A Couple Test 21 Foot Rule, One Dies
Photo from linked article. This could either be Spencer Warren, or a random photo that Fox 54 put up for no apparent reason. (Fox 54 News)
The 21 Foot Rule, or Tueller Drill, is an exercise where a person tests their weapon reaction time if an attacker gets within 21 feet. The time it takes to dash 21 feet is theorized to be equivalent to weapon reaction time.
Law enforcement has used this training rule as a demarcation between shooting too early, or shooting when it’s necessary.
Richard Splichal and Spencer Warren were debating about this rule if they were actually engaging in it. They decided to test their argument. Richard Splichal simulated the attack, and Spencer Warren simulated the defense. Spencer used an actual weapon (revolver) for this exercise. He removed some rounds thinking that he removed all of them.
Then, they tested the 21 foot rule. Richard rushed towards Spencer. Spencer used his weapon “in defense” then found out that he missed a step in the emptying process. Both of them realized that there was still a round in the weapon.
Unfortunately, Richard Splichal was pronounced dead at the hospital.
From WFGX:
Spencer Warren told investigators he and Splichal has been debating the “21-foot rule” and were going to see how close Splichal could get to Warren before Warren could fire his gun. Warren says he emptied his .357 revolver but did not fully clear it. When Splichal lunged toward him to test the theory, Warren squeezed the trigger twice, firing 1 round into Splichal’s chest.
Warren was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Not a good idea to use an actual weapon for things like this. And, if the participants decide to go forward anyway, they could at least do a two person check. One person clears, then the other person verifies that it’s cleared.
A better option is to leave the gun for responsible use and put it aside.
Then, train with something else. Like, say, a water bottle. Set the water bottle to release a stream of water instead of a spray of water droplets. Then, run the test. If they get hit by water after rushing from the 21 feet point, then chances are great that they’d get hit with a round under similar conditions.
Granted, one wouldn’t get the full training value from doing this, but it reduces the chances of someone dying as a result of the test.
You could read more at Fox 54 and at AJC.
Category: "Teh Stoopid"
I can only presume the revolver in question was a Peacemaker-style with a fixed cylinder and loading gate. He’s still monumentally stupid for not counting twelve empty holes to make sure his six-shot cylinder was empty, and for using a firearm this way in the first place, but I can kind of see how this could happen with a gate-loaded revolver.
If it’s a swing-out cylinder—like 90% of the revolvers out there—and he could visually inspect every chamber simultaneously, then all I can say is that his entire family needs to be sterilized to halt the spread of that magnitude of pathological stupidity.
Or, it was intentional.
We only have one side of the story, after all.
Let the police do their work.
The dickhead who accused me of being a commie/socialist based on nothing whatsoever says we should wait for the full story and not jump to conclusions—which I wasn’t, by the way. That’s interesting.
TOW…very interesting indeed. We got yo back Jack…We’ll make a little plan Stan.
Try this…consider the source and ignore it.
I ignore most of Slow Joe’s comments, as I generally do with his ass-buddy Lars, but every once in a while I just feel the need to call bullshit.
^word^
I bet he’s been huffing the floor wax in between glasses of Thunderbird while schmoozing up to the Medics for a profile putting him on Quarters so he doesn’t have to do more Police Call or pick daisies out of the PT Field!
Floor wax and Bud Light. Just as toxic as paint chips.
^word again^
If he managed to cock and pull the trigger twice in a 21-foot test, he must be the world’s fastest single-action man.
I’ll go with ‘flaming idiot or murder’ for $500, Alex.
Single actions are faster than double.
Hold revolver hand. Pull trigger and hold. With support hand, work hammer, releasing as it hits max travel. Return thumb forward and repeat.
You can empty the gun in well under two seconds, and a practiced expert can in under one, with all rounds hitting a man sized target at two yards.
Watch the top guys at End Of Trail (world championship of Cowboy Action Shooting)
I personally have fired ten shots starting with both guns holstered in 2.75 seconds. Three 16×16 targets at 7 yards, a required two-one-two sequence twice. All hits. Timed and spotted by referees at a major match.
I am not very fast. The guy that beat me took 1.8.
Never fan a Super Blackhawk.
I suspect after seeing Jerry Miculek he would disagree about single actions. You just reinforced my contention that two shots in a 21 foot test would take an extremely competent gunman…one suspects such a person would also know how to unload and clear a gun.
I could see using the dead hand to control or direct the attacker, which would buy more time to squeeze the trigger.
This drill – if that’s really the best term – should be practiced more regularly and I’m not against the idea of practicing it with a real weapon (but only when everyone involved is ABSOLUTELY certain the weapon is empty), but I prefer an air gun as it provides more realistic feedback than a water bottle or stun gun w/o the monumentally stupid consequences of being a pair of monumental morons.
I could see using the dead hand to control or direct the attacker, which would buy more time to squeeze the trigger.
This drill – if that’s really the best term – should be practiced more regularly and I’m not against the idea of practicing it with a real weapon (but only when everyone involved is ABSOLUTELY certain the weapon is empty), but I prefer an air gun as it provides more realistic feedback than a water bottle or stun gun w/o the monumentally stupid consequences of being a pair of monumental morons.
Daaaayuuuum!!!!!!! What a couple!!!…and what a couple of idiots!!!!! Trying to figure out which is the biggest teh stoopid. The one with the revolver or the one being the test rabbit?
Done a lot of crazy stuff in my life, but not too many teh stoopid stuff. (unless you count a coupla excess marriages)
Darwin concept…Hard at work.
