The Four Fundamentals of Marksmanship
For someone new to shooting, it can be a little intimidating the first time you actually squeeze the trigger. In order to help you hit your target, remember these four fundamentals of marksmanship each time you take aim, and your skill will steadily improve. In this article, I will discuss marksmanship with a handgun, but the fundamentals are the same for shooting rifles as well.
Body Position
When you are getting ready to shoot, your feet should be shoulder-width apart and either parallel to each other (Isosceles), or your non-dominant side foot is slightly in front of your dominant side foot (Weaver).
When you are ready to fire, extend your arms forward with a slight bend in your elbows. Roll your shoulders forward to help absorb the recoil. Your body should lean slightly forward. Many new shooters have a tendency to lean backward, afraid of the recoil.
Sight Picture
Once you are in a good shooting stance, you need to aim at your target. Close your non-dominant eye. Most pistol sights are notch sights. When aiming, you should focus on your front sight post, meaning that the target will be a little blurry. With your front sight post centered on the target, alight the rear sight notch on either side of the front sight post. Once you have the front and rear sights aligned and centered on the target, move on to the next step.
Breathing
Breathing is the easiest of the fundamentals but often overlooked. As you are getting a good sight picture, your breathing should be slow and steady. Because your body moves slightly as you inhale and exhale, you want to squeeze the trigger at the bottom of your breath, or after the exhale. While you are sighted in on your target, breath in normally and let it out. After you have exhaled completely, pause briefly before inhaling again. This pause is when you should squeeze the trigger. Squeezing as you’re breathing in or out can cause your sight alignment to move up or down on the target.
Trigger Squeeze
The last fundamental is actually squeezing the trigger. The proper technique is to place the meaty portion of the tip of your finger on the trigger. However, I’ve found that it’s more comfortable for me to use the first joint of my finger, so it’s important to do what feels comfortable for you.
When you begin squeezing the trigger, make sure it’s a slow, steady motion. Squeezing too fast or jerking the trigger will pull your sight alignment off target to the left or right. Slow, steady pressure on the trigger with your index finger is what you’re aiming for.
New shooters often anticipate the recoil and try to compensate for it by pushing the barrel of the gun downward involuntarily the moment before firing. To avoid this, slow your trigger squeeze down. Make each millimeter of trigger squeeze intentional. If you slow it down enough, the moment the gun actually fires should come as a surprise to you. This will keep you from anticipating the recoil.