What Bold Statement has helped you to improve your handgun skills?

[Island Beretta]

Please if possible give statement and explanation and author. Please share, maybe it can enrich us as well..

I have 2.

1. See only what you need to see- this is from Brian Enos.

This was good because it put all the debate about point-shooting, partial sight alignment, full sight alignment etc. to rest in my mind. The key here is KNOWING WHAT YOU NEED TO SEE GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT YOUR CAPABILITIES AND THAT OF YOUR WEAPON ARE. For e.g. at 2 yds you only NEED to see the target-point shooting; at 10 yds. maybe a flash picture- part point, part sights etc.


2. Aim Small, Miss small- not sure of the author.

This factors in Murphy's law. This means that you aim at a smaller area to guarantee a better shot. So the concept of COM shooting is good but if you say for e.g. let me shoot through that hole in the centre of the centre of mass and you miss, then you have still hit the COM.

I have rephrased it to say 'Aim A+, Hit A'. This really helps your focus and to determine when to accept the hold.

 

[Dave R]

Sounds stupid, but "FRONT SIGHT! PRESS!"

i.e. for a defensive shooting, perfect sight alignment is not necessary. Just get the front sight on the target. Then don't yank it away when you pull the trigger.

Not a statement, but an experience that made a big impact on me. My Bro in Law is FBI. First time we went pistol shooting together, I made smaller groups than he did! With his gun! Yay me!

That's cuz most of my shooting had been slow-fire, controlled groups. That's what I did.

Then he showed me how he can draw from concealment and put 4-5 rounds in a palm-sized group at 15 yards in 3 seconds. Sounded like he was shooting almost full-auto. That's what HE practices.

He explained. If you need to use your gun, you need it fast. And multiple hits WILL stop the target from doing whatever the target was doing.

So I was doing the wrong thing real well.

 

[GoldenLoki]

"Stop screwing around, this is ----ing serious!" my Dad when I was about age 8.

When someone who seldom gets mad, gets mad, you notice. That was the first day I realized shooting was MORE than just recreation.

GL

 

[Dean Speir]

A BIG second on that one!

 

Sounds stupid, but "FRONT SIGHT! PRESS!"

'Tain't stoopid a'tall!

My shooting partner taped that to our ammo can just before a big match 'bout 20 years ago, and we went virtually unbeaten for the next three seasons!

(No one'd clued me in on that 'til then!)

 

 

[caz223]

I think I heard this one, or one similar from Brian Enos, as well.
If you can see the target, pick a spot on it, and hit it.
If you can see the bullseye, pick a spot on IT and hit it.
(Basically, don't just aim at the target.)

I don't know if it forces you to focus harder, or to try to visualize the target, or both, but it seems to help me.

 

[C.R.Sam]

"Sights on target !"....Mr. Adair, premium custom barrel maker of yore.

Sam

 

[Cortland]

In the podunk pistol matches that I shoot, I suppose it's "you can't miss fast enough to win."

Slow down...

 

[Neal Bloom]

"Give me your money!" Sure motivated me to improve my skills.

 

[10-Ring]

When I 1st started, my shooting buddies would just tell me "damn, you suck!" That was enough to motivate me to practice more

 

[BamBam]

"I love you, Daddy"

-My five-year-old daughter.

 

[sm]

1) "focus on threat"
2) "shoot the darn thing"
3) "front sight press"

Understand I was taught to shot all platforms without any sights,or beads on SGs. Be it the gunney ,whom at 6 taught me the 1911, an uncle ,a special old man ,or my gunsmith/buddy, and various others. The gist was even without sights, to focus on threat/target, let the human eye/hand 'puter do what it can better without me getting in the way, then transiton to sights and beads really showed.

 

[Kamicosmos]

Don't know who to credit, but mine is:

Speed comes with Accuracy.

 

[tex_n_cal]

"...take your time in a hurry..." which I think comes from Wild Bill Hickock.

 

[QuarterBoreGunner]

"If your going to shoot- shoot. Don't talk"

'Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez- also known as the Rat' from "The Good The Bad and The Ugly"

From my personal experience, I've always interpeted this to mean- hey man, this is it, don't screw around, just do what you have to do. It's always worked for me.

 

[Trisha]

"You'll live. You'll never be pretty, but you'll live." The doctor set my chart down.

"Buy a gun and learn how to use it."

 

[Kentucky Rifle]

My father: "If I ever see or even hear of you doing something stupid, your ****ing pistol is GONE"! Then, he handed me a new Colt.

KR

 

[E=MC^2]

Don't fire the gun with your hand. You only fire your gun with the trigger finger.

That's the only part that moves. If you're surprised, that shot will be right where the sights were. And aiming is the easy part. Fire control is the part you need to perfect.

This is from one of my American Shooter recordings. Rob Leatham was giving a different lesson each week. I thought it was very good information.

Every week I notice shooters that empty a handgun and think there's another round in the chamber. When they pull the trigger they thrust the gun forward/downward to try counter the recoil they think is comming. This is a flinching reaction that, once started, only gets worse. I had to ovecome it myself. It took a lot of dryfiring and practice. I would load up the cylinders or magazines with non-firing rounds and pretend the next shot was a dud. I also purchased a quality air-pistol to practice at home.

This flinching reaction is the reason many new shooters think their gun is shooting low and left, when it's not. It's usually the right-handed shooter that's shooting low and left.

 

[berettaman]

From Quigley Down Under after he shoots Alan Rickman's charactor

"I said I never had much use for a pistol,I never said I didn't know how to use one."

 

[Ladybug]

"Pay attention to what your finger/hand/arm/body does RIGHT AFTER you pull the trigger." -- My father-in-law

Follow-through improved my accuracy 500%!

 

[Ladybug]

Oh yeah and maybe even more important from my mother-in-law (I have great in-laws!): "Uh, Honey, you REALLY do need glasses."

 

[Standing Wolf]

An old bullseye shooter once suggested, "You might give that six o'clock hold another try, son."

 

[Pappy John]

Buy a .22 and LOTS and LOTS of ammo.

 

[Blueduck]

1. Ditto's on the "Front sight-Press".

2. No the shot didn't miss. The bullet went exactly where it was pointed.

 

[Berg01]

"If the recoil bothers you, just keep shooting it until it doesn't bother you"

 

[Sven]

Relax!