Tips on Firearm Transitions: Handgun to Long Gun and Vice Versa

A transition is the act of changing from one firearm to another for the purpose of resolving or improving the tactical situation. Usually, this means transitioning from a handgun to a long gun, or a long gun to a handgun. There are other transitions, such as changing from a firearm to a less-lethal tool, which won’t be covered here. 

If you are a law enforcement officer, you’ll transition if you shoot your firearm dry, the fight stops, or the firearm you are shooting develops a malfunction. A transition is appropriate when the situation dictates a smaller close-quarter firearm then a long gun. This is especially true when maneuvering inside a building or in tight quarters, and a handgun would be more appropriate.

The draw path of your handgun is sacred, protect it.

Here are the rules:

• If you deploy with a long gun, you should have a handgun.
• The draw path of your handgun is sacred, protect it.
• Shooting your foot generates paperwork.
• Fix the problem. 

A transition is done when one shoots one’s rifle dry, when the fight stops, when one needs the distance or cartridge capability of the longer gun, or when one develops a malfunction. There are plenty of other reasons to transition, and some of them amount to the officer not having time to diagnose the problem. One common example of a transition is the officer who exits the patrol car with only a couple of magazines for the carbine and expends them. This forces the officer to transition to the handgun.

The simplest transition from long gun to handgun is to drop the long gun. We do not often teach this, for obvious reasons, but officers are occasionally trained to render the long gun useless or lock it with handcuffs, and leave it. The tactical situation would have to be very specific and very controlled, but we can’t overlook it as an option.

While the decision to make a transition depends on the tactical situation, the transition itself is contingent on the equipment. If the long gun is on a sling, then the method will be different than a non-slung firearm.

A handgun is inherently more maneuverabile than a long gun; long guns and handguns have two distinct roles. There is some overlap, but some jobs are obviously for one and not the other. For example, during a high-risk stop, the handgun is a preferable tool for the arrest team, or the team member doing the handcuffing.

One mantra we used to repeat in my military service was, “The purpose of my handgun is to fight my way to my battle rifle.” This can continue to, “The purpose of my battle rifle is to get to my crew-served weapon…”, and so on. The truth is, every firearm is a compromise. Fortunately, officers in regular enforcement roles generally have handguns, and rarely operate with only a long gun.

The draw path of your handgun is sacred, protect it.

Slings

As a rule, the path that the rifle has to travel from the shoulder to the side of the body should be away from the handgun side. That is, for an officer who has a handgun on the right side, and a rifle shoulder on the right side, switching to a handgun means moving the rifle to the left side. A right-handed shooter should have the top of the sling, the part closest to the buttstock, over the right shoulder. The part of the sling attached to the front of the gun should be looped under the left armpit.

Whether it is a two-point (the sling ends are attached at opposite ends of the long gun) or a one-point sling (both sling ends are attached somewhere near the pistol grip), the officer lowers the long gun diagonally across the body from right to left. The muzzle ends up pointing down. For a left-handed shooter, the process mirrors the right hand one.

First, seek cover. Second, reload or clear the stoppage.

For shooters who still clamp the AR-15 against the shoulder using the mag well, I recommend shifting the hand down the forend a little before guiding the carbine to the side of the body, rather than between the legs. Some teach that the gun can go between the legs while shifting to the handgun. This certainly works, right up to the time the suspect takes off running and the officer needs to chase him. We like our shooters to have their slung gun outside of the body, muzzle down.

I like single-point slings, but a two-point sling is easier for some shooters. If the officer really needs the long gun out of the way, spinning it around so the gun is against the back is an option. A single point sling user can do the same thing, but it runs the risk of bouncing during movement.

The other advantage of the two-point sling is the fact that you can tighten them quickly. When putting in our range time with this article, we were using a Magpul MS4 Dual QD Sling, which easily transitions from a one-point to two-point. this sling has a quick adjustment slider, which allows the shooter to remove the slack, and therefore the bounce. The MS4 also has Quick Disconnect Sling Swivels, which fit into QD sockets.

We used a Daniel Defense Enhanced Collapsible Buttstock, which has QD Sling mounts on either side. This particular buttstock is well known for its utility.

No sling? No problem.

It’s not uncommon for officers to deploy with a long gun that does not have a sling. In order to switch from a long gun to a handgun, one can’t simply let the gun hang on its sling. It needs to be held while the handgun is drawn and employed. The technique we use here won’t make sense until the officer has already fired the long gun, then needs to switch guns. This technique keeps a hot barrel away from the user’s neck.

The first method is almost exactly like dropping the gun with a sling, except the user pushes the buttstock into the crook of the elbow, so the non-firing arm cradles it. This prevents the gun from flopping around when rounding corners.

This method is a good tool for the shooter with cross (eye) dominance. In this case, a right-handed shooter with a left dominance would likely shoot from the left shoulder. Dropping the gun into the crook of the left arm is quicker.

In the second method, the shooter pulls the gun parallel to his body, barrel up. The non-firing hand ends up below the chin, with the arm pinning the receiver against the body. When resuming the use of the long gun, the firing hand goes to the shooting position, guiding the buttstock into the shoulder pocket.

Shooting your foot generates paperwork

It is critical to safely dry fire train transitions before moving to live fire. It may look easy, but transitions are actually counter intuitive. That is, we should break the training down into components so officers automatically get their fingers off their triggers, and engage their safeties before lowering the muzzle when switching to handgun. They should also holster the handgun before raising the muzzle of the long gun.

This type of training should go from dry fire to dummy rounds, and finally to live fire.

When training on the line, shooting coaches need to watch for fingers off triggers, and the engagement of the safeties. After all, the paperwork generated from shooting one’s foot can be time consuming. Even if shooters just dry fired on the line with transitions, dry fire again before movement training.

If whatever caused the transition was a stoppage or a slide lock, fix the problem as soon as tactically possible. First, seek cover. Second, reload or clear the stoppage. Although it is most desirable to have a long gun up and running, the handgun is the primary firearm for a law enforcement officer.

In fact, the handgun is the topic of the age old riddle for firearms instructors: You have shot to slide lock, which do you reload first; your rifle or your pistol? We had this discussion on the range. One of my firearm instructor friends prefers to reload the handgun. Otherwise, the shooter will learn to holster an empty firearm. Another prefers reloading the carbine first. This will put the most effective firearm interaction first.

What’s your preference?