uscca Accuracy Secrets

107+ HandGun accuracy SecretS You’ll Shoot to the Absolute LIMIT o Your Handgun’s Ability When You Easily Master These Principles o Etreme Handgun Accuracy. Accuracy. This report is dedicated to the Armed Citizen. Just as any given currency is only as valu able as the the precious precious metal metal or similar commodity backing it, it, any given given freedom freedom or right right is only as good as the armed men and women who back those freedoms or rights.

taBLe OF cOntentS Introduction

4

SIGHT ALIGNMENT By Kathy Jackson

5

TRIGGER CONTROL By Massad Ayoob

12

PROPER GRIP TECHNIQUES By Larry Correia

17

POINT SHOOTING By Gabe Gabe Suarez Suarez

23

LONG—RANGE HANDGUN ACCURACY: “Elmer Keith Was Dead Right” By Robert H. Boatman

27

SHOOTING WELL UNDER PRESSURE By Jack Rumbaugh

35

ACCURATE ACCURA TE WEAK HAND SHOOTING By B y George Hill

37

ACCURATE SHOOTING WHILE ON THE MOVE By Jack Rumbaugh

41

HOW TO CURE A FLINCH By Kathy Jackson

45

Conclusion

51

All ‘Random Thoughts’ and ‘Case Studies’ written by Delta Media. All end-o-chapter checklists are complied by Delta Media by content ound within each article.

107+ Handgun Accuracy Secrets

IntrOductIOn

A

s Armed Citizens, we are all products o etremely diverse backgrounds. We may dier in ethnicities and religions. I may swear by a 1911, while you may swear by a j-rame revolver revolver.. We may not see eye-to-eye on the ‘9mm Vs. .40 caliber’ debate… Yet as Armed Citizens, we all share one common belie, and that is an unyielding perception o the value o human lie. We carry deadly weapons to protect our own lives, and the lives o loved ones. We all understand evil, and we recognize the reality that there will always be violence. We know that bad things do indeed happen to good people. In that sense, any dierence in opinion or background is irrelevant— we are all united as brothers and sisters in arms— and such a bond can never be broken. From the ‘Armed Citizen Bond’ hierarchy, where the ‘preservation o innocent lie’ is at the top, many more similarities can be assumed. One such similarity is that we all agree that i you are going to carry a weapon with the intent o using it to preserve lie, it is always better to have a higher level o prociency with that weapon than a lower level o prociency. O all the ways to be procient with your pistol, none are as important as being able to accurately hit what you’re aiming at. It is this objective which this report will attempt to achieve in you, the reader. reader. You’re about to dive into hundreds o years o combined knowledge put to paper by some o the nest pistol handlers in the world. Ready… Set… LEARN! —The Delta Media Team

Copyright © 2003-2008 Delta Media, LLC - www.DeltaMediaLLC.com 4


SIGHt aLIGnMent By Kathy Jackson

M

arty Hayes, owner o the Firearms Academy o Seattle, is ond o telling new students the one and only real secret o accurate marksmanship. Are you ready? Here it is, the secret o accurate shooting:

THE SECRET OF ACCURATE SHOOTING... “Your sights must be aligned “Your align ed on target at the moment the hammer alls.”

Dierent Types o Sights

Handgun sights come in a variety o congurations. There are three-dot sights, bladed sights, U-shaped sights, Vshaped sights, dot-the-i sights, peep sights, and on and on in nearly innite variety. variety.

Fig 2.2 - 2.7 Several Types of Common Sight Systems

That’s it. That’s the entire secret o accurate shooting. Everything else — grip, stance, smooth trigger press, ollow-through — all o those are just detailed ways to help ensure that your sights are in the right place when the shot res. I your sights are lined up with the target when the shot goes o, you will hit the target. I they aren’t, you won’t. It’s that simple. So how can a shooter be certain that the sights will be lined up on target when the hammer alls?

Fig 2.1 The relationship between the shooter’s eye, the sights, and the target is critical when shooting or accuracy.



All o these dierent sighting mechanisms are designed to assure that the barrel o the gun is held in the correct orientation to the target on both the vertical and the horizontal ais. This ensures that the shot will land neither to the let or right, nor high or low, rom the intended point o impact. When the entire length o the gun barrel (represented by the sights) is properly lined up with the center o the target at the moment the shot breaks, the bullet will hit the center o the target.

Understanding the Reationship Between Front and Rear Sights Since the purpose o the sights is to align the gun properly, it’s important to understand how the sights are designed to do that.

Fig 2.8 This shot will go to the let o the intended point o aim.

Looking at the ront sight, it may be a blade or a dot. I it is a dot, it may be large or small. The rear sight may be a U shape, a V shape, two dots, a straight line, or a simple notch in the back edge o the slide. No matter how the sights are congured, the ront sight is designed to be placed on the same vertical ais as the rear sight. I the rear sight is a basic straight line, simply place the dot o the ront sight right on top o that line, as i you were ‘dotting an i’. Otherwise, place the ront sight so that it is centered within the notch o the rear sight. There should be an equal amount o light on either side. This will keep your shots rom going to the let or right o where you aim.

Random Thoughts #1:

Fig 2.9 This shot will go to the right o the intended point o aim.

Many handguns have replaceable sights. I the sights on your handgun aren’t working or you, you should eperiment around with dierent types o sight systems.



Ecept in the case o “dot the i” sights, the top edges o the rear sight should be held eactly even with the top edge o the ront sight. Holding the top edges o both ront and rear sights on the same plane will prevent your shots rom hitting high or low.

When the sights are held in the correct relationship to each other, the shot will go neither high nor low, neither let nor right. The gun will be aligned with your eye and with the target on both the horizontal and the vertical ais.

Random Thoughts #2: I your handgun doesn’t have removable sights, you might want to look or something called “sight paint”. The special paint can really help you ocus on your sights.

Fig 2.10 This shot will go low o the intended point o aim.

Fig 2.12 This shot will hit the intended point o aim.

Fig 2.11 This shot will go high o the intended point o aim.

Some sight designs which have a large ront sight in comparison to a relatively small rear sight will tempt you to “bury” the ront sight while shooting. This will cause your shots to go a bit low. Pay special attention to the horizontal ais (keeping the top edge o the ront sight in line with the top edge o the rear sight) until you have become very amiliar with using these types o sights.



Where to Put the Front Sight Now that you have the ront and rear sight in the correct relationship to each other, where do you place the ront sight in relation to the target? Most handguns will have their sights aligned on the horizontal ais to provide either a combat hold or a target hold. Those phrases are shooting jargon which answers the commonly-heard question, “Do I put my ront sight in the middle o the bullseye, or at the bottom o the bullseye?” Guns which are sighted in or a combat hold require the shooter to place the ront sight where it covers the eact center o the target, while guns sighted in or a target hold achieve greatest accuracy when the ront sight is aligned at the center o the bottom o the bullseye.

Fig 2.13 Especially when using big dot sights, be careul not to bury the ront sight.

Fig 2.14 Instead, keep the top edge o the ront sight aligned with the top edge o the rear sight.

Generally speaking, handguns which are appropriate or sel-deense will use the quicker but less precise combat hold.

Fig 2.15 The Target Hold



Where To To Focus No matter which sighting system is on your handgun, when you are using sighted re, it is important that you learn to keep your eyes ocused on the ront sight the entire time you pull the trigger, and during ollow-through ater the shot breaks.

Fig 2.16 The Combat Hold Remember Mel Gibson’s advice to his son in the movie The Patriot? “Aim small, miss small.” This is an ecellent piece o shooting advice. When you are aced with a large target, pick a small area within that target upon which to center your shots. For instance, when looking at a cardboard IPSC target, rather than aiming or “somewhere in the center,” try to hit the triangle which makes up the top part o the capital A in the A-zone. As discussed above, remember that the correct placement o the ront sight on the target must happen at the same time as the ront and rear sights are held in the correct relationship to each other.

Physiologically, it is simply not possible or the human eye Physiologically, to ocus on a near object and a ar object at the same time. This means that when your eye is ocused upon the ront sight, the target will be blurry. And when your eye is ocused on the target, the ront sight will be blurry. Some people (mostly young olks) can switch their ocus back and orth rapidly enough to ool themselves into thinking that both are in ocus at the same time, but it’s not true. One or the other is in ocus at any given time. What all this means is that you will need to decide which is more important to have in sharp ocus: the large target, or the tiny ront sight. I you want to shoot accurately, you absolutely need to really see that tiny ront sight and what it is doing. And that is why shooting instructors always tell their students to look at the ront sight. Especially i you are prone to missing high, it is possible that you are shiting your ocus rom the ront sight to the target at the last possible moment beore the shot goes o. When you shit your sight to the target, it’s very common or the muzzle to rise slightly in response — just enough to cause the shot to land high rather than in the center o the bullseye.

What About That Wobbe? Wobbe?

Fig 2.17 - 2.18 Even though the ront sight is in the correct place on the target in both images above, the shot rom the image on the let will not land on the center o the target because the ront sight is not held in the correct relationship to the rear sight. The ront sight must be centered in relation to the rear sight.

It is normal or the sights to wobble a bit when you are holding your rearm on target. Accept that act. The wobble is a normal event, and it happens to every shooter. Human beings are not machines! There is no human being on the planet who can hold a rearm with machine-like stillness and immobility. immobility. The wobble will always be there.



Sometimes the wobble will be worse than other times. As humans age, our hands naturally become a little more shaky. Ater a ew swallows o tea, coee, or caeinated soda, most people eperience slightly shaky hands (though most o us never notice this apart rom the range). And when there is a lot o adrenalin in your system — or instance, when shooting in ront o someone you want to impress, or or points in a match, or under the signicant stress o a deadly orce encounter — hands will always shake. It’s It’s just a act o lie. So what to do about it? First and oremost, you need to admit that you do shake. Don’t try to deny it or orce yoursel not to do it. You must accept the wobble and pull the trigger smoothly while the wobble is happening. I instead you ght it or try to snatch the trigger back during that brie, absolutely perect moment as your ront sight trembles across the center o the target, your shots will go low. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! You must accept the wobble or what it is: a minor, natural event that cannot really keep you rom hitting the target unless you overreact to it.

Keep your sights aligned as evenly as you can, but do not try to snatch the trigger back at the magic moment when the sights are absolutely, totally, perectly aligned. Instead, smoothly increase pressure upon the trigger while keeping the sights aligned on the target as steadily as you are able. By steadily increasing the pressure on the trigger while keeping the sights lined up as steadily as you are able, you assure that your sights will be aligned with the target at the moment the shot is red. And what’s what’s the entire secret o accurate shooting? “Your sights must aligned with the target “Your at the moment the hammer alls.”

Kathy Jackson is the Managing Editor of Concealed Carry Magazine. An assistant instructor at the Firearms Academy of Seattle in Washington state, she takes special pleasure in teaching other women wom en how to shoot. Read more of her work on her personal website, the Cornered Cat (www.corneredcat.com).



POSt cHaPter cHecK-LISt There’s a lot of information, tips, and tricks packed into each one of these chapters... Here’s a little checklist to help you keep it all straight!

