Clearance


On the competition range shooting a building clearing stage will get your heart started.  There’s a lot of information on room clearance and building searches.  The entire spectrum of knowledge and experience is available.  The question important to you is what’s real or phoney?  What’s an informed opinion and what’s some troll with too much time on his hands?

Here are a few examples.  I’m not saying any of them are good or bad.





Room and building clearance can be an interesting and exciting academic activity as long as nobody is shooting at you.  It is one aspect of what I refer to as the ”thinking person’s shooting sport.”

In a real situation it’s a good way of getting shot or killed and requires training and experience.  Utilizing a team and body armor would not be out of place

Let’s define two terms.

The first is ensconced.  It means in place, secure, snuggled in.  The second is its opposite.  The best I can find is mobile, exposed, constantly on the move.

Building searches could be defined as a mobile person looking for the ensconced person.  Let’s flip the paradigm on its head.  You’re the ensconced good guy defending yourself in the building against deadly invaders.  Isn’t that plot to “Home Alone”?

The advantage is yours.  You’re going to nullify the next person through the door.  You might have a fallback position for the next encounter or maybe you have a buddy to act in your behalf making a trap even more lethal.

Let’s set the paradigm back on its feet.  What’s our real concern?  That you might have to search a building for one or more ensconced invaders who will unhesitatingly use deadly force to avoid capture.  If they planned in advance or are graduates of one of our universities of higher criminal learning, they will seek a hiding place what gives then the advantage over anyone who comes into range.

The professionals who train civilians tell me “Don’t do it.”  But they admit if it’s your spouse, your child, your parent in the building, you’re probably going in.  To this they add:  “Do it the least stupid way possible, and speed kills.”

If you can’t take a class there are a few options but the first thing to remember is even among professionals there are differences in opinion and their tactics will be shaped from their experience.

For example:
Distinctive hats or ball caps for members going in?  The funny silhouette from the hat marks then as cops to both good and bad guys.  Of course bad guys are going to shot anyone coming in the door.   But it may help cop A to be recognized by cop B.

Rifle muzzles up or down when stacking outside a door?

Rifles or pistols as primary weapon?  Or is it mixed?

How many people stacked outside a door?

How do you exit the room/area you just cleared?

One book I like is:


Excellent graphics to explain the mechanics of entering and sweeping a room or area, but still it’s just a primer.  Once you get the basics down you need expand your understanding and experience.

Here's a building from the outside.  What can you tell from this view?



You must be able to 'read' a building or room and extract all the possible information


 No windows means anyone inside is as blind as you are.

The door position makes it corner fed so the majority of the room is to the left.

The hinges tell you the door opens outward and to your left. 

Taking a few seconds to move around it will confirm that it is a garage and doesn’t have any windows and that the garage door is down.  The absence of an overhead electric line feeding the garage doesn’t eliminate the possiblity of internal lights.  You could also assume it’s one big room or several small rooms.  Not much help, right?  Is there enough room for an attic?  So, is there a car in there?  Is it running?  Are the room lights on or off?  Is it empty of full of obstacles?

Most important: Are there people in the garage who would kill you and if so, how many?

 You’ll never see an illustration that matches what could be in that garage.



Here’s a second one.



You’re in some kind of room.  There a hallway to your left.  A doorway with the door closed in front of you and what looks like a doorway with the door off on the right.

What do you know?  Not a lot.  It looks like a scientific area, maybe a lab or classroom. There are blinds on the one door.  Is someone watching you?  Could you peak in and find out more or will your shadow against the glass and blinds trigger an outpouring of gunfire.  You don’t see any hinges and there’s a push plate on the right of the door.  The door jamb also tells you it opens in.

Are there back doors?  Maybe a false wall and pipe chase that people could use to leave, enter or flank you?  What’s in the door-less room?  There appears to be something big and gray preventing easy access to opening.

The hallway seems to open up behind the room with closed door.  How deep is that room?  Is the hallway a trap?  Will someone step out with their hands up and get you to move forward to one pre-selected spot where a second shooter opens up blindly through the wall board?  Or will several shooters wait till you’re just about at the end of the hallway before they lean around the wall and open up?

Moving through the hallway as fast as possible might be an excellent idea.  But I’ve also played the role of the ensconced shooter waiting for a team, and I’ve got to tell you, time weighs heavy on you.  You want to get this done and get going.  Hiding spaces are cramped and you want to move to a different location.  Maybe you give up your position and move closer to the person searching for you because you want it over.  You’ll make mistakes.  Peak out and get seen or move to a place of less tactical importance.  Frankly, if there’s was a second way out I would have been gone after the first five minutes.

A lot of questions to answer, some of which I didn’t think to ask.  A thinking person’s shooting sport, I told you.

You want to learn room clearance?  Take a course.  Read, study other people’s ideas, draw diagrams, look at your church, office, school and other building and ask where you would hide and how you would clear it.  Then go play hide and seek games with your kid or gun range buddy.


You’ll probably unlearn more stuff then you learn.  That’s the real path to knowledge.

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