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Cover and Concealment — A Missing Training Element

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Cover and Concealment — A Missing Training Element


By Travis Pike

Posted in
#Skills

You would think something like using cover would be easy, and self-explanatory. Just get behind it and avoid getting shot — simple, right? Well, yes, but let’s look at the process of using cover and talk about how to use cover to its maximum potential.

Cover vs. Concealment

Concealment is a barrier that prevents an enemy from seeing you. Cover is a barrier that prevents an enemy from shooting you. Concealment is more common and bullets will often zip right through it. While your average car is mostly concealment, the engine area makes good cover. Things like walls, doors, and furniture are rarely suitable as cover. You need thick wood like a powerline pole, a concrete column, or something made of thick, layered metal.

If you are wondering how to find cover start looking now. Make it an exercise to find and identify effective cover when you are out and about in your normal everyday life. You’ll learn how to identify cover and you’ll be ready in case something pops off.

Step 1 — Establish Proper Standoff

Standoff is the distance between you and the barrier you are using for cover. The rule of thumb is roughly two arm’s lengths from cover. There are a few reasons for this. First, the extra distance from the cover allows you to essentially pie the cover, and this keeps the maximum amount of cover between you and your target.

A shooter demonstrates a defensive pistol technique at a shooting range by standing back from physical cover while aiming a handgun. Instead of hugging the barrier closely, the person maintains a noticeable distance—about two arm’s lengths—between their body and the cover. This distance, known as standoff, allows the shooter to better utilize cover vs concealment and minimizes exposure to return fire or bullet splatter. Keeping some space from the barrier also helps maintain better situational awareness and allows for easier movement, reloading, or malfunction clearing. The image highlights best practices for using cover in defensive scenarios, showing how position relative to cover can impact safety and effectiveness. This method is commonly taught in personal defense and firearms training.

If you stick too close to your target you won’t maximize coverage. You could also run into issues with an opponent’s rounds striking the cover and causing splatter from their bullets as well as the cover itself. Catching some of that splatter can result in an easily preventable injury. Additionally, if you are too close and start firing you could send debris and dirt up in the air that can distract and potentially blind you.

A person practices leaning around a barrier while holding a handgun, keeping their body mostly behind cover and only exposing their firing hand, pistol, and one eye. This shooting stance is part of defensive training focused on cover vs concealment, showing how to minimize the visible target area for a potential attacker. The shooter leads with their gun and positions their head just enough to acquire the sights, carefully avoiding unnecessary exposure. This technique reduces the risk of being hit while still allowing effective engagement of a target from behind cover. The purpose is to use cover to its maximum potential during hostile encounters. Such drills are widely used in law enforcement and civilian defensive firearm courses to teach situational awareness and tactical movement.

Having the proper standoff from your target will also allow you to maintain better situational awareness and to have better peripheral vision. You’ll also have more room to reload and fix potential malfunctions. Using cover to rest your weapon is not advised and works better in three gun competition than a gunfight. Unless your weapon is belt felt you might want to keep it from resting on cover.

In a situation where an opponent is above you, it’s advised to get closer to your cover. This allows you to present less of a target to your opponent,

Step 2 — Maximize your Cover

Cover saves lives, so make use of it. When engaging your opponent expose as little of your body as necessary. You should lean out from the waist, and only lean out far enough from cover to put your front sight on your target. Hide whatever you can possibly hide when trying to take your shot.

A person performing defensive shooting is leaning too far out from behind a barrier, exposing most of their upper body, shoulders, and head while holding a pistol. This common mistake in cover vs concealment drills demonstrates the danger of poor cover use during a gunfight or armed encounter. Exposing large portions of your body when attempting to shoot from cover increases vulnerability and provides an attacker with a larger target. Proper use of cover means keeping as much of yourself hidden as possible, only revealing a minimal amount needed to aim and engage. Training often highlights this error so shooters can understand the importance of minimizing their exposure through technique adjustment. Practicing safe and smart cover use is a core principle in defensive firearms instruction and self-defense tactics.

Push your head over your shoulder and lead with your gun. If possible expose nothing more than your one eye, your gun barrel, and your firing hand. This isn’t always possible when it comes to using cover, but it should be the ultimate goal.

Photo is taken from the point of view of a potential attacker, showing how little of the defender is exposed when using cover properly with a handgun. Only a small portion of the shooter’s head, one eye, firing hand, and the muzzle of the pistol can be seen peeking out from around the cover. The defender’s torso, legs, and most of their body are completely hidden by the barrier, illustrating the correct technique for minimizing exposure when engaging from cover. This image clearly demonstrates a critical principle in the cover vs concealment debate: effective cover use dramatically reduces visible target area, making it much harder for an attacker to get a hit. Defensive shooting training courses frequently use this view to stress the importance of smart positioning and tactical angles when relying on cover. The primary goal is always to show as little of yourself as possible while staying ready to respond.

If possible, lean out and shoot from around your cover. Shooting over your cover exposes more of your head and makes you a bigger target.

Step 3 — Be Unpredictable

Predictability and complacency go hand in hand with each other. If you are dipping behind cover, try to present yourself from a different angle the next time you break cover. Being predictable allows your opponent to simply wait and play whack the gunfighter. Break cover from a lower position, or from a higher position, or from the complete opposite side.

Step 4 — Account for Sight Offset

Look at your gun. How high are the sights above the bore? With a handgun it’s just a little above, while with an AR, it’s quite a bit. Regardless, you have to account for your sights being taller than your bore. Ensure your barrel is clearing cover before you fire. This was something we ran into with new Marines quite a bit when teaching the basics of battleground micro cover. Many would be striking something nearly directly in front of them because their ACOG was higher than the barrel.

In this photo, a shooter demonstrates improper handgun technique by failing to account for sight offset while firing from behind cover. The muzzle of the pistol is too close to the edge or top of the barrier, causing the bullet to strike the cover instead of clearing it. This mistake can result in dangerous fragments, ricochets, or splatter that could injure the shooter or those nearby. The image illustrates a common issue faced in defensive shooting situations where the user’s sights are higher than the bore, particularly with rifles or optics but also with handguns. Understanding sight offset and barrel clearance is critical for safe and effective use of cover vs concealment in any self-defense scenario. Firearms training often highlights this risk so shooters learn to ensure their barrel, not just their sights, is clear of obstacles before firing. Proper technique helps prevent accidental strikes to the cover and improves both safety and accuracy.

Staying Covered

This is the basics of using cover and from here the next step is getting out and practicing the basics. Your cell phone and its front-facing camera is an excellent tool you can use to see if you are using cover effectively. You can see yourself and obtain real-time feedback. As you utilize that feedback and continue training, you’ll find yourself becoming more comfortable and using cover to its maximum effect.

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