How to Improve Shooting Form With a Gun

Practice is necessary to reach your full shooting potential, but there is no point practicing from the wrong form or stance. Improve your gun mount, stance and body posture to improve your shooting. Poor shooting habits are often recognizable in a mirror. Hiring a coach can also enhance your shooting form. The most obvious way to improve shooting is to make sure the gun fits your form and hand. A smaller gun reduces the gun's recoil. When the recoil is less, your stance is more static.

Things You'll Need

  • Mirror
  • Hand gun
  • Bullets
  • Cardboard target
  • Coach (optional)
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Instructions

    • 1

      Pick up the gun and feel its weight. If it feels heavier than a normal-sized brick, the gun can't help you improve your stance. The gun with the biggest recoil isn't always the best shooting gun. Hold the gun as you position yourself in a fighter's stance. Hold gun out in front of you for 60 seconds. If the weight of the gun is too much for your arms to bear, the gun is too heavy for you. Select a smaller gun.

    • 2

      Look at yourself in the mirror.Hold the gun away from your body, and position your feet in a fighter's stance. Place one foot ahead of the other, with approximately 2 feet between heel and toe. The lower body in this stance looks like a pyramid. If you shoot two-handed, your left leg is the front leg and the right leg is the back leg. To improve your shooting, make sure your hips are at a 45-degree angle to the target. It is easy to hold steady in this stance as you aim at the target.

    • 3

      Select a hard-grip when shooting. This simple change in grip can improve your form. The old-west gunslingers used a "quail grip." This is a loose grip, not tight enough to crush a quail if it was in your hand. This type of grip allows for free movement of a lighter gun.. Heavier guns have stronger recoil, and demand the steadiness of a hard grip. If your gun is kicking back too hard, it is only natural to flinch as you shoot. Flinching weakens your stance, causing inaccuracy.

    • 4

      Determine if you wish to focus on the target or the handgun sight; your choice will affect your stance and your shooting accuracy. Your primary focus should be on the aiming indicator on the front sight. Practice looking at the front sight -rather than a target -- by staring at it until you can see the etching in the metal. Focusing on the front sight will relax your stance and improve your accuracy.

    • 5

      Pull the trigger back in a straight motion. If your stance is tense, the motion of your trigger finger has a greater chance of pulling the muzzle off target. A trick in relaxing your stance is to silently repeat the phrase, "roll the trigger, roll the trigger." The word "roll" implies a continuous, consistently relaxed squeezing of the trigger. If you tense up prior to shooting, you are more likely to have poor accuracy.