Keys to Pistol Shooting Success | Shooting Tips from SIG SAUER Academy

Here at SIG Academy they teach everyone from beginners to experts including military and law enforcement officers. Hi, I'm Dave Miles from the National Shooting Sports Foundation and with me is Adam Payne, show director at the Cig Academy and Adam, obviously, for a new shooter, there are fundamentals that everyone needs to use in order to make accurate shots down and Adam, why don't we talk about the fundamentals? Well, sure, I'll clarify a few things when it comes to the fundamentals as far as we're concerned, if you're at a really high advanced level. or you're a beginner, they're the same thing, it really is completely objective and performance based, so for the beginning shooter just trying to hit a paper target 7 yards away, the way you approach the fundamentals and complete that task It's probably different than maybe a SWAT guy moving around, going through a house and dealing with multiple threats and things like that, so we break things down really simply and it's a very trigger finger, muzzle handling discipline. , very simple, so we are teaching. fundamentals of trigger finger discipline and muzzle management.

The way we break it down is to stabilize the muzzle on the target and obviously you use the scope as a reference point for that and then you exercise good trigger finger discipline, which means moving the trigger without disturbing the muzzle. okay, that's it and I think if we get more involved in that, it overcomplicates things in our very basic courses, people who have never handled weapons in their life, specifically

pistol

s, we take that approach and have instant

success

. the range so that when they come out of the range they are not thinking about the 8 steps of whatever it is that is really simple, hey, stabilize the muzzle on the target, I used to cite such a reference exercise, good trigger finger discipline, which means moving the trigger without disturbing the visual image.

You're good to go back to being pretty simple. Although what I want to do real quick is a little wild, what I talked about and you know, it kind of said, "We don't really care how you hold the gun, we don't really care how you hold it." Stand because everything is based on goals and performance in any task. I would just emphasize that with a quick little demonstration, I'm now going to load my gun down range real quick so you know it's a traditional grip. right, I think we could probably all agree that it's probably not a very good grip, so in traditional circles no one would look at this and say, hey, that's a pretty good grip, obviously not good, yeah, so I don't know if anyone teaches that and us.

Certainly don't teach that, so don't get me wrong. I'm just showing that this is not a good grip in traditional circles, but I'm going to show that you can get performance like this and this is probably not a good grip. good stance, okay, so with one foot behind my back and holding the gun like this, this is probably not ideal, so hitting that one inch square right there with my gun prone standing on one foot, I which I just demonstrated. Well, what I did was I just demonstrated that the points I was making before don't matter.

I just hit the center of a one inch square without even thinking too much about a foot holding the gun upside down with my pinky, so where did that show who cares how you hold it? the gun who cares how you stand and let's throw all this or you have to have this grip and you have to have this stance and you have to do this no, I realized what I talked about before sugar finger discipline muzzle handling it What I just did is I was able to stabilize my muzzle on the target, use my sights as a reference point and move my trigger without disturbing those sights and place the bullet literally exactly where I want to go.

Now don't get me wrong, we certainly don't teach. I think what you're saying is that you have to figure out what works for you. Certainly, you find out what works for you. Keep going and do better. This is really what I mean. What is really demonstrated and conveyed here is as long as you can move the trigger without disturbing your sight, your gun will be

success

ful, whether you make that move when

shooting

a competition behind a barricade, multiple targets, 50 yard targets, three They are objectives. Who really cares if you can stabilize your muzzle on the target and move the trigger without moving your muzzle?

You will succeed so that we do not obsess over all this. You know, other things you're not going to do. hearing that from my mouth or from any of our guys we don't care about you as women exactly is one hundred percent objective based now my objective when I just did it was to hit the center of that one inch square, yeah that's okay if I want to do that as I move and weave between some cones. I probably wouldn't stand on one foot. I probably wouldn't hold the gun upside down and shoot my pinky, so it's 100% based on performance or target, yeah, yeah.

I'm not going to let you do that, but I'm just trying to make a point. Well, I feel relieved. Well, I feel a little uncomfortable now because I hope to hit that one inch square with all my parents. I think if you do everything right and just get back to what you need to do to be successful. you have a nice side there, a nice fiber optic red dot, place that dot literally, don't even worry about the rear sight, put the red dot where you want the bullet to go, so in this case let's put the red dot on the center.