Your sights must be aligned on target at the moment the hammer alls: i your sights are lined up with the target when the shot goes o, you will hit the target. I they aren’t, you won’t. No matter how the sights are congured, the ront sight is designed to be placed on the same vertical ais as the rear sight. Many handguns have replaceable sights. I the sights on your handgun aren’t working or you, you should eperiment around with dierent types o sight systems. When the sights are held in the correct relationship to each other o ther,, the shot will go neither neithe r high nor low, neither let nor right. Guns which are sighted in or a combat hold require the shooter to place the ront sight where it covers the eact center o the target, while guns sighted in or a target hold achieve greatest accuracy when the ront sight is aligned at the center o the bottom o the bullseye. Generally speaking, handguns which are appropriate or sel—deense will use the quicker but less precise combat hold. “Aim small, miss small.” When you are aced with a large target, pick a small area within that target upon which to center your shots. It is important that you learn to keep your eyes ocused on the ront sight the entire time you pull the trigger, trigger, and during ollow-through ater the shot breaks. Especially i you are prone to missing high, it is possible that you are shiting your ocus rom the ront sight to the target at the last possible moment beore the shot goes o. It is normal or the sights to wobble a bit when you are holding your rearm on target. Accept that act. The wobble is a normal event. I instead you ght the wobble or try tr y to snatch the trigger back during that brie, absolutely perect moment as your ront sight trembles across the center o the target, your shots will go low. By steadily increasing the pressure on the trigger while keeping the sights lined up as steadily as you are able, you assure that your sights will be aligned with the target at the moment the shot is red. Copyright © 2003-2008 Delta Media, LLC - www.DeltaMediaLLC.com 11


trIGGer cOntrOL By Massad Ayoob

T

o hit what you’re shooting at with a handgun, trigger control is “the heart o the beast.” It seems to be ar more important than, say, say, sight picture. At close combat distances, a poor sight picture may pull the shot out o the heart and dump it elsewhere in the chest, but a convulsive jerking o the trigger can cause the shot to miss the whole human-size target.

When it’s time or live ammo, the pace should begin with careul slow re, progressing into aster and aster cadenced shot sequences, until true rapid re is achieved. With any comple psychomotor skill – a chain o physical events, which ring a gun most certainly is – the quickest route to learning to do it ast is to start by doing it slowly slowly..

Finger Pacement and Handgun Grasp The late, great Ray Chapman was the rst world champion o the combat pistol. He used to say that shooting a handgun well was simple, it just wasn’t easy. easy. That’s true in spades or the trigger control element. Once the decision to re has been made, and the gun is on target, the shooter must bring the trigger straight back in a manner that that doesn’t pull the gun o the mark. The rearward pressure should be smooth, it should be uninterrupted, and it should be evenly distributed. With any physical skill, we must crawl c rawl beore we walk and walk beore we run. Trigger control development should should start with dry re, progressing to live ammunition only ater the shooter has been conditioned to hold the gun steadily on target as the “hammer drops.” drops.” (Dry re should always be practiced with a sae backstop, as i it were live, as a hedge against the day human error nds us with a round in the thought-to-be-unloaded rearm.)

Historically, we have been taught to manipulate the trigger with the tip o our inde nger, or with its “pad,” which means that the whorl o the ngerprint is centered on the trigger. However, this history comes largel largely y rom bullseye shooting with cocked revolvers and light-trigger, single action semiautomatics. semiauto matics. Target guns tend to be heavy, heavy, usually somewhere somewhere between 34 and 60 plus ounces. A light touch rom the sensitive ngertip will serve us well i our pistol is a gently-held 48-ounce High Standard .22 with the recoil o a mouse burp, and we’re shooting at NRA’’s specied Rapid Fire rate o ve shots in ten sec NRA seconds onds..

Random Thoughts #3: Some handguns allow or the weight o the trigger pull to be lightened or stiened, depending on the weapon’s make and model. I you cannot get used to the trigger pull o your handgun, this may be an option or you. Note that doing so MAY open you up to legal scrutiny should you ever need to use your weapon in sel deense.

Fig 3-19 Suggested trigger fnger placement on a gun with a heavy trigger pull, a double action S&W .357 Magnum Nrame in this case. Distal joint o index fnger centered on trigger maximizes shooter’s shooter’s leverage. Photos by Gail Pepin.



However, in deensive shooting with a concealment handgun, the dynamics change. Now we have a 20ounce baby Glock that must be stabilized against a veto eight-pound trigger pull, or a twelve- ounce Smith & Wesson AirLite snubby with up to a twelve-pound trigger pull. Now we have recoil recoil that can truly live up to its colloquial name, “kick.” Now Now,, rapid re means ve shots in one second beore our homicidal attacker can reach us with his clubbed tire iron. Dierent jobs require dierent skills and dierent tools. For a heavier than “target” trigger pull, you’ll nd that getting your nger deeper onto the trigger will give you more leverage. The sweet spot spot is what the old double action revolver masters called “the power crease,” and what medical olks would call the distal joint o the nger on the palmar side. With longer, longer, heavier pulls, this inde inde nger placement simply gives the shooter more biomechanical advantage or a smooth, straight-back pull that won’t deviate the gun muzzle o target.

CASE STUDY by Deta Media When Mark Cunningham purchased a little Taurus .22LR pistol rom a riend or $120, he thought he’d ound a neat little back-up gun at a great price. It appeared to be airly ool-proo in design, proved reliable in test ring, and it was small enough to conceal almost anywhere. He thought he had ound the perect complement to his GLOCK 19... Until he shot it, that is. He knew the basics o innacuracy diagnostics— things like ‘i you’re hitting low, you’re anticipating the recoil’, but there was ZERO consistency to where he was hitting. He would have shots barely to the right o the bullseye, some shots a oot below the bullseye, some above, and some twenty inches to the let. Mark didn’t understand it. With his GLOCK, he could maintain 5-inch groups as ar back as 25 yards. All he could gure is that the pistol’s etremely short barrel length was to blame or the weapon’s innacuracy. innacuracy. A couple months down the road, he thought to ask his riend Jake about the gun’s problem. Ater seeing the pistol, Jake asked Mark how ar he was shooting rom. “About seven yards,” he told him. Jake later said that he had to try pretty hard to hide his grin. He immediately knew what Mark’s problem was, but also knew that Mark had to see to believe... Moments later, later, the pair had taken the pistol and about twenty rounds o .22LR behind Mark’ Mark’s s garage, and set up a target. Mark’s jaw dropped when Jake red an entire magazine into the target at seven yards, grouping all o the shots inside the our-inch black circle.

Fig 3-20 On a pistol with a short, light trigger pull - such as this Guncraters Custom 1911 - placing index fnger at tip or pad may work well...but with a longer and/or heavier pull, the shooter may need “more fnger” or maximum control. Photos by Gail Pepin.

Jake eplained: Mark had gotten so used to the trigger pull on his GLOCK, that the trigger’s large travel length o the double-action Taurus would take a LOT o practice to get used to. He also eplained that lesser quality guns, as the little Taurus was, sometimes had inconsistencies in their



trigger pull, and because the gun was so light, he was really going to have to develop a rock solid grip in order to prevent the gun rom moving while he pressed the trigger.

movement on the trigger, they pull the gun down and toward the weak hand side. I you’re a right—handed shooter and have been hitting low let, that may well be the diagnosis.

Above all, he said that what Mark really needed was just practice. “.22 ammo is cheap enough, just go get a brick or two, and spend a day just shooting magazine ater magazine until you know the gun by heart.”

I “milking” is the disease, a hard grasp is one proven cure. I the rest o the ngers are already closed as tightly on the grip—rame as they can be, they can’t close any more in sympathy with the inde nger’s rapid activation o the trigger.

Moral o the story? All guns have a slightly dierent trigger pull, and they each will take time to get used to. I you’re having dramatic accuracy problems, the rst place that we recommend looking is your trigger pull.

Similarly, the light grasp so long avored by target shooters is poorly suited to stabilizing the handgun against a heavy trigger pull, or to keep it rom shiting in the shooter’s hand when jackhammer recoil must be dealt with. Hal a century o handgunning has taught this writer that a very rm grasp – a crush grip, i you will – better serves both needs. The harder you hold the handgun, the less it will shit in your hand during recoil. It will eel as i it’s “kicking” less. That’s not happening; grip orce doesn’t alter the laws o physics. What’ What’s s happening is that your body is more more eciently managing the recoil. The gun is not moving as much and is coming back on target sooner sooner.. A strong stance that puts body weight into the gun helps considerably here, too. The less the recoil moves your body, the less likely you are to develop anticipation that makes you jerk the trigger and bring the shot low. The rm grasp also helps trigger control. Our ngers are subject to a sympathetic reaction called interlimb response. When one nger moves rapidly rapidly,, the others want to open and close with it. This creates a phenomenon the old masters called “milking.” When the ngers close as i upon a cow’s udder in sympathy to the inde nger’s

Fig 3-21 Laser sights such as this Crimson Trace LaserGrip on S&W Model 442 are useul or dry-fre trigger control practice. The laser beam, emitting rom the grip... [Continued on Fig 3-22] Photos by Gail Pepin

Fit Factors No shooter will shoot their best without a gun that ts their hand. A key dimension o that t is “trigger reach.” The gun should sit in the ring grasp with the barrel in line with the long bones o the orearm, the web o the hand high on the backstrap o the rame, and the nger naturally in its “sweet spot” on the trigger trigger.. I the gun aords too short a trigger reach, a longer trigger on a 1911 pistol or larger grips that cushion the backstrap and push the web o the hand urther back can solve the problem. The new generation o polymer rame auto pistols with replaceable backstraps in various sizes, pioneered by Walther, Walther, help here, too.



Shortcuts There are shortcuts to achieving good trigger control. Not many,, but a ew. many ew. One is what I call an Eemplar Drill. The new shooter takes his or her ring stance and grasp, and is responsible or sight alignment. The veteran shooter places his or her gun hand over the shooter’s, with the eperienced trigger nger in ront ront o the novice digit. The old—timer presses the newcomer’s nger slowly back against the trigger the rst ew times to show them what a good trigger press should eel like. Then, the new shooter and the veteran pull the trigger together at the same pace. Finally, the trainee is pulling the trigger with the trainer’s inde nger just lightly touching theirs, to monitor the movement and make sure they’re not backsliding into poor technique. technique. I learned it rom Ray Ray Chapman… Chapman learned it in the Marine Corps…and the USMC Marksmanship Manual circa 1930 had it in print. Sometimes, old secrets get lost and have to be rediscovered. For the shooter working alone, a laser sight is a great tool Fig 3-22 ...is held on target as shown here as shooter practices hammer-all. Photos by Gail Pepin or developing trigger control. Put the red dot on the tar- rolling trigger to hammer-all. get, and hold it there through through the trigger stroke. stroke. Do it dry re to start. It conditions the shooter to the eel o smoothly As Chapman said, it’s simple, but it’s not easy. It takes stroking the trigger back without deviating rom point o time and dedication. Sometimes, you’ll need to open aim. Progression to live re is smooth and natural. Then your mind to new techniques, or work with a gun that switch to the conventional sights: the smooth trigger pull you’re not amiliar with but which might be a more suitable t to your your hand. Once you’ve “got it,” you’ll eel the should remain constant. light bulb come on, and now it will be up to you to maintain a training regimen to “keep the eel o it” and make a Random Thoughts #4: smooth trigger pull happen aster and aster. aster. Stay with it, and you’ll be a better shot beore you know it. It is possible to get what’s known as a “.22 Conversion Kit” or many common handguns, About the Author Author... ... such as GLOCKs and 1911s. LE rearms instructor since early ‘70s. Director, Lethal These kits are easy to install and remove, Force Institute, 1981 to present. Chair o rearms com- and allow you to master the trigger pull and mittee, American Society o Law Enorcement Trainers, grip o your own weapon while saving BIG 1987—2006. Won Outstanding American Handgunner o TIME on ammo costs. the Year Award, 1998. Became rst r st IDP ID PA Five—Gun Mas- Plus— even at $250, they pay or themselves ter, 2005. Has won numerous state and regional champi- with just a couple bricks o .22LR! onships, with both auto pistol and revolver.




