With handguns, to an even greater extent than with long guns, mastery of marksmanship begins with the basics. Arguments on the best grip and stance will endure as long as the sport itself, but no matter what the individual handgunner’s preferences when it comes to these and related matters, getting them right and performing them in a consistent fashion is of paramount importance. Those of us who have watched too many shoot-’em-up westerns may be inclined to think that accuracy with a handgun goes right along with lightning-fast draws and revolvers fanned so rapidly they might be mistaken for semiautomatics.
In truth, sure and steady wins the marksman’s prize in most cases, and anyone who has doubts in that regard needs to visit the site of the famed shootout at the OK Corral. How anyone came out of the tight quarters—almost point-blank range—of that gun battle is amazing. Or, to put matters in another perspective, the gunslingers who were present proved beyond doubt that they were anything but superb marksmen.
Here the incomparable Jack O’Connor (first and foremost a rifleman, but an individual who knew a great deal about all types of fírearms) and four noted authorities on handgun marksmanship look at some of the key factors in accurate shooting with pistols and revolvers.
In this piece from his Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers (1935), Julian S. Hatcher takes a careful, considered look at the pros and cons of the two basic types of handguns. It should be noted that his use of the word automatic to describe pistols that used clips or magazines was commonplace in the era during which he wrote. In today’s parlance, the proper description would be “semiautomatic” (meaning a new squeeze of the trigger is required to fire each round). Hatcher’s evaluation of types of handguns is a sensible one, and shooters contemplating purchase of such a firearm would be well advised, before spending their hard-earned cash, to consider what he has to say about the merits of each type.
In late years there has been a great deal of discussion as to the relative merits of the revolver and the automatic pistol. A great host of automatic pistols have been invented and manufactured with varying degrees of success. In military sizes the automatics have reached the greatest perfection, and have been adopted by the United States Army, and by many other important armies. In pocket sizes automatic pistols are sold throughout the world in very large numbers. Nevertheless, the revolver has been holding its own during all this period, and is now manufactured in quantities apparently as large as ever. It is difficult to say which is actually better, the revolver or the automatic pistol. Each has its own distinct advantages and. disadvantages, which the reader must decide for himself. I will enumerate some of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of weapon.
The revolver has the following advantages:
Among the principal disadvantages of a revolver as compared to an automatic are the following:
The advantages of the automatic pistol are:
The automatic pistol, on the other hand, has some serious disadvantages, among which are the following:
By far the most serious of all these disadvantages of the automatic pistol is its inability to use ammunition that is not up to the mark. For a weapon to use under any and all conditions where failure to function may be fatal, and where any and all kinds of ammunition may have to be used, the revolver is still far and away ahead of the automatic pistol, and is likely to remain so indefinitely. It is, therefore, still the choice of explorers and others to whom the possession of a hand arm in functioning condition is of paramount importance.
On the other hand, the automatic pistol is generally considered superior to the revolver for military use, where the ammunition supply is of known quality and spare parts are available.
The .45 Army automatic became extremely popular during the World War, and the experience with this arm at that time thoroughly justified the judgment of the Army authorities in adopting this as the service side arm for all branches of the Army.
For home defense use the small pocket automatic, which is usually hammerless, has the disadvantage of frequently lying for long periods of time with the magazine full of cartridges and the safety on. The magazine spring and mainspring may thus be kept under compression for perhaps years at a time. If at the same time the ammunition deteriorates from age, the result may be that the arm will not function when needed. Moreover, these small automatics always have safeties, which are an excellent thing for one who uses these guns enough to know all about how they function; but if one of these weapons becomes needed in an emergency by some member of the household who does not know much about using hand arms, it may very well occur, and has occurred, that the user was not familiar with the method of manipulating the safety and therefore could not fire the gun. These disadvantages are not shared by the revolver.
When it comes to readily understandable, to-the-point advice on handling a firearm, Jack O’Connor stands in a class by himself. Here, in a selection from The Hunter’s Shooting Guide (1978), he offers a fairly detailed look at establishing intimacy with a handgun. His thoughts on flinching, the value of dry firing, and the value of getting started with a .22 are all of particular note.
When the average American picks up a handgun and attempts to fire a shot he is about as much at home with it as he would be with a pair of chopsticks. Usually he couldn’t hit the southern exposure of a northbound elephant at 30 yards. How come?
Possibly it’s the influence of horse operas American kids have been seeing for the past 50 years. Unconsciously the impressionable lads absorb the technique of movie revolver shooting and imitate it. The heroes and likewise the villains grasp the pistol far over to the side. Before they cut a shot loose, they bring their revolvers back as far as the right ear. Then throw them forward in the general direction of what they plan to hit. Bang! go the revolvers. Down go the redskins, the villains, or whatever they are shooting at.
All this is excellent entertainment. The movements are fluid, the effect dramatic; but as a system of shooting a handgun it is enough to make a strong man wring his hands in anguish. The young moviegoers eat it up, not realizing that what they are seeing is not handgun shooting at all but instead a formal figure in a ballet. Watch a group of children playing cowboys and Indians some day and you’ll find they handle their cap pistols just like the cowboys in the oat operas. Then when the time comes for them to shoot a real sure-enough handgun, they try their cap-pistol technique and can’t hit anything. Often their beginning interest in handguns is killed because of their initial failures.
