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koz · Member

I have recently acquired an air pistol and have found that after some research on the internet, their seems to be very little said on actually how to hold a pistol, and to a novice like myself, someone telling me or showing me what I need to be thinking about regarding techniques can be a big help.

As I am new to pistol shooting I am interested in how other user's, get thier best results or what works or don't work. I am aware that if you are shooting be it rifle or pistol that it is down to how you feel comfortable holding the gun and getting yourself in tune with its individuality.

But all said and done some techniques must be better than others. for instance using both hands instead of one or at arms length, compared to an elbow/ body support.

Just to get this forum started I have compiled 3 different ways I hold a gun, (yes it is me holding the gun and no my hand is not green. I did that to help you see which hand is which, and yes i am left handed)

HOLD A: Was the way I naturally held the gun when I first picked it up and looked down the sight in the shop. Basically both hands, one cupping the other facing sideways, using my right arm as a tripod support on my body. (just felt right)

HOLD B: Was what the shop keeper said when I asked him about techniques and although very similar to HOLD A is different in the fact that the index finger on my right hand is up against the trigger guard. I tried shooting this way again, with me facing sideways and using the tripod body support.
At first had to keep reminding myself to hold the gun this way
But I did notice that my control over the horizontal axis was greater and I held the gun steadier. Thus making my aim more accurate. My only concern with this is that if you have small hands then just placing your finger on the side of the trigger guard maybe a suitable alternative. ether way my aim got better.

HOLD C: Was something I found on the internet and tried but felt uncomfortable. Holding you arm out in parallel to your body and resting you hand gun on it for suppot. But I can imagine this being useful when leaning up against something. I say this because I want you to know that no matter what you try you will always come across a technique that other tell you to try, that will not work for you. This was one that didn't work for me. It may even be that I didn't do it right?

You may or may not agree with what I have said or my opinions around holding a pistol but what you can do is post your opinions and tell me about the techniques you use while shooting. Include stance, posture and if you prefer arms out stretched or tripod like I do.

What ever you want to say just say it, and at the end of the day you may try something you never thought of before and get that perfect score.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this and hope to see some replies soon

BFN KOZ

fritz · Silver Status Member

Wrong... all wrong. The proper way to hold a pistol in combat is similar to a rifle. You extend your right hand out with the pistol in it. Bring your left down onto your hip for support. Now grasp your right hand with the left using the A or B hold, whichever you are most accurate with.

Doing it that way makes a shelf, excellent for holding for long periods of time, it also handles your recoil more when you double-tap (pull the trigger twice, never once when you need to stop somebody) a target.

This is very different from the proper 10m hold though, which is one arm fully extended and the other on it's corresponding hip.

Slavia · Moderator

If you do a Google! search you'll find a whole bunch of different holds and stances. Each is promoted by an "expert," and each expert will tell you that their method is "correct" and all the others are "wrong." I suspect that they are all correct for a particular combination of threat, cover, and body position. Find one that suits you and practice so it becomes second nature.

I've found three principles that have really improved my pistol shooting, and they're even more basic than stance or hand position:

1. Be sure that your trigger finger is completely removed from any obstruction. Whatever you do with your non-shooting hand, be sure it's not in the way of your trigger finger.

2. Practice to achieve a grip and trigger address (finger position on the trigger) that allows you to pull the trigger back in a line parallel to the bore. Not pulling to one side or pushing towards the other, and not pushing up or pulling down. Just straight back into the web of skin between the thumb and index finger.

3. In A. A. Yur'yev's book "Competetive Shooting" he suggests "moving" the trigger rather than "squeezing" it. This is different from shooting long arms, where you increase pressure on the trigger until the sear breaks. Here he is suggesting making a deliberate, controlled motion to the rear. Once you commit to the motion, you follow-through without stopping. Notice that I didn't use the words "snap" or "jerk" - the motion must be slow enough so the rest of the body, eyes and brain can keep up.

In addition to Yur'yev's book, I have found W. E. Fairbairn and E. A. Sykes' book "Shooting To Live" to be useful. Either title will be available through interlibrary loan at your public library, and for free. Just ask your librarian to find them.

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

I've got a co2 pistol with a bad trigger pull. I've done my best to loosen it, but it is still pretty stiff. I developed a technique for shooting it wherein I put one index finger over the other on the trigger and grasp both hands around the handle. I pull both fingers simultaneously which decreases the trigger pull weight per finger. It makes it much easier to pull and minimizes the jerking and shaking when aiming. It helps a lot for accuracy.

Amigo · Veteran Member

Roger:

Great example of improvising to obtain a solution to a particular problem or situation.

DerekVinyard · Member

I'm pretty sure the technique Todd Jarrett shows in this video works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa50-plo48

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

I just hold mine one handed. I'm more accurate with a pistol than I am a rifle. Go figure.

koz · Member

First of all I would like to thank everyone who as contributed to the forum and as I suspected some have disagreed and corrected what I said. Has this was my aim to get people giving me and other information regarding techniques I feel I have achieved my goal

I have watched the video that was on the link sent in by Derekvinyard and would advice anyone to go and watch it. The information I got from it was very help full especially regarding the actual hand positions and holding a gun.

Video 1
I have copied the link just in case
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa50-plo48

Video 2
I also found on the internet another video of which I feel is worth watching although I must admit not as good as the first one but dealt more with stance and posture.
http://www.ehow.com/video_2358156_proper-stances-handgun-target-shooting.html

Each video had their merits and I have tried all holds and both stances used on the video’s.

Holding the gun as in Video 1
When it came to the holding of the gun at first it felt awkward and strange but I did notice a definite stability improvement once I had mastered the hold, thus making it so I could shoot 5 hits per 5 pellets at 15m at some bottle tops I had stuck to a bored.
May I add this was single shot firing not rapid.

Stance
As I had said in my first message I am new to shooting and may have not put in terms how I was holding or using my gun, very well.
So when I said elbow and body support I meant the way the person in video 2 is standing for the second stance. I have listened to the video a few times and I think he called it a revere stance. Anyway irrespective of this I have also tried the basic stance as demonstrated on Video 2 and found this to be effective and comfortable.
In fact it was the stance I used on the bottle tops.

To conclude this I have to say again thank you to all who put their opinions and comments in and I look forward to hearing what you have to say regarding my findings. I am still looking for advice and will continue to search the internet for information that I feel may help others. So please do not hesitate to put anything you find or comments onto the forum

koz · Member

May I just add that I tried Google search and found it to be a lot better than Yahoo. I also think its worth saying Alta Visa is equally worth giving a try.

Thank you Slavia for your positive feed back

I agree with you when you say that you need to feel comfortable while shooting, be it pistol or rifle and that making any hold second nature and practice is a sure fire way to getting better.

BFN koz

DerekVinyard · Member

Thanks, I would love to be able to shoot like Todd. He claims he wasn't any good until he fired the first million shots, but I doubt it.