Stress is a part of everyone’s life and everyone has own technique to manage their stressful life. If stress is not managed in the right and timely order then it can really affect our lives. Some people like to listen to music while others find long walks to be more effective, there are also those who like to indulge in competitive shooting as stress management. Studies have shown that this form of stress management is really a source of inspiration and actually add many years to one’s life. Competitive shooting is similar to what we do in our life i.e. set goal, make plans to accomplish those goals and then feel the unique happiness of achieving the goals. Nonetheless, the most outstanding part of competitive shooting is the fellowship that comes with it. Many shooting competitions utilize the 1911 pistol. Choosing the correct pistol grips for your handgun is essential.

However, before you enter into a competitive shooting you must learn some basics and ensure you have the correct type of pistol grips for the situation.

Stance to be adopted: The right stance contributes a long way towards your shooting. The right stance is to face the target and then turn your non-shooting side almost 45 degrees away from the target. You might need to adjust your position a little to make yourself comfortable. When adjusting your stance you must keep in mind that you need to relax your entire body except the shooting elbow, arm and wrist. Next adjust your gun and arm above the target area, close your eyes and let the gun automatically adjust in the aiming area. If there is a bit of difference then adjust your foot a little such that your aim is focused on the target. This will help your body to support your gun horizontally and you can use your muscles to move the gun vertically in a much comfortable way.

Handgun grips: Use your non-shooting hand to hold the pistol by the slide or the barrel and then use the shooting hand. Although most of the experienced shooters agree on this position as well as using the correct pistol grips; however, the truth is that it depends entirely on you and what is more comfortable for you.

Aligning your sight: Humanly it is impossible to see the sight and the target at the same time therefore, you must concentrate on the sight and accept that the target will be a little blur.

Movement of the pistol and controlling the trigger: When shooting a pistol you must keep in mind that no matter how much you try to control it there will be movement since it is impossible to hold the gun motionless.

Practicing and training handgun grips:

Proper practicing and training with your handgun grips is of utmost importance when it comes to shooting. Here are some pointers to a better handgun grips that will go a long way in shooting for you.

The first and the most important thing to getting a perfect handgun grips are strong muscles. Under normal circumstances your muscles are not strong enough to handle the movement of the shoots so you might need to lift weights. Five pounders is a good thing to start and if you imagine the pistol movement while doing so then it will be even more effective.

Use sight picture exercises to get a control over your movement of pistol when it is fired. One of the recommended sight picture exercises that you might find effective in your case is drawing a vertical as well as a horizontal line. Concentrate on vertical line and then on the horizontal line repeatedly helping you in mentally picturing the arc of your movement and then controlling it.

Controlling your trigger is also of great importance along with your handgun grips.  The first one is where you slowly start putting pressure on the trigger and continue to do so until the shot actually takes place. During this process also concentrate on slowly taking the poundage off. This technique is good for beginners as it helps in accepting the movement. The other method is often called as “staging” the trigger where the trigger is only pulled when the sight is in perfect alignment with the picture.

Practice all the above mentioned tips regarding breathing, gripping, stance, holding the trigger, putting the pressure in a dry firing session.

Go to a practice session and shoot the entire course while noting your weak points the entire time. After completing the course, practice on the things that were bothering you in the first session.

Taking part in matches and competitive shooting can be the real contributor to your learning session. This will not only help in making your shooting better but also contribute greatly towards your confidence.

Tags: Basics of Pistol Shooting, handgun grips, Pistol Grips

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 10:53 am and is filed under Basics of Pistol Shooting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.