It is true that the handgun is the most difficult of all firearms to learn to shoot well, but if anyone starts right it isn’t nearly as difficult as many believe. The lad who gets a suitable handgun, who starts using good form, and who practices will be shooting well before he knows it.
What sort of a handgun should the beginner select to start out with? The first fairly serious handgun shooting I ever did was with, of all things, a .38 Special, but I wouldn’t advise most beginners to tee off with a gun having that much blast and recoil. I do not think there is much argument but that the beginner’s gun should be a .22. The little rimfire cartridge has many advantages. It is inexpensive, and can be obtained about anywhere in the world that ammunition is sold. But even more important is the fact that the .22 has a mild report and very little recoil. As we shall see, this is of prime importance, since flinching and yanking the trigger are the major reasons for poor handgun shooting.
What type should this .22 be, automatic or revolver? You have me there! For whatever the reason, I shoot somewhat better with a revolver than I do with an automatic. Possibly that’s just one of my oddball notions, like my notion that I can do better shooting out in the field with a double-barrel shotgun than I can with a pump or automatic. Actually a very high percentage of crack handgun shots prefer the automatic because of its superiority in timed and rapid fire. Probably the revolver is somewhat safer because it is so much easier to see quickly if the weapon is loaded or not. The revolver also has the advantage of being able to handle .22 Shorts, Longs, or Long Rifle cartridges as the shooter chooses.
On the other hand, a .22 automatic with a fairly short barrel and good sights is an excellent supplementary weapon for the sportsman—short, flat, more convenient to carry than the bulkier revolver. The .22 automatic is a fine little weapon to pick up small game with, probably better than the revolver. Often I have seen grouse sit in a tree while a man with an automatic missed three or four times. The birds seem frightened less by the noise than they do by the movement of the shooter’s thumb in the recocking of the revolver. Run-of-the-mine handgun shot though I am, I have eaten a lot of grouse and rabbits that I have plucked off with handguns. They tasted nice indeed. On one abortive sheep and elk hunt when my companions and I didn’t get any real meat until the trip was almost over, we would have had to live on pancakes and oatmeal if one of my companions hadn’t taken along a Colt Woodsman. As it was, we very largely subsisted on blue grouse and biscuits—and biscuits are a lot better with blue grouse than they are without. A rugged character I knew once walked 600 miles across the mountains and tundra of the subarctic in the dead of winter on snowshoes with a Hudson Bay blanket and a Smith & Wesson .22 target revolver. Mostly he ate ptarmigan and snowshoe rabbits, but he also killed a Dall sheep and four caribou with that little handgun.
Whatever sort of a .22 our beginner selects, though, it should have adjustable sights. It is often said that no one can do an exact job of sighting in a rifle for another. It is even more true of a handgun. A revolver that is laying them in the middle of a 10-ring for one shooter may be clear out of the black for another. People see their sights differently. They hold differently. Because of different ways of holding, the handgun recoils differently and gives an entirely different point of impact. The same gun will shoot two different bullet weights to different points of impact and the same bullet at different velocities to different points of impact.
Nonadjustable sights are all right for close-range self-defense and military work, but the person who wants to do target shooting, who wants to knock over small game, or who wants to astonish the girl friend by making a tin can roll along the ground at a respectable distance wants a handgun sighted so precisely that he can hit a fairly small mark.
For target shooting, the common practice is to sight in a handgun with what is known as the “6 o’clock hold.” Aim is taken at the bottom of the bulls eye, so that a thin white line can be seen between the top of the front sight and the bottom of the bull. The sights are then adjusted so that the bullet strikes in the center of the bull. Such a system is by no means universal even among competitive target shots. Some of the very best hold right into the bull—or sight in to put the bullet right where the top of the front sight rests. This is the way the plinker, tin-can roller, and small-game shooter should sight in, since obviously it would be fatal to have the bullet striking 3 inches high at 25 yards, let us say.
As in most shooting, tenseness on the part of the handgun shot is probably the principal enemy of precision. Take a look at a crack shot and he usually looks at ease, relaxed, almost sloppy. If he is going to be a topflight shooter he has to be, since tense muscles produce tremors and tremors make for poor shooting.
The first step then in learning to handle a handgun is to take an easy relaxed stance with the weight distributed evenly on both feet. Most good shots face half away from the target. I have seen many, though, who face the target and some who face away from the target at a right angle. The main thing is to feel comfortable and relaxed. The left hand can be put in the trousers pocket, hooked in the belt anywhere so it feels natural.
The handgun itself should be an extension of the arm, and a line drawn from the point of the shoulder to the V formed by the thumb and trigger finger should pass right through the sights. The arm, of course, should be straight, not bent.
The shooter should have a feeling of holding the gun with the pad of muscles at the base of his thumb and behind the large joint of his trigger finger while the gun rests on his fourth finger. If he does this and gets this feel, he should be grasping his handgun lightly but firmly. Depending on the size of his hand and length of his index finger, he will squeeze off his shot with the end of his index finger, somewhere between the last joint and the tip. He will not stick his whole finger through and squeeze with the second joint as the cowboys in the horse operas do. His object is to hit something and not simply to make a noise and look picturesque.
