By Ed Santos, The Shooting Channel
The four primary fundamentals or components of defensive pistol marksmanship are Stance, Grip, Sights, and Trigger Control. An additional component of defensive pistol craft is follow-through. For the purposes of this article, we’re referring to a semi-auto handgun. Let’s begin with Stance and Grip in Part 1.
Stance
Balance and Mobility
Balance is enhanced by equally distributing the body mass over the balls of both feet. The feet should be separated by a distance equal to, or slightly greater than, the width of the shoulders. The weight of body should either be on the balls of the feet or center of the foot, never on the rear half or heels. The knees should be slightly bent. When in the shooting position the shoulders should be slightly ahead of the hips and in direct vertical alignment with at least one of the feet. Mobility is enhanced through weight distribution and foot positioning that brings the shoulders squarely to the threat. Knees should be relaxed and not locked. The head is erect, not canted
Isocolese Stance
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Types of Pistol Shooting Stances
Isosceles: The upper body is completely facing, straight forward, or “squared” to the target. Feet are even and arm positioning is symmetrical. The body has a slight crouch with the shoulders being forward of the hips. Both arms are thrust forward to lock at the shoulders, elbows, and wrists when at eye level. Weight is equally distributed over the balls of the feet. The toes of both feet are facing forward. Knees should be relaxed, not locked. This position allows lateral or horizontal traverse. Some have found that a shooter may resort to this position, at least in terms in upper body orientation, during life threatening stress.
Weaver: The entire body is canted or “bladed” away from the target and facing the shooter’s dominant side at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. The position of the arms in the shooting position shows that the dominant arm is thrust forward, slightly flexed at the elbow and rotated down. The support arm positions the elbow pointed directly to the ground with the interior angle of 90 degrees and about 4″ away from the torso. This position has many advantages and disadvantages. A weaver position that is too bladed results in limited ability to traverse towards the support side. The shooting platform is non-symmetrical.
Modified Isosceles: This is accomplished by stepping back with the dominant foot 6″ from fully square. The upper body turns into the target and the arms are thrust forward. Note that the arms are not locked out but are slightly bent. This combines the best attributes of the Isosceles and Weaver positions. The upper body is squared and the toes are both pointed forward, but the strong side foot is slightly back. Generally this is not bladed, and the toe of the trailing foot is no farther back than the heel of the leading foot.
The Weaver Stance
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Grip
Grip Alignment of the hand and the lower arm – When establishing the proper grip, the weapon must be fitted to the dominant hand. Ideally, the pistol should be placed in the hand so that a straight line is formed at the front sight and extending rearward through the wrist and forearm. If raised rapidly up to the line of sight, the shooter should be able to very readily look through the sights with little or no adjustment when fitted properly.
Grip Position- Dominant Hand-the dominant hand middle, ring, and pinky fingers should be as high as possible on the front strap of the pistol grip while the web of the hand should be as high as possible on the rear strap of the pistol. This provides maximum leverage, mechanical advantage, recoil control, and puts the trigger finger in a high and proper position to reach the trigger. The index finger is the trigger finger and operates independently of the gripping action. Its only activities will be to either remain in a position high on the outside of the frame or to press the trigger straight to the rear and control movement of the trigger forward after firing.
Non-Dominant Hand-Both hands should completely encircle the pistol, with the heels of both hands connecting. As much of the pistol grip surface should be covered. This allows for improved recoil control. The index finger of the non-dominant hand should not be placed on the front of the trigger guard. In most cases, this provides only minimal support and does not always maintain contact during recoil. The non-dominant hand is generally straight up and down with the wrist locked and the fingers of this hand together and as high as possible on the front strap. When possible, the index finger of the non-dominant hand should be wedged between the bottom of the trigger guard and the middle finger of the dominant hand. This most often will prevent the unintentional downward pulling of the gun during the trigger stroke. Another variation of non-dominant hand placement is where some shooters will cam or turn the wrist at a slight downward angle. This not only may provide increased control, but may be necessary in order to have the thumbs not interfering with the operation of the slide or other pistol parts.
Thumb Placement – The thumbs are the largest and strongest digits of the hand. Thumb placement will depend upon location of safeties, slide stop levers, de-cocking levers, and magazine catches.
Develop a level of consistency with your thumb position as moving the thumbs to various placement combinations can literally result in changes in shot placement, much like moving the sights.
The most advantageous thumb position will need to be determined by each and every shooter in order to achieve the best results. Three positions that should be experimented based upon the pistol and the shooter’s needs are:
High Parallel Thumbs: Thumbs are touching, parallel, and the tips are pointed either straight up and down or no lower than a 45 degree angle.
Low Parallel Thumbs: Thumbs are touching, parallel, and the tips are pointed either straight forward or no higher than a 45 degree angle. The dominant thumb may be forming pressure on the top of the non-dominant thumb or on the knuckle or meaty portion of it. The inside of the non-dominant thumb may be pushing inward on the slide.
Locked Down Thumbs: Non-dominant thumb is locked over the top of the dominant thumb. This is often preferred by those with revolver training. In some cases, the locked down thumb placement will result in a gap forming where the heels of the hands should have been touching when in a two-handed grip.
Grip Strength: The proper shooting grip, whether single or two-handed, should be able to provide sufficient power to hold the pistol, provide mechanical advantage over the reciprocating slide, stabilize the pistol throughout the trigger stroke and reset, and naturally point the pistol from the lower arm. Ideally, the strength in the grip consists of the following:
Locking the Wrist: Without a locked wrist, the pistol will not point as an extension of the lower arm, and may move unnecessarily during recoil. Not having a locked wrist can also result in unnecessary movement of the pistol during the trigger stroke, as there will be no resistance to stabilize the pistol.
Tension: Sufficient power should be applied with the shooting grip to control the pistol during aiming, trigger manipulation, and recoil. This could be described as the power needed to squeeze water from a rag, the power needed when sliding down a fireman’s pole or gym rope, or when hammering a large tent peg into the ground. For confrontations, the “handshake” grip may not apply.
Two Handed Grip: Depending upon the shooter’s stance and shooting platform, this may be a “push-pull”/isometric tension or an evenly wrapped grip that “clamshells” the pistol, with the heels pressing together.
Next up: Sights and Trigger Control
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Ed Santos is author of the books “Rule the Night Win the Fight” published 2008 and his latest “Low-Light Combatives” published 2013. He is the Owner/Founder of Center Target Sports, Inc. and Tactical Services Group. He teaches advanced firearm skills and low-light training around the world and can be reached at ed@tacticalservicesgroup.com.
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