To hit what you’re shooting at with a handgun, trigger control is “the heart o the beast.” A convulsive jerking o the trigger can cause the shot to miss the whole human—size target. The shooter must bring the trigger straight back in a manner that doesn’t pull the gun o the mark. Trigger control development should start with dry dr y re, progressing to live ammunition only ater the shooter has been conditioned to hold the gun steadily on target as the “hammer drops.” The pace should begin with careul slow re, progressing into aster and aster cadenced shot sequences, until true rapid re is achieved— the quickest route to learning lear ning to do it ast is to start by doing it slowly. Rapid re means ve shots in one second beore our homicidal attacker can reach us with his clubbed tire iron. For a heavier than “target” trigger pull, you’ll nd that getting your nger deeper onto the trigger will give you more leverage— The sweet spot is what medical olks would call the distal joint o the nger on the palmar side. The harder you hold the handgun, the less it will shit in your hand during recoil. A strong stance that puts body weight into the gun also helps considerably considerably.. I the rest o the ngers are already closed as tightly on the grip-rame as they can be, they can’t close any more in sympathy with the inde nger’s rapid activation o the trigger trigger.. No shooter will shoot their best without a gun that ts their hand. A key dimension o that t is “trigger reach.” A laser sight is a great tool or developing trigger control— It conditions the shooter to the eel o smoothly stroking the trigger back without deviating rom point o aim. Maintain a training regimen to keep the eel o the trigger pull and a nd make a smooth trigger pull happen aster and aster aster..



PrOPer GrIP tecHnIQueS By Larry Correia

O

ne o the basic undamentals o shooting a handgun is grip. Having a good grip is key to being a proprocient shooter, shooter, and without knowing how to hold the handgun correctly you will lack in both accuracy and control.

shooters is that they will grasp the gun low on the grip, leaving a large gap between the web o their hand and the tang o the gun. The problem there there is that anytime anytime you give the gun room to move, it will move. I there is an air bubble there, the gun will reely shit into it.

In the days o yesteryear everyone shot pistols one handed. This still works great or things things like Olympic Olympic pistol Plus the lower you grip the gun, the greater amount o games where pure pure accuracy is king. A one handed grip torque you’ll eel as the gun recoils. The higher you place your hand, the more inline the with a bladed o stance works bones o your wrist will be with the great or slow re bullseye bebarrel, the less the muzzle will rise. cause there is very little outside Random Thoughts #5: infuence to disturb disturb the gun. gun. But On the fip side o the coin, don’t we’re talking about deensive Having Trouble Fitting Your Handgrip a semiautomatic so high pistol shooting, where calm leigun to your Hand? that you’re in danger o being hit surely accuracy goes right out Similar to swapping out your sights by the reciprocating reciprocating slide. I have the window and it is all about or a new set, some pistols allow or very big hands. I have a small being ast and acceptably accustom grip enhancing materials or Bulgarian Makarov that I shoot curate while under a great deal plates to be added to the handle o occasionally.. These two occasionally two things things o stress. a pistol. You might nd this useul i don’t eactly go well together. you have very large hands. I have to make a concentrated The key to that is control. A Conversely, i you have etra eort every time I shoot that little two—handed grip will provide a small hands, some pistols, such as monster to keep my primary greater deal o control. I you’ve GLOCKs, allow or reductions to be hand lower than I’m comortgot another hand available, use perormed, where the handle is acable with, because otherwise it. A very eperienced instructually made slightly smaller or the the slide bites the web o my tor once told me that the thing to sake o shooter comort. hand. This is the same same reason reason remember is Meat on Steel. The Consult your gunsmith or riends on that, though I worship at the almore Meat (hand) you can get where to have this done. tar o St. John Moses Browning, on Steel (the gun) the more conHey- i your gun doesn’t quite t, it’s I can’t shoot a stock Hi-Power or trol you will eercise. worth a try! GI 1911 without leaving skin on the gun. First o, let’s talk about your primary hand, the hand that is acWhen it comes to a solid grip, a tually the rst one on the weapon and the one control controlling ling your trigger. You want to get gun that ts you more naturally will be easier or you to you struggle with. A gun that is too as high up on the gun as possible without getting struck shoot than one that you by any moving parts. A common mistake mistake made by new small or a big handed shooter is obnoious just as much Copyright © 2003-2008 Delta Media, LLC - www.DeltaMediaLLC.com 17


Fig 4-23 When it comes to a soid grip, a gun that ts you more naturay wi be easier or you to shoot than one that you strugge with. as a gun that is too large is or a small handed shooter. This is a major reason why spouses should never just pick out a gun or their signicant other without their input. As an instructor, there is nothing more painul to watch than the 4’6” petite girl trying to shoot the HK USP .45 her husband picked out or her because he thought it was the best gun ever. That said, with good technique and practice you can learn to shoot a gun well even i it isn’t a perect t. Anyone who’s ever been issued a particular gun by an agency is aware o this. But we live in America, and this article is directed at permit holders, so thankully we can buy whatever the heck we want. Why wrestle with a gun you’re you’re not comortable with i you don’t have to?

the gun like a rm handshake. Basically you don’t want to squeeze the gun to death, because that is just going to cause shakes and atigue, and don’t hold the gun too weakly, because then it will shit more under recoil, and on some semiautomatics may even cause malunctions. Now that you’ve got your strong hand on the gun, what do you do with the support support hand? As an instructor I’ve I’ve seen pretty much every kind o grip you can imagine, and most o them are absolutely terrible.

My personal avorite bad grips are the 1980’ 1980’s s Cop Drama grip, where the support hand holds the strong arm’ ar m’s s wrist. This does absolutely absolutely nothing to to control the the gun. It may have worked or Hunter, Hunter, but it will not work or you. The net bad grip is the old Cup and Saucer Saucer.. With this grip Net, how hard should you hold the gun with your primary the shooter just lays the strong hand on top o their supUnortunately,, under recoil, recoil, the strong strong hand hand? I’ve heard a ew things over over the years that are port hand. Unortunately hand. The pretty intuitive ways ways to eplain this. Hold the gun about as just moves up and away rom the support hand. however, is The Sel Correcting Grip. Grip. I hard as you would hold a hammer to drive a nail, or hold worst grip o all, however, Copyright © 2003-2008 Delta Media, LLC - www.DeltaMediaLLC.com 18


call it that because you will only do it once. Basically this is the one where the support hand is up high, encircling the strong hand, but they take the support thumb and place it over the web o the strong hand, right in the path o the slide. Ouch! Once in awhile somebody manages to do this grip during a class. There is usually no small amount o cursing involved. Most shooters just take their support hand and mash it on top o their strong hand. hand. The problem with doing this however is the old adage about Meat on Steel. For many shooters, depending on hand size and the size o their rearm, oten times what happens is that the support hand isn’t touching Steel at all. The strong hand thumb is blocking the grip, so the shooter is let squeezing Meat on Meat, which is better than nothing, but isn’t allowing the shooter to reach their ull potential.

gers should naturally all onto the low spots between your strong ngers. ngers. Now your support hand can eert some pressure on the rearm. This doesn’t work or everyone, once again depending on hand/gun size, but play around with your gun until you nd whatever gives gives you the most Meat on Steel. What you’re going or here is to make your support hand do some work also. I you can get a relatively relatively neutral grip, where your support palm is putting equal pressure inward on the gun, you can make your support hand actually help out, rather than just being a feshy appendage that gets in the way.

“IF YOU CAN GET A RElATIvElY NEUTRAl GRIP...

...YOU CAN MAKE YOUR SUPPORT HAND ACTUALLY HELP OUT, RATHER THAN JUST BEING A FLESHY APPENDAGE THAT GETS IN THE WAY.”

Now this is where everyone is dierent, and some eperimentation is in order. order. While holding the gun in your primary hand, try moving your strong thumb up higher, out o the way, then mash your support hand down on the grip. Then place your strong thumb on top o your support hand, both thumbs pointing alongside the gun, downrange. I your gun has a rame mounted saety, oten times your strong thumb will t right on top o it, giving it a comy place to ride, and ensuring your saety is o. This is usually reerred to as a high-thumbs grip. Your support ngers should be on top o your strong ngers. I hesitate to use the word word interlaced, because that always causes conusion amongst students who then try to basket weave their digits together, together, but your support n-

Try this t his experiment... Take your strong hand. Make a st, about as hard as you would squeeze your gun. gun. Now move your trigger trigger nger back and orth like you’re pulling pullin g the trigger. Now imagine that your support hand is squeezing the gun and helping control it. Loosen up your strong hand a little bit, and now pull your trigger nger as ast as you can. You should notice a signicant dierence in how reely your trigger nger can run. I you make your support hand help control the gun, you will discover a ar greater degree o trigger con-

trol. On triggers, there is a lot o argument about just what point o your trigger nger should be pulling that trigger. Personally, I’m not sure there is no one right answer, as it depends on the shooter’s hand, gun size, and trigger weight/distance/reach. When I shoot a single action gun with a short, light trigger, trigger, I nd that I shoot with the pad o my nger, and when I shoot double action, with a longer, heavier pull, I nd that I use the crease o the distal joint.



One gives me more control, one gives me more leverage. It isn’t the same as real recoil, but you will notice a ew I’m a huge proponent proponent o dry re re practice. I honestly be- things. I you ound that your stance rocked back quite lieve that i you go to the range to practice the undamen- a bit, that will show you the weak points in your stance. tals o shooting, like stance, grip, and trigger pull, and Oten this is where you will need to lean into the gun more. Remember,, you’re driving the gun, it isn’t driving you. But you’re spending twenty cents every shot, the average Remember shooter will run out o money way beore they become more in line with the topic o this article, did you have to shit your grip? I you nd procient. But i grip is all yoursel having to fe about controlling the gun, your hands and adjust how can you simulate reyour ngers ater your coil during dry re? partner ran the slide that is showing you all o the Now this is not a perect spots in your grip where solution, but I do nd that Meat wasn’t properly conit helps. This drill works tacting Steel. Have your with semiautomatic repartner give you a moarms only. You will need ment to adjust your grip, someone to help you. For then try it again. saety concerns, any time you dry re make sure Ater you’ve done this drill that the gun is unloaded, a ew times you should make sure there is no live have isolated all o the ammo in the room, check spots where your grip the gun is unloaded, make was lacking. Ideally asure you’re still aiming at ter your partner runs the a backstop that will stop a slide, then the gun will bullet, and then check to come right back down, make sure the gun is unand you won’t have to loaded. Did I mention mention to to shit your hands at all. Evcheck and make sure the erything will be nice and gun is unloaded? Good. solid. Now practice that grip. Remember how it Remove your rearm’s eels, that way when you magazine so that the slide Fig 4—24 Your support ingers should be on top o your strong ingers. go to the range and you’re will not lock lo ck to the rear. Get shooting live ammo you into your shooting stance and take up your grip. Put the ront sight on your dry re already know what you need to do. Once again, this is a target. Have your partner stand o to your side. All rules valuable drill, but anytime you’re manipulating a rearm o gun saety still apply while doing this drill. At no time with a partner, it is etremely important that the muzzle is Remember,, they stand o to the is the muzzle ever to point anywhere other than the dry kept in a sae direction. Remember re target. Once you are in your stance, your partner partner will side, and NEVER get in ront o the gun. reach up and orceully rack your slide all the way to the rear then let go. Copyright © 2003-2008 Delta Media, LLC - www.DeltaMediaLLC.com 20

CASE STUDY by Deta Media


‘The Dangers o a Weak Grip’ Ater Pat bought his GLOCK 26, he was very pleased that ater the rst one thousand rounds red through the pistol, he hadn’t eperienced a single jam or miseed. When he took the pistol to show his ather in law, much to Pat’s delight, his ather in law requested that they head out back so he could shoot it. They walked back to their pond, and on the very rst shot, the gun etracted the empty casing, but ailed to completely load the net round, leaiving the slide stuck about halway back. “Aww, you didn’t get your thumb in the way o the slide, did you? Sorry, I should have warned war ned you!” But that wasn’t the problem. Pat never gured it out. Fast orward a year, and Pat still had never eperienced an error with his little GLOCK. At the range one day, he got talking to another shooter who had a Walther PPK. Ater some talking, they decided to swap guns or a ew rounds. Pat had never red a PPK, and Steve had never red a GLOCK. Once again, on the very ver y rst round red by Steve, the GLOCK had the eact same malunction. Completely embarassed that his carry gun malunctioned in ront o another ‘gun person’, Pat cleared the action and Steve continued to shoot without any more problems. The damage was done though. Steve, who Pat had come to know as quite snobbish, rubbed in the act that the Walther was a “much better weapon than the GLOCK”. The jam with his ather-in-law, Pat had written o as pure coincidence. But two in a row... this was just too strange. As you can imagine, Pat was more than delighted when, in talking to a shooter ar more eperienced than himsel, he learned that that type o malunction is oten caused by “limp-wristing”, a orm o weak grip. It was eplained to him that the cycling o the action depended on the rame o the pistol remaining (relatively) stationary and rm. I a shooter allows the pistol to recoil too much, this type o malunction can occur.

