of its purpose carved into its full-metal face. Not literally, and it's not always possible. The closer you get to this principle the better. This does not mean you should be conservative with shooting, your life is more valuable than the bullets you think you're saving. This does not mean every bullet needs to hit an enemy either. 
Another means of effective fire is suppression. It is both a physical and psychological tool. Suppression; rapid and well placed shots designed to deny the target freedom of movement or return fire. There is covering fire, which is like suppression but a notch more aggressive as it is now the lifeline of a moving teammate who is exposed, which you aim to take attention from. Then there is grazing fire, which attempts to route out enemies from obscurity hamper a direct assault with a steady stream of man-height fire. This is all deliberate purposeful shooting that can fit within the framework of the single-shot mentality if you exercise discipline and keep a cool head.
When a firefight breaks out, often the first seconds or minutes of the fight is both sides trying to establish superior volume of fire. This can mean consistent accurate shots, or even just a greater barrage of bullets in a direction over the other. When one side is taking more cover than the other, the equality of the standoff is done and each will use tactics to compliment their position, offensive or defensive. It is much nicer to be on the offensive side because you have more options- you can even break contact more easily. For this reason establishing superior volume of fire is a valuable strategy which is another reason machine guns are the shit.
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Professional concepts II: Bounding. You can breakdown almost any firefight and find this basic element of movement in a well oiled team. Bounding is the technique where two or more members of a team alternated between covering positions and movement between cover. Imagine you want to advance on a target with your bud, but you're already in a firefight. You both take cover, return fire then call your intentions. Your bud acknowledges and you make a dash for the next available cover while he's spraying the good-good all over the enemy. When you get to your position you start covering fire and he advances past you to the next cover. Rinse and repeat until something happens or you get where you want; preferably over the enemy's still warm corpse. Peeling is the same in reverse, otherwise known as breaking contact. Apply the volume of fire concept here.
Moving while shooting will add another variable that your adversary must overcome. Not only are you either advancing or retreating, you're still a threat that's harder to hit. Moving while shooting a la duck walk aiming down the sights is only practical in CQB where the engagement is going to be within 100 meters. Standing/walking shots can be accurate with training, but you are a big target. A standing longshot takes more time to execute with less probability of a hit. When you are 100+m from the target or even out of sight, just keep a low ready or carry posture and keep with max maneuverability so you can get to your positions faster and take more accurate shots from cover.
Additionally, when moving in open terrain or out of cover, you want to maintain spacing between your team-members. This spreads your fire, commands more area, opens potential for flanking, and prevents multiple causalities when a burst is targeting one person.
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Professional concepts III: There are two wise offensive strategies when you have with the element of surprise. At least that the target does not have an exact idea of who/what/when/where you are. The ambush and raid.
You're patient. You know the enemies ins and outs and have a damned good idea where they are going. Time for an ambush. You choose the place, but it's up to the enemy when they are going to fall into it. Ambushes open with maximum firepower and when the enemy is most vulnerable around your planned location. If possible set up an L shape ambush so you can hit their flank as well. Be prepared for a retaliation, hold no quarter.
You've got good Intel and you're itching for the hunt. You know where they are, and you'll get them when they feel most safe. Time for a raid. You choose when to strike, but it's wherever the enemy is. You don't have to be quiet about it, just get it done. Raids take planning and prep. Usually this will be done in the few hours or days leading up to it, but some could take a week or longer. Any element of the target could change at anytime, so it's not often final plans are far from the date.
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Professional Concepts IV: Should you aim for the head, chest, the firing hand? Neither really. When you are in close quarters yeah go for it, but you're more likely going to just shoot at them. Aiming center mass of the target greatly improves your hit chance and has a good chance of hitting the target's vitals or taking out their core. Wounding the target can be just as effective as killing them as some injuries will take them out of the fight. If they are alive you always consider them a threat. Wounding them just considerably reduces their effectiveness. 
More importantly, when in a CQB scenario or if you have a good sightlines on the target you should shoot to kill if at all possible. When clearing a room, it's the most direct and tense a situation as you'll ever face. Its life or death in that moment for you and the opposition. Shoot the mfer to death. 1 shot is likely not enough to put him down unless you get him in the brain or spine. Even in the heart he'll have enough time to hurt you before he goes down. Shoot 3-5 rounds in quick succession to greatly increase the probability of neutralizing the threat.
