Having a hard time with my aiming/hold

[SIGfiend]

I am told to keep my arms straight when shooting hanguns but find it uncomfortable because I have long arms. It is actually extremely uncomfortable. Are there any alternatives.

Must I keep them totally straight to be accurate or absorb recoil as I'm chastised by range people and a cop who'd been shooting next to me at the range?

 

[shooter503]

Sounds as though you have been taught the "Isoceles" stance - both arms straight. Find out about the "Weaver" stance - one arm straight, body 30 degrees to target, other arm bent down to provide support for the straight arm. This might be more comfortable for you. You will find lots of help in "Strategies nd Tactics" forum.

I will get flamed for saying this but, IMHO, eventually you will not need the straight arm at all. Straight arm is a good, and useful, way to learn to shoot initially but it is basically a target or long-range technique.

 

[pax]

SIGfiend:

Pictures work better than words.

www.corneredcat.com/Basics/grip.aspx

www.corneredcat.com/Basics/stance.aspx

If you're practicing for target shooting, stand in the most comfortable & relaxed manner you can and keep the sights aligned with the target while you pull the trigger.

If you're practicing for self-defense shooting, choose a stance that keeps your weight centered on the balls of your feet (like a boxer or a martial artist), with the gun held firmly enough that if someone grabs for it at close distances you'll have a fighting chance of holding onto it.

There's a huge controversy about elbows locked vs elbows unlocked in isosceles. Massad Ayoob's "Stressfire" technique is a pretty good example of the elbows-locked school of thought. Elbows locked allows the recoil to travel through your skeletal system and be passively absorbed through and dispersed by your entire body. It also tends to be more repeatable under extreme stress and it definitely is more repeatable when the lighting conditions are less than ideal.

Elbows-unlocked is taught by many IPSC and IDPA competition shooters, who find that it is somewhat easier to get good hits while moving with the elbows unlocked. With the elbows unlocked, recoil is controlled using the upper-body muscles rather than the skeletal system; some of these guys advocate relaxing the muscles and allowing the gun to fully recoil and settle back down on its own - advice that works very, very well with softer loads and less well with more powerful loads if you need to fire a second shot in a hurry.

Again, both the elbows-locked vs elbows-unlocked discussions above deal with the "isosceles" stance (pictures on the second link above). In both cases, the arms are "straight," but in the former case they're a bit straighter than the latter.

If instead you choose to go with the "Weaver" stance, it is proper to leave the elbows unlocked, and you can thus bring the gun a bit closer to your body with no ill effects provided you are using the push-pull technique (push out with the gun hand, pull back with the non-gun hand at the same time). Recoil is controlled using upper-body muscles.

Hope that helps!

pax

 

[ec-10]

SIGfiend, are you training for law enforcement or competition or are you just trying to learn how to shoot? Are these people at the range your instructors or are they just sticking their noses in your business?

Personally I can't remember ever shooting a handgun with my elbows in the locked position.

 

[whitetiger7654]

Elbows don't have to be locked. Also are you trying to be super accurate every shot or just rapid shooting? Are you holding the gun up through the whole magazine? Or bringing your arms down to relax in between shots?

 

[M2 Carbine]

SIGfiend,
There's only three things that you need to do to shoot decent groups.

1. Understand THROUGHLY what correct sight alignment, sight picture and trigger squeeze is and their importance.

2. To the best of your ability maintain the correct sight alignment/sight picture as you squeeze the trigger.

3. Think of nothing as you are squeezing the trigger except maintaining the sight picture. Just keep saying to yourself over and over, Sight picture, Sight picture, Sight picture, Sight picture, until the gun fires.

You can lay on the grass, shoot between your legs or sit in a lawn chair eating a hamburger and you will still shoot decently if you do those three things.

If you're practicing for target shooting, stand in the most comfortable & relaxed manner you can and keep the sights aligned with the target while you pull the trigger.