Well, let's use one of those black circles up there. We'll use the bottom left bottom left black circle. I'll have you place the red dot right there. and stabilize that red dot where you want to go, put your finger on the trigger and now it's a mental game, now I have to think, okay Dave, I need to move this trigger without disturbing the red dot too much, is it going to move? around a bit yet, except accept the fact that it's going to move and continue the constant movement on the trigger blade until the shaft breaks.

Really that simple. I've got your ears on, so once you move forward, look down and continue charging. Pick up your gun holster, okay, aim for that spot and relax. Right finger on the trigger. Move that thing back nice and smooth and break it. Excellent work. Return to the cover. Nothing magical. Okay, look, look, you hit a one-inch black dot at three. meters away damn mission success right there yeah not much no stabilized point on target movement trigger successful if I said okay I want you to do the same thing on the move would you do anything different , no no?

I still stabilize the dot on the target and try to move the trigger without disturbing it. Make it harder. If I say do it with one foot, touch your head, obviously make it a little harder, so let's try it a couple more times. from the case, why don't you do it? Just keep your eyes on where you want the ball to go and when I say go, what I want you to do is just draw your gun and relax your body, don't be too aggressive with the gun, just relax buddy, draw your gun, place point where you want it, put your finger on the trigger when you feel fit and loosen that thing up, break your shot, seat it back up, go back in the holster, sounds good, okay, here we go, done, done.

Okay, so I guess we're going where we wanted to go, yeah, okay, so we're three yards away and we missed the target, well, we missed that center circle by inches and inches deep, so what's wrong with us? So I'm thinking your point was probably in the right place, but then we forgot about that big step and the finger on the trigger, um, do you remember pulling the trigger if I asked you as a police officer if I asked you to write a statement or a report about what that trigger felt like? You broke that shot, could you really break it down for me?

You're probably not the reason because you weren't thinking about it well and that happens a lot, not that we have to think about everything, but in a

shooting

environment we really try to. You understand that you know how to fine-tune the precision right here, we have a pole thought, okay, so the fact that you can't tell me what it felt like and describe it intimately as I put my finger on the trigger blade Adam and as I started to press, I felt a bit of grit, I should have felt sand on that trigger and you clean it when I started to back up, I hit the wall, the slack was lost as I kept pushing, I could feel that thing was about to break, that hit was I was about to go forward and as I was doing it I felt that Break boy, I felt the little recoil in my hand break and come back down and hey, I saw my shot exactly I want to go if you can't tell me you weren't doing it.

Okay, now let's try to do it right, so when I say, relax, take the gun holster, put the point where you want, connect the brain with the finger on the trigger, apply a constant movement until the store breaks, don't do let it shoot. the gun goes up, okay, sounds good, yeah, come on, hey, awesome, welcome back to the holster, great, right where we want to be, let's try it again, so what happens as we continue? You know, I can say "go five six times more" and yeah, sometimes it starts to work. downhill very fast, so in this aiming game right now it's just a matter of maintaining the discipline of being able to think and apply movement to that trigger without disturbing that red dot too much, it will move, accept it, don't do it. fight, just work, write it again, sure, same thing, work again, hey, not bad, so this shooting thing is not a mystery, it is not difficult.

What is difficult in my job and our other instructor here is when we start multitasking, like teaching. shooting tactics and decision making like shooting shots in the snow working around a corner awkward positions you know reloading on the move you know doing all that tasks saturating and multitasking and shooting on target that's where it gets difficult you know training people to be tactical Zoar training people to be competitive shooters when you get all this, all these things you have to do simultaneously, those things are challenging, shooting is easy, it's very easy in theory, obviously, it's the good enough and I didn't convert and didn't even buy it. that you really have to do enough now our basic students instantly come out of the holster, we're getting instant accuracy because we're breaking down very simple things and making sure they're comfortable and applying them really simply.

Point I didn't do it. I don't mention anything about space even above. I said "put a point where you want to go." I think as human beings we can all do that and I said "film shutter without moving that point." Now someone who has never shot a gun, obviously you." I've shot a lot, but someone has never shot a gun before thinking ok, I need to put the point where it needs to go, I need to move the trigger, that moon, that thought is a Pretty simple task, most human beings could do that task without thinking too much about it and the more we shoot sometimes, the more we have to think about it a little more now that you know what you need to do to shoot the target accurately, head out to the range and do some shooting. and if you're looking for a place to shoot close to home check out our website on where to shoot dot org and when you're at the range remember that gun safety is up to you .