Lastly, recognize the impact that taking out someone's core will have on their ability to fight. Hits on the spine or in the pelvic region are difficult to treat on the battlefield, and they cripple their core, rendering them immobile.
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Professional Concepts V: 360 degree security. I don't know how many times I've seen in games or movies that some badass team coming sweeping through all tunnel-vision in one direction. They corner the protagonist or target just to stand in a line with all of their guns pointed right at them. That's actually not bad, worse is when they surround the target and they're basically pointing at each other. I just die inside. You only need 1, MAYBE 2 guns on a guy. Don't matter how badass he is.
Any team of 2+ worth their salt will do their best to keep eyes on their entire surrounding. The only exception might be in friendly territory like with police work. Even then you have some sort of procedure for securing the surroundings. As explained above, any deadzone out of view potentially holds a threat, however unlikely. Everyone is responsible for adjusting their sector of fire to account for the environment but also they may be more specifically responsible for a certain sector.
Lets look at an example 4-man team. They are moving in a file through some village streets. Point man primarily focuses on securing the front, he is in charge of the teams pace and navigating their route. The second and third man might be responsible for the left and right flanks respectively, looking at high traffic areas, in windows, rooftops, corners. The rear man will be securing their 6 o'clock with frequent looks backwards then he might focus on rooftops or peer to the left and right on passing danger areas. 
When crossing a road, clearing, creek or something open like that, the team will take turns crossing while covering each direction, or set up directional security then have everyone cross and the security collapses in afterwards.
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Gear Techniques: You can use anypiece of gear any unconventional way you want. Here are a few ways.
A weapon sling typical comes in 3 variant. Single point, usually a bungie combined with a tether and clip. Can be worn around the neck and firing arm attache to the weapon at 1 point. This allows the most weapon manipulation in hand but only in hand. The double point, wear it like a single point, however, it attaches at the butt and up by the barrel. Offers good manipulation and can be used as rigid support when you aim to fire. Extend the sling length so it has tension slightly less than your draw length when aiming. This can act as a tool to lock in the weapon to your body which allows you to relax your muscles a but more for your shots. The multipoint sling can be used like a single or double point but consists of more material making it just a bit more difficult to manipulate UK late and remove. All are good for tethering your weapon to your body.
Another practice is to underload weapon magazines. By loading 1 or 2 less rounds in a magazine you are putting less tension on the spring and increasing the guarantee the magazine will function, or so they say. This idea developed from Vietnam era weapons where maybe the springs weren't as reliable. To say contemporary magazine suffer the same flaw is up for debate. Some people do it claiming it helps seat the magazine in the weapon. This is a noticeable factor with some magazine when performing a tactical reload,  where you are placing in a fresh magazine when a round is in the chamber. Not absolute, but to be safe. 
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Night-Fighting: Night fighting has it's own set of rules and applicable gear. Without the means I will explain, combat is reduced to nausea inducing bouts of close range flashes and disappointments. In modern days combat has evolved and night fighting is the premier.
I explained the use of night optics in above sections, now for other gear. Like the laser attachment to a weapon, there are handheld lasers with quite a bit more power. They are designed as a cross between beam and flood, to lay a dense wide are beam on whatever its pointing at. This is used as a long range designator for ground troops and aircraft. The latter uses it in conjunction with radio communications to ensure correct targeting of munitions.
There are lots of shiny things at night. Most you will see, from every perceivable star in the night sky, to the small black square on your friends uniform. Most friendlies will have an agreed upon convention of identifying each other. Much of this is in the form of IR wavelength sensitive patches or with IR beacons. The patches make for easy ID on the ground where the beacons help track from a distance, and more importantly aircraft and drones.
When hitting objectives there is convention for cleared markings. This helps the larger team effort in flowing through a village or large compound, so they know what is safe. This is done with IR illumination chem lights. You guessed it- glow sticks you can only see with night optics. You can use panels or glow sticks to fashion signals for aircraft as well.
Note with night vision, your eyes need to acclimate to no light conditions after you stow them. So if at night you're roaming around and flip them up because you need to see something on your kit, you'll have that purple hued vision like you just looked into a bright light.

