Any of you have any pointers for pistol technique? I'm particularly interested in grip & trigger control.

Youtube or other videos would be total bonus.

I've just started out and I'd like to burn good technique into muscle memory to begin with. I did the wrong thing with golf, and it took me a full season to fix it.


My prob is basically this. I'm finally over the "shock" of concussion/recoil, but I find that my hands shake so bad when I'm lining up a shot that I'm pretty lucky to hit the target at 25 feet.
Also, my gun is sighted such that the front dot has to be ON TOP of the target's center for me to hit it. Any tips specific to that configuration, other than "fix your goddamn sights"?

We almost need a gun forum.

I'm new to pistol shooting as well, so I dont have the experience, but i do know the basic techniques:

grip the pistol high on the backstrap, firmly in the webbing of your thumb and index. Be sure the pistol is in a straight line with your arm

place your non-shooting hand over your shooting hand, fingers together, thumbs on the same side if shooting semi auto, nonshooting thumb over the base of the shooting thumb for a revolver. (at least thats the way i was shown) Dont grip it so hard that your hands tremor.

Keep both arms locked if shooting isosceles stance, only your shooting arm locked if shooting with a weaver stance. C*CK the gun, if it isn't already (ex.: single action revolvers). Both eye's open (wtf, right? i know) line up the sights (with your dominant eye), aquire your target, get your sight picture.

switch off the safety (if it has one). hold your breath. maintaining your sight picture, slowly squeeze the trigger, letting the shot come as a bit of a surprise. Shoot in between heart beats.



These are general guidelines, everybody is different. If i missed anything, let me know.

Shoot on a normal target. Match your shot placement with the diagram below. It