Holding a fairly heavy handgun out at the end of a straight arm is not the easiest or most natural thing in the world, and anyone who wants to become a fairly good handgun shot can well practice strengthening those muscles. He can do dry firing, of which more later, or he can hold a milk bottle at full length.
The ideal way to learn to shoot a handgun would be to go through a course of dry firing for a couple of weeks before buying any powder. Possibly that is asking too much, because beginners like noise and action. However, 75 percent of what can be learned by actual shooting can also be learned cheaper and easier by dry firing.
Most accurate handgun sights are of the Patridge type, with square notch in the rear sight and square blade front sight. With such sights elevation is controlled by seeing that the front sight is on the level with the rear sight and windage by seeing that the front sight is in the middle of the square cut of the rear sight—by seeing the same amount of light on each side of the front sight.
Good shotgun shots see the end of the barrel only vaguely. Instead they concentrate on the bird or clay target they are trying to hit. The handgun shot is exactly the opposite. If he is to hit much he must pay more attention to his sights than he does to his target. Actually very high scores have been fired by turning the paper around and aligning the sights simply on the middle of the target. The bull’s-eye would not be seen at all, yet in many cases scores would be better than the same shooter could fire by aiming at the bull! It is absolutely fatal to let the target distract the shooter’s attention from his sights!
The beginner with the handgun is shocked and disillusioned when be discovers that he cannot hold his weapon still. Instead the doggoned front sight wiggles around in a manner to drive one nuts. Unless he is carefully coached or has read and followed some sort of elementary instructions like these, he almost always falls into the bad habit of trying to grab off a bull when the sights look just right. He thus gets into the habit of trigger jerking—and no trigger jerker can ever hit much with a handgun.
There is but one way for anyone to begin shooting a handgun and that is to keep the sights looking as good as possible and then to keep increasing pressure on the trigger until the gun goes off. Anyone who can get that through his noggin and who has enough will power to practice it is already a pretty good shot. The wild shots come not because one cannot hold the gun steady but because of jerks and flinches.
The handgun shooter must concentrate on his sight picture, squeeze easily and steadily, and forget when the gun is going off. If he does that he can rapidly become a pretty good handgun shot.
I am just a catch-as-catch-can handgun shot. There is absolutely but one way for me to do fairly well with any handgun—and that’s it. When I begin to think about when the gun is going off, I am sunk. If I ever try to catch 10 as it rides by I am likewise sunk. I have got to let the gun go off by itself.
But what about genuinely good handgun shots? One told me that he knew just about when his gun was going off. Another told me he knew exactly when his gun was going off. Another assured me that he could hold his handgun rock-steady for a moment while he squeezed. But no matter what the hotshots say, the average shooter becomes pretty good only by being relaxed and comfortable, by paying more attention to his sight picture than he does to the target, and by squeezing and forgetting that his gun is ever going to go off. This business of steady holding takes care of itself, as the longer one practices, the more one shoots, the more nearly steady he can hold a handgun. He never will hold it absolutely steady and should not expect to.
The man who starts right with a handgun and does not form a lot of bad habits he has to break is lucky indeed. The man who knows how to stand, who holds his handgun properly, and who has learned to relax, who knows the sight pictures is all important, and who has convinced himself that the way to shoot properly is to keep squeezing and let the hold take care of itself is already a better shot than the average casual plinker. Then with a moderate amount of practice, this person will soon become good.
To some people accurate shooting with a handgun becomes a genuine challenge simply because it is the most difficult of all shooting skills to master. The shotgun shooter can give quite a flinch and the spread of the pattern will cover up for him. Flinching is much more serious with a rifle, but the great weight and inertia of the rifle cut down the penalties for flinching and jerking the trigger, although at that they are serious enough. With the handgun, jerking and flinching are absolutely fatal.
Not long ago I was amusing myself by shooting from 50 yards at clay trap targets set up in a sandbank with a .44 Special. Of course, I missed a lot, but when I hit one I got a genuine thrill of achievement. Even greater was my feeling of satisfaction because I didn’t ever miss one very far. Another time I had a Smith & Wesson K-22 with me on a big game hunt. One night we were on a jack camp, reduced to flour, butter, jam, and a few cans of vegetables. We had a 20-gauge shotgun along for grouse but that day we were afraid of the noise it would make since we had located two banks of rams which we planned to stalk in the morning. With .22 shorts I knocked over a half-dozen big tender and trusting blues. We cut them up, floured them, and fried them in deep fat. Never have I eaten a better meal. It put strength in my legs, ambition in my head, and next day my companion and I went up and got those two big rams. A little ability with a pistol or revolver comes in pretty handy at times.
I know of no type of shooting which lends itself any better to dry firing than the handgun. Anyone who wants to get good should do a lot of it. A miniature target on the wall of a room is all anyone needs. If he practices squeezing off dry shots at this for fifteen minutes a day, he’ll be surprised at how much his scores will improve on the range.
A. L. A. Himmelwright discusses essentially the same subject that Jack O’Connor does in the previous selection, but his perspective is a quite different one. His in-depth look at pulling the trigger addresses in a timeless fashion one of the two most common reasons for inaccurate handgun shooting (flinching being the other one). Similarly, his thoughts on target practice, though written generations ago, remain just as valid today as they were when the ink was drying on the first print run of Pistol and Revolver Shooting (1915), from which this selection is taken.
