Rethinking things

Teaching firearms and deadly force has been my primary occupation for a few decades now. One thing I’ve learned is this: Sometimes, what they taught us in the old shooting manuals doesn’t work as well as those who wrote them thought they would. I offer an example:

Way back when Moses came down from Handgun Instructor Mountain it was written on one of the stone tablets, “Thou shalt never lower thine eyes to the sights; thou shalt always keep the head erect and raise the gunsights to thine eyes.” Today, anyone who lowers their head between hunched shoulders is derided as a “tactical turtle” and mockingly asked, “Where’d ya learn that, YouTube?”

Head Down

Dunno about anyone else, but I learned it in 1984 from world speed shooting champion and national IPSC champ J. Michael Plaxco. After noticing his winning form included shooting with his head forward and down, I asked him why. He replied it kept him from looking over the gun when shooting reaction targets, which would have caused his shots to go high. I discovered he was right, and ever since taught this head position as an option to my students. I tend to default to it myself.

In addition to Mike’s stated reason, because “where the head goes the body follows” the forward and down posture carries more body weight into the gun, controlling muzzle rise and thus increasing rate of accurate fire. It also fits perfectly into a fight or flight response: More than a century ago when he defined the concept at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Walter Cannon told us in such a state our shoulders would hunch up to protect the head, which would instinctively go forward and down. In this case it makes sense to go with instinct.

The only problem with this head posture comes for the shooter wearing multi-focal lenses, where the level allowing front sight focus is on the bottom, thus requiring a rearward head tilt. For decades I’ve recommended having the optometrist put this plane on top of the lens, an option you can get from SSP (SSPeyewear.com). Head up, normal distance vision, threat identified; head down, focus on front sight. It all works.

Trigger Finger Placement

Many books teach us to apply the pad of the index finger to the trigger. It works best with short, light trigger pulls on heavy single action target pistols. With a longer 5- to 7-lb. pull on a less than 2-lb. polymer pistol, not so much. Try the distal joint of the trigger finger instead. Double-action revolver shooters dubbed the sweet spot the “power crease” because it gives you much more leverage. Your trigger pull will feel a few pounds lighter. Don’t be surprised if you shoot straighter this way.

Yes, I know — double-action revolver wizard Jerry Miculek uses the pad of his trigger finger. You and I are not Jerry Miculek. I told him a few years ago, “Jerry, I’ve found the secret to beating you; I’m just having a hell of a time finding the Kryptonite!”

Shooting is not a religion, it’s an evolving art and science. Shooting manuals aren’t Bibles, they’re a collection of well-meant suggestions. Some of the pages therein are gold, and some of them would serve better on the bottom of a bird cage than as Scripture-Which-Must-Be-Obeyed.

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