Oh, not to worry. There’s legislation underway to stop exactly this kind of thing through gun confiscation.
Wonder if drugs/alcohol was involved?
Stoopidity was DEFINITELY involved.
Yep, DARWIN AKHBAR!!!
In the long run, Darwin and/or Karma always win. Sometimes it’s a close race.
“Hold my beer”?
I’m not buying he missed a round when unloading a revolver. Regardless it’s time to ban all assault revolvers where the trigger cam be pulled more than once without reloading.
A round can hang up on the extractor, and stay in the revolver. If yo rely on habit, you won’t even look. If you rely on habit, you are not really looking.
Nickel cases in a stainless or nickel gun can be surprisingly hard to see.
Pop taught me to check the chambers with a finger, not rely on eyes only. “People see what they want to see.”
And when I was in Tae Kwon Do and we did disarm training, if we used a real pistol to ensure feel and action, 2 other people would ensure it was clear, regardless of if it were loaded before or not.
There’s some fishiness to this, but stupidity like this does breed youtube videos aplenty. So, I’m at 50/50 on this being intentional or idiocy.
If you’re going to be stupid you should be stupid smartly.
https://www.streichers.com/simunition-38-special-training-ammo
Ounces of prevention…
Those non firing training handguns are a good idea or a kids cap gun so one can hear the audible noise of the shot.
You know Jeff, I was going to say why didn’t they use a water pistol. I never thought about using a cap gun. I completely forgot about those and I have owned a couple of them as a kid.
Since they’re “a couple” was there more cocking going on then just the revolver action?
Perhaps they were having a spatula over barrel length?
Or, Splichal called Warren a cocksucker, Warren got pissed off, pulled out his gun and shot Splichal dead and then made up a ridiculous story.
Of the two scenarios, which one makes more sense? 😉
“If you hear hoofbeats, it is probably not a zebra.” A great restatement of Occam’s Razor.
Lots of Darwin Award candidates lately. Must be Mercury in retrograde or something. Live weapons in a simulation, breaking into a Houston home…
“Warren was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.”
Committing manslaughter with a gun costs extra, apparently. Wonder if a tire iron does too? Asking for a friend.
many years of handling pistols and revolvers as well as long arms. Taught many a weapons user how to be safe with a weapon and avoid killing them selves or an innocent person. RULE NUMBER ONE; Never point a weapon at any one you do not intend to kill. RULE NUMBER TWO: Every weapon is always loaded regardless of how often you clear it. RULE NUMBER THREE: Always handle a weapon as if it is loaded and ready to fire. RULE FOUR: You are in charge of the weapon. The weapon isn’t in charge of you. Except these fact or get of my range.
“ACCEPT these facts…….”
(my inner grammarNazi got loose for a minute)
Where’d you teach, Ken?
I’d like to know as well, so I can avoid the place.
Well, I don’t think he taught in Viet of the Nam.
When this Ken.Taylor, or Kenneth Taylor or Kent D. Taylor or whatever his name is, started commenting here from Down Under, he said he spent time in Viet Nam because he had a lot of North Vietnamese currency (Dong) in a old footlocker.
2/17 Air Cav did a lot of research of his name on the Australian/New Zealand rosters of Viet Nam vets and couldn’t find his name anywhere. And every time Ken Taylor is asked right up front about it, he never answers.
My thoughts are that Ken Taylor is a poser from down under who gets his jollys off by commenting here on TAH.
Bullshit. Nobody with an IQ above 75 believes this mans story.
Not familiar with this particular method of the drill. We always ran the Tueller Drill by having a target mounted on a cart. Have a rope attached to the cart, and the instructor says go: One guy has the rope and runs away from the person being tested. The person being tested has to draw and fire at the target. No person in the way of your loaded weapon.
Sounds like a concocted story to cover up “murder” to me.
Yikes. Since the Master is gone, and I have not engaged in any weapons training of late, my best man showed up to help me out. I own a Remington 870 and a .38. We did not discuss this “rule.” If I shoot, I shoot to kill. Center mass.
Yep. One of the primary rules – don’t draw and/or fire unless you plan to kill your target. Looks like they at least got that one.
The guy that died worked with my little brother, and they saw each other the day before this occurred. Both of them have a mil (Army Reserve I believe) background and the kid that died was a Security Police Officer for CENTERRA at Savannah River Nuclear Site.
I never want to speak ill of the dead but this was very stupid and so avoidable. The deceased left a wife and two small children.
Two families fucked up forever because they didn’t think…..period
Our country needs more of this type of activity. The herd must be thinned. Long live Charles Darwin!
How the hell do you fail to realize a revolver is not empty?
That’s like sitting down at a table and finding out too late that you are sitting on someone’s lap.
Empty revolvers kill people every day. Darwin eventually wins.
Average adult male can cover about 21 1/2 feet in one second (research by Taser int.)
A credible standard for an instructor-level shooter(drawing from a holster and firing one center-Mass shot) is 1.7 seconds.
Same level shooter firing from a low ready is 1 second.
Under ideal circumstances, 21 feet is a tie, at best. The math does itself, no need to test.
One of them wins the Darwin award and the other gets an assist. Congrats to both.
Pulling the string on a dolly is what I use.
I also put dog targets at dog height on the dolly to practice defense against 4 legged predators.
The key point is that the target puller stands behind the shooter.
He runs even further away from shooter.
Bullets hit paper moving target, not target puller.
Lovers’ quarrel, right?