With the pistol or revolver in the right hand cock the hammer with the thumb, making sure that the trigger finger is free from the trigger and resting against the forward inner surface of the trigger guard. In cocking the piece have the barrel pointing upward. Then extend the arm upward and forward, so that when you assume your firing position the piece will point about twenty degrees above the bull’s-eye. With your eyes fixed on the bull’s-eye at VI o’clock inhale enough air to fill the lungs comfortably and lower the piece gradually until the line of the sights comes a short distance below the bull’s-eye. At the same time gradually increase the pressure on the trigger directly backward, so that when the sights are pointing at the bull’s-eye the hammer will fall.
Be careful not to pull the trigger with a jerk, but ease it off with a gentle squeeze, so as not disturb the arm. Accustom yourself not to close the eye when the hammer falls, but note carefully where the line of the sights actually points at the instant that the hammer falls. You will, no doubt, find it almost impossible to pull the trigger at the moment the sights are just right. The hammer will fall when the line of sights may point a little too high or too low, or to one side or the other of the bull’s-eye; but patient practice will correct this, and in time you will be able to let off the arm at the right moment.
The pulling of the trigger is a very delicate operation; it is, in fact, the most important detail to master—the secret of pistol and revolver shooting. If the trigger is pulled suddenly, in the usual way, at the instant when the sights appear to be properly aligned, the aim is so seriously disturbed that a wild shot will result. To avoid this, the pressure on the trigger must always be steadily applied, and while the sights are in line with the bull’s-eye. It is, of course, impossible to hold the arm absolutely still, and aim steadily at one point while the pressure is being applied to the trigger; but, in aiming, the unsteadiness of the shooter will cause the line of the sights to point above the bull’s-eye, then below it, to one side of it, and then to the other, back and forth and around it. Each time the line of the sights passes over the bull’s-eye the smallest possible increment of additional pressure is successively applied to the trigger until the piece is finally discharged at one of the moments that the sights are in correct alignment. Long and regular practice alone will give the necessary training of the senses and muscles to act in sufficient harmony to enable one to pull the trigger in this way at the right moment for a long series of shots. A “fine sympathy” must be established between the hand, the eye, and the brain, rendering them capable of instant cooperation.
After obtaining a fair idea of aiming, etc., watch carefully when the hammer falls, and note if it jars the piece and disturbs the aim. If not, you are holding the arm properly. If the aim is disturbed, you must grip the arm tighter or more loosely, or move your hand up or down on the handle, or otherwise change your method of holding the piece until your “hold” is such that you can snap the hammer and the aim remain undisturbed. This aiming and snapping drill is largely practised by expert shots indoors, when they do not have the opportunity to practise regularly out-of-doors.
If your first actual shooting is done at the range of a club, it is best to ask one of the members to coach you until you get accustomed to the rules, etc. A target will be assigned to you, and you will repair to the firing point and load your arm. It is well to let your coach fire the first shot or two, to see if your piece is sighted approximately right. If so, you are ready to begin shooting. If, after several shots, you are convinced that the bullet does not strike where it should, the arm is not properly sighted for you.
In adjusting the sights you will find it an advantage to remember a very simple rule: To correct the rear sight, move it in the same direction as you would the shots on the target to correct them, or move the front sight in the opposite direction. Most target arms have the front sight non-adjustable, and the rear sight adjustable for both windage and elevation. A few arms have interchangeable or adjustable front sights for elevation. Move the sights a little at a time, according to the foregoing rules, until they are properly aligned. A few ten-shot scores should then be fired for record. As you become accustomed to the range, rules, etc., you will feel more at ease. This will inspire confidence, and your shooting will improve correspondingly.
Do not have your sights too fine. Fine sights are much more straining on the eyes, and have no advantage over moderately coarse sights. The rear sights as generally furnished are purposely made with very small notches, so as to enable individuals to make them any desired size.
It is well to have the trigger pull at least ¼ of a pound greater than the minimum allowed by the rules. If much used, the pull sometimes wears lighter; and if there is little or no margin, you run the risk of having your arm disqualified when you wish to enter an important match.
Never use other ammunition in your arm than that for which it is chambered. A number of accidents and much difficulty have resulted from wrong ammunition. In the same caliber the actual diameter of the bullets frequently varies considerably, and a few shots, even if they should not prove dangerous, may lead the barrel, and thus cause much delay and annoyance. When a barrel is “leaded” from any cause it will become inaccurate. In such cases, particles of lead usually adhere to the inside of the barrel at or near the breech. A brass wire brush, of suitable size to fit the barrel, will generally remove it. When this fails, carefully remove all oil, cork up the opposite end of the barrel and fill it with mercury, letting the latter remain in the barrel until the lead is removed.
Occasionally the powder is accidentally omitted in loading a cartridge. When the primer explodes, the bullet may be driven partly through the barrel and remain in it. When this happens, whether from this cause or any other, always be careful to push the bullet out of the barrel before firing another shot. If the bullet is not removed, and another shot is fired, the barrel will be bulged and ruined. This may occur with a light gallery charge.