Once you have some condence in your grip, you must practice at the range. An ideal grip will allow you to rapidly engage the target and repeat as necessary. necessary. Keep an open mind, and be willing to eperiment with dierent nger placement until you nd what allows you to eercise maimum control. Practice until you’re ready ready to ght the bad guy, guy, and not your technique.

Larry Correia Corr eia is a Utah Concealed Firearms instructor, and one o the owners o Fuzzy Bunny Movie Guns in Draper, Utah. www.bmginc.com FBMG teaches a variety o de- ensive rearms classes and is a ull line gun shop and NFA dealer. Larry’s novel, Monster Hunter International, will be available in 2009 rom Baen Books.




Having a good grip is key to being a procient shooter. shooter. A two-handed grip will provide a greater deal o control— The more Meat (hand) you can get on Steel (the gun) the more control you will eercise. You want to get your primary (trigger) hand as high up on the gun as possible without getting struck by any moving parts. The higher you place your hand, the less the muzzle will rise. When it comes to a solid grip, a gun that ts you more naturally will be easier or you to shoot than one that you struggle with. With good technique and practice you can learn to shoot a gun well even i it isn’t a perect t— BUT, BUT, why wrestle with a gun you’re not comortable with i you don’t have to? Hold the gun about as hard as you would hold a hammer to drive a nail, or hold the gun like a rm handshake. You need to eperiment with your o-hand to nd the best positioning, but your support ngers should be on top o your strong ngers. Avoid the “cup and saucer” grip! You should be able to use your weak hand to eert some pressure on the gun, to take some o the tension o your strong hand. I you make your support hand help control the gun, you will discover a ar greater degree o trigger control. Dry re practice is VERY important to nd the best grip or you. Weak grips can cause rearm malunctions in semi-automatic pistols. An ideal grip will allow you to rapidly engage the target and repeat as necessary. Practice until you’re ready to ght the bad guy, and not your technique.



POInt SHOOtInG By Gabe Suarez

N

ow that one should stir some controversy controversy right? What would you say i I told you that they are not mutually eclusive, and that anyone who tells you that they are is simply wrong and doesn’t know as much about combat as they pretend to?

the will to use them. We used to call those “ree shootings” as the event really is an easy event.

Such gunghts, or I should say, shootings, make up the lore o sighted, marksmanship-based shooting methods. All you need, the advocates say, is an alert mind, a clear picture, and a manageable trigger. trigger. But such ghts, I was once in the “sights all the time at any distance” sight picture, camp. Then the reality o reactive gunghting gunghting on the while very supportive o certain skills sets, are not the street showed me that there are plenty o times when you norm. The norm is a gunght where the other man, or will not be prepared or the ght, and have to catch up men, has begun the attack upon a relatively unprepared paying attention, you would likely be against uneven odds or die. At those times, any short cut victim. I you were paying able to avoid the entire thing completely completely.. That would-be that will keep you alive is worth wor th all the money in the world. victim must rst realize what is happening; when the inGunghts are either reactive reactive or pro-active. In a pro-active ormation coming in reaches a tipping point that indicates gunght, you have the inormation and justication that you need to draw your pistol and shoot. shoot. You can call it being pro-active, or even being preemptive to the bad guy’s guy’ s actions. Recently one o my New Meico students told me o a case where an estranged husband visited his wie at the deli counter o a local market and proceeded to stab her multiple times with a butcher butcher knie. The restraining order she got against him did nothing to protect her, but a local CCW operator who saw this moved into position, drew his pistol, and reportedly using his sights, shot the attacker to death. That is a pro-active, pro-active, preemptive gunght: No startle, no catch up, no problem. The only thing needed is a pistol, marksmanship skills, and

Random Thoughts #6: I you’ve ever had your ront sight all o your pistol during the middle o a competition (let alone a gunght), you’ll be very glad that you took the time (and ammo) to improve your point shooting skill! Trust me... It happens.

Fig 5-25 Gunghts are either Proactie or Reactie



he must act quickly or perish, he must react aster than the bad guy guy.. Does it sound dicult? Does it sound dangerous? Right on both counts. counts.

His rst words don’t even register as the adrenaline dump in your gut begins to shoot through your veins. That is how it happens.

What is lacking is preparation. I know all about the Color Codes, and about mental preparedness. preparedness. I also know that human beings are are allible. We are over—worked, preoccupied and sometimes even physically sick. We are rushed, and we carry the weight o the world on our shoulders. Hardly conducive to living in a state o ‘condition yellow’, or relaed alertness. Rather than living in Condition Yellow—as my late riend Je Cooper described it—we oten lapse into Condition Brown: Oten sadly inevitable, it is the situation we may nd ourselves to be in when the ght unepectedly comes to us.

Now let’s look at the rest o the story: You draw your pistol. Actually, it’s more o a desperate grab and shove toward the bad guy than a perect and correct shooting school range draw. You are looking right at him. Your hunter/predator eye is drawn to the movement o his hand and es on his gun. It is small and black. Your pistol is out by now, pointing at him one handed as your body screams, “MOVE!” Still transed by the image o him, and visually drawn to the gun moving toward you, you pull hard on the trigger once, twice, three times. Not the controlled trigger pressing you did in school, but hard trigger smashing. Your eyes have not let him as he begins to all dead at your eet with a gratiying thud. His gun clatters against against the counter.

“...STILL TRANSFIxED BY THE IMAGE OF HIM, AND VISUALLY DRAWN DRA WN TO THE GUN MOVING TOWARD YOU, YOU PULL HARD ON THE TRIGGER ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES... ... THA THAT T IS A REACTIvE GUNFIGHT AND THE MOST lIkElY SCENARIO FOR THE CCW FOlkS.”

Let’s analyze what happens in a gunght. You may may see the bad bad guy. He appears to be a bad guy because o his attire, his demeanor and maybe even his ethnicity. (Yes, we are proling). Something about him isn’t right. You catch yoursel “proling”. Unless you have cleansed your mind rom politically correct liberal programming, you might chastise yoursel or being judgmental. judgmental. Yet you are receiving bits o inormation constantly. You notice his eyes and where he is looking. You begin to notice that all the customers in the store are also looking at him. You notice that they appear scared. scared. He is about ve eet away now and you notice his gang—style clothing seems big or his small rame and you begin to wonder i there is a weapon hidden. Then you begin to notice the outline o a pistol butt and his hand resting on it. It is beginning to move rom the belt line and toward you.

That is a reactive gunght and the most likely scenario or the CCW olks. To tell you that it’s all about “Front Sight – Press” here is to insult your intelligence.

So what is the answer answer,, point shooting or aimed re? Are sights sights useless? Should we rip them o our slides and train only inside elevators? Not at all. Point Shooting Shooting and Sighted Fire are two dierent ends o a continuum o shooting. You use what you need, and what is called or, depending on the ght at hand. This description was rst coined by a man in Federal service who posts under the nom de guerre “7677” at Warrior Talk, and it eplains the situation quite well:



Shooting is a physical act that that does not change. There are degrees to your visual ocus (ully on threat, ully on sights or somewhere in between). So, analyze your shooting shooting system. I all you are are doing is pro-active sighted re, rom open carry and rom a stationary shooting position, at medium distance, you may not be totally prepared or what Lie’s bad guys have in store or you. About the Author… Gabe Suarez was born in Cuba, but grew up in the USA when his parents fed the communist regime. He has been a lie-long student o ghting, whether hands, contact weapons or rearms. He served with distinction as a police o- cer in Southern Caliornia working various high risk assignments assignm ents rom Special Weapons to Gang Investigations, to Narcotics. During his servi service ce he was involved in numerous gunghts one or which he was awarded the Medal o Valor.

shooting system. I a you are doFig 5—26 “…anayze your shooting ing is pro—actie sighted re... you may not be totay prepared or what ie’s bad guys hae in store or you...”

Today Gabe teaches his methods today all over the world to, mostly, private citizens, and occasionally to military and other orces. His training comprises all aspects o combat rom hand to hand ghting to pistol shooting and up to ad- vanced team tactics and rife gunghting. He is noted or introducing orce on orce training to the CCW community as well as or the promo- tion o the appendix carry method and the use o the Kalashnikov rife or private citizens. Gabe has also written numerous books and produced several DVDs on his training and ghting concepts which can be located at his online store www.onesourcetactical.com. His training courses may be seen at: www.suarezinternationalstore.com




The reality o reactive gunghting on the street proves that there are plenty o times when you will not be prepared or the ght, and have to catch up against uneven odds or die. Gunghts are either reactive or pro-active. The norm is a gunght where the other man, or men, has begun the attack upon a relatively unprepared victim. Rather than living in “Condition Yellow”, we oten lapse into Condition Brown: Oten sadly inevitable, it is the situation we may nd ourselves to be in when the ght unepectedly comes to us. Gunghts happen VERY, VERY ast: A ‘draw’ turns into a ‘desperate shove’. Point Shooting and Sighted Fire are two dierent ends o a continuum o shooting. You use what you need, and what is called or or,, depending on the ght at hand. I all you are doing is pro—active sighted re, rom open carry and rom a stationary shooting position, at medium distance, you may not be totally prepared or what Lie’s bad guys have in store or you.



LOnG—ranGe HandGun accuracy “Elmer Keith Was Dead Right” By Robert H. Boatman

I

don’t personally know anyone who ever doubted Elmer Keith, not the man nor his eploits nor the grand pronouncements he made based on same. I understand there were some skeptics who thought Elmer eaggerated because he was a small man who always wore a large hat, but I think the skeptics just couldn’t shoot straight and were not happy that Elmer could. The act is, given all the new shooters we have these days, some o you may not even know who Elmer Keith was, so I’d better start somewhere near the beginning.

ing with a handgun to a height never beore imagined. At rst, many in the rearms establishment doubted Keith’s eploits with his hand-loaded .44 Specials, his 700-yard accuracy, his long-range big-game kills, but as undeniable evidence accumulated, many took Elmer’s accomplishments to heart.

Elmer Keith was 29 years old in 1928, when he and his collaborators – Harold Crot, J.D. O’Meara, and R.F. Sedgley – reworked and strengthened a single—action Colt revolver to embody many o Keith’s ideas o handgun perection. The gun was called the Keith No. 5 and was chambered in .44 Special, because that was the cartridge Keith considered best suited to his incessant eperimentation with heavy handloads. The cylinder walls o the .44

Random Thoughts #7: At rst, the ability to shoot long ranges with a pistol might not seem like a eat worth mastering... but think about this: Imagine getting good with your pistol at etreme distances. Now picture how much easier a shot at close ranges would seem!

