I am looking for tips and techniques for shooting, namely with handguns. I have a pretty solid rifle style but am always open for improvement. I am open to any help or references.
Dig into it and research Jeff Cooper and the American Pistol Institute, aka The Gunsite Academy. May as well learn from the best!
The Weaver stance is going out of favor these days even though many many people still use it. The Isocoles stance is coming back. You can research these two terms and find a stance that works for you.
The scenario: You're watching TV sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn in your lap and a Coors light in your hand. A Perp kicks your door wide open and storms in. You should: (A) shout "FREEZE AZZHOLE", while I get my gun and take the Weaver Stance"... (B) Ask him to join you in a brew, then cap his azz when he's not looking... (C) simply reach down, grab your cocked & locked and blow this turd into oblivion without spilling popcorn & beer all over yourself. The point being; you need to be able to shoot from ANY position, ANY place. ANY time. Stances don't cut it except at the gunrange.
+1 and +1 I would also recommend the writings of Rob Pincus. Those three will teach you more than you ever needed to know about a gunfight and how to win one... JD
Andy Stanford has some very strong information. So does Gabe Suarez. Your best bet would be to find a class on shooting pistols in your area. I believe Suarez International is trying to arrange one in Billings sometime this summer.
Go to youtube, and type in "Pistol Shooting" or "Pistol Stances" or "Gunfighting Stances" That will give you a starting point. Remember that gunfighting is different for everyone. There is no cookie-cutter approach out there. The best advice is practice, practice, practice, practice.
Billings eh? thanks I will look into it. I was taught to shoot in the weaver stance but have since adopted both for whatever I basically feel like at the time. I have been told a couple of times that the weaver stance is sloppy and to abandon it altogether, but 9 times out of ten when the police are being shot at it seems they instinctively use this and abandon what they had been taught.
I would say that be true for 10 times out of ten for ANYONE being shot at, especially for the first time. The human urge to make one self as small a silhoutte as possible is a strong reaction to have to untrain. Use what works for you... I have been to two "combat pistol schools" and they both stressed that when you react, you are going to do what comes natural, at that moment and given those surroundings, and not something that was taught to you. Don't fight it, make it work for you and get your rounds on target first, or more accurately if you are already taking fire. Worrying about where your feet should be, or how wide apart your elbows are, is going to get you drilled. JD
Yes true that you face the enemy, but you thrust your one offensive hand in his direction and let the other remain free, at least at first. I could be wrong, I have never shot at anyone before.
That train of thought shows muscle memory. If you train properly, you develop muscle memory. Once that muscle memory has developed, nothing can corrupt it. I learned to shoot a rifle early on in life. Later, I was studying Kenpo and shooting a lot of skeet. This developed a particular stance that my body instinctively fell back upon, as a long arm shooting and a weak side forward martial arts stance are so similar. As such, I developed a stance that puts my body at roughly a 45º angle to the target, with my arms bent at a little over a 90º angle. That posture allows me to quickly clear leather and find my front sight with pistols and readily bring them to defensive (hidden) postures if necessary. It also allows me to quickly bring long arms from a 'ready arms' position to a muzzle on target position.
Best method it to shoot often and find a position that works best for you. It might be a prescribed method, somethig close to it or something different that works for you so you can hit center mass with the highest result. Even with all the possible advice if the time comes it's going to rereaction so shoot often.