When shooting the .22-caliber long rifle cartridge, there will be an occasional misfire. In withdrawing the cartridge the bullet will stick in the barrel and the powder spill into the action. To prevent this, hold the barrel vertically, with the muzzle up, and withdraw the shell carefully. Then remove the bullet in the barrel with a cleaning rod; or extract bullet from a new cartridge, inserting the shell filled with powder into the chamber back of the bullet and fire it in the usual manner.
Do not use BB caps in any pistol that you value. They are loaded with a composition of fulminate of mercury in combination with other substances that cause rusting and the bullets have no lubrication. These caps will ruin a barrel in a very short time. The .22-caliber conical ball caps are loaded with black powder, and the bullets are lubricated, making this a much better cartridge; but it is best to adhere to the regular .22 ammunition for which the arm is chambered.
Never, under any circumstances, shoot at objects on the heads or in the hands of persons. There is always a possibility of something going wrong, and such risk to human life is unjustifiable, no matter how skilful you may be.
It is necessary to exercise extreme care in practising with the pocket revolver. Some persons delight in practising quick drawing from the pocket and firing one or more shots. This is dangerous work for the novice to attempt. Most of the pocket weapons are double action. If the finger is on the trigger and the arm catches in the pocket when drawing, a premature discharge is likely to result, which is always unpleasant and sometimes disastrous. Practice in drawing the revolver from the pocket or holster should always be begun with the arm unloaded. Only after a fair degree of skill is acquired should actual shooting be attempted. For quick drawing from the pocket the only double-action revolvers that are fairly safe to handle are the S. & W. Safety Hammerless, and the Colt “Double Action,” which has a safety notch for the hammer to rest on.
Drawing a revolver from a holster is easier and much less dangerous than drawing it from the pocket. Larger and more practical arms are generally carried in holsters, and such arms should be single action in all cases. In practicing with a holster weapon, fasten the holster on the belt, and anchor the belt so that the holster will always be at the same relative position. The holster should be cut out so that the forefinger can be placed on the trigger in drawing. Always carry a loaded revolver with the hammer resting on an empty chamber or between two cartridges.
In the woods, or in localities where such shooting would not be likely to do any harm, it is good practice to shoot at a block of wood drifting down in the current of a swift-flowing stream, at a block of wood or a tin can swinging like a pendulum, from horseback at stationary and moving objects, and from a moving boat at similar objects. Such practice is largely indulged in by cowboys, ranchmen, and others in the western part of the United States. The shooting is generally rapid-fire work with heavy charges at short range, and is to be commended as being extremely practical.
Many of the published reports of wonderful shooting are gross exaggerations. The prowess of the so-called “Gun Men” of New York and other large cities is greatly over-estimated. These criminals do not practice shooting with the fire arms they use but operate by stealth and intrigue which makes them dangerous. They are, in fact, very poor marksmen, few of them being able to hit an object the size of a man more than 15 or 20 feet away.
In shooting a long series of shots with black powder ammunition, when the rules allow it, the barrel should be cleaned and examined every six or ten shots, depending upon the clean-shooting qualities of the ammunition used. It is well to examine the shells, also, and note if the primers have been struck in the center. If not, then some of the mechanism is out of line, and the parts likely to have caused the trouble must be cleaned.
After securing good, reliable arms, stick to them. Much time and progress is frequently lost by buying and trying different arms, ammunition, etc. If in any of your shooting, you should get results that are peculiar and unsatisfactory, make it your business to find out the cause of the difficulty, and remedy it as soon as possible.
“Blazing away” a large quantity of ammunition carelessly and recklessly is absolutely valueless as practice, and is a waste of time. Give your whole attention to your work, and try your very best to place every shot in the center of the bull’s-eye.
It is very important to keep a full, detailed record of all your shooting, for comparison, study, etc. A suitable book should be provided for this purpose. Do not fall into the habit of preserving only a few of the best scores; but make it a rule to keep a record of every shot, and figure out the average of each day’s work. The more painstaking and systematic you are, the more rapid will be your progress. By careful, intelligent work, it is possible to become a fair shot in three or four months, and a first-rate shot in a year.
Charles Askins,Jr., had a great deal of practical experience with handguns. They were an integral part of his years as a lawman, he taught their use to military recruits, and he was a top-level competitive shooter. In this piece, “The First Training,” taken from Colonel Askins on Pistols & Revolvers (1980), he looks at putting the proper foot forward (both figuratively and literally) when one starts out.
Anyone can be a pistol shooter—and a good one—if he can master the trigger pull. That is, if he can mash the trigger at that precise instant when the sights are aligned perfectly on the mark he will be an overnight success. It does not matter whether he grips the gun perfectly, stands perfectly, holds his breath perfectly, and has made a perfect choice of firearm and caliber; all are subordinate to the squash on the trigger.
The great bugaboo to successful trigger manipulation is an overpowering predilection on the part of the gunner to jerk the trigger and not press it evenly and softly. These flinches are uneven and violent and swing the muzzle wide of the mark. It is my contention that sooner or later some enterprising handgunner is going to find a way to jerk the trigger uniformly. When he does he is going to have the battle won! It takes literally years to achieve a smooth, even balanced trigger squeeze. The laddy-o who will finally stagger onto a system whereby he can make his shots hit dead center and do it with a consistent and uniform trigger yank will show all of us the way! This oracle hasn’t bowed onto the stage as yet and until he does we must labor along with the only system we know. A long and hard course of sprouts which produces results slowly and grudgingly.
