Collapsed Distance: Pistol and Rifle in Close Quarters

Collapsed Distance: Pistol and Rifle in Close Quarters is a performance-driven training experience built for fights that happen at bad distances and in tight spaces. Taught by Craig Douglas of ShivWorks and Jeff Gonzales, this course blends entangled, close-quarters pistol problem-solving with extreme close-range rifle application. This course balances duty pistol work at entangled distance and extreme close-quarters rifle application. Both live in the same space where time is short, distance is bad, and decisions matter more than drills. Students will learn to manage space, access and control their weapons under pressure, and deliver accountable hits when posture, balance, and distance are working against them. The focus is not on drills, but on decisions and execution that hold up when things get compressed and messy. If you want training that goes beyond square-range comfort and prepares you for real close-range problems, this course delivers.

Craig’s work is built around what actually happens at contact distance. He focuses on access to the weapon, retention, managing an opponent in your space, and solving the problem when shooting looks nothing like a square-range exercise. The emphasis is on recognizing the problem early, making the right decision, and executing mechanics that still work when you’re crowded, off-balance, or tied up.

I’ll take those same performance standards and apply them to the rifle at close and transitional distances. The rifle can solve hard problems fast, but only if you can manage space, control the gun, and keep accountability when things are compressed and moving. This block focuses on running the rifle where most people avoid training with it: tight spaces, awkward positions, and distances where timing and discipline matter more than speed.

Together, this course is about performance that transfers. Not drills for their own sake. Not theory. It’s about building skills that hold up when distance collapses, plans fall apart, and you still have to solve the problem with the tool in your hands.

Duty Pistol Extreme Close Quarters

Most gunfights don’t start at clean distances with time to think. They start close. Sometimes inside arm’s reach. When that happens, the problem is no longer “shooting.” It’s access to the weapon, control of space, and staying functional while someone is trying to stop you.

Craig Douglas’s ShivWorks curriculum is built around that reality. His work focuses on entangled and close-quarters pistol problems—where perception, decision-making, and timing matter as much as mechanics, and where many range-trained solutions fail.

In this block, students will work on the core problems that show up in real close-range encounters, including:

• Recognizing close-range threat cues and problem states
• Accessing the pistol under pressure and in contact
• Retention and entangled shooting positions
• Managing an opponent inside your workspace
• Solving weapon-based problems when posture, balance, and distance are compromised

This is not a beginner class. Students are expected to be safe, competent gun handlers with solid fundamentals. The focus here is not marksmanship for its own sake. The focus is problem-solving at bad distances—where the sequence is perception, decision, then execution, and where the cost of getting it wrong is high.

The training is designed around what actually fails in real encounters and how to build responses that hold up under pressure. Each block is aimed at producing usable behavior, not just good reps on the range.

Instructor Bio

Craig Douglas (a.k.a. “SouthNarc”) is the founder and lead instructor of ShivWorks, a defensive training organization built around solving violent, close-range problems that traditional range drills don’t address. He retired from law enforcement after 21 years of service, much of it in narcotics and SWAT, where he encountered violent, unpredictable contact-distance interactions firsthand. Since 2003, Craig has taught worldwide; throughout nearly all 50 U.S. states, in multiple foreign countries, and to federal, state, and local agencies as well as military units on entangled shooting, close quarters engagement, and functional self-defense. His curriculum emphasizes problem recognition, realistic solutions, and functional skill transfer. Craig’s work is grounded in real experience and built to prepare students for encounters when space collapses and decisions must be effective.

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