Special were thicker than those o the .45 Colt so better able to withstand the high pressures he was creating. The Keith No. 5 was the primary platorm on which Keith developed the loads, bullets and long—range, high— impact capabilities that, in the mid—1950s, would raise the level o long—range shooting and big—game hunt-

Fig 6-27 The .44 Magnum was made 1/8-inch longer than the .44 Special to prevent loading the magnum cartridge in nonmagnum cylinders, though Keith’s maximum .44 Special load o a 250-grain bullet with a muzzle velocity o 1200 ps was the equal o many .44 Magnum loads today. Gunmaker Smith & Wesson and ammo manuacturer Remington stood on the sidelines watching or 30 years beore they got on board Keith’s .44 program, but the day the rst S&W .44 Magnum revolver (soon to be designat-



ed the Model 29) shipped out, the Big Pistol Revolution began in earnest. Keith didn’t do it alone, but he provided the vision, the direction, the concept, the relentless prodding that made it possible, just as he had done earlier with the development o the .357 Magnum cartridge, the Winchester Model 70 rife and, later, later, the .41 Magnum. Thanks to what has been described with a variety o fourishes as a highly successul case o industrial espionage, when Smith’s double-action .44 Magnum made it to dealers’ shelves, Bill Ruger’s single-action .44 Magnum Blackhawk was already sitting there. Shooters had an instant choice, and Remington couldn’t turn out ammo ast enough.

Fig 6-28 Though long-range accuracy is most oten associated with the big revolver cartridges, high-velocity semiauto cartridges such as the 10mm chambered in this Robar-customized Glock are competitive, and much smaller calibers right down to the .22 LR may surprise you with their long-range accuracy potential.

Keith’s ultimate development o the .44 Special cartridge, Keith’s the .44 Magnum, has held up well. Its sheer power, considered awesome beyond belie at the time o its introduction, has since been surpassed by a handul o wildcats like the Casulls and the Linebaughs, and new supermagnums rom S&W and Ruger, but it’s still the .44 Magnum

that’s the standard. The Elmer Keith cartridge that’s car tridge that was 30 years in the birthing process is enough gun to take down Alaskan brown and grizzly bear and Arican elephant, lion and Cape bualo, having done so many times, and is still perectly controllable in eperienced hands and a pleasure rather than a pain to shoot. It is also one o those cartridges that seem, without any logical eplanation whatsoever, to be inherently accurate. With the .44 Magnum, that accuracy can etend to ranges normally considered the eclusive territory o rifes. Gunwriter Roger Clouser has an incurable addiction to 1,000-yard revolver shooting. He claims that shooting distant 24-inch steel gongs ohand while standing on the ront porch o his mountain cabin has altered the molecules in his brain to such an etent that he now considers such pursuits normal.* Roger shoots .44 Magnums almost eclusively, eclusively, and his avorite 1,000-yard loads are are 300 grain jacketed bullets at 1,325 ps out o heavy single—action Freedom Arms revolvers and 1,050 ps out o lighter Smith and Wesson Model 29s. Clouser gives some o the best advice on long-range handgun accuracy I’ve ever heard: hea rd: “With an eperienced hand and match grade revolver and ammo, gun handling in recoil is by ar the most important accuracy variable, in my opinion. Second is trigger work, and third is probably the wobble radius in holding the piece. That radius is easily decreased with dry re practice, and good trigger work can be learned with practice and eperience. But riding the bronc – that’s the tough one. Its huge eect on accuracy is because the bullet is still in the barrel during the recoil. My slightest muscle inconsistency in the ballet is a disaster, and brings with it a cacophony o cerebral corte nasty comments through plugs and mus. A proper recoil ballet will bring me the relie o head silence and allow contemplation o lie, happiness and impending chocolate chip cookies while waiting out the our— second fash-to-bang time, which eels long enough to sit down and eat my lunch. Long-range revolver work can be embarrassing i one is unprepared, as gongs have no mercy in their snickering and cat calls. But a determined, eperienced shooter with an accurate piece can make a



1,000-yard gong as nervous as a hen pheasant in a ditch with its neck stuck up.” Clouser’s eplanation o his introduction to long-range handgun shooting warms my heart because it sounds eactly like my own introduction to long-range handgun shooting, including the little Chie’s Special as the agent o enlightenment. Roger says, “Twenty “Twenty years ago I went ater 140-yard tin cans on a dirt bank with a 19 oz., 2” barreled S&W Model 36 Chie’s Special. Shooting o the roo o my car, car, I ound the snubby .38 Special was shockingly eective. Any decent shooter would have no trouble

Random Thoughts #8: I you think your handgun is simply incapable o shooting at long distances, try mounting the pistol to a handgun vice sometime and ring it similarly. similarly.

measure. It takes a while to determine how ar to raise the ront sight or dierent ranges, but the technique can be surprisingly accurate out to about 500 yards. Because we think o our pistols as short-range weapons, ineperienced shooters trying or a long shot tend to shoot high in general and to ignore the wind, which is long-range shooting’s greatest enemy. Even i you never plan to shoot past ve eet, serious handgunners should practice on 12-inch gongs or cardboard pie plates at 100 and 200 yards and should be on amiliar terms with the sight picture o their primary deensive piece to at least 200 yards. You never know ... I you get hooked on shooting handguns accurately at long-range, you might even want to compete with others o like mind or altered molecules.

In doing so, you will nd that our handguns are MUCH more capable o shooting accurately than we tend to believe!

getting rst shot hits on a 12-inch gong at that range. The largest detriment to the capabilities o a handgun at longer ranges is between most shooters’ ears.” Long-range handgun shooting is done rom all the conventional positions, such as prone and ohand, and includes an Elmer Keith innovation called the sitting back rest, where you sit on the ground with your back braced against a tree or other vertical backing and your knees are raised to provide support or your arms while shooting. Keith also gives some unconventional advice on long-range sighting with actory iron sights. The problem is, i you just raise a conventional sight picture higher than you want to hit, you obscure the target, and aiming somewhere in the sky above your target can hardly be considered precise gunhandling. The Keith method is to hold the ront sight blade up above the rear notch a certain

Fig 6-29 Maximum long-range accuracy may be enhanced by heavy handloads, which may require customized and strengthened guns such as this Ruger by Gary Reeder o Flagsta, AZ.

Don Bower and Marc Sheehan (sheehan93@hotmail. com) put on an annual long—range handgun shooting seminar with games that include shooting gol balls and



splitting bullets with angle iron at 600 meters. The International Handgun Metallic Shooting Association (IHMSA, http://ihmsa.org/) is an organization started in 1976 with the purpose o promoting handgun silhouette competition. The object o the competition is to knock down lie-size steel silhouettes o chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams at various ranges out to 200 meters. The sport has spread to many countries and matches are shot all over the USA. There are many dierent types o matches with dierent handguns rom .22 to big-bore and dierent

Fig 6-31 The Smith & Wesson Model 29 may be the quintessential handgun or long-range accuracy, and the Smith J-rame quite the opposite, Yet, many shooters began their long-range careers by taking a shot with the little .38 Special at 50 or 100 yards and seeing the unexpected results. range accuracy. accuracy. Probably the most amous single perect shot, written up by mysel as well as other gunwriters, was the one red by Ted Nugent rom his 10mm Glock 20 into a South Arican warthog at 106 paces.

Fig 6-30 The Keith method or long-range sighting with iron sights, whether fxed or adjustable already at maximum elevation, is to hold the ront sight blade up above the rear notch a certain measure. It takes a while to determine how ar to raise the ront sight or dierent ranges, but the technique can be surprisingly accurate out to about 500 yards. The main problem with just raising a conventional sight picture higher than you want to hit is that the sight or the barrel will obscure the target.

Shooting handguns accurately at 100 to 500 yards was once thought to verge on the impossible. Elmer Keith tells the story o a day in the lie o a prototype Model 29, with a 6.5” barrel. “One day Judge Don Martin and I were shooting the big gun over at the city dump. When we started back, I spotted a rock down the canyon below the dump at what looked like 500 yards rom the road. The rock was about three eet long by about 18 inches high in the middle tapered a little bit at each end. Resting my arms out the car window window,, I tried it. The rst shot was low. Holding up more ront sight and perching the rock on top o it, I managed to put the net ve on the rock. Don said, “Damn it, I seen it, but I still don’t believe it.”

shooting positions rom standing to ree-style and it’s all un. The burgeoning sport o handgun hunting is a great proving ground or the guns and ammo that produce long-

A little later, Elmer took the rst game ever shot with the new .44 Magnum. It was a goshawk perched in a tree at 100 yards. Ater that he was called upon to kill a rife— wounded deer at 600 yards, which he did, and long— range handgun hunting was suddenly a reality. It has



been said that Elmer Keith almost single—handedly pioneered modern sport handgunning. His infuence on handgun design was substantial, his infuence on handgun cartridge design truly revolutionary. revolutionary. One strong man supplied the guts and the vision, and the world ollowed, which is the way things usually work in real lie.

About the Author…

Robert H. Boatman is the author o ve recent best—sell- ing rearms books published publis hed by Paladin Paladin Press, Living With Glocks, Living With The Big .50, Living Li ving With The 1911, Liv- ing With The AR-15 and, with son Morgan W. Boatman, How To Customize Your Glock. He has published eature articl es in NRA’s NRA’s America’s 1st Freedom, Sports Long-range mechanical accuracy is easy enough to g- magazine articles ure. I you and your gun can shoot 2-inch groups at 50 Aeld, Petersen’s Rife Shooter, The Accurate Rife, Preci- yards, you can shoot 4-inch groups at 100 yards and so sion Shooting, American Handgunner and AH’s Tactical on out to 40-inch groups at 1000 yards. But anything that Annual, S.W.A.T., Pistols & Revolvers, Concealed Carry, seems that simple is never that simple. There is some- NRA’s Woman’s Outlook , Very High Power, Law and Or- thing I call the Zen eect which will sometimes let you hit der, South Arica’s Big Bore Journal and many more pub- things you can’t even really see at distances you don’t be- lications. He and his son are currently at work on a new Li ving With Your Your Concealed Conceal ed Weapon. lieve yoursel. These are the shots you keep quiet about, book, Living or ear that the Short-Range Police may throw you in the essay, The Constitutional Right Ri ght And Social Ob- slammer along with characters like Elmer Keith, Roger Boatman’s essay, ligation To To Carry A Gun, which rst appeared appear ed in Living With Clouser and Ted Nugent. Glocks and is available online at www.IronwordRanch. *All Roger Clouser quotes used here rst appeared in com, has become a seminal document in the ongoing the magazine ‘The Accurate Rife’, which is no longer pub- concealed carry movement. lished. Boatman can be reached, much o his writing reviewed, *Elmer Keith quotes are rom ‘Hell, I Was There!’ by Elmer and books purchased at Keith (Petersen Publishing Company Company,, 1979)

WWW.BOATMANBOOkS.COM




Handling the gun’s recoil is by ar the most important accuracy variable- Its huge eect on accuracy is because the bullet is still in the barrel during the recoil. Trigger work is the second most dicult aspect o long range pistol shooting- and good trigger work can be learned with practice and eperience. Third is probably the wobble radius in holding the piece, and the wobble is easily decreased with dry re practice. Any decent shooter would have no trouble getting rst shot hits on a 12-inch gong at 140 yards. The largest detriment to the capabilities o a handgun at longer ranges is between most shooters’ ears. It takes a while to determine how ar to raise the ront sight above the rear sight or dierent ranges, but the technique can be surprisingly accurate out to about 500 yards. Ineperienced shooters trying or a long shot tend to shoot high in general and to ignore the wind. Even i you never plan to shoot past ve eet, serious handgunners should practice on 12-inch gongs or cardboard pie plates at 100 and 200 yards and should be on amiliar terms with the sight picture o their primary deensive piece to at least 200 yards. Anything that seems that simple is never that simple. There is something I call the Zen eect which will sometimes let you hit things you can’t even really see at distances you don’t believe yoursel.