It takes years to achieve a smooth trigger
The trigger releases the hammer through, usually, the design of a simple sear. To force the trigger out of its notch in the hammer requires a force of, generally, about 3 to 4 pounds force. This pressure is applied by the index finger of the shooting hand. On the face of it nothing could appear more simple than to tighten the first finger just ever so slightly and thus set the hammer in motion. However, a number of factors are involved which complicate the equation.
To begin with the pistol weighs only 2½ pounds, and when a force of this magnitude is applied against the gun it is bound to move. If that force is applied suddenly and violently as when the trigger is jerked the movement of the piece is exaggerated. This is only one of the problems.
While the trigger is being pressed ever so delicately the shooter must keep the sights in precise alignment with the mark and this requires some doing. When the gun is extended to full arm’s length from the body it moves, wobbles, trembles and gyrates. As a matter of fact it is never entirely still. The business then is terribly complicated by the necessity for keeping the sights trained, one with the other, and the both with the bullseye, meanwhile struggling mightily to control the tendency of arm, hand and firearm to sway, and all the time essaying to press the trigger only during those brief intervals when the gun is bearing dead on.
To be a really first-rate marksman, with the ability to press on the trigger smoothly, evenly, and gently, meanwhile maintaining a proper sight picture, and all the time holding the pistol with such good control as to keep the sights in alignment and press away the last few ounces of force required to set off the hammer necessitates, at a very minimum of not less than two years of constant practice.
If this is discouraging let me remind you that there are an infinite variety of skills in the pistol game. A marksman may be a going-hell-for-leather shooter or he may be just a dub. And as a helter-skelter sort of handgunner maybe gets more fun out of the sport than the bucko who is determined to be nothing less than a champion. It all depends on the aficion.
A good trigger should not have a weight of more than 3 to 4 pounds and that one which is nearer the three-pound breaking point is the better. It must be absolutely motionless, that is, when force is placed against it there can be no perceptible movement. Not in the slightest. When the pressure of the trigger finger comes up to 3 pounds the sear should let go cleanly and abruptly, there can be no feeling of sponginess. There must be a trigger stop so that the very instant the sear is released the trigger comes abruptly against its stop.
To manhandle a trigger the shooter grips the pistol with a very hard grasp, straightens his arms completely, locking both at the elbow, and then he lines the sights one with the other. The only reliable sights for the handgun are the patridge type, i.e. a one-eighth-inch post in front and a square notch behind. The post completely fills the notch and the very top of the front sight is held precisely where the gunner wants the bullet type
With the sights in good alignment the marksman maneuvers the front post into the very center of his target. As the sight touches this point he places a little pressure on the trigger. Not a great deal of force for if he adds all the 3 pounds needed to fire the gun it will be violently diverted. Only a little force is applied, if it could be measured it would probably not amount to more than three or four ounces. In doing this the pistol is moved off the mark. The gun is never really still and the marksman only puts pressure on the trigger during those all too brief periods when the sights hang dead over the target center.
Once the 4-oz of force is pressed against the trigger the shooter does not relax this force as the sights swing off the center. He holds this and as he carefully works the front post back into the center of the target once more he tightens another 3-4 ounces. Again the gun moves and as at first he holds his accumulated pressure and slowly and patiently swings the sights back to the target’s middle again.
This is kept up, never relaxing the pressure on the trigger, being careful not to inadvertently increase it while the sight is off the center, and finally after maybe as many as a half-dozen tries—squeezing only when the sights are dead center, holding the pressure while they are wide of the target, he finally forces the pistol to fire. The hit will be a fairly good one. This may take a full minute, with some slow-pokes it requires two or three minutes; with the experts it uses up only 2 or 3 seconds. And yet the squeeze of the latter is quite as precise as that of the meticulous one. It is all a matter of practice.
There is a school which advocates that the marksman squeezes and squeezes and is never certain just when the gun is going to fire. This is a bunch of hogwash. The shooter must know his gun and his pull so intimately as to be certain within a fraction of an ounce exactly when the sear will release. Don’t ever put any stock in the joker who tells you “just squeeze when the sights are on and the gun will go off when it is dead center.” Garbage!
If a pistol weighed 40 pounds and the trigger broke at only three, we could punish the trigger in quick time and get away with it. But, unfortunately, this isn’t true. The handgun, even the heavy ones do not go more than 3 pounds and a trigger let-off of this weight is common. Because of these irrefutable facts the pressure has to be applied with a great deal of caution.
It is best to grip the gun with both hands. In target match shooting the rules require that only one hand be placed on the pistol but in practice the two-fisted hold is perfectly cricket. I believe in it. You can simply hold a lot steadier, overcome recoil faster and suffer less punishment with the two hands on the grip. I’d recommend you start this way.
Even though both fists are wrapped around the stock, the control hand is the right. It is this index finger which works against the trigger, while it may be OK to hold the pistol with both hands only the one finger sets off the charge. Lay it against the iron midway of the very end of the digit and the first joint. All the nerves come to an end here and this is the most sensitive part of the finger. To put only the tip against the trigger means that both of the joints must be bent quite abruptly. This makes possible the placement of the finger at right angles to the trigger—and in exact prolongation with the axis of the bore. These may seem like inconsequential details but they all help to shoot better.
