Ted's Shooting Guide.

[whoshisface]

Disclaimer: The following post is only opinion based. I am not an expert. Many people on this board can add to and correct what I have written here. The hope is that this article will be helpful to people who have little or no experience that are looking for a place to start. This is not a substitute for formal training. Before you even think about doing anything explained here, take a firearm safety course. You are responsible for your own safety and the safety of others. Do not do anything that is not safe regardless of this articles suggestion(s).

Some safety rules can be found here.
http://www.nrahq.org/education/guide.asp

[whoshisface]

Ted’s Shooting Guide

First a Touch on Safety…

If you are like me, you probably learned about guns from your father or family member when you grew up. I was seven when I learned gun safety from my father. The first thing I learned, was to never touch a firearm without my father being present. I always knew where it was, and yet somehow I never touched it. Perhaps my parents just knew that I was never going to that kind of kid. My dad taught me all about the safety of handling a firearm and of course, I only handled it while he was present. As for firing the gun, he only taught me how to line up the sites and squeeze the trigger. It really did do much for my accuracy.

All that safety information is very important and should be the first thing you practice when purchasing a gun, rather it is the 100th gun you have owned or the first, you need to force safe firearm handling procedures into every crevice of your mind. Take the time to ingrain a healthy paranoia, that if you forget or get careless with a firearm, you are going to expose someone or yourself to a potentially lethal situation. We do not want that, do your job and make sure you know all the safety mechanisms and the operation of your firearm before you even load it!

For the purposes of this article I am assuming that everyone is aware, has practiced, engrained in their mind, soul and body the absolute pinnacle of firearm safety. If you have not learned all you can about safe firearm handling then stop reading this now and find all the information you can about gun safety, come back when you are positive that you are 100% safe. The NRA basic pistol course is a great starting point for both safety and basic shooting techniques. Please note, I am not a great shooter, many people that visit this board are probably 1000 times better than I am. I am not an expert, I am just a person that has tried to read everything I could on operating a firearm and I have much more to learn. The idea of this article is to communicate the basic knowledge I have come across to help those, who like me, never really learned anything about stance, proper sighting, target acquisition, etc. Paying an instructor to teach you is much better than whatever you will read here. Take these suggestions with a grain of salt. There are better techniques; this article is for those that refuse to hire a qualified trainer. Also, note that you are going to pick up some bad habits along the way. I do not believe anything I am writing here is a “bad” habit but keep in mind that you might interpret what I write differently than what I mean. I am not known for my fantastic writing style .This article is no substitute for a trainer, and when/if you finally meet a trainer listen to him, not this guide.

[whoshisface]

Generally

When you are trying something new, leave your gun unloaded or load it up with snap caps, follow the safety rules and remove all live ammo from the room. Snap caps are fake rounds, they contain no gunpowder and therefore cannot fire. You can buy them off the Internet or probably at your local gun shop. GET THEM! They are the best training tool you will ever have!

Snap caps can be found here or at your favorite gun supply store.

http://search.cheaperthandirt.com/se...9.222&filter=p

As always, never point your firearm at something which is not safe to shoot. Use a fake gun if you have to. I will not be stating these safety points throughout the article, it is up to you to use your head and keep yourself and others safe.

*”Fake gun” refers to a safe gun used in a safe manner with snap caps or unload pointed in a 100% safe direction at all times.

The army created a training guide, years ago; I have found it particularly useful. It's main focus is one handed shooting, which is not what we will be discussing here.

http://web.mit.edu/birge/Public/book...ning-Guide.pdf

[whoshisface]

Stance

Everyone and their brother has a different stance that they like or prefer. There is always going to be a better or more appropriate one. If you are an experienced shooter, you already have a stance and I am sure it is the be all and end all of stances for you. That is great, but if you have no clue, what do you do? I have read so much on this my head was nearly going to explode. Some people might have a problem holding several of the standard stances. No one stance works for everyone, so let’s find something you can build on. Later you can get a trainer, an expert, to guide you to a better stance. Sure, it would be great if you could get one now but if you are just looking for some general guidance, here are some pointers.

