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MrBorland · January 25, 2009, 08:41 PM

Remmyhun -

I'll wax philosophic.

Shooting well is an act of faith. You must only align the sights and pull the trigger without affecting this, and all that's written beyond this is how to do this. These 2 things are the fundamentals of marksmanship. Shooting is an act of faith because you must trust that by applying these and only these fundamentals, no matter how fast you're shooting, your shot will be true.

Shooting is an act of faith because you must be honest with yourself. Did you really watch the front sight with undivided attention? Did you think you were watching it just because the target was blurry? Maybe you just weren't looking at anything. Did you watch it during recoil? What did it do? How was your sight alignment the instant the trigger broke? If you know, you'd already know where the shot hit (that's why the target ironically really doesn't matter and why dry fire is so powerful).

These are the fundamentals. Nothing else. Watching a laser dot's not a fundamental. Balancing a coin on the barrel's not a fundamental. As I mentioned, even the target itself isn't a fundamental. Drills like these may or may not help your shooting, and you should experiment, but remember that in the end, it's only about the fundamentals.

There's some good (and not-so-good) on-line reading available. There are some good books, too. A couple of the best include the USAMU Manual and A Pistol Shooter's Treasury. You can probably find a free pdf copy of the AMU manual on-line somewhere. I know individual chapters are available at bullseyepistol.com, which is also chocked full of good info.

Good shooting and keep us up to date!

January 25, 2009, 08:41 PM	#13
MrBorland Senior Member Join Date: May 31, 2007 Location: NC Posts: 2,614	Remmyhun - I'll wax philosophic. Shooting well is an act of faith. You must only align the sights and pull the trigger without affecting this, and all that's written beyond this is how to do this. These 2 things are the fundamentals of marksmanship. Shooting is an act of faith because you must trust that by applying these and only these fundamentals, no matter how fast you're shooting, your shot will be true. Shooting is an act of faith because you must be honest with yourself. Did you really watch the front sight with undivided attention? Did you think you were watching it just because the target was blurry? Maybe you just weren't looking at anything. Did you watch it during recoil? What did it do? How was your sight alignment the instant the trigger broke? If you know, you'd already know where the shot hit (that's why the target ironically really doesn't matter and why dry fire is so powerful). These are the fundamentals. Nothing else. Watching a laser dot's not a fundamental. Balancing a coin on the barrel's not a fundamental. As I mentioned, even the target itself isn't a fundamental. Drills like these may or may not help your shooting, and you should experiment, but remember that in the end, it's only about the fundamentals. There's some good (and not-so-good) on-line reading available. There are some good books, too. A couple of the best include the USAMU Manual and A Pistol Shooter's Treasury. You can probably find a free pdf copy of the AMU manual on-line somewhere. I know individual chapters are available at bullseyepistol.com, which is also chocked full of good info. Good shooting and keep us up to date!