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 This section will discuss a few training practices and principles that modern gun-fighters continually practice to keep a sharp edge. This is the key to greater success  in complex situations and make sure you're not deadweight in a team. A serious gunslinger will regularly drill all the following into second nature. None of these are mandatory of course, but are common practice in contemporary militaries.

The first learning done with any weapon is in handling. You pick up a sword or gun alike and feel it's weight, feel for the balance and proper hand-holds. Further with a gun, you should understand what all the buttons and slides do. Learn the feel of pulling the trigger, learn where the safety and magazine release are and how to engage them. You should learn how to efficiently manipulate the weapon from a firing position. There are a few accepted methods to do each, and with enough practice it can be done smoothly and quickly so that you can reliable stay in the fight. This includes things like practicing correcting malfunctions, changing magazines and bringing the weapon into a ready position. For magazine changes, note that if possible you want to retain your empty magazine— you will only drop and dump if in a dire situation or there is no time like in CQB. Any seasoned gunslinger will have a regimen for keeping these skills sharp. You can do these drills anywhere and without ammo so it's cost effective too!

After understanding how to handle a weapon, more emphasis can be placed on weapon applications in motion. This includes aim-down-sight maneuvers, individual movement techniques, transitioning to different weapons. This is similar to the above practices in that it requires nothing but a weapon to practice.

 Aiming down your sights is simple, it takes 2 or 3 seconds to get an accurate bead on your target. We want to to do it in 1 second or less. When prone or kneeling you are essentially down your sights already, so this applies more for standing and moving while aiming. You can carry low ready (muzzle pointed down), or high ready (muzzle pointing upwards). The degree you muzzle is pointed up or down is determined by how much room you have to maneuver. Keep it as shallow as possible (without pointing at your friends). This is to be as ready  to aim while keeping more situational awareness.  Your arms should be steady as two points of articulation to angle the weapon back into your shoulder and pop the muzzle out with you face meeting the stock at the same time to aim. High ready aiming should be initiated with more of a thrust-then retrieve back into the shoulder. This helps avoid catching on clothes/gear and serves as a forward force to punch through obstacles or people (nonlethal, useful clearing around corners through doorways.) With a handgun, instead of high/low ready it is pointed outwards with your arms either extended, aiming,  or retracted to your chest for maneuvering (or somewhere between). This allows you to shoot in your facing direction if needed.

A soldier is generally graded on how well they shoot, move, and communicate. Movement techniques are drilled into almost any training environment. How you move individually will determine how well you'll fit in a team, and can often be the bottom-line for a teams capabilities. With gear and weapons you should practice, sprints, trekking rough terrain, crawling, bounding, taking cover, breaking contact, etc. When walking and shooting you practice keeping a stable platform with legs moving in deliberate and controlled steps. This is to account for what is beneath you that is unseen and to keep your sights steady. You keep a lower center of gravity and consider your upper body like a turret, rotating independently of your body. 

Most movement techniques are practiced in conjunction with communication strategies. There is basic communication with a squad via simple hand signals for stealth or verbal to call distance, direction, an description of anything. You can talk via radio on separate channels to your team or higher command, even aircraft. Or there are tools and signals, like flares, smoke grenade, glow sticks, lasers. There can also be agreed upon cues like use of explosives.

^
The Last Word: The gun is an equalizer. It is a tool with enormous potential that even the most vulnerable of people can use with great effect. Never forget, it doesn't matter how talented or trained you are. You are no more bullet proof than anyone else. A child soldier with no training could be your end. A gun-fighters success often depends on how well they can keep a cool head under pressure, how well they can resist the stresses of gun combat. It is a loud and dirty affair where plans crumble. That's why you've trained so hard; to be prepared for the worst odds.


Thanks for reading. Please shoot me a PM if you have comments, questions, requests or suggestions. This will be updated as needed. I hope this information inspires you to create some bonkers-rad gunfighting stories.

Now that you've been smacked upside the head with some tasty deets,


"are you gonna do somethin' or just stand there and bleed?"

~Tombstone
The Gunslinger's Bible: A role-player's guide to guns and the arts of gun-fighting

ODAberration

Leidenschaft Relax, only half-dead

idlehands heartless

ODAberration

idlehands heartless

Andreyich AS THOUGH A THOUSAND MOUTHS CRY OUT IN PAIN

Leidenschaft Relax, only half-dead

ODAberration
