what's more acurate, shooting a handgun traditional, or sideways

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As long as you can retain a consistent sight picture, the pistol being sideways or up right or upside down shouldn't matter.

Functionality may suffer though. I still have a scar from a slide bite I got from a Walther P22 that I was dared to shoot up side down. Learned my lesson, but it worked!
 
If you've seen video of Taliban or al Qaida "training" these guys come pouring out of some building or around some corner with their pistols and AK's held flat and blazing away in best gangsta movie mode.

It's really strange for me, to watch these "warriors" run around in their pj's hosing an area. I've always figured that given the time aimed fire was much better than spray and pray, but then again I've never defended against a banzai charge. Since we tend to not view banzai charges with great favor I don't understand the "training".
 
I watched a video on youtube a while ago where the guy claimed that while shooting one-handed it doesn't hurt to turn it a little bit sideways inward (like 10 degrees) because it uses a different set of muscles that are stronger and allow for more stability. I've never tried it though so I can't speak to it from personal experience.
 
All true ninjas know that firing your handgun sideways keeps the magazine from falling out of your__________(Davis, Tec 9, Jennings, Hi Point, etc):eek:
 
I know a lot of bullseye shooters that cant their guns 30-45 degrees, and have their red dots rotated appropriately. For a time there were also a number of free pistol shooters that were holding at almost 90 degrees. There were enough of them that there were actually kits allowing the sights to be rotated around the axis of the barrel. I don't know if that's still a going thing, but:

Now the stocks on free and air pistols are on a locking ball joint, allowing the sights to remain in the normal orientation, and allowing the lower arm to relax to the more natural angle. At the highest levels these guys are shooting at x rings about the size of a silver dollar at 50 meters, one handed with iron sights, and shooting near perfect scores.

I'd say for absolute precision, allowing the forearm to roll over is probably a good thing.
 
You know why gangstas rarely shoot trap and skeet?


Its too hard to mount a shotgun sideways
 
I know a lot of bullseye shooters that cant their guns 30-45 degrees, and have their red dots rotated appropriately. For a time there were also a number of free pistol shooters that were holding at almost 90 degrees. There were enough of them that there were actually kits allowing the sights to be rotated around the axis of the barrel. I don't know if that's still a going thing, but:
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Never saw that at The Road to Camp Perry Bullseye Matches held in June.
 
they don't shoot free pistol at Perry. Heck, free pistol is barely shot at all in the US. It's a pain (or at least it was 5 years ago) to even find the targets.

It also might be an east coast thing. This was in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Western Mass probably has more bullseye shooters than all of Indiana. Shooting Leagues in Springfield, we had about 400 active competitors between 4 different leagues and Springfield was a bit of a backwater compared to the eastern part of the state.
 
I have a Beretta Neos .22lr, which has a weaver rail. If you use the edge of the rail as a sight you can shoot a group almost as good as using the sights. POI is off, but group is tight. 90 degrees feels wierd. I'll take good sight & pistol upright. I have seen speculation on why sideways would be used & accuracy is not top priority.
Gabe Suarez teaches a lean of about 35-45 degrees for really close/contact distance. In this instance the shooter is not looking at the weapon. It is just the way your hand naturally aligns.
On most guns 0 or 45 deg would give a better sighting plane than 90 any way even if you took the sights off.
 
Way too much Hollywood involved in this stuff now days.

Bullets lifting people off of their feet and throwing them back several feet.

"I didn't do anything, the gun just went off" (my favorite).

Same with shooting the gun tilted instead of vertical.
 
muzzle flip to the left instead of up may actually be faster clearing people, err.....pins from right to left.

practice it and you have another skill in your toolbox. but it would not be the first skill i would employ by choice.
 
Sunray said:
"...a fellow at my local VFW..." Too much bubbly liquid in his thought process. Holding a handgun sideways is Hollywood nonsense.
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I'm with this fella.. At my store a young man held one of my handguns sideways and pointed it at his buddy laughing. I asked them nicely to please leave. Seeing it held sideways kinda rubbed me the wrong way, but pointing the gun at his buddy made my brain snap.
 
which

For single shots taken slowly - or for sustained fire by someone who has practiced aligning the sights - either way will work. The bullet does not know which way the body of the gun is oriented; the bore is round so it doesn't matter what way the receiver is held.
The trick is aligning the sights properly, and dealing with recoil in rapid fire.
Pete
 
Gangsta style=extremely stupid. Slight cant 10 to 15 deg. at combat distances, strong or weak hand only, is an acceptable practice, and is being taught at some cc classes.
 
Your friend should watch Collateral with Tom Cruise. The CQB were some of the best I've seen in a movie. They also featured the gun upright.
 
The sights are on top because gravity only pulls bullets down. The line of sight and bore axis only cross once. If you lay the gun on its side, the bullet trajectory will cross the line of sight once (amost) and then it will keep going left (assuming 90° counter-clockwise tilt) until it falls to the ground.

If the gun is held in an upright position the trajectory will cross the line of sight once on the way up and again on the way down.

At distance, there is no way a sideways hold can be accurate unless there's enough windage adjustment in the sights to allow for bullet drop / recoil impulse.
 
Good point. Mentally adjusting for elevation AND windage at long distance sounds like a losing proposition. Kinda like how a grip-mounted laser is only reasonably accurate at one specific distance.

But at short range, I can think of one reason to hold the gun sideways. Some people have a really hard time seeing the sights with both eyes open, because they are confused by the two distinct sets of sights you get when you focus on your target. If you hold the gun sideways, you can partially block out one set of sights.

I didn't say it was a good reason.
 
Assuming that "Hollywood", or the claims of "some guy", have discovered a more accurate technique of engaging targets than those practiced by Olympic class shooters, military marksmanship units, and professional practical shooters, is beyond ludicrous and borders on insanity.

:D


Look to the likes of Rob Leatham and Todd Jarrett for shooting inspiration and technique, not Steven Spielberg or the guy arrested doing the "drive-by".
 
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I heard shooting sideways makes it easier to curve the bullet...
Click to expand...

Clearly, you heard it from someone who has no clue........it's all in the flick of the wrist....

:D:D:D
 
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