Stand up, unarmed, feet about shoulders width apart. Keep your hands down; we will work on that later. Keep a good posture but be comfortable as well. If you can, bend your knees slightly. Keep your chin in line with your knees while keeping your back straight and chin level with the floor. This will displace your backside at about the same but opposite distance as your knees. This stance resembles squatting. Play with it. Bend your knees more while keeping your back straight and chin level in line with your knees. Go up and down, bending your knees, until you find a comfortable spot. This stance should have you feeling as though you are leaning forward. Close your eyes and relax. Wait for a few minutes. Are you comfortable? Do you feel that you need to move your knee or is your neck strained? If so, go back to standing straight up and repeat the process until you find a comfortable stance. You might have to put one leg slightly forward or some slight variation. However, it is important that you find your comfort zone, a position that you can stand for at least a few minutes without strain. Once you find it sit down for a minute get up, do it again, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

This is your foundation. Now without a doubt this stance is not great, it is probably barely acceptable. An expert would move you around like a rag doll but for someone without a clue and no aspirations to find an expert; it is probably the best you will ever find. This is a two handed stance. We will work on a one handed at another time, use the army link I provided earlier.

Now you might feel dumb but practice this stance three times a day, every day for 5 minutes and it will be engrained before week’s end.
Now clasp your hands together and make a fake gun, extend them elbows bent slightly. I can see from here that you tensed/hunched your shoulders. Relax your shoulders. Get those elbows nearer to your center. Here is a good way to think about this. If you have to pick up a heavy object, would you extend your arms all the way out? Would you cock your elbows out away from your center? You do not want your elbows pitched way out (left and right), you want them more so in towards your center, however not so much that you feel tenseness in your underarms. Typically, the inside of your elbows should be about a few inches or so wider than the front of your chest. No pinching should be going on. How far away should I push the “fake gun”? My general thought is that if you bend only at the elbows keeping your bicep and shoulders still, you should hit the first knuckle nearest your hand of your thumb to the tip of your nose. Do not worry; when you fire your gun, if you are firing some sort of hand cannon, you are going to rotate your shoulder up. Of course, if you need to do such a thing then I would suggest that caliber may be too large for you anyway.

Arm position/orientation is typically missing in most publications on stances; I have seen people in all sorts of contortions. The most common mistake I see is someone with his or her elbows cocked out excessively. However, all of this means very little, you have to find something that is actually relatively comfortable to you.

Stand straight up, arms length away from a white wall. Get a post it note of some sort and place it where your eyes are on the wall. Close your eyes, get into your stance, clasps your hands together to make a fake gun. Raise your arms up while your eyes are closed. With your eyes closed, find a comfortable spot, arms out, slightly bent elbows. Open your eyes, note where you are pointing. Is it just barely under eye level? It should be, when you have your gun in your hand it should then be at eye level. How is your stance, how is your arm position? Since you are in your stance, knees bent ,backside out, leaning your chin level over your knees, your fingers should now be pointed at the wall a considerable distance under the post it note!

To be continued after we talk about…

[whoshisface]

GRIP!

You have to hold the gun! Even a minor twist here and you are going to be shooting air. This is probably the worst of all things to explain on paper. Your hand is unique. Arthritis anyone?

Here are the basics. Take the “fake gun” in the non-dominate hand (from here on out left-handed persons are going to have to do what they always have to do) and hold it by the barrel, palm up. Jam that sucker into your right hand. Back all the way into the crease of your thumb. Got it? Great! Grip that sucker hard with the right hand. Index finger alongside the gun, NOT on the trigger! Take the other hand and grip the first, index finger over the middle finger. Squeeze hard, I mean really hard. You should start to shake because your white knuckling. Now ease up until you stop shaking. Are you tensing your bicep and/or shoulder? I said grip it with your hands not your whole body!

There is no need to tense up anything other than the hand and naturally, your upper forearm, since that is what is making the grip. Put the “fake gun” down. Take your left hand and grab your wrist with the palm to the inside of the wrist. Make a fist with the other hand. You should feel the muscle in your forearm tighten and loosen from the motion. When you tighten your grip, the forearm will be tightened near the elbow and when you open your hand, it will be tightened at the wrist. Tighten the grip and move the left hand to the elbow, with your palm on the inside. Now ease up on the right hand pinky. You should feel the difference.