SHOOtInG WeLL under PreSSure By Jack Rumbaugh Suarez International Staff Instructor

I

n the rst si sections, the undamentals o shooting have been presented to you. It’s easy to perorm any o these skills on demand when you are on the range under no pressure at all. But what happens when a sense o urgency is introduced to the equation? I you are not properly prepared to deal with the pressure, it is likely that your perormance will be less than stellar. How do we gain the condence to perorm well under pressure? There are several training methods that are useul or simulating dierent types o pressure. pressure. Let’ Let’s s nd out what they are and how to use them eectively.

sure into your dry practice or your range session very easily. A simple drill is to prepare or dry practice (triple checked empty pistol, no ammo in the training environment, etc), set the timer or random start and a 2 second par time. When the timer sounds, you acquire your pistol, present it to the target, get your sight picture and alignment , and press the trigger, trigger, all beore the second beep.

Dri the Fundamentas The rst step someone should take is to practice the undamentals outlined in the previous chapters until they become refeive and smooth. As you become more amiliar and well practiced with the techniques needed, the more condent you will become. It will take time and hundreds i not thousands o repetitions to really make a technique yours where you can perorm it on demand without much conscious thought. Making sure you understand sight alignment, trigger press, your grip and stance, and how each o these areas interact is etremely important. Once you have these undamentals rmly established in your toolbo, you are ready to introduce that sense o urgency into your training.

Meet the th e Timer Introducing a time actor into your training can generate some o that that pressure pressure we are are concerned with. Modern shot timers are a valuable tool to have in your training gear. Be careul when using usin g a timer, however. Never make the holstering process part o your timed drill. Going back into the holster too quickly can lead to accidents and also trains in a bad habit. You should always reluctantly and careully holster your pistol. You can introduce time pres-

Fig 7-32 Adding a timer to your training regimen can help greatly in making your training session more realistic.

Once that is easy or you, set the timer or 1.75 seconds. As that becomes easier, reduce the time. Whatever you do, do not sacrice technique or speed. You can also take the timer into your range sessions as well. There are numerous standard drills you can incorporate into your range time such as the amous El Presidente drill. Using a timer,, you can quantiy how long it takes you to perorm timer peror m a certain technique properly. properly. As you gain skill, you can see how you have improved. The timer is etremely useul in generating some aniety in your training. The more you train with a timer timer,, the less the aniety aects you.



Pay Games with Your Guns CASE STUDY by Deta Media ‘Phobias and Naturals’ Though ANYBODY can train themselves to do well under pressure, one cannot deny that it comes natural to some, and dicult to others. A great eample is that o a husband and wie pair, Lyle and Katie, both o whom are regular IDPA participants. Where both are eceptionally competent with their Springeld xDs at the range, Lyle seems to all apart at matches. He says that he just gets nervous, and can’t help but eel the eyes o everyone behind him boring into the back o his head. “It’s like all the shooting prinicples that I drill into my head at home and at the range are orgotten. I start ocusing on the target instead o the ront sight, jerking the trigger, and my reloads are VERY sloppy.” His wie Katie, on the other hand, seems to actually improve at the matches. She actually is smoother, aster, and more accurate when it’s all on the line than when at home or on the range. “I was the same way when I was involved in sotball and volleyball. I I ever elt nervous beore a game or match, I’d just take some deep breaths and give mysel a little pep talk.” Our advice to Lyle? Just keep practicing, and keep going to more and more matches. Anyone can overcome this type o “stage right”—-you just have to work through it. The ability to perorm well under pressure is ultra-critical when it comes to the CCW holder, as it could quickly become an issue o lie and death. As is always said, ‘Don’t epect to rise to the occasion—-plan on reverting back to your most engrained level o training’.

Compete! I you want pressure, competition gives you a healthy dose. The rst time you head up to the line, heart in your throat, waiting or the beep, you’ll see what I mean. I have had the pleasure in competing in IDPA, IPSC, and indoor and outdoor GSSF matches and I can tell you that the rst time is stressul. The more you compete, the easier it gets. The pressure will always be there but the manner in which you perceive and handle it changes. Try out dierent shooting sports. Each one has slightly dier dier-ent stressors involved. Not only do you have the stress o a time constraint, but you also have points involved. On top o that there are usually a set o rules to ollow. Failure to ollow the rules may result in a disqualication. More stress. And i you go with a riend, you have the stress o not letting them beat you. Once you have run a ew courses o re, you won’t even break a sweat.

Train in Force F orce on Force This is my avorite training method to learn about pressure. Nothing ramps up the aniety level like acing another human being that wants to stab or shoot you. Working with a live opponent introduces an element o chaos to your training that can not be duplicated with any other method. The most cost eective method o training is with Airsot pistols. There are other options out there, to be sure, but they are not readily available to civilians and they tend to be quite costly. Airsot is easily obtained, is very reasonably priced, requires no special saety gear other than an Airsot mask and a sweatshirt, and does not require much to clean up ater a session. All you need is a broom or a vacuum cleaner. There are quality training classes available such as Suarez International’s Interactive Gunghting to get you started. Once you have the equipment and a training partner, partner, you are ready to go. The simplest drill to run is the Teuller Teuller Drill. You and your opponent stand 21 eet apart and on the go signal, you both draw and re. You can mi things up



with unequal initiative, shortening the distance, or trading a contact weapon or the pistol. The only limiting actors are the space available, and your imagination. As you run more drills you will nd the aniety level becomes less o a distraction. You are learning to deal with the stress in realistic training and hopeully you will be able a ble to deal with the stress in a real situation more eectively. eectively.

I want to reiterate that you need to make sure the undamentals are not sacriced in the name o speed in any o these drills. All our areas we discussed are useul or simulating stress. The main idea with the drills we have outlined is to desensitize yoursel to the stresses that you would nd yoursel eposed to in a deensive situation. The more you perorm under pressure in training, the better you will perorm when it counts. You will ght like you train and deault to the level o your training. Keep the level high.

Fig 7-33 Airsot replicas are GREAT tools or real-world-based tactical training.




I you are not properly prepared to deal with the pressure, it is likely that your perormance will be less than stellar. The rst step someone should take is to practice the undamentals outlined in the previous chapters until they become refeive and smooth. Making sure you understand sight alignment, trigger press, your grip and stance, and how each o these areas interact is etremely important. Introducing a time actor into your training can generate some o that pressure we are concerned with, and can help greatly in making your training session more realistic. Never make the holstering process part o your timed drill. Going back into the holster too quickly can lead to accidents and also trains in a bad habit. I you want pressure, competition gives you a healthy dose. Use airsot pistols or something similar to train “orce on orce”. Nothing ramps up the aniety level like acing another human being that wants to stab or shoot you. Make sure you understand sight alignment, trigger press, your grip and stance, and how each o these areas interact. The more you perorm under pressure in training, the better you will perorm when it counts.



accurate accura te WeaK WeaK Hand SHOOtInG By George Hill

T

he one crucible or rearms tactics that we have that doesn’t involve people shooting back at us, is competition. IPSC, IDPA, IDPA, Cowboy Action... whatever your favor o choice is, they are going to ultimately throw you a curve ball by asking you to shoot with your weak hand. Everyone’s Everyone’ s scores will take a dip on a stage that requires weak hand shooting. This tells us something in very clear, numeric and measured way. We all have to work on our weak hand shooting. There is no magic trick that can help us here and no matter how good we are with our strong hands, we are not as good weak handed. Is this going to have any real world value to us? Absolutely. Absolutely. Look at the way we present ourselves in a deensive situation: knees bent, head up, eyes orward, and arms up and out. Our arms are going to be the rst things injured should damage come out way. In a deensive situation we might have to ward o a knie attack, or a swing rom a club, or we might catch a bullet in the strong arm or hand. Something else might occupy our strong hand, like a riend or loved one and we are controlling them to move them to a saer position. Anything can happen and i you lose your strong hand, then you’ve probably lost 75% or more o your ability to engage your target eectively. Or what i you are coming around a corner that would epose most o your body beore your strong hand is able Fig 8-34 Weak Handed Shooting can be a HUGE challenge to cover the target? You You would be much saer i you could even or the most experienced o shooters. switch hands and navigate the corner with condence. What we need to do is to raise our skill level so we can Let’s start rom the draw. Since we most oten carry our weapons concealed, our weapons are usually not in a lower our liability with weak hand shooting. convenient location or weak hand draws. This is going to Since there is no trick to weak hand shooting, it is a simple require some stretching, bending, maybe some grunting, matter o coming back to the basics and taking your time, and possibly colorul language. But we need to be able to access our weapons. To To practice this, raise your strong without taking too much time. arm and put it on your head to keep it out o the way. There is no specied draw technique here, because all o Copyright © 2003-2008 Delta Media, LLC - www.DeltaMediaLLC.com 37


us pack concealed dierently. I you pack cross draw or in a shoulder rig, this challenge will pose no problem. I you pack in a typical manner with the gun just behind your strong side hip, you might go across your ront, or around your back depending on your position or feibility. feibility. Whatever works or you, do it. The point here isn’t how you do it, just getting the gun into your hand. This needs to be realistic or incidences on the street. Practice this standing till you work it out, then practice this sitting. In competition, you will not be required to draw with your weak hand... this is a saety thing. In competition you want draw the weapon normally and transition it to your let hand. This transer is easy, but needs practices as well.

have not developed the muscle memory to accomplish the tasks o control manipulation and recoil recovery, let alone just holding the weapon steady. steady. They call your weak hand ‘the weak hand’ or several good reasons. Typically it’s not as strong as the hand you write with. The muscles are not as trained and sensitive as your strong hand either. What you are going to nd on the range is a lessened ability to hold your weapon stable and manipulating the trigger is no longer something o inesse... you will ind that you’ve suddenly become ham-isted.

To transer the weapon saely to the weak hand, loosen your grip and let the pistol tilt orward. Then place your weak hand behind your shooting hand and slide it up under the beavertail and slide your shooting hand back down and away. Practice this move back and orth. Because weak hand shooting means weak hand reloading and holstering. I you can shave a hal second o this transition, every time, you can shave ull seconds o the clock at each string. Little bits o time add up quickly. quickly. On the street, these little moments add up to lie saving time. Back to shooting. With the gun in your hand, you should now be able to engage your target, shoot your gun dry, and reload it, all one handed. Some guys will hold he gun between their knees, or use their holster to help reload the weapon. Whatever you do, this is something that has to be practiced a lot. Because in a situation on the street, no one is going to wait or you to gure it out. The same methods o shooting a weapon weak handed are just like strong hand shooting... the only dierence is that it can be like learning lear ning how to shoot all over again. Your Your hand isn’t as stable. Your trigger is alien to your nger and pulling it isn’t so smooth and steady... it’s more o a spasmodic twitch that you are not ready or. or. The problem with shooting weak handed is two old... there are psychological hurdles and physiological challenges that must be overcome. Psychological, because you think you are handicapped, weak handed. Physiologic because you

8-35 Holding the weapon at a slightly inverted angle, which is a more natural angle or the human hand, can boost stability.

Beore you even start practicing shooting weak handed, you need to get that hand up to speed. Try typing with just your weak hand, or dialing your cell phone with your weak hand. Not that these skills transer to shooting but you need to rewire your brain to your let hand and let it know that it can do some ne motor skill activities. I know a doctor locally that ties his shoes, right oot, right hand, let oot let handed, just to keep that deterity up. He can also tie his knots on a sh hook with just his let hand too. Get a squeeze ball to help improve your grip as well. I’ve ound that these are handy items to have anyway i your job requires you to talk to strangers.



