PISTOL SHOOTING

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Minimum Arc of Movement 

I have some good news and I have some bad news. Good news first: you're alive and well, getting involved in the great sport of pistol shooting. Now the bad news: since you're living, you will never be able to stand absolutely still. More to the point: you cannot stand still and hold your pistol motionless. Why? Well to name just a few reasons, your heart is pumping, you're breathing (or wanting to breath), and your body is responding to a myriad of nerves firing throughout your body. Suffice it to say, there are a lot of important things happening inside of you and you can't switch them off. As a result, when you look at your sights,  you'll see them moving in front of your target. This is known as the arc of movement. Your goal is to minimise this movement and adapt your shooting to it. Here are some things to remember about minimum  arc of movement: 

∙ You cannot force yourself to be motionless. Odds are that you will have the opposite effect. Accept the movement and shoot through it.  

∙ Minimum movement is usually achieved shortly after raising the pistol and lasts less than 6  seconds. As such, you should train yourself to get the shot to break within 6 seconds of your raise  (that is, once you've raised the pistol into the firing position, not from when you start your raise.)  Holding longer and trying to become motionless is counter-productive. Once you lose the minimum arc of movement, it does not come back. As such, abort and try again.  

∙ The movement that you see at the tip of your barrel isn't all that much. In most cases, its range of movement would be within the black, and could possibly be within the 10 ring. While you should learn to reduce the arc of movement, having an arc of movement isn't the worst thing. In this case,  you'll probably deliver a good shot, if you adhere to all of the other basics.  

∙ More important than initially reducing your arc of movement is controlling how you respond to it.  First, you must learn to keep the sights aligned as they float in front of the target. If you lose sight alignment, that error is multiplied many times over and you'll get wild shots. If your sights are aligned, you'll shoot within your arc of movement. If your sight alignment is poor, who knows where the shot will land!  

∙ Similarly, knowing that your sight is floating, some people think "Pull the trigger as it crosses the  area of aim." Well, in theory that sounds good; but, in practice, it is very wrong. Pulling fast on the  trigger as the sights move through the area of aim tends to destroy trigger control (resulting in  pushing, pulling, snatching, jerking - you've heard them all) and disturb the alignment of the sights  (here comes the error multiplier.) As a result, the shot tends not to land within your group. Accept that your pistol will move, let it float and shoot in an area. Increase the pressure on the trigger while the sights are in that area and maintain sight alignment. Your shots will group very nicely.  

∙ You may perceive that the sight is moving a lot because your attention is on the target and not on the front sight. Look at the sights! Your concentration must always be on the front sight which will,  in turn, make the target look like nothing more than a grey blob down range. This will reduce the perception of your sights moving all over the place.  

∙ We know that you can't force yourself to stand motionless. However, you can work on your stance to reduce body sway and you can look into ways to enhance your core stability. Furthermore, you can look into footwear and balance (equilibrium) training.  

Achieving a minimum arc of movement takes work and confidence in yourself and your hold. You must  accept that a little bit of movement is inevitable and okay. Don't overreact to this movement and forget the critical basics of sight alignment and trigger control. You'll be surprised at how well you can shoot!

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Follow Through

Follow-through is the completion of all your efforts in delivering the shot, as you maintain stance, grip, and sight alignment well after the shot has left the barrel. When the shot breaks, you must hold your position briefly. Allow the pistol to settle after recoil before you lower the handgun. Similarly, you must maintain your concentration as part of your follow-through. 

The rationale behind follow-through is manyfold.  

First, you want to reinforce holding your position through the entire shot. People who have either poor follow-through or no follow-through, may anticipate the shot breaking and actually lower the pistol prior to the shot leaving the barrel. (Ever drop a shot at the bottom of your target, or well below your group? This  could be a problem with follow-through.)  

Second, for shot analysis, you need to be able to look at your sights and call your shots (prior to looking  through your spotting scope or recalling your target, review your shot process and sight picture, in order to  state where your shot landed.) If you’ve lowered your gun, you can’t review your sight alignment and sight picture.  