Each finger moves the forearm muscle differently. Gripping too tightly with the pinky causes most of my problems anyway. Once you tighten that pinky too much you force your hand downward towards the pinky. This is something to keep in mind if you find that you shooting low. When you start to refine your technique you should print out a (x) handed correction target. It is a great tool to use, you can find one here.

http://www.bghi.us/targets/rh_correction.pdf

Do not tighten your bicep, it is a typical behavior but not needed here and adds to fatigue. If you tighten your shoulder, you are just creating more problems. You just need to keep a handle on the “fake gun”; it should not be of such caliber that you need to hold it down. What are you shooting anyway? A rocket launcher?

Now go back and do the grip again this time, do not tense your shoulders or biceps.

Play with moving the angles of your wrist until they make a level solid base for your “fake gun”

Left and right movement should not be refined right now but you should, in general, be pointing it naturally with a good horizontal (right and left) orientation.

Stance (continued)…

Remember the arms length wall stance exercise we were doing before? Do it again, you have been distracted with the grip exercise, so refresh yourself.

Once you get back on track, get your “fake gun” and try it again, eyes closed! That is where you want to put your target center. Make sure you are comfortable here. You are not shooting live rounds, there is no pressure to perform here, keep playing with it until you are comfortable.

Now you have the height you need for easy target practice. Put the target on the wall, I prefer a bright red dot about 2 inches in diameter, where you ended up pointing that “fake gun”. Now try it again, arms length away from the wall, eyes closed, in your stance with your arm position, raise your gun. Open your eyes! Are you pointing at the dot? No! If your arm position is natural and the “fake” gun is level, DO NOT move your arms! Move the target! When you can do this drill, eyes closed, 100% of the time, you will know you have a consistent and comfortable stance, arm position, and grip. If you are not being consistent, consider that you might be fatigued or that your stance and arm position is not comfortable for you and start from the top repeatedly until you can perform this flawlessly.

Recap…

So what have we done here? Well if you think about it. You are pointing at the wall in the same exact place with your eyes closed in your comfortable stance and arm positions, and a great level grip. All things being equal you should be able to hit the same spot every time you…

[whoshisface]

Pull the trigger…

Now this is the time when everything goes down.

BUT WAIT!

Before you pull that trigger, you better...

Site the target….

Those annoying sights. Which eye do I use? Which eye is dominate? What are those dots for? Why is everything so blurry?

Hey, something has to be hard, right?

Without a doubt, this is the probably the hardest part to learn, but once learned you will realize just how much everything else plays into your success or failure.

First, we need to determine which of your two eyes are dominate. If you own glasses put them on and make sure the room is brightly lit. Turn your hands back towards you and make a small triangle. You do this by overlapping your left hand fingers over your right hand fingers and thumbs. Pick a small object in the room; the red dot target on the wall is fine. Stand about 5-10 feet away with the triangle held arm length from you. Look through the triangle at arm’s length and see the dot. Bring your hands in to your face slowly, keeping the dot in the triangle. When the hands get about 1 inch, close one eye, then the other. One eye will see the dot; one will see the back of the hand. Now the following might sound silly but people make the same mistake all the time. The one that sees the dot is your dominate eye not the one you are squinting! For some reason people will close the one eye and see the dot and then surmise that the closed eye is the dominate eye. The dominate eye is the one that is open and sees the dot!

Now here is a test for your newly found dominate eye. With both eyes open point the finger of your dominate hand like it is a gun at the dot about 5-10 feet in front of you, do not think about it too much just point at the thing like you would normally, not like you’re aiming. Do not move, now close one eye, are you pointing at the object, if not, close the other eye, are you pointing at the object? The view through one eye will show that you are pointing to the opposite side of the open eye. I.e. if you are right eye dominate, upon closing your right eye and looking through your left, you will look like your pointing to the right of that target and vice versa. You determine your dominate eye by the one eye that when open, looks like you are pointing at the object. Keep doing these exercises until you have come up with one dominate eye. As a general rule of thumb, those that are right handed will be right eye dominate, those that are left, left eye dominate.

Now it is time to throw you a curve ball. There is no such thing as being one eye dominate unless you are seriously visually impaired in one eye. That is right, I said it! Turn your head about 45 degrees to the side, with your dominate eye away and use your non-dominate hand to point at the object. Typically you will use the non-dominate. Why? Because your dominate eye can’t see the object, it should be obscured by your nose since you rotated you head away from the target. This is a cheat for those looking to keep both eyes open but does not typically make for a good firing position.

