how to make classic trick shots

You don’t need a high-end target gun like this S&W Model 52, but it sure helps!

From the moment man figured out how to control the simplest of projectiles, feats of marksmanship have captivated us. Odysseus, hero of Ancient Greek mythology, demonstrated his prowess by shooting an arrow through the “eye” of 12 axes in a row. In the fading days of the Wild West, millions of Americans from coast to coast paid to see Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley’s shooting expeditions. Today, living legend Jerry Miculek has more than 150 million views on his YouTube channel. Some things never go out of style.

As a younger shooter, I always found myself awestruck by demonstrations of gilt-edged accuracy, but figured hell would freeze over before I was able to do any showboating of my own. But as the old yarn goes, you can eat an elephant if you just take it one bite at a time. Now, 17 years and about a hundred thousand rounds later, I often surprise myself with what I can do on a good day.

Sure, you might need a little luck to pull off the following. But with some solid application of the fundamentals, the most common “trick shots” are within easier reach than you might think!

Sharp, clear adjustable sights are a tremendous aid to showboating.
Matching point of aim to point of impact is critical.

The Gun You’ll Need

In all honesty, any gun will work, but you want to make sure your bullets are hitting to point of aim. If you have a quality-made gun with clearly seen adjustable sights, or a gun set up with a red dot, you’re probably good to go! If you find yourself using Kentucky windage with a fixed-sight handgun, the introduction of another variable is most likely only going to frustrate your efforts.

For shots that depend on pinpoint accuracy, you’ll want to make sure you can generally hit your mark if given a few rounds. Don’t think you need to be putting all of your shots through the same hole. Instead, let’s consider a more realistic and generous baseline: if you can hit a 1″ target paster at a distance of your choice just a couple times per cylinder or magazine, you’ll probably have the right ratio of attempts to impressive hits.

Good ammo provides the consistency required for precision shots.

The Playing Card Split

Always a crowd pleaser! Now, it might seem the thinness of a playing card offers no room for mistakes. The truth is your margin of error is a circle with a diameter of just slightly less than twice the width of your bullet. If you’re using a .22, you can miss about a fifth of an inch left or right of the card anywhere along its vertical length and still tear it. If you’re using a .45, this increases to a circle with a diameter of about 3/4″.

And so, we “trigger” a perennial debate: Is it better to go with a smaller bullet that’s easier to shoot, or a fatter bullet that offers more margin of error at the cost of elevated recoil? Different shooters will have different answers, but when accuracy matters, I personally reach for my Model 41 and CCI Standard Velocity ammo — although .32-caliber options are growing on me!

Once you’ve trashed a deck of cards, you’ll find other “pinpoint precision” shots pretty similar. Hitting a string is exactly like the playing card shot, as is busting an aspirin, shooting the proverbial “fly on the target” (should one be unlucky enough to land there), driving nails into boards, or shooting the heads off matchsticks. If the shot is tricky at seven yards, give yourself an edge at five yards or even closer. Trust me: The payoff will feel just as big!

A “fun” gun like this K-22 can help you practice serious stuff like shooting
one-handed, making it easier to graduate to something bigger.

The Moving Target

Hitting something on the move with a handgun (or for the truly daring with a lot of open land and a safe backstop, shooting a thrown object) seems daunting, and typically our minds want to “lead” the target. Maybe that’s advisable if your quarry is 75 yards out. However, even if your projectile is moving at a relatively sedate 700 feet per second, it would take less than seven hundredths of a second for your bullet to find its mark at typical indoor distances. Ergo, you should have the sights pointed where the target is when the hammer falls.

I developed the ability to track a moving target purely by accident: My indoor range sold tennis balls connected by a 9″ string so we could attach them to the target stands. Hits came in one of two varieties. If you wanted “easy mode,” you could wait until the ball crossed your line of sight while it was swaying front-to-back. “Hard mode,” of course, was nailing it in the middle of a side-to-side swing.

Killing several dozen tennis balls taught me to pivot my body like a turret. That is, to swivel at the hips so the shoulders, arms, head and wrists all move as a unit and allow the sights to stay in alignment as they simultaneously move with the target. This practice made sweeping the dreaded “Texas Star” a snap when I finally dipped a toe into the waters of competition!

The tennis ball: Your humble practice partner for shooting things on the move.

Behind Your Back!

The classic dare, no? Shooting strong hand or weak hand only is more difficult, but you’d be surprised how achievable it is if you slow down. Be prepared for wobble on account of losing your stabilizing hand but resist the urge to “snatch the 10-ring” by yanking the trigger when everything seems perfect. Contrary to what it seems, a slow and deliberate press when your sights look just okay will yield better hits than a sloppy pull when the sights seem perfect.

With your weak hand, it’s important to think more critically and deliberately about fundamentals, since everything is going to feel more alien. Nothing comes automatically here — probably why so few shooters practice this — but it’s a good test of whether you can apply what you know you should be doing. Accept even more wobble than you’d care to abide and slowly increase pressure with what feels like a stupid and useless index finger until your shot breaks.

Note that of all the “trick shots,” one-handed stuff is by far the most practical. If you ever need to fight for your life with a handgun, one of your two hands might be holding a flashlight or a cell phone. A hand might be placed protectively in front of a loved one or pushing against an attacker. In the worst of cases, one hand might simply not work at all if previously stabbed or shot. Knowing you’ll still be able to shoot in such conditions is very comforting!

Representative hits on a 1" circle by caliber.

Wadcutters are great: the bigger the better. Smaller, round-nosed bullets have
a higher tendency to push some targets out of the way on glancing hits. A .44 next to a .32.

Other Higher Purposes

I genuinely believe we’re inclined to practice something when we find it pleasurable and when we feel like we’re moving from a place of “good” to “better” (as opposed to moving from “terrible” to “barely adequate”). Nothing makes you feel like a rock star at the local range than by performing a feat of accuracy you know is cool — even better if there’s a witness to gush over the cool thing you just did. Making this week’s trip a fun outing is a great incentive to look forward to next week’s excursion.

For those of you who are on the cusp, try some of the above and see if you don’t surprise yourself. The “trick” of most trick shots is actually quite boring: Again, it’s just flawless application of the fundamentals. But even in the attempt of a trick shot, you’re forcing yourself to be wholly conscious of good habits and best practice, making these skills second nature if you need to call on them to dispatch something graver than a matchstick or playing card.

And for those of you who aren’t quite at this level, keep at it! The vast majority of the deadeyes you see at ranges and local matches reached their level of ability only through years of practice and self-analysis. It’s not that you can’t do any of the above, it’s only that you can’t do it yet!

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