Third, from the review, determine what you did right, and consider areas for improvement. So, here’s what follow-through consists of: 

1. The shot breaks.  

2. Maintain your hold, sight alignment and sight picture for a count of 1 or 2 seconds.  3. Allow the pistol to recover from the recoil, and settle back into your natural point of aim.  4. Review the following items:  

o What did the sight alignment look like?  

o What did the sight picture look like?  

o Did your natural point of aim return to your aiming point on the target?  

o How did the grip feel?  

o How did your trigger action feel?  

5. From the above review, call where the shot landed on the target (i.e. 7 rings/high right, or 10 rings at  9 o’clock.)  

6. Lower the pistol.  

7. Confirm your shot call with a spotting scope or recalling your target. If there is a difference between what you called and where it actually landed, try to figure out why this took place. (Calling shots is a learned skill. It takes time and repetition. Don’t give up if you’re having difficulty.)  

8. Analyze what went right and congratulate yourself. If the shot could be improved, decide what element needs to be worked on, and develop a positive action plan to work from.  

Follow-through is often overlooked, especially when one becomes overly concerned with scores. Instead of allowing the shot to leave the barrel, they are rushing to the scope to see how they did. As a result, they undo all of their hard work. Take the shot and follow-through. Your groups will get smaller and you'll learn a lot about your shooting.

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Developing a Pistol Stance 

Stance defines how you should stand to provide a stable and consistent support for shooting. You must be  able to duplicate this naturally, or you'll have difficulty producing good groups (getting your shots to land  together in one area.) Furthermore, your stance must be comfortable. Some matches can last up to almost  2 hours - you must be able to maintain that stance during it. 

Follow these instructions to develop a basic stance: 

1. Stand comfortably and naturally with your feet about shoulder-width apart.  

2. Weight distribution should be equal on each foot (50/50) and slightly forward (about 55% on the ball of the foot, and 45% on the heels.) Furthermore, the feet should be turned slightly outward for sway control.  

3. Knees should not be locked backwards, nor should the thighs or calves be flexed. Relax the legs such that you feel a little bit of muscular tension.  

4. Back and neck should be aligned straight. The shoulders should be relaxed. Keep your head up and stand tall.  

5. Your non-shooting hand should be anchored; otherwise, it will swing (moving while shooting is  'bad') and throw you off your stance. Place it either in your trouser front pocket or tuck it into your trousers or belt. Don't stick it in the back pocket or in the back of your trousers as this induces a  twist in your spine, throwing you off your natural alignment.  

6. The elbow and wrist of your shooting arm should be locked during the lift and until you have completed your follow-through after the shot is released. A relaxed wrist will move about 5  degrees to the right or left during a shot; whereas, a locked wrist reduces the movement to only 2  degrees.  

Keep both of your eyes open, looking as straight ahead as possible. Aim with your dominant eye which is  usually the same eye as your shooting hand (although not always so.) You may wish to put a translucent blinder in front of your non-aiming eye to help you focus on your front sight. Remember to allow equal light into your non-aiming eye. Clear tape on your lens takes care of this. In a pinch, place a piece of paper in between your lens and your non-shooting eye.

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Adopting a Natural Point of Aim 

Once you're in your stance, you need to know how to adapt your position. That is to say, you need to learn how to put yourself in front of a target and naturally point at it. Once again, consistency and comfort is the rule, so you can do this again and again over the course of many long shooting sessions. 

Follow these instructions to adopt your position: 

1. You should be positioned in your chosen stance, which can range from being straight on to being square on to the target.  

2. Close your eyes and raise your shooting hand and point with your index finger. Don't think about trying to point at the target: just focus on finding the position that feels comfortable. This is the  natural point of aim and you need to find it sub-consciously (hence: don't think about the target.)  

3. With your eyes closed, comfortably turn your head toward your shooting hand and open your eyes.  Ideally, your eyes and hand would align with the centre of the target.  