We need to play with this a little to understand its nuances. Face the target squarely, you can do this sitting down, point to about 2 feet to the side of the target, on your non-dominate eye side with your non-dominate eye side hand. IE. I am right eye dominate so I point my left hand finger to about 2 feet left of the dot. Now look at the tip of your finger, while it is extended, really look at it. I want you to see your fingernail with the upmost clarity. Keep your eyes focused on the tip and move the finger horizontally towards the target slowly. Eventually, when you get close, you will notice that you see two targets. These should be out of focus because you are focusing on your fingertip! Stop when your finger is obscuring the left most dot/target. Close your right eye and bang you should now be pointing at the target with the left finger and the left eye is “dominate”. Open your right eye and focus on the fingertip again, move your finger until it covers the other dot/target to the right. Close your left eye. Bam, you are obscuring the right dot/target now and your right eye is now “dominate”.

What happened here? Well the whole point of these exercises is to make you aware of the nuances of your sight. You walk around all day resolving these focusing /eye dominate issues without ever noticing it but now you are having trouble. First off, we almost never try to focus on a near and far object at the same time; instead, we shift from one to the other. As you get older, this becomes even harder, as it takes more time to shift and focus. We are now faced with a dilemma; do we look at the sights or what we are shooting at? The answer is the sights. The reason is that the bullet follows the sights not the target! If only the bullet followed the target!
Some people will argue this section and with good reason, I am sure they will write to explain their position and you should hear them out.
All you have to do is pick one of the two visions you see of the target, either one will do! It doesn’t matter in the least, if you pick the right one then you are using your right eye to sight if you pick the left you are using the left to sight. Do you care or do you just want to hit the target?

The sights should be lined up dot to dot to dot in a horizontal line. I am guessing you already knew that. Some sights are different; they have a line, a figure 8 (which is supposedly the easiest sights to line up) etc… Read the firearm’s owners’ manual to find out how that picture should work. I try not to flip out about getting it perfect, you are going to move, your heart is beating, you body is sloshing that burrito around in your stomach, and your kidneys are processing that soda. You name it; it is going on inside there, so getting it perfect really demands a huge amount of practice and is beyond the scope of what we are trying to cover here.

In using the gun sites, the important part is that you must maintain the focus on the front sight! You probably noticed with the fingertip exercise, that you kept shifting your focus from the fingertip to the area around the target and the target itself. DO NOT DO THAT! It is hard to stop obsessing about the target but you must! You see the target, albeit not clearly, but it is there, and it is not going anywhere.
We should evaluate the sights themselves. Bring your “fake gun” up to your eyeballs and look at the sights! For the typical handgun, the sites are surprisingly far away from each other. Even at a few inches, we cannot maintain perfect focus on both of these objects at the same time! Well what are we going to do about that? It is simple; the back sites have a more dominate role in maintain the horizontal positioning of the gun relative to the target. While the front site itself dictates everything, horizontal and vertical! However without the rear sights you have nothing to judge the one point to. If I obscure the target with the front sight while looking through the gap in the rear, I am generally near the mark. I only need the rear sights as a reference not a leader. We now, while focusing on the front sights only, need to ensure that the ambient light around the front sight is equal both left and right or the front sight and uniform across the top. I do not actually need to focus on the rear sights at all. I am using them to only obscure light. Now this is general, advanced people have worked through this basic step and have other means at which to use these rear sights but already we have covered so much our heads are spinning. Because of this, we will leave it at that.

While gripping the gun normally, focus on the front sight and maneuver the gun to see the ambient light patterns I have described for you. Now close one eye. Has the picture changed? Are you now looking at the side of the gun? If so, then close the open eye and open the closed eye. Are you now looking through the sites properly? The eye your using to peer through the rear site into the front sight is (for now) your dominate eye. Eventually you will just know which one you are using by instinct; it will not require all of these steps. You now know which target to go for, it’s the one on the side of your dominate eye. I.e. I am looking through the sights with my right eye so I obscure the right target. Open both eyes, shoot with both eyes open if possible, this will give you an advantage over the squinters because squinting an eye causes all sorts of minor issues like fatigue and blurred vision as well as a loss of situational awareness and depth perception.

