Following best shooting practices helps you improve your aim and maintain shooting consistency. Use these four fundamental skills to improve your pistol shooting.
1. Breath Control
When you inhale and exhale air, your chest and abdomen move. Without breath control, you can hurt your aim.
Test different breath control methods to find one that works best for you. One possible approach is to exhale half of your breath and briefly pause. During the pause, aim your weapon and fire.
The longer the pause, the less comfortable you will feel and the more tremors you will have in your hands. So, keep the pause short.
2. Sight Alignment
Sight alignment involves lining up the rear and front sights to get a clear visual of your aim at the target. The front sight post should remain centered in the rear sight, with an equal amount of space to the left and right of the front sight post.
The top of the front sight post should also align with the top of the rear sight. Your aim will be low if the front sight post appears shorter than the rear. If it appears higher, your shot will be higher than the target.
Many people find that adding a red dot sight to the pistol speeds up their target acquisition. Consider the pros and cons of adding a sight to your CCW before mounting one.
3. Grip
Grip is another fundamental skill to master if you want to improve your pistol shooting. Place your dominant hand high on the pistol grip but not so high that it interferes with the slide. Wrap all fingers but your trigger finger around the grip. Keep your trigger finger extended along the side of the gun and off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.
Cup the bottom of the grip with your non-dominant hand for support. The thumb of your non-dominant hand should lie beneath the thumb of your shooting hand.
4. Trigger Discipline
Trigger control is activating the trigger without hurting your aim. When pulling the trigger, smoothly increase pressure. Move the trigger straight to the rear of the gun; do not pull to the left or right. Keep your finger on the trigger as the gun fires, then smoothly remove the pressure.
If the sight picture becomes poor while pulling the trigger, relax the pressure on the trigger and start again. Eventually, you will find the best way to pull the trigger and maintain a good sight picture.