4. If you are pointing elsewhere, move your rear foot in the direction of the error. (For instance, if I  was pointing to the left of the target, then I would move my rear foot to the left, which in turn  rotates my point of aim to the right.)  

5. Once on target, repeat the process to ensure that your natural point of aim is truly on target, and adjust as necessary.  

Finally, place your pistol in your hand and test that after the raise that the sights are on target. Adjust as needed. Remember not to lower your head during the raise: find your sights by lowering your eyes.

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Breathing Control 

Breathing is an integral part of your life. If you are unable to breathe for a short period of time, then you'll lose consciousness. Any time longer and you can run into some very serious problems (i.e. brain damage or  death.) As such, your body is tuned to monitor your breathing and maintain the breathing cycle. Here are  some thoughts on breathing while you shoot pistol: 

∙ Breathing causes movement. As such, your minimum arc of movement will be exaggerated while you're breathing. Consequently, you cannot shoot and breathe simultaneously.  

∙ Your eyes need oxygen to see the target properly. Your body will fight for air as it uses up its supply. The symptoms of oxygen deprivation adversely affect your control over your hold and your sight alignment and picture. You need to have oxygen in your system to shoot well.  

∙ Since the two statements are at odds with each other, you need to reach a compromise between shooting and breathing. You need to make sure that you have lots of oxygen in your system; such that, you can pause breathing long enough to get your shot to break within your minimum arc of movement. Here's one method for slow-fire shooting:  

1. Once you are in position and ready to fire, take two or three slow, deep breaths. (This  makes sure that your system is fully oxygenated.) Make sure that you do not hyperventilate by breathing fast and deep.  

2. As you raise the pistol, breathe slowly in (inhale).  

3. As you settle on the target, exhale completely, but don't force the last bit of air out of your lungs. Just breathe out naturally. At this point, you're at a natural point between breathing in and out. Your body is accustomed to a pause at this stage.  

4. During this pause (lasting 6 - 10 seconds) don't breathe. Finish obtaining the perfect sight picture and squeeze the trigger.  

5. Complete your follow-through after the shot, and then inhale as you lower your pistol.  6. After the shot, ensure normal breathing takes place.  

7. Note: As an alternative to exhaling as you settle into your shooting position, you could exhale half a breath. This keeps some oxygen in your lungs. At this half breath point, you pause and fire. After following through, exhale completely as you lower your gun. This forces an unnatural pause in your breathing cycle, but some people feel more comfortable with this method.  

∙ Rapid Fire events would use the above sequence, as five shots are being delivered in under 10  seconds.  

∙ In Timed Phases (five shots in 20 seconds), I would recommend a short, shallow breath between the second and third shot, or between the third and fourth shot. Holding your breath for a full 20  seconds is not how people breathe and I suspect that your body will start signalling you to breathe.  This will undoubtedly affect your shooting.  

∙ Take time to ensure that you have deep breaths during the match. Over the course of a 60 shot air or free pistol match, you will have held your breath a lot. This will affect your system as the match progresses. Good aerobic capacity will reduce the impact and making sure to breathe will help too.  

∙ Taking three deep breaths prior to shooting can also work effectively as a "calming" or relaxing technique. Incorporate this into your mental training.  

Breathing is important to shooting. It must not interfere with your minimum arc of movement. Develop a  routine, follow the pattern faithfully and this will become natural when you shoot.

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Essentials of the pistol grip 

Right-Hand Position 

“Top-level shooters state that a correct grip hold is halfway to achieving successful pistol shooting.” 

What is meant by the above statement is that you are trying to achieve a steady hold of the pistol with the minimum arc of movement of the sights in the middle of the aiming area, with total consistency and with the minimum use of muscle energy. In order to fulfil all of these requirements, the most important part of the pistol shooting position belongs to the correct placement of the right hand on the correctly built pistol grip. 

The position of the right hand on the pistol grip has a major role in the correct holding of the pistol. There  are three important points of contact (A, B, C) on the hand and on the grip that must be considered and  adjustments made to achieve the optimum contact: 

A). The space or web between the thumb and the index (trigger) finger – which fits into the grip behind the barrel and under the rear sight. 