Oh my what a workout this is, you should try explaining this let alone typing it, it is far more painful than reading it . Play with this, try to use the right eye then try to use the left while keeping both open! This will help you better understand the issues at hand.
We are still not finished. Try this, hold the “fake gun”, at a distance just greater than the distance the slide moves back, close to the middle of your face in line with your nose. Focus at the dead back of the gun. While doing this you should be able to see two slides and two targets! I just had you do that so that you can see how both eyes are working to resolve one image!

RECAP…

We learned how to determine the dominate eye. How to sight the gun and which target to aim for.

Now we need to learn how to….

[whoshisface]

FOCUS…..

This skill will make you better in anything you apply it to, anything.
It is amazing that this skill is not readily taught anywhere but I promise that if you train in it, you will find that you are clearer and more precise under pressure.

Everyday our minds are filled with distractions and often times we think more about what we have to do rather than what we are doing. While mowing the lawn, driving, doing repetitive or “boring” tasks, we think, “I have to pick up the kids from school. Hum, I think we are low on milk. It is time for an oil change.” Males, specifically, have it worse. “I have to pick up the kids from school. Hum, I think we are low on milk. It is time for an oil change. What is the receptionist wearing?” These thoughts are often a result of boredom and they distract us excessively from the tasks at hand.

I’m well aware that this section will often times be regarded as “pansy like”, however, I promise if you achieve it you will understand why I have included it at the risk of being labeled a new age freak, and no I’m not into yoga.

Here are some good techniques for learning how to focus. First, pick a repetitive visual pattern anywhere, the carpet, the tile floor, wallpaper. Find a spot, any spot and look at it. For this purpose you can look at the target/dot you have placed on the wall about 5 feet in front of you. I prefer something small within 2 feet typically a carpet fiber. Inhale, though your nose, for a slow count of six, hold for a slow count of six, exhale, though your mouth, for a slow count of six, repeat several times. Make adjustments for your personal abilities and comfort. You might need to do it for only a four count. After you are relaxed, you will get there; find that spot on which to focus. Stare at it. Keep staring at it. Do not think about the things that you have to do or even what you are trying to do. If you have never done an exercise like this, you will find this EXTREMLY hard to do. You will be amazed at all the crap that keeps popping into your head. You are probably thinking about what the receptionist is NOT wearing. Keep breathing the same way but try not to count. You do not want anything in your head right now. Keep doing this until you get tunnel vision. It is sort of like trying to see the 3-D image in those weird pictures. You will become so focused on the spot that the rest of your peripheral vision will start to turn gray. The first time this happens, you will freak out and shift your eyes. Now before everyone goes why in the world would you want to get tunnel vision when looking at a shooting target read on. Typically, it will take a layman about 10 to 20 minutes to even start to get tunnel vision. Some people never achieve the tunnel vision but that is only because they give up. It takes about 15-20 seconds when I try to do it and if in a situation, what seems like instantly.

When you acquire a target, have chosen to pull the trigger, you need to clear headed and without emotion. Anger is a luxury you cannot afford. You need to lose all emotions/thoughts and just plain get the job done! Being able to focus yourself is critical to performance no matter what the situation.

This technique is only to allow you to help get yourself into the “zone” I DO NOT get tunnel vision when I actually fire at the target, I have never even attempted to do so. However, I do breathe and focus during my target practice.

RECAP…

By learning how to turn off your thoughts of the day and focus on the activity, you will be free from those distractions

So now you are ready, your mind is focused (you’ve stopped thinking about what the receptionist is wearing and what you are going to have to pick up on your way home from the range), your stance is set, your grip is good , and your sighted properly using the correct eye.

WOW all you have to do now is…

[whoshisface]

PULL THE TRIGGER!

Seems like an easy task doesn’t it? Just squeeze that index finger and bang that bullet is going to hit the bulls eye, of course you are using your “fake gun” so that is not possible right now.

We need to evaluate how all of this adds up to either a good shot or a poor one.

