Fundamentals to Accurate Pistol Shooting

These may not be considered traditional shooting fundamentals; however I can assure you that after years of shooting and training, these fundamentals work very well. Give them a try and see what happens to your shooting.

1- Grip. If a shooter does not have a proper, solid, stable grip on the pistol, they will never shoot the pistol accurately. Think of the grip as the foundation of a building. If the foundation is not solid, the building will shift and never be stable. The same is true for shooting a pistol. The perfect stance may not always be possible. A solid, stable grip will help to overcome irregular shooting positions. My preferred two handed grip is a thumbs forward grip with the support hand rotated slightly forward. 

2- Stance. If possible, assume a solid stance that anchors you to the ground. The weaver stance was once thought to be the best stance for pistol shooting. The isosceles and modified isosceles stances are much more stable shooting platforms than the weaver stance. Those stances take advantage of the shooter's natural point of aim, much like precision rifle shooting. In addition to providing a natural point of aim, those stances use more of the upper body to absorb recoil.

3- Presentation. The presentation of the pistol is very important. It is during this time that the first two fundamentals are acquired. As the pistol is being drawn the shooter's stance is established, and just prior to presentation the shooter's grip is established. When the pistol is being presented, the fourth fundamental becomes natural. As the pistol meets the same level as the target the pistol's sights should be aligned in a manner that requires only slight adjustment.

The pistol should be drawn from the holster straight up and down. As soon as the muzzle clears the top of the holster the muzzle is rotated forward. As the pistol is moved from the position just above the holster the support hand meets the strong hand forming a proper grip on the pistol. The pistol is then "punched out" so that the arms are perfectly in line with the shoulders. This allows the shooter's entire body weight to absorb the recoil of the pistol.

4- Sight Alignment. Properly aligning the sights is always important. Alignment of the sights should be a natural action when presenting the pistol to a target. When shooting at close targets, if the sights are aligned relatively close to each other, a hit on target should be achieved. Will the hit be a 10x bulls-eye? Maybe not, but speed and accuracy go hand in hand. A slow 10x shooter will always lose to a fast 9x shooter. 

Alignment of the sights depends upon the type of sights the shooter's pistol is equipped with. Standard notch and post type sights should be aligned so that the top of the front sight is level with the top of the rear sight. Sights that use a standard three dot type sighting picture should have all three dots aligned next to each other when using the dots to acquire the sights quickly. The shooter needs to keep in mind that the impact of the bullet will be slightly above the dot as the dot does not extend to the top of the sight in most designs.

5- Trigger Press. This is the last fundamental of shooting. A solid trigger press in conjunction with the four previous fundamentals will result in very accurate and fast shooting. The trigger should be pressed straight back in a single fluid motion so as to not cause major misalignment of the pistol or the shooter's sight picture. If the shooter has a solid grip and stance it will be easy to forgive a horrendous trigger press.

Trigger press is the least important of the fundamentals listed, but it is still a fundamental to accurate pistol shooting. If the shooter is participating in action type pistol shooting competitions, the trigger press comes in last place. The reason I list trigger press in last place has to do with the range of most action pistol competitions. Most of the targets in these types of competitions are within 10 yards of the shooter. A trigger press that slightly moves the muzzle will normally not result in a miss at the short ranges those gun games are shot at. Twenty-five and fifty yard shots are obviously different.

Taking the time to complete a perfect trigger press will normally mean being too slow and losing. Shooters should practice their trigger press often, every day. This will help the fluid trigger press become natural. I have found that with lots of dry-fire practice, the perfect trigger press becomes natural and shooters make less trigger related errors.