I recently had the privilege to visit the SIG Sauer Academy in New Hampshire. What a great team of folks work up there for SIG. I was surprised by what appeared to be a “loose” teaching style. The NRA harps on several shooting fundamentals, including Aiming; Hold Control; Breath Control; Trigger Control and Follow-Through. The team at SIG Sauer Academy break it down to make shooting very, very simple.
Their concern is that the shooter addresses only two issues: muzzle management and trigger-finger discipline. Adam Painchaud, Director of the SIG Sauer Academy, has a great YouTube video out there on this simple teaching technique. He is not concerned about your stance (isosceles or weaver), your grip (good purchase or thumbs forward) or whether you have matching socks. Put the front site on the target (muzzle management) and keep it there while you pull the trigger (trigger-finger discipline.) Adam has an excellent drill that I use at least once a week. I call it Bang-Click. Find the article on that here at JoeGLOCK.com and practice. I guarantee it will improve your accuracy.
Do you want to shoot better? By that I mean, “Do you want to hit the target more consistently when you fire the pistol, especially when you shoot faster?” If so, there are two techniques which should be practiced.
SIG calls it muzzle management. I can work with that. Managing where the muzzle points is indeed the first issue I address when helping a shooter, and here’s my approach:
If you can lean around a wall and twist your body up to take a shot, that’s super. But when beginning your marksmanship skill, I believe that we should remove as many “adjustments” as possible. To that end, I ask the shooter to raise the pistol (punch out) to a firing stance with their eyes closed. Take a look? Is the front sight centered on the target, left to right? If not, adjust one foot forward or back slightly, so the pistol comes up centered on the target. When that’s done, I work on the up and down centering by getting the shooter comfortable with the grip angle of the pistol and a comfortable stance. If this can be done consistently for each series of shots, then we’ve reduced the complexity by focusing now on simply keeping the front sight on target – which is where it will now naturally be when raising the pistol. The arms and shoulders can relax, since the gun should already be on target.
The second technique SIG calls trigger-finger discipline. The NRA and the military have moved from the “squeeeeeeeze the trigger” command to “press the trigger.” That makes more sense. When you squeeze an orange, you’re actually pressing with all your fingers – and with a pistol, we want to squeeze with only one – the trigger finger. The ability to press that trigger past the take-up and through the trigger break is a learned task which takes practice. Here’s a trick to help get some better shots right away.
Shoot from the reset. Competitors do it, but most plinkers have never heard the concept. For most triggers (especially the GLOCK) the trigger resets in a much shorter distance than the original pull length. This means that follow-up shots should be more accurate, since the trigger pull is shorter. Try it. With an unloaded pistol, rack the slide and pull the trigger. Normal stuff. But keep the trigger pulled to the rear! Now, holding the trigger to the rear, rack the slide again. Now gently release the pressure on the trigger until you hear/feel the reset click. Perfect. Now pull the trigger again from that point and feel how short and easy your trigger pull has become. This is shooting from the reset – and it works. Just be careful. Most everyone introduced to this technique lets a second round off unexpectedly. With a shorter trigger pull, you don’t have to keep the front sight on target as long and your lack of trigger-finger discipline is not as pronounced. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to practice, but you’ll do better sooner and that’s encouraging to everyone.
Be comfortable when you shoot – and shoot from the reset.
A better shooter is leaving the range.