Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Shooting through a windshield , while your sitting in the drivers seat.

We had an incident yesterday in the Mid. TN. area which started as a veh. pursuit due to a violation of an order of protection incident. The situation ended in the violator being shot to death after he exited his pickup truck with a handgun pointed at two Deputies. It's suspected that this was a suicide by cop situation. Neither Deputy was injured. Both carried Glock 22's.

The Deputies were never able to exit their veh's but shot through the windshield killing the subject, as the subject approached the Deputies quickly.. This is a technique that is trained in TN. LE academies. They use heavy clear plastic over the windshield area of an old car body. You sit behind the wheel and draw and fire.

This maybe a technique and situation that citizens should train for, if a subject runs up to you armed and you can't escape. You may very well have to shoot through either your windshield or door glass to save your life.

Me no wanna be in that position. . . . .

Glad the deputies are OK.

BMT

Glad the Deputies are OK. I would do it if the only option, but without hearing protection it is gonna be rough. I know, better to lose hearing than your life but.........

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It's very loud, even with ear plugs during the training cycle. It's a good training process though. I've done it in an old thrashed out patrol unit, that had only a dashboard, and steering wheel, drivers seat and seat belt.

Many folks learn that a seat belt can have limitations, got to be removed first, due to blocking your draw. Many of your newer security holster systems, are difficult to draw from while sitting down.

Especially if you're carrying a .357 Magnum.

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LEO's for the majority don't carry anything loaded in 357 Mag. anymore. Even the last agency to carry revolvers in this state stopped over ten years ago.

I shot the windshield training for the first time using a 10mm S&W 1076 over ten years ago, it was loud with both ear plugs and earmuffs on. Have done it since with a Glock 23 and a Glock 21, along with a S&W 342 38+P.

Not to mention the risk to the eyes. The flying glass particles could easily take away clear vision.
Man, I'm glad the LE guys are OK. It could have turned out much worse.

Similar kill in Iowa, Cedar Rapids. BG took 14 rounds from a .40 Glock. The first several were through the windshield from the inside!

Dan

Trained with SIG 229's in .357 SIG w/ 125 gr Ranger SXT's ,the same as Hunter 1960. We were ear plugged as well as good muffs. Goggles for eye protection as well. POI was quite close to POA out to 20 feet or so.

I've fired a 4" .357 mag in an enclosed area. Quite "surprising" But NOTHING like the 357 SIG inside a vehicle!!! LOL.

FN in MT

saw that video on TV tonight....a good shoot

didn't realize they shot through the windshield, very interesting...would never have occurred to me

In 2000, a buddy of mine in New Orleans attempted a traffic stop on some people who had just robbed a bank. His car got shot up pretty bad. He ended up firing a tight group of 9 through the windshield with no hits. The bad guys jacked another car stopped in traffic and got away.

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They didn't have a whole lot of choice. They couldn't exit the veh. That had to shoot through the glass.

I am glad that they had been trained in this technique and knew that it would work. I've seen people freeze up in practice stress course shooting scenario's.

It's been discovered that the subject fired through one of the patrol units windshield prior to the Deputies returning fire.

Hunter 1960

You need to post this on the Hunters Campfire also. It's good info and those who don't come down here to Hand Guns should see this.

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Ok i will.

I saw a training video somewhere recently about shooting into and out of vehicles through the windshield. Shooting from the inside, when the bullets struck the windshield they would angle up several inches from POA at distances much past the end of the hood.

Bullet wise, the Speer Gold Dot HP is one of the only ones that will hold together going through a windshield. I was at the SIG Academy Ammunition Seminar back in the late 90s. They shot several different types of ammo and all of them except the Gold Dots shed their jackets came off and were found on the floor between the test glass and the gelatin block or stuck to the face of the gelatin block... The GDs being a plated bullet has nothing to shed..

Bob

Thanks for posting!

Glad to hear that the deputies are okay and that it was a good shoot.

Good stuff. I was particularly interested to hear about the effect that the glass has on trajectory and the bullet jackets.

I have heard all sorts of stories about how auto glass effects bullets. Good to get actual facts.

Chuck

Obviously bonded core bullets fare better in this sort of situation. Now, Speer, Federal, Winchester, and Remington all have bonded core bullets in their line-up. They are all good offerings and if any one of them is reliable and accurate in your handgun, which shouldn't be a problem, you are well armed for handgun ammo.

You can read the local paper where the incident occured.

www.manchestertimes.com

For those that didn't see the thread in the Campfire section...

I'm not a LEO so the odds of me shooting someone through my windshield and not going to jail are pretty low IMO. When it comes to self-defense, I'm a big advocate of situational awareness. In a vehicle, you would VERY likely be able to get out of any situation better by hitting the gas as opposed to reaching for a gun (provided you don't break the rule about leaving enough space around your vehicle to get out of the position you're in). Just my .02 cents but something to think about regardless......