Several people will tell you that you should put the pad of your index finger only on the trigger, some will bury their finger in the trigger and some will even use their middle finger! I am going to give you my opinion. If your hand is small enough to comfortably use only the pad of your index finger that is what you should use. I unfortunately have longer fingers and with my firearm this makes for a very uncomfortable contortion of my hand so I go up to just before the first crease (ducking while others throw objects at me for doing so) . However if you can use the pad use it. Sit down WITHOUT your “fake gun” and simulate pulling the trigger, do not forget to use both hands as you have learned earlier. Notice how your hand moves. You do not want to adjust your grip strength through the pull! However, it is nearly impossible to not alter it, we want to reduce that as much as possible. While you are looking at your hand, your index finger should be simulating being on the trigger but not pulling it yet, make note of how tight you are gripping. Make sure your grip is about as tight as if you were gripping the firearm. Are you tensing too many muscles? Pull the index finger back slow. Notice how the index finger flexes your whole hand. Typically, it will tweak your hand left and right. We need to minimize this as much as possible. First off, we do not want to use muscles that are not necessary to complete the action, only those that are needed, while maintaining the grip. Your pinky and thumb are typically the two main culprits here. Do not allow you pinky to squeeze harder or loosen up while the index finger is doing its thing. Note that your thumb is probably moving up and in. Try to hold it rigidly in place while moving the pad of your index finger in with as little arc as you can. Your hand is going to act slightly differently than anyone else’s. Your tendons might displace in the inside of your hand, this will move the “fake gun” as well. You are going to have to evaluate on your own to determine what adjustments you have to make to keep that hand as steady and sure as possible throughout the entire trigger pull. This is a great exercise to do while bored at the office, instead of thinking about the receptionist.

Sit down, grip your “fake gun” and look at the sights closely, follow all of your safety rules for ensuring that no bullet can be fired. Keep an eye on your sights and pull that trigger very slowly. See how much you are moving the gun! It is probably all over the place! Take some time, think why, and fix those slight flaws. Practice, practice, practice and try to perfect it.

Now you are ready to dry fire your “fake gun” using those snap caps and all the safety procedures to ensure that you do not discharge your firearm. Go up to that safe wall arms distance away, get into your stance, close your eyes, raise your gun, keeping your eyes closed, ensure that your arm position is correct. Open your eyes and put a target on the wall so that the natural position of the now leveled gun is lined up with the ten spot! Perform this exercise five times or so to make sure that the target is in the right location.

Keep your eyes on the front sight, be focused, take a few deep breaths, as you have learned earlier, when you are ready, inhale ½ way and hold it, pull the trigger slowly and observe the motion of the “fake gun” sights. You will probably naturally hold your breath before pulling the trigger, the reason for the half breath is because it is typically more comfortable to hold a half breath and it will force more oxygen to your brain. This will allow for clearer vision, greater focus, and less overall involuntary body movement from respiration. You now see all the work you will have to do to ensure your hand creates a level and strong shooting platform. While you are working on improving your basic techniques you should be taking some serious time between shots and slowly pulling that trigger, try to do it too slow.

For those that have shot before and have never used snap caps you will probably jerk in anticipation of recoil when you pull the trigger. This jerking is an indicator that you have to break that habit. Practicing with the snap caps will help you eliminate the anticipatory jerking that is having an effect on your actual trigger pull. You can take this exercise to the target range and do what is called a Dutch load, every other bullet will be a snap cap, or have a buddy load the magazine placing snap caps randomly within the magazine. Do not try to see where the bullet hits the target, keep your focus on the front site throughout the whole pull. That way you will see the jerking motions you are making when you surprisingly pull the trigger on a snap cap. When you pull the trigger DO NOT ASSUME that since the gun did not fire that you pulled on a snap cap, it might be a squib. If you do not know what a squib is, you need to go back and relearn your safety procedures again.. Another technique is to balance a quarter on the top of your slide during a snap cap only exercise, the quarter should not move!

I hope this article helped you in some way. Please do not interpret this as “the only way” or “the best way”, assume that some of it is wrong. Be critical with its contents, do some your own research, and talk to professionals that know way more than I do. Good luck, be safe, and I wish you good shooting!

-Ted John Noga

[whoshisface]

Unfortunately I have no idea who gave me the props already for this article, but my sincere thanks for it.

Again, I'm not an expert, this is only some of what I have learned and I hope that others on this board will contribute supplemental information and correct that information which is wrong.

Please note you'll see me edit this article several times, mostly because, despite my constant evaluation, I am not a great writer and I'll find grammatical and spelling errors ad noiseam.


Thanks again!

[Frenchy]

Who else calls you Exo?