A 

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B). The lower part of the hand, next to the wrist joint – which fits onto the adjustable palm rest section of  the grip. 

B 

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C). The upper part of the middle finger which is supporting the pistol grip under the rear of the trigger  guard. 

C  

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When these three points of contact are correctly placed on the appointed places on the grip, they will form a triangle. 

The best place to support the gun is at its Centre of Gravity which is No.1 (see the left photo – the red dot);  But for obvious reasons, this is not possible or practical to achieve. Therefore, we are trying to get as close as it is physically possible to this mark by supporting it at No.2 (the blue dot), as a centre of the A, B, C triangular hold. 

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This technique of gripping results in the use of the laws of the lever. Such an approach will give the possibility to hold the gun steady with the minimum amount of muscle activity, saving energy and also minimizing the arc of movement of the pistol. 

When applying pressure with your fingers on the grip, it is extremely important that in doing so, that there are no compound lateral or vector forces being exerted. All pressure forces must be made parallel with barrel and in the 90° axis of the barrel. Any lateral or sideways compound vector forces could cause the pistol to move “Off aim” at the point in time of the shot release. 

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The little finger, ring finger and middle finger, are carefully wrapped around the grip with a nice, smooth  constant amount of tension which is achieved by always ensuring that the middle pad of each of these fingers exert the same feel on the grip for each shot. The pressure will be less on the ring and little finger.  The middle of the pad is shown by the blue lines marked on each finger. Any other positioning of the fingers  will invoke the deployment of the combined vector forces which will result in lateral deviations of the axis of  the barrel at the point in time of the release of the shot. 

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The most important finger of the hand is the trigger finger. This must be free of any contact with the grip.  Only when these optimal conditions are achieved, can the correct activity of the trigger finger and correct triggering action be obtained. If this is not the case i.e. if the trigger finger has contact with the grip, every attempt at triggering will result in a variable compound vector force being created, thereby causing the movement of the pistol from the optimal sighting point, at the point in time of the shot release and the required repeatable precision will be lost. 

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The end section of the thumb and the tips of the little finger, middle finger and ring finger, can have light contact with the grip, but they should not exert any significant pressure as this will adversely affect the shot placement on the target. 

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Finally, here is the photo showing the optimum points of pressure and transfer points of the forces recommended during the pistol griping technique. Every force and pressure should be in line with the barrel to prevent compound vector forces influencing the natural position of the pistol. 

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Raising the Pistol and lowering onto the point of aim 

This needs to be performed as part of the shot creation cycle in a smooth and coordinated fashion in such a way that it can be repeated with ease. 

The process starts with a couple of deep diaphragm breaths. On the second breath raise the pistol so that it is pointing above the aiming mark by about three centimetres, but maintaining the ‘white’ of the target in view.  

This position needs to be wherever you feel comfortable and can properly and clearly see the sights. In this area, the sights should be correctly aligned, equal notches and straight on the horizontal. 

Take a small breath and at the same time raise the pistol centimetre or so. As you exhale start to lower the pistol. 

The pistol should be lowered smoothly at an ever-decreasing rate so as to come to a halt in the final aiming position. 

You need to decide when to start taking up the first stage but I start about midway through the black on the descent. 

If you over lower then do not be tempted to bounce back up, but lower the gun and start again. If you don’t, you will have undone the good work above. 

The point of ‘over raising’ the pistol is to engage the deltoid muscles. These muscles have a much finer degree of control relaxing (descending) than when raising and hence you have much more fine control in the aiming area.

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Sighting 

Sighting is terribly important in shooting and you need to devote a lot of energy into coordinating your sights and the target. If you can't consistently aim your firearm at the target, you'll never be satisfied with your results. Here's a brief overview of sighting considerations. 

Targets and how they should look 

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Now we finally get to put our sights in front of a target, so we can discuss sight pictures. A sight picture encompasses the sight alignment from above and establishes a relationship with the target. Essentially,  when you point at the target, what you see is your sight picture.

