E-Mail 'Basic Handgun Marksmanship Skills- Part 1, by Mark Bunch' To A Friend

11 Comments

1. Regarding use and amount of ammo suggested for pistol use in this article. I would say everyone I know, lets say people I know who have a gun in any form runs somwhere around 600 people. Zero are training monthly. I read these suggestions of shoot “x” amount a month etc and always laugh. Many of us are not blessed with large private land ownership,local shooting places etc. Some are not even financially capable of justifying an extra $15 a month on ammo, much less a $1000 stockpile. Realizing most people will never be proficient but encouraging pro 2a is perhaps just as important. Knowing about your firearm and how to use is more important than round count. Yes practice makes pefect, but if i need my neighbor to back me up, i sure as heck don’t care of his average round count. What I need is to know him, trust him and then invite him tot the range!

   1. Hi Jeff, I am glad you found my suggestion to train on a monthly basis entertaining and if that thought process works for you and those other 600 people who have every excuse under the sun to not train on a monthly basis, then more power to you. In anything you choose to do, the more you do it the better you will be. When it comes to firearms proficiency you will be as good as you practice and if you never practice for whatever reason you have named or any other you might have thought of since then, your skills will match the amount of practice you have chosen to do. That is a simple fact…

2. My wife is right handed…and blind in her right eye. We have spent much time and money (ammo and holsters) getting here proficient in shooting with her left hand. Like good shooters, she does cross-hand train, and she still feels that she should be shooting right handed. Since she has grown up with mono-vision, no “3-d vision” to speak of, can she just use her right hand as her primary?

   1. Why doesn’t she just lay her head over on right shoulder and sight using her left eye. In the 80’s this was taught using the title of “The Quale System” (almost certain of name), I have used that system and became good at it in case my right eye became injured. In law enforcement we always taught our recruits to find a way to stay in the fight.

   2. All you need to do when shooting a handgun with your off hand is move your dominant eye over the sights. It becomes problematic when shooting a long gun and the stock will need to be altered to get her left eye over the sights or she will need to shoot left handed.

   3. Hi Pat, obviously any physical limitation that a shooter has, your wife as an example will need to be addressed in your practice sessions at the range. The short answer to your very good question is Yes, she can just use her right hand if that is more comfortable and more natural for her.

      You didn’t mention what distances you practice at, but I am pretty sure you must be doing something like 3, 7 and maybe 15 yards. I am not sure what type of handgun your wife is using either, which could make a difference in my recommendation to you so I shall try to explain as clearly as I can for you and for her.

      First of all, if she is shooting right handed and using her left eye you will need to know what that does to her bullet impact at each distance, vs what her bullet impacts using her left hand and left eye in combination together are. It may not move her impact strike much if at all under controlled, ie relaxed conditions. However, under stressful, OMG I am being chased by El Chupa Cabra situations, she may find that there is a larger impact change from shooting left handed while using her left eye.

      Under stress, the brain and all your senses are heightened to dramatic levels and the only way to actually know whether shooting right handed while using her left eye is going to need to be adjusted for is to induce some pressure and let her shoot.

      Get a timer that blows a whistle or makes an audible noise to start and have her train while she shoots. Its always good to shoot 1 round at a time until she can call her shot. Calling your shot means that you are able to tell when it was you who made a bad shot or missed where you were aiming because of yanking the trigger, holding your breath or poor positioning on the part of the shooter.

      The easiest position for your wife to be able to do this in is the modified weaver stance as it will allow your wife the ability to be flexible in her stance while searching for the proper footwork to allow her to use diametrically opposed control points successfully. Mastering this under pressure will give her and you the confidence to know how this combination is going to work out for your wife.

      Best wishes to you and your wife

3. I shot cowboy action for a few years and taught myself to shoot with a BP revolver (a pair of ’51 navies, or a pair of ’60 armys or a pair of ’73’s in .45 colt, no squib loads either) in each hand at the same time. Nice skill to have, and wasn’t that hard for me to learn.

4. Hopefully those of you who do not take training seriously and shoot 50 rounds a month never meet the guy who trains seriously and shoots 500 rounds a month. Get an airsoft or BB gun and train for 15 minutes daily if you cannot afford ammo because if the SHTF it’s too late to learn.

5. Hi Mark, yes the more you train the better you will be that is a simple fact. My point was that in my opinion/experience a bare minimum of 50 rounds per month is required to maintain your handgun proficiency skills, I certainly wasn’t advocating that shooters only shoot 50 rounds per month. As I am sure you read up above, at least some 601 shooters out there don’t shoot or train on a monthly basis at all.

   While shooting an airsoft or BB gun will give you trigger time, my question would be why practice with something you will never use to defend yourself or hunt with?? Doing that will never get you ready for the guy who shoots 500 rounds per month and might even be detrimental to your shooting skills.

   For example, I remember once a zillion years ago when I was in Jr. High School, a lot of my friends preferred throwing and playing with the 3/4 sized footballs and basketballs cause they were easier to handle. I always insisted that we actually use full size balls when we played as I didn’t want my skill set screwed up during the summer and other school breaks by using something that I was never going to use when the chips were down and it actually counted.

   I do agree with you that when the SHTF hoping to be able to practice and learn then will be way too late.

   1. I train people and shoot daily and the only skill you cannot learn with an airsoft is recoil control. I agree that the best practice is live fire with your weapon of choice but when you are limited by finances you must have options. Some of the best shooters I compete with came from Japan to the US and were airsoft guys and it didn’t take long for them to transition.

6. Growing up left-handed I was also left-eye dominant. My dad was wise ad noticed when he was in the army a friend was also left eye dominant but shot rifles as a righty and a side arm as a lefty. This allowed him to transition fast from shooting his M16 with a right hand trigger pull to his side arm with a left hand trigger pull. He taught me and my brother to do the same, didn’t seem like a big deal to use then but in a pinch a few milliseconds can be life or death.

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