The second hand, normally, the left, is wrapped around and over the right. The most of the pressure on the gun stock is exerted by the right hand; for all that the grasp of the left is plenty hard. A pistol, regardless of caliber, is never held lightly nor loosely. And the bigger the caliber the harder the pressure!
The pistol is fully extended to arm’s length. Both arms that is. And to do this the marksman fully faces the mark. Not at any angle at all, but full-face. This then makes comfortable the full extension of both arms. The elbows are locked, the muscles at the shoulders which support the arms are locked and the body is supported and steadied by a separation of the feet of not less than 20 inches. Some shorties may not straddle out this much and some of the Jordans will separate the heel by a full yard. Every man is a law unto himself. There should be no tendency to lean backward at the hips to hold the gun in firing position and there seems little inducement to lean into the piece in anticipation of the recoil.
The one-handed shooter, the target man who fires the national match course, turns about 45 degrees from the target, separates his feet about the same distance, fully extends his hand, locking the elbow, and with head and body erect looks over the sights. Some one-handed shooters actually turn 90 degrees from the target and in this stance take up more of the recoil from the heavy kicking handguns. It has something to commend it. The only objection, as I have found it, is that the aiming eye must accept all the burden. The left plays a very secondary role since it is sort of around the corner as it were.
It is best when making a beginning to fire two-handed. The shooter progresses more rapidly and once he has attained a certain modicum of skill may experiment with the one-handed firing if he is interested. It most certainly is considerably more difficult and should be attempted only after a lot of shooting with both fists.
The new shooting game called “Practical Pistol Shooting,” a training in which the gunner makes a fast draw and triggers off a series of shots in extremely short time periods at silhouette targets set up at comparatively short range, has seen the development of a slightly different shooting stance.
Many of the practical pistol shooters slightly advance the right foot toward the target, bend both knees slightly, fully straighten the left arm but permit a bend in the right at the elbow. This position is OK for fast shooting and although it would not do for deliberate slow fire it has been found quite satisfactory for the fast rapid fire. Some gunners push the gun forward with the right hand and pull backward with left. Others reverse this procedure. They believe it not only permits a steadier grasp but also tends to counteract the recoil.
As the pistol is pushed out from the body and as the arms straighten, the aiming eye picks up the sights. The front post is 1/8” in width from top to bottom and the rear notch is a few thousandths larger so that the post fits the rectangular opening with a bit of light to spare on either side of it. A great deal of care wants to be exercised to be doubly sure that ribbon of light is the same on either side. Just as meticulously the shooter wants to be careful the top of the front sight only comes even with the top of the back sight. Not even 
” below the top nor even half that much above. But precisely!
Too much accent cannot be placed on the alignment of the sights. It must be done perfectly. Our best pistol marksmen, shooters like Hershel Anderson and Bill Blankenship, do not focus the shooting eye on the target at all. They focus on the sights on the pistol and see the mark as a secondary sort of thing. This is because the alignment of the front and rear sights is so absolutely important.
As the front sight settles into the back notch, the marksman catches his breath. He does not suck air like a beached trout but simply locks his breath in his throat. If he breathes while he is aiming and squeezing the gun will bobble up and down and a decent let-off is impossible. Hold the breath but if you are so tardy with the shot that holding in becomes strained or painful then the pistol wants to be brought back to the raised pistol position, the air expelled, a rest taken and the whole sequence commenced anew.
Bullseye shooters frequently aim one place and expect to hit another. This is readily accomplished with an adjustable rear sight. The sights are pointed at the 6 o’clock point on the black but the bullet hits dead center. The advantage of this is that the front sight is iron and is usually blackened with a lamp to make it nonreflective and in this Stygian state shows up a lot more clearly against the white paper.
I do not like this system, it is better to sight the pistol to hit the middle of the mark. It does not matter whether the target is in the shape of a bullseye, the silhouette of man or animal, is a knothole, a floating chip in the creek, or a tin can, it is far more practical to zero the gun to hit where it is pointed.
At any rate, and before the first practice the handgun must be sighted in. This should be done at not more than 15 yards if the gunner is a rank beginner. Better that the sights be adjusted by an old hand but if no experienced shooter is available then the tyro should test the piece over a bench and essay the job himself. No pistol as it comes across the counter can be depended upon to be in zero. This is a chore for the new owner and it is extremely important. If he feels that he is not competent to bring the arm to a decent zero then he had better cast about for someone to help him.
When you read his work, you find yourself developing an affinity for William Reichenbach. Quaint phrases and outright quirkiness aside, he writes in an engaging and entertaining fashion. Better still, for the purposes of the present book, he makes good sense. Here, in a piece that comes from his little book Sixguns and Bullseyes (1936), he takes a practical look at how handguns should be held. Thoughts on the matter have changed appreciably in recent decades, particularly in regard to using a two-handed grip as opposed to only one hand, but what Reichenbach has to say about comfort, feel, and fit is as applicable as ever.