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There are three generally recognized points of aim on a pistol target: centre-of-mass, 6 o'clock and sub-6. I  haven't seen anything out there that definitively proves that one style is better than another, so try them out and see what works best for you. Make sure during your trial phase that you mark the results down in your shooting diary, so you can review and choose wisely. 

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General Considerations 

∙ Everyone has their preferences and nobody has the definitive choice in what the best sight picture is. Try them all out over several weeks and see what feels right for you. Measure your results and mark it all down in your shooting diary. Finally, when it comes down to making a decision, refer to your diary and make a choice.  

∙ Try to shoot with both eyes open - place a blinder over your non-dominant eye.  ∙ Lighting conditions vary from range to range and even between bays at the same range. This should be taken into consideration when choosing your sight picture and how you respond to variations at a match.  

Always allow your sights to float in your area of aim, regardless of what sight picture you choose. If you don't float, you may not have the smooth, fluid trigger control that you desire.

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Trigger Control 

Trigger control refers to how we activate the firearm; such that, the pistol fires without disturbing the sight alignment and the sight picture. Essentially, when you increase the pressure on the trigger, the sights stay aligned and your point of aim doesn’t change.  

Developing good trigger control is critical to your success as a shooter. If a problem exists here,  improvements can produce great leaps forward in your ability and shrink your group size. So, if you are struggling with your shooting, your trigger control is one of the best places to start working on! 

Here’s some information that you should keep in mind when you shoot: 

∙ The trigger should be moved straight back, towards your rear sight. Some people describe the  action as "Draw the front sight straight back through the rear notch." The pressure that you exert must be 100% straight to the rear. You cannot place sideways pressure (to the right or left, called  "pulling" or "pushing") on the trigger, as this action will move your pistol out of your aiming area.  Pressure straight rearward will keep the pistol on your point of aim.  

∙ The trigger must be activated slowly. By quickly activating the trigger, you may "snatch" or "jerk"  the trigger, which does two very bad things: disturbs your sight alignment and moves you off your point of aim. Take your time, accept the minimum arc of movement and S_L_O_W_L_Y squeeze your trigger. No rushed movements. No thoughts of "It’s in the black now: PULL!" Slow it down.  

∙ The trigger must be activated smoothly and progressively. When you decide to fire the shot and activate the trigger, the action should be very fluid from start to finish. That is to say, when you start, increase pressure on the trigger at a steady rate. Draw it back in one motion, not start and stop, start and stop. There is an old Jedi saying that applies here: "Do or do not. Trying there is  not." Either activate the triggering process or don’t activate the triggering process. Anything in  between will either cause problems or indicate that a problem exists (i.e. lack of concentration or  looking at the target.)  

∙ When you draw on the trigger, only your trigger finger moves. The hand is made to squeeze the fingers in unison. You have to work beyond your hand’s physical design. Isolate the movement such that you only move the trigger finger at the second finger joint. The remainder of the trigger finger must stay motionless and not come in contact with the pistol grip or frame. In addition, the other fingers must maintain the same pressure as before. It’s tricky, but with practice, you will do it well.  

∙ Take up the trigger slack and a tiny portion of the trigger pressure during the raise to the target. Be aware of the weight and be careful not to discharge the pistol during this raise. Note: If you are new to shooting or have concerns with control, do not apply pressure to the trigger until you have settled on to the target. 

∙ The trigger should be activated when you have achieved your minimum arc of movement, usually in less than 10 seconds after the raise.  

∙ Work towards unconsciously activating the trigger, such that the shot becomes a surprise break.  Your subconscious mind will become trained to recognise when to take the shot and will activate the trigger finger. As such, your conscious mind will be surprised, subsequently avoiding numerous trigger problems like flinching or anticipating recoil. This is difficult to master, but it will come with time and lots of practice.  

As I mentioned earlier, trigger control is a critical skill to develop. It takes time and hard work, but the rewards are huge. (Note: Dryfiring is one of the best exercises to hone this skill.)

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