While in a ght, we want to move... but i you are down to a weak hand only shot, I would hope you are already behind some sort o cover cover.. Use that cover to your advantage. Try to brace your weak arm or hand on the cover. I you can’t brace your shots to get that added stability there are a couple tricks you try. Try holding the weapon at a slight angle and not straight up and down. The angle is roughly to the One O’Clock, and not much urther. I don’t do this to look ‘Gangster’. The reason or this has to do with the alignment o the bones in your arms. You can hold your gun steadier with a slight angle, and you can manage recoil better this way. way. The angle is going be dierent or everyone. Try this on or size net time you are at the range, and see i it can help you. Another technique that can help, having to do with muscular tension, is to make a tight st with your non—ring hand, and hold it to your chest. This is probably something you might do naturally already i it is injured, but practice this anyway and see i it helps.

Random Thoughts #9: Few skills are as useul and practical when it comes to handgun prociency as that o being able to “dual wield” your pistol. Handgun wounds are not etrememly dicult to survive, but you have to survive the gunght rst. Some trainers go as ar as to reuse to even call it your ‘weak’ hand- they swear that anyone can become just as good with their o hand as they can with their primary hand. You owe it to yoursel to work to become at least reasonably as eective with your weak / o hand as you are with your strong hand!

The most important thing about shooting weak handed it so take your time, concentrate on your sight picture and breaking the shot consistently consistently. You should devote 10 to 20 percent o your shooting to ring weak handed. Practice, Practice Practice! —George Hill, the Ogre at MadOgre.com




We all have to work on our weak hand shooting. Our arms are going to be the rst things injured should damage come our way. What we need to do is to raise our skill level so we can lower our liability with weak hand shooting. There is no trick to weak hand shooting; it is a simple matter o coming back to the basics and taking your time, without taking too much time. First, you must master drawing with your ohand. You may have to adjust your carry position to make this possible! To transer the weapon saely to the weak hand, loosen your grip and let the pistol tilt orward. Then place your weak hand behind your shooting hand and slide it up under the beavertail and slide your shooting hand back down and away. away. Learn to reload your weapon one handed, and practice it oten. There are psychological hurdles and physiological challenges that must be overcome to shoot weak—handed. You should practice doing everyday things such as typing and dialing the phone with your weak hand to build up its muscles. Get a squeeze ball to help improve your grip. Try holding the weapon at a slight inward (1 or 11 o’clock) angle— this aligns the bones more naturally. Another technique that can help, having to do with muscular tension, is to make a tight st with your non—ring hand, and hold it to your chest. You should devote 10 to 20 percent o your shooting to ring weak handed.



accurate accura te SHOOtInG WHILe On tHe MOVe By Jack Rumbaugh

S

hooting on the move is by nature, a comple skillset. You have to move while presenting your pistol and also placing shots on your adversary with acceptable combat accuracy without getting shot. Some o the skills we will employ deserve their own in depth study but those are or another time. Let’s break this down to the components and outline each one.

will be able to move orward much aster than you can move backwards. This is where Force on Force training really shines. You can get all the repetitions you will need to practice the skill o moving, presenting, and engaging your target at all the various angles. One thing that needs to be mentioned is the tter you are, within what is possible considering your age, any injuries, or general health, the better o you will be when moving. Being able to move briskly and still have something let in reserve should you need it is etremely desirable. Gone are the days when you can just speed rock someone into submission. Movement means greater survivability.

“...YOU NEvER WAN ANT T TO BACkPEDAl. YOU YOU WIl WIll l AlWAYS lOSE... ...YOUR ADVERSAR ADVERSARY Y WILL BE ABLE TO MOVE FORWARD MUCH FASTER THAN YOU CAN MOVE BACKWARDS.”

Gunghting is ty percent shooting and ty percent not getting shot. I’m o the opinion that most important is the not getting shot part. I this were not so, movement would have no place in our toolbo. There really is no big secret on movement in a gunght. It’s something Man has been doing or eons and we have been doing a great deal o our lives. You You put one oot in ront o the other and start Another piece to the puzzle is your walking. It gets more complicated presentation and where you carry carry.. as you dive deeper into dynamic We have ound through hundreds movement, but we must walk beo scenarios in our Interactive ore we run, so to speak. As you Gunghting classes, all over the realize you are acing a bad guy, globe, that a botched presentation you simply move o the’ x’ (where you are originally standing when the action begins) to one puts you so ar behind the reactionary curve that you are unlikely to be able to catch up. A smooth and polished o several angles we’ll discuss in just a moment. presentation rom concealment is key. You must combine your movement with a smooth presentation. Not present, then move or move then present. It’s not important to the discussion at hand what you can They should be one motion. As you move, there will be do rom your uber—cool IPSC speed rig, but what can angles o movement that will be more advantageous to you can do with your every day carry gear. Also, where you to use. The situation will dictate which one will be the you carry will aect your presentation. We have ound time most appropriate. Using the clock analogy analogy,, you may nd and time again that appendi carry is a superior choice that movement to the 11 o’clock will work well and move- or your preerred method o carry. It keeps your pistol ment to another angle will be less than optimal. You never near your center line, provides you with greater economy want to backpedal. You will always lose. Your adversary o motion than other methods o carry, and is aster beCopyright © 2003-2008 Delta Media, LLC - www.DeltaMediaLLC.com 41


cause you are more ecient. I you can carry this way I highly recommend giving it a try.

“acceptable combat accuracy”. What do I mean? I mean that you are able to get hits on a man size torso target at typical close quarters combat distances. We aren’t talking the precision 50 yard shot or score. We are talking survival at 12 eet. Getting the acceptable hits at typical CQB distances need to take into account a couple key issues: distance and time. As the distances compress, the less time you have to react, much less get that perect sight picture we all train so hard to get. You’ll need other techniques to use in those situations. The term we use is “Sighting Continuum” to describe what we need to do at typical CQB distances. It’s simply a sliding scale rom ‘point shooting’ to perect sight picture and alignment. You simply see what you need to see o your sights to get those good hits we are talking about. For instance, you may employ some orm o body indeed shooting technique to get your hits at two yards, but as the distances increase you might need

Random Thoughts #10: Shooting while moving is yet another great area where the value o airsot training becomes quickly apparent.

Fig 9-36 Moving while drawing is easier when the gun is carried in some positions than in other positions. Generally speaking, carrying in the appendix position, with the gun positioned on the strong side midway between belly button and hip, oers the most economy o motion. The position shown here, where the shooter is carrying in the middle o back, provides poor economy o motion. We’ve talked about movement and presentation. The only part let is shooting. You should, at this point, have a rm grasp on the undamentals needed to shoot accurately. Those particular skills may not serve you in a dynamic environment, so we need a new set o skills to plug into the equation. The phrase I used in the rst paragraph was

By simply wearing a protective mask, you eliminate nearly all possibilities o an injury. O course, airsot pellets CAN hurt bare skin, sometimes as much as a bee sting, so it is advised to wear a sweathsirt and thick clothing as well. With airsot, you are limited only by your imagination during training sessions. Practicing ‘moving o the ’, drawing, and shooting while moving all ad TONS o value to your training. Highly recommended to the armed citizen!

to transition to a fash sight picture to get your good hits. You may use what is aectionately called Metal on Meat shooting where the metal o your pistol is simply super-



imposed on the meat o your adversary. As I said earlier, you simply see what you need to see to get the hits you need to get. There is an area where movement and sighting intersect. There will be places in your movement where a two handed grip will be out o the question. There are angles o movement that avor shooting with the let hand over the right.

Fig 9-37 Being physically ft is a huge advantage when it comes to moving during a gunfght.

We have ound that the body hates tension and will always try and go with the path o least resistance. I you try to keep a two hand grip on your pistol, there will be a point that you have created tension in the body and your tendency will be to unwind and backpedal. I mentioned that that was bad and to be avoided. For a right handed shooter, this is obvious moving to the one o’clock. I you try and maintain that 2 handed grip, you will quickly nd yoursel backpedaling. I you drop one hand and go right hand only, only, you gain a ew more steps, but again, you’ll begin to backpedal. The only sure way to keep your muzzle on target is with an eventual transition to your let hand. Ambidetrous shooting is a valuable skill to master master.. Make sure you take the time to master it.

It’s very important to note that these techniques need to be practiced to be perected. Work movement into your dry practice. Work on alternative sighting methods at the range. Work on your transitions. Combine all your techniques during your orce on orce training. You’ll be glad you did.




Gunghting is ty percent shooting and ty percent not getting shot. There really is no big secret on movement in a gunght. You must combine your movement with a smooth presentation all wrapped into one motion. The situation will dictate which movement or direction will be the most appropriate. You never want to backpedal. The tter you are, the better o you will be when moving. Movement means greater survivability. A smooth and polished presentation rom concealment is key. We have ound time and time again that appendi carry is a superior choice or your preerred method o carry. Distance and time are key issues in getting the acceptable hits at typical CQB distances. The term “Sighting Continuum” describes what we need to do at typical CQB distances. It’s simply a sliding scale rom ‘point shooting’ to perect sight picture and alignment. There is an area where movement and sighting intersect. There will be places in your movement where a two handed grip will be out o the question. There are angles o movement that avor shooting with the let hand over the right. These techniques need to be practiced to be perected. You’ll You’ll be glad you did.



HOW tO cure a FLIncH By Kathy Jackson

W

e’ve all done it. Mysteriously misplaced holes appear in the target. The holes are low, below the bullseye, and usually all let o the centerline. What in the world could cause that?

high and right when it is red by someone without a finch. That’s That’ s a range trick, not a solution.

A finch.

Diagnosing a finch is not dicult. Sometimes you can eel yoursel getting ready to finch — that clenched, quivery eeling in your muscles right beore the shot res is oten a telltale sign. Another telltale sign o a finch is when you nd yoursel trying to yank the trigger during the brie, magic moment that your sights are perectly aligned eactly in the center o the bullseye, rather than steadily increasing the pressure on the trigger while holding the ront sight as centered on target as possible, without worrying too much about minor wobble.

A finch happens when your muscles clench suddenly in anticipation o the shot ring, yanking the muzzle o the gun downwards and o-target at the last possible moment. It can be made worse by ring without adequate hearing protection, or by ring large-caliber guns with unepectedly solid recoil, or by ring guns that just don’t eel good in your hand. Every shooter on the entire planet has dealt with a finch at one time or another. There are no eceptions. It’s the one universal eperience all shooters share.

Diagnosis

“...THE MOST CERTAIN WAY TO DIAGNOSE A FLINCH IS TO FOOL YOUR MUSCLES INTO BELIEVING THAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO FIRE LIVE AMMUNITION...”

Sometimes a habitual finch can be created with just a single negative eperience. I’ve met more than one woman whose rst eposure to shooting was when a jokester relative handed her a ull-power .357 Magnum, or a 12gauge shotgun loaded with 3 1/2-inch ull powered slugs, and told her to pull the trigger without warning her what to epect. Such a rough introduction to the shooting sports can create seriously negative opinions about shooting, and oten leaves an enduring finch. Since every shooter has dealt with a finch, most shooters have some method o coping with a finch when one develops. It’s worth listening to eperienced shooters at the range, and nding out what works or them. The only “solution” I would warn you away rom is the non-solution o mechanically adjusting your sights so that the gun hits

The most certain way to diagnose a finch is to ool your muscles into believing that you are about to re live ammunition, when in act you are going to dry re the gun. Here’s how to do that.

