Introducing Skillz&Drillz
You are missing the foundations of shooting if you are an instructor that is not teaching, or have been to a pistol class where the instructor did not talk about the five fundamentals of shooting. In this video, I name and break down the fundamentals of shooting a handgun.
Pistol fundamentals break down like this: Stance, Grip, Sight Alignment, Sight Picture, and Trigger Control. Some people include breathing as part of the fundamentals of shooting a handgun, I do not. Unless you’re completely gassed, breathing doesn’t really affect the handgun when shooting. However, when shooting a rifle, yes, breathing one hundred percent affects the accuracy of your shooting, especially at a greater distance.
Stance - The three main stances that are taught are the Weaver Stance, the Isosceles Stance, and the Modified Isosceles Stance. A good stance supports recoil management and the ability to move.
Grip - Use both hands on the gun to manage recoil. Notice I said manage, not stop. You will never be able to stop the recoil of a gun. However, the better your grip is, the tighter you can shoot and shoot accurately at faster speeds.
Sight Alignment - With iron sights, make sure you can see the front sight inside the rear sight with an equal amount of light on both sides. More easily said, “equal height, equal light”. Red dot sights take the alignment out of the front and rear sights and make it so wherever the dot is the bullet should impact.
Sight Picture - This fundamental makes you ask the question, “What am I looking at, the front sight or the target?”
Trigger Control - This is how we pull the trigger. This could be done at a couple of different speeds based on the shot. One thing is consistent though, the trigger always goes straight to the rear.
Having a solid understanding of these core concepts is how you get better at shooting. Each one of these fundamentals can be applied based on your situation. If you want to shoot more accurately, time for more sight picture and a slower trigger press may be needed so as to not influence the gun. If you want to shoot faster, a lesser amount of time on sight picture, a faster trigger pull, and a better grip will be needed. Regardless of the goals, we all have to start with a basic understanding of how the fundamentals are applied to shooting.
With all the liability surrounding firearms, a strong foundation of personal safety, range safety, and “When should/can I use a firearm?” has to be established. Most shooting classes focus on slow, steady, and accurate shooting. Those classes are best for beginners and shooters who only shoot every couple of months/years. The problem I see is that that’s where it stays for just about all classes… slow and accurate. Of course the faster we shoot, the more mistakes can happen, and the more we can miss especially when we are pushing what we can see on the gun and feel in recoil. Experiencing this only in a stressful situation or when we want to do a drill as fast as possible doesn’t prepare us. Throughout our blog posts, we will discuss drills in-depth and provide you with the skills on how they relate to the fundamentals. We will also dive deeper into what all this means and ways for you to up your game.
Check out this video to learn more!