A baby, as we know, has little trouble finding the place where the milk grows. To find the proper hold for a Revolver is equally easy. Nobody but a perfect moron will pick the barrel-end as being just as convenient as the other extremity. But right there is where most people stop thinking and that’s why we have so many people that can’t shoot. There are 14 different ways of holding a soup-spoon, 6 ways of gripping a tomahawk and 431 ways of getting the goat of your mother-in-law, but there is only one way to hold the stock of a Revolver.
“Why be so fussy?” will you say. My dear fellow, telling somebody what the correct hold is, is like an initiation into a Hindu-temple. I always get jittery when I undertake it and I shall go into my grave long before it is time. I have had more than one intelligent pupil who, getting along in jig-time, will suddenly neglect his hold. They all have a way of compressing their lips and putting the glint of stubbornness in their iris. Here I am, trying to convince the thickhead that his progress will stop at “80” or thereabouts. (Mind you, I am doing it for nothing.) And he had promised so faithfully not to branch out on his own until he got to his goal.
Well, in this Manual the pupil can’t talk back! So listen brother: There is only one correct hold! Get it? Thank you!
First off, we must realize that holding the stock of a Revolver should entail no physical strain—the gun should feel natural. We have some apostles who jeer about “ladylike grip” and so on. Those birds, probably, never have shown anything in the way of fine shooting. Just don’t pay any attention! You can please only one master and listening to a number of “know-it-alls” will only set you back. Alright, we place the stock between the middle finger and the ball of the thumb. Then we drape the other fingers lightly wherever they feel comfortable. Got that? Now place your thumb on the latch—and presto!
Mind you, just drape the fingers around the stock, and do not touch the stock with your fingertips at all.
The lower part of the trigger finger touches the frame and should steady it. The little finger, also with its lower portion, does the same further down the stock.
The action of the first two digits of the triggerfinger is being dealt with under the chapter entitled Squeeze.
No pressure in any part of your hand, mind you! That seems to be the whole secret of HOLD. However, it may not be amiss to amplify this statement. There is a reason for everything, as you will see presently.
Suppose, we practice the thing a little —
Just a minute! Don’t pick up the Revolver like that—Take your hand off the gun! Are you a righthander? Alright, pick the gun up with your left hand and fit it to your right. The idea is to give your shooting hand every possible help. You need it!
A handgun is not a blackjack or a club that must be gripped tensely. Violence or noticeable pressures are oriented in the cylinder and barrel, not in your hand.
Let’s analyze the situation! Not only for the sake of correct learning, but also as an aid in acquiring consistency. Your middle-finger has the function to support the weight of the gun. It is placed where the trigger-guard meets the grip.
You recall that the other fingers were placed below, first the ring-and then the little finger. Only if you were very stubborn would you wish to change this order.
Alright! Now, these fingers touching the front of the grip, would tend to make the gun tilt downward. We don’t want that! Here is where nature comes to our assistance. As you will observe, the ball of the thumb is still unemployed. How about it? Right! Place that against the back strap (The rear-edge of the grip) and—there we are. No more tilting, what?
But, we can’t have the thumb floating around idly. Lay it on the latch.
Contrary to the beginner’s usual conception, the gun must be held lightly! Just firmly enough to take care of a little bit of recoil. This light hold is beneficial in many ways. It tires you less. The gun remains steadier. Your motions and reactions are less acute—If you can bring yourself to regard the Revolver as a delicate instrument, you have gained much.
How does it feel?
We agree that the weapon is supported by the middle-finger; in fact, it literally hangs on it. Close to the second joint and on the side of the middle-finger (i.e. the side nearer the thumb) is the point of support. On the revolver, the corresponding point is directly in the rear of the trigger guard. This point serves also as a fulcrum. The pressure exerted by the middle, ring and little finger towards the rear is opposed by the ball of the thumb. The vertical movement of the muzzle, caused by the working of the mechanism and recoil, is checked by the thumb resting on the cylinder latch and by the ball of the thumb. The horizontal movement of the muzzle is governed by the palm and the sides of the trigger-and little fingers, as mentioned before and again the thumb, by its strategic position on the cylinder latch, comes into passive function.
By now you will readily appreciate the importance of what I said previously. Do not touch the revolver grip with your finger tips! The slight pressure they exert against the left side of the stock, the amount of which you cannot control, will destroy the delicate state of balanced forces (opposing pressures) which you are seeking to establish and maintain until after the weapon is discharged.
Now, try to memorize the procedure and practice holding the gun in the same way every time. Get into the habit!
I might as well whisper a secret in your ear. It is all-important that, once you have found the correct hold, you must take and maintain it in exactly the same manner, with every shot—today—tomorrow—next week—all your life. Don’t shift around! You should have invisible callouses in certain places in your hand and the stock should have invisible grooves and bumps, through your method of taking the same hold all the time. I said “invisible.” You don’t apply any pressures and therefore should not get callouses and wear grooves into the stock. I just used a sort of metaphor.
Another, and probably better, way of expressing what I mean would be to imagine the stock covered with a delicate film which, upon first correct contact with your hand, would show the impression of all the little skin wrinkles and folds of your hand. This impression, we go on imagining, must not be disturbed and, each time we resume our hold, all these skin wrinkles and folds should match the first imprint.
Start slowly and pedantically—Do it right! Practice it! And by and by, the gun will slip into the same place automatically—and that’s what we want!