In order to diagnose and then cure your finch, i you have a semi—automatic handgun, you will need to purchase snap caps. Snap caps are inert ammunition-shaped objects you can put into your gun. They are the same size and shape as your regular ammunition, but usually come in bright colors. When a snap cap is loaded into your semi-automatic handgun and the trigger is pulled, all you will hear is a click. Snap caps are are not live ammunition. They cannot re, nor will they cycle the gun’s gun’s action. This works best i you have two or three magazines. Fill the magazine with a couple o live rounds, a snap cap,



a little more live stu, another snap cap, and so on. Randomly mi the number and order o snap caps compared to live rounds. I you only have one magazine, have a riend ll it or you while you look elsewhere. I you have two or more magazines, ll them yoursel and then shufe them around so you do not know which one is which.

sure on the trigger until the shot res with a bang. When you get to a snap cap, instead o a bang you will hear a click. And i you have been finching, you will graphically see the muzzle end o the gun take a deep dive instead o remaining steady as it should.1 Having diagnosed the problem, it’s time to write the prescription or curing it.

Prescription: Dry Fire The rst and most important method o dealing with a finch is lots o dry re. Be aware that dry re can be very dangerous. I you have never dry red red a handgun beore, please read the article titled “Dry Fire Saety” beore you go any urther.

Fig 10-38 Saety Note Be very, very careul not to allow your snap caps to get mixed in among your deensive ammunition when leaving the range. That could be very bad. Using these specially-prepared magazines, on the range when the ring line is hot, saely load your rearm as you ordinarily would. To accomplish the same task with a revolver, you can either randomly mi snap caps in with live ammunition in the cylinder, or you can randomly leave a ew empty holes where ammunition would ordinarily go. Beore you close the cylinder, close your eyes and gently rotate the cylinder.. Close the cylinder without looking, so that you do cylinder not know how the ammunition is lined up in your gun. Now your rearm is loaded partially with real ammunition and partially with ake ammunition which will not re. The net step is to re the gun. Line your sights up on the target, ocus on the ront sight, and steadily increase pres-

What is dry re? Dry re is going through the motions o ring the gun when there is no ammunition in it. You can do this at home as long as you have a sae backstop and as long as you ollow every single one o the rules or saely dry ring a gun.

Random Thoughts #11: Dry ring doesn’t hurt most pistols. I you are uncertain about your specic pistol, it is advised that you consult a proessional. There are no disadvantages to dry ring, as long as it is carried out in a sae manner. The advantages , however, are too numerous to name. Many eperts even say that the best shooters will dry re one hundred times per every ‘live’ shot ired over their lietime. I you’re not dry ring... you’re missing out on a HUGE HUGE opportunity to really boost your pistol accuracy!



I you are uncertain whether you can saely dry re in your home, DON’T. You You can always alway s saely dry re on the range. ran ge. There is no rule that says you must always use ammunition at the range. It is perectly sae and acceptable to dry re there instead. No one will be surprised, because good shooters oten dry re at the range as one part o a regular practice routine. Just as i you were ring live ammunition, you will grip the handgun properly, align your sights careully, and slowly increase pressure on the trigger until the trigger’s break point is reached. You You will keep your eye glued to the ront sight and will continue to hold the trigger to the rear without lessening your nger’s pressure on the trigger or a ull Fig 10-39 Even though you have accepted this normal wobble two seconds ater the trigger has been completely pulled. As you ocus sharply on the ront sight during dry re, you may notice that your ront sight wobbles a bit. This is normal and epected, not something to worry about or ght against. I you watch the ront sight or awhile, you will see something interesting: no matter how badly your hand is shaking, the area on the target that is actually covered by your “wobble zone” is really quite small. As long as your trigger pull is smooth, every single shot will all within that very small wobble zone close to the center o your target. But i you try to snatch the trigger back to get an absolutely perect shot during the brie moments when your ront sight wobbles across the eact, perect center o the bullseye, your shots will land very low and much urther away rom the center center.. Do not try to muscle the wobble away. The more you clench up, the worse the wobble becomes. And don’t try to race against it by snatching the trigger back. Simply increase the pressure on your trigger while accepting the wobble or the normal phenomenon that it is. Even though you have accepted this normal wobble o the ront sight, remember that you are still trying to hold the ront sight as steady as you humanly can. Don’t allow it to dip or sway as a result o your trigger pull. I you nd

o the ront sight, remember that you are still trying to hold the ront sight as steady as you humanly can.

your trigger pull also pulls the sights out o alignment to the right or to the let, adjust the amount o trigger nger you have resting on the trigger. trigger. Grip the rearm rmly r mly rather than loosely so that your non—trigger ngers cannot sympathetically tighten and “milk” the pistol while you are pulling the trigger. As you pull the trigger, you may be able to eel the tension within the trigger mechanism increasing so that the pull eels heavier as the trigger gets urther back. Do not allow this to slow down the rate at which the trigger is travelling to the rear. Instead, pull the trigger at the same speed during the entire process, increasing the pressure upon it steadily until the trigger breaks to the rear with a sharp click. Never think about the trigger’s break point, or about the shot ring. Let the hammer all surprise you, every ever y time. In order to keep themselves rom thinking about the trigger break and to allow the trigger break to come as a surprise, many olks nd that chanting “ront sight ront sigh ront sight” helps keep their minds rom trying to anticipate the shot.



This is an important step: ater the trigger has broken to the rear, do not take your nger o the trigger or at least two ull seconds. Keep the sights steadily on the target and continue holding the trigger completely to the rear while you count one-one-thousand-two-one-thousand.

Checup Ater you have red live ammunition or awhile, it’s it’s time or a checkup. Mi snap caps in with your regular ammunition again, as you did or the initial diagnosis. This time, you are simply going to shoot the gun and keep shooting

Try to dry re or at least ve or ten minutes every day or so.

Prescription: On The Range On the range, try to do eactly as you have practiced in dry re. Get the sights lined up on the target, ocus sharply on the ront sight, and gradually increase pressure on the trigger. Do not think about the shot ring. Do not try to “grab” the magic moment when your sights are completely and perectly centered on the bullseye. Instead, accept that the ront sight will wobble a little bit, and concentrate on keeping it as steady as you can while you steadily put increasing pressure on the trigger. Do not try to gure out when the shot will re. Let that be a surprise to you.

Fig 10-40 I you need to chant “ront sight ront sight ront sight,” do so. Anything to keep your mind rom anticipating I you need to chant “ront sight ront sight ront sight,” do when the shot will ire. You want the shot to be a surprise to you. so. Anything to keep your mind rom anticipating when the shot will re. You want the shot to be a surprise to you.

Practice good ollow-through. Ater the shot goes o, continue holding the trigger completely to the rear while you line the sights back up and ocus sharply on the ront sight. Count one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand while you hold the trigger to the rear. Then and only then, release the trigger and allow it to come orward. I you eel your muscles getting ready to finch, take a deep breath. Then saely unload your rearm, and practice dryring right there on the range until you have settled down a little. Any time you eel ready to finch, consciously rela every muscle in your body ecept the ones you need in order to shoot saely, and go back to dry ring until you eel ready to try it again.

it. Since you have been doing so much dry re, you know eactly what the sights should look like when you pull the trigger on an unepected snap cap — it should look and eel eactly as it does when you were epecting to dry re. By the way, it’s kind o embarrassing to nd that muzzle dipping downwards so dramatically when you come across a snap cap while ring. The only cure I’ve ever ound or that embarrassment is to conquer the finch.

Prescription: More Dry Fire Back at home, set up your sae dry re area again. You need to practice dry ring some more. This time you are going to do something dierent: you’re going to try balancing a coin on the ront sight while you dry re.2



FOOT NOTES: Lay a penny across the top o the ront sight so that it is resting there. Then dry re as usual. Align the sights, ocus on the ront sight, and steadily increase pressure on the trigger while keeping the coin balanced on top o the ront sight. Can you do it? Practice until you can keep the penny balanced on top o your handgun during each and every e very trigger pull, without ail. Make a game o it: instead o using a penny, penny, get a roll or two o dimes and use them. Every time a dime alls o, pick it up and put it into your penalty jar — and then get out another dime. When the jar is ull enough, you can use the contents to buy ammunition or proessional rearms instruction only. only. (No cheating ...) Continue to regularly practice dry re, especially when you cannot get to the range or awhile.

Foow-Up Care: Reguar Chec Ups Now that your finch is under control, you should take your snap caps to the range with you rom time to time, to check on your progress and to prevent the finch rom returning ull orce. Remember that you will need regular dry re practice, too.

1. This is also a good time to practice your ability to clear a miseed. The clearing sequence is oten called Tap, Rack, Bang. When you encounter a snapcap or any other ailure to re in a semi-automatic handgun, tap the baseplate o the magazine to be certain it is rmly seated in the gun, rack the slide to clear the non-unctioning ammunition out o the way, way, assess the target to be sure it still needs shooting, and then bang (pull the trigger again). 2. Not on edge! Lay it fat.

About the Author... Kathy Jackson is the Managing Editor o Concealed Carry Magazine. An assistant instructor at the Firearms Acade- my o Seattle in Washington state, she takes special pleasure in teaching other women how to shoot. Read more o her work on her personal website, the Cornered Cat (www.corneredcat.com).

Most shooters have recurring bouts o finch trouble. This isn’t unepected or unusual. It only means that it is time to ocus on the basics once again. And now you know what to do about it when it happens to you.




A finch happens when your muscles clench suddenly in anticipation o the shot ring, yanking the muzzle o the gun downwards and o-target at the last possible moment. Sometimes a habitual finch can be created with just a single negative eperience. The most certain way to diagnose a finch is to ool your muscles and brain into believing that you are about to re live ammunition. The rst and most important method o dealing with a finch is lots o dry re: going through the motions o ring the gun when there is no ammunition in it. As you ocus sharply on the ront sight during dry re, you may notice that your ront sight wobbles a bit. This is normal and a nd epected, not something to worry about or ght against. Do not try to muscle the wobble away. The more you clench up, the worse the wobble becomes. Let the hammer all surprise you, every time. Many olks nd that chanting “ront sight, ront sight, ront sight” helps keep their minds rom trying to anticipate the shot. Ater the trigger has broken to the rear, do not take your nger o the trigger or at least two ull seconds. Try to dry re or at least ve or ten minutes every ever y day or so. Practice good ollow-through. Ater the shot goes o, continue holding the trigger completely to the rear while you line the sights back up and ocus sharply on the ront sight. Lay a penny across the top o the ront sight so that it is resting there, then dry re as usual, trying not to knock the coin o o the ront sight.



cOncLuSIOn

T

his concludes our report on Pistol Accuracy. I hope you have ound within this report, many guidelines by which you can greatly improve your aptitude while armed. The men and women who participated par ticipated in building this report are rankly some o the industry’s nest (not to mention, nicest) individuals involved in the Armed Citizen community. They all have done some truly amazing things with their talents, and many o them are current instructors within the eld. I at all possible, I strongly urge you to seek our proessional training— i not by these olks, by other proessionals in your area. With that said, I’d like to end by saying that the learning process or ANY given practice is never at an end. You can never truly ‘master’ a crat; there is always room or improvement. In addition to seeking proessional, hands—on training, immerse yoursel with books and other reading material which will all help you build a mental advantage and state o readiness— not to mention make your hands—on practice much more ecient. Socialize with other people o a similar mindset. Compare strategies, and train together. Community involvement is crucial when it comes to the learning process, both or your benet, as well as the benets o others who might be able to learn rom you. Finally, I do hope that you will consider a membership to the United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), i Finally, you are not already a member member.. For the mere cost o a bo o ammo per year, you will have regular access to thousands o olks just like yoursel through participation in our members-only online orum. Moreover, you will regularly receive our very own Concealed Carry Magazine which, through epert contributors including those who participated in this report, is an enormous resource to the Armed Citizen. Concealed Carry Magazine seeks to epand the awareness and challenge c hallenge the comort zones o those who read it, pushing them to become more ecient, and more eective Armed Citizens. Ultimately,, a USCCA membership helps its readers lead more sae and secure lives. Ultimately Thank you or reading, The Delta Media Team


uscca Accuracy Secrets

Recommend Documents