Web Blast Extra: Trigger Talent

| Better Shooting |
0

By Dave Anderson

These days it seems everyone wants to run without ever having learned to walk. Talk of accurate shooting and you can count on a sarcastic lecture about how unrealistic it is to waste time on basics.

“What, do you think in a shootout there will be time to get in your nice balanced stance and to grip the gun just so, to fire a careful, accurate shot? No, you’ll be moving, the bad guy will be moving, it will be dark and scary and stressful. That’s what you should be teaching.”

I try not to counter sarcasm with sarcasm. What I’m thinking, but don’t say, is: “Yes, you’re right. Some day you may be a pro quarterback coming up to the line, spotting an opportunity and calling an audible. Maybe you’ll scramble to evade a tackler when your lineman misses a block; you’ll run left, spot an open receiver and throw back to the right off the wrong foot while running to evade one of those cat-quick linebackers.

“But you aren’t a pro quarterback yet. Right now, this minute, you’re at the this-is-a-football stage. Someday you should be able to hit a moving target while moving yourself. But right now, let’s try and hit a stationary target while standing still.”

Or as the great Tommy Campbell says, “If you can’t hit the target once shooting slowly, there’s a pretty good chance you can’t hit it twice shooting fast.”

The great pros didn’t start out as pros. Several times I’ve read how irritating they find it when a fan says, “It’s easy for you, you’re such a great natural athlete.”

It suggests their achievements are just a random gift, a lucky chance. It doesn’t recognize the endless work and discipline — not over just weeks or months, but years — needed to refine those gifts into greatness.

No one is saying you must be a superstar in order to defend yourself with a handgun. But if you want to be a competent, skilled handgun shooter, it’s going to take time, effort and discipline. If you want to build your skills on a solid foundation, there are no shortcuts.

Get More Better Shooting

>> Click Here << To Read More Sept/Oct 2012 Better Shooting

WEB BLAST EXTRA

Using a two-step process for controlling the trigger of a semiauto pistol helps improve accuracy.

Handgunner Sept/Oct 2012 Cover

Download A PDF Copy Of The September/October 2012 Issue Now!

We think you'd be interested in this, too

Take Your Range

About 10 bucks’ worth of PVC pipe, a couple of corner joints and two T-joints, a saw and a tape measure are all one needs to build a portable and...
Read Full Article
A Cartridge Box...

When loading them, it was just another box of .45 Colt handloads. I was preparing for a handgun hunt with good buddy Dick Thompson. My mom had died a few...
Read Full Article
Rescued By Han Solo

Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942, in Chicago. As a child, he was a Boy Scout and, later, a sportscaster for his high school sports program. He was a...
Read Full Article