3 Questions about Pistol shooting

[MegademiC]

Ive been pistol shooting for about 10 months, but need a quick refesher course. Sorry its kinda long - I googled and found nothing reliable :/ Keep in mind this is for defensive/competition shooting, not bullseye.

Do you breath while shooting or hold your breath? I read somewhere that you should breath controlled and normally while shooting. I tried it and my groups were about the same or better. However, when I took my CCW course, the guy said to pause breathing for each shot or string of shots(which I would think due to the stress of the situation, and the sympethetic response, you would have to breath a lot more to keep concious than just target shooting at the range). So for aimed rapid fire what do you suggest? FWIW, it seems breathing, you can predict where your sight is going and compesate, keeping your sight very steady, while holding your breath makes your heartbeat very noticeable and your sight goes everywhere.

2nd : Sight picture. I know you "focus" on the front sight. However, if I focus 100% on the front sight, There are 2 targets and it takes a minute to aim at the correct one. If I adjust my focus a little, the fron sight is clear, but a little fuzzy with a fuzzy target. On the sight, I can clearly see the gaps on both sides. It seems that focusing in between sight and target is the best speed/accuracy compromise. Am I doing it wrong? Do I need to work on focussing 100% on the FS or keep the in-between focus?

Third(last) doing target transitions, do you (a) look at 2nd target and bring gun to it or (b) keep focused on the FS and move it to the second target. Doing dry fire practice, it seems if targets are close to each other, that b is faster, and a is faster if they are far apart.

sorry this is long winded, its one of the "the more you know, the more you realize you dont know" situations. Gonna be hitting the range again soon(had time off getting started with school) and dont want to waste time/ammo to find out what i can gather here. Better to use it on actually improving my shooting. Thank you.

-Mega

[camus]

I am by no means an expert but will contribute as follows.

For the sidearm:
1. Breathe control means little to me unless I am attempting ridiculous shots while firing slow, even then shooting offhand with a sidearm I don't see the benefit as with a rifle.

2. I focus on the front sight. If you are getting double targets squint a bit with your weak eye, the second target will drop, practice and repeat. IMO, this your brain trying to figure out what you are trying to see/do and your dominate will take over. Practice will help, dry fire maintain sight picture.

3. This I don't if I can offer much, to me it is a peripheral vision thing and ties in to 2. I do bring the sight to the target, my eyes lead, but the front sight is always in sight.

That is all I got, hopefully others can chime in with a bit more insight.

[Spahr0311B]

I'll chime in and see if I can help. Not claiming to be an expert, but this is what works for me.

1. Breath control: I exhale while presenting the weapon to the target. I have found that breathing while shooting my shots will tend to be off my point of aim vertically (high or low). By forcing my breath out as I present I achieve more desirable hits.

2. I also focus on a clear front sight. Same advise as the second post, if you are seeing two targets either squint your non-dominate eye or (gasp!) close it. I shoot both eyes open. However, if it is creating an issue, closing the non-dominate eye is a better solution then missing the target in ANY situation (qualification, competition, or combat). Practice keeping both eyes open as often as possible and eventually you will train the brain to be able to focus with dominate eye.

3. Multiple targets: I look to the next target, bring the front sight to that target, focus on front sight, squeeze trigger, rinse and repeat. The best example I have of this is shooting plate racks. Tried it multiple ways and found this way to be faster. A trick for not following your front sight to the next target is to force yourself to see the next target without a front sight on it, then put the front sight there.

Hope this helps.

[warpedcamshaft]

Ive been pistol shooting for about 10 months, but need a quick refesher course. Sorry its kinda long - I googled and found nothing reliable :/ Keep in mind this is for defensive/competition shooting, not bullseye.

Do you breath while shooting or hold your breath? I read somewhere that you should breath controlled and normally while shooting. I tried it and my groups were about the same or better. However, when I took my CCW course, the guy said to pause breathing for each shot or string of shots(which I would think due to the stress of the situation, and the sympethetic response, you would have to breath a lot more to keep concious than just target shooting at the range). So for aimed rapid fire what do you suggest? FWIW, it seems breathing, you can predict where your sight is going and compesate, keeping your sight very steady, while holding your breath makes your heartbeat very noticeable and your sight goes everywhere.

2nd : Sight picture. I know you "focus" on the front sight. However, if I focus 100% on the front sight, There are 2 targets and it takes a minute to aim at the correct one. If I adjust my focus a little, the fron sight is clear, but a little fuzzy with a fuzzy target. On the sight, I can clearly see the gaps on both sides. It seems that focusing in between sight and target is the best speed/accuracy compromise. Am I doing it wrong? Do I need to work on focussing 100% on the FS or keep the in-between focus?

Third(last) doing target transitions, do you (a) look at 2nd target and bring gun to it or (b) keep focused on the FS and move it to the second target. Doing dry fire practice, it seems if targets are close to each other, that b is faster, and a is faster if they are far apart.

sorry this is long winded, its one of the "the more you know, the more you realize you dont know" situations. Gonna be hitting the range again soon(had time off getting started with school) and dont want to waste time/ammo to find out what i can gather here. Better to use it on actually improving my shooting. Thank you.

-Mega

The answers to your questions will vary greatly. Different instructors may teach different things.

What I have learned and apply to defensive training:

1: Breathe through your shooting, don't hold your breath with a pistol. (If you train to pause for breathe before firing, you may hesitate a fraction of a second in a fight)

2: Front sight focus is essential, but it is hard to not focus on the threat or target. (Fight to focus on front sight)

3: Transitions should be: eyes on target, then front sight on target. It has something to do with how your head tends to lead your body.

Once again, others will likely give different answers.

[Robb Jensen]

You will be firing between breaths. Your body has a natural tendency to stop breathing when loud noises are happening right in front of you don't fight this tendency. Focus on the front sight with both eyes open. You lead with your eyes once you've chosen a target focus goes back to the front sight.

[trizzot]

All good questions. With being new to pistol shooting id consider taking a defensive pistol class, something geared towards combat style shooting. For your aiming and breathing, Id start with some basic things. Work on your natural point of aim. safe your pistol, draw with your eyes closed and present your weapon towards your target. When you open your eyes, your sights should be on target and aligned. From there Id add a little stress to work on your breathing under stress or combat / defensive style shooting. Get your heart rate up by running or doing some cardio first. Then fire a string and see what your breathing does to your site picture / site alignment. You will quickly learn to shoot in the pause or not, or none of the above. As far as your focus, 10 yards and in Id reccomend front site shooting. Shoot with both eyes open. If you cant see the front site clear you may be cross eye dominant. I hope this may help you, and if you already know some of this I dont mean to insult you. I am a current tactical responder and also NRA certified instructor. I shoot a stress fire and Tac qual, night / day qual etc...every 90 days to keep my qualifications. I am not a mall ninja, I actually do this for a living. I hope i have helped.

[J8127]

You know what, that's exactly how I focus on the sights too, so I'm interested in what others have to say. If I hard focus on the front sight I cannot see the rear sight and get 2-3 targets. I find myself actually focusing more so on the target and as I bring the sights up they just kind of come into view clear enough to align properly.

Some of the things I have seen/read actually promote this, kind of a "under stress you are going to focus on the target anyway" kind of thing, anybody have some thoughts on that?

[BCmJUnKie]

How many times in ten months have you been to the range?

Honestly, I think you need to get out there and shoot. Youre thinking WAY too much. Get out and shoot.

The more you do it the less youre gonna think about it.

Stop thinking so much.

[Traveshamockery]

How many times in ten months have you been to the range?

Honestly, I think you need to get out there and shoot. Youre thinking WAY too much. Get out and shoot.

The more you do it the less youre gonna think about it.

Stop thinking so much.

Disagree about overthinking it. These are reasonable questions from someone who's clearly aware of his own limitations.

[Surf]

I personally don't think there is too much over thinking here. Good questions. While there is a lot to be said about "too many minds" we are generally much better served by getting to a Zen-like level by practicing basic skills / fundamentals in a good or correct manner and / or progression. Of course we need some actual correct live fire training to go with the discussion, but the discussion is good.

There are good base fundamentals that are essential to practice and to learn their correct application as a complete system to attain great results and to become a good marksman. We should never stop practicing these things in our training however in real dynamic situations some things will have greater or lesser importance. Breathing and breath control become less critical up close in defensive situations with say a pistol as opposed to dealing with long distances and a rifle where your breathing becomes more important. This may also apply to overall sight picture and a hard front sight focus. However a shooters skill level and the situation will often determine how, what and why they can do certain things and be successful. So just because one great combat shooter can pull off a certain skill, does not necessarily mean that another person can do it also. We train and strive for it, but skill level is of course a large factor. A good instructor should be able to teach in a manner that is best suited to the student needs / skill levels to help progress them as effectively as possible, so keep that in mind when hearing varying opinions.

In an up close encounter with a pistol

1 - Breath normally. If your body decides to pause its breathing, it pauses. Just remember to breathe, but do not physically attempt to hold your breath or to time your fire at some type of respiratory pause for this type of up close, stress shooting.

2 - This one is really up in the air and is greatly influenced by shooter experience and skill. Most people are traditionally taught to keep a strict front sight focus when breaking shots. However the better a shooter becomes there are alternate "sighted fire" aiming and overall shooting techniques that may be quicker or more desirable under varying situations / conditions. Distance, target size etc may play a huge factor in what we may be able to perform successfully. Knowing our abilities and / or limitations for each of us is of course key. I know this isn't much of a definitive answer but it can vary greatly. If someone is having a hard time making good or acceptable combat hits, then front sight focus is much more highly desirable and should be stressed. You can't miss fast enough, so getting the proper hits is always number one.

3 - This may depend on how you address multiple threats (keeping in mind that they are lethal and not paper or steel). Simple paper or steel target training for pure target to target transitions, ideally as soon as the trigger breaks and the gun goes bang, the eyes instantly shift to the next target as the weapon lifts during the recoil phase. The head quickly follows the eyes (the eyes will always be quicker than the head). You will use the recoil from the weapon to start the movement of the weapon to the next target or bouncing the weapon to the next target in a crisp or sharp up down movement landing on the next target bringing the sights to your eyes that is fixed on the next target and repeat from there.

However in a real life situation it depends on your threats and the manner in how you chose to engage them. You might be doing a quick assessment of your hits before you transition. Did it hit? Did it work? Does it need more hits? However when it is time to transition, the actual transition remains basically the same, however your eyes and brain are doing much more assessing of the new potential threat while the weapon is moving. Unlike shooting static steel or paper where there is not much thinking, there will of course be a lot more going through your mind on a real dynamic target that may be shooting back and this may affect your performance. However in an ideal situation when the decision to transition is made, eyes move first, head quickly follows and the weapon is brought into our sight which is fixed on the target. Get the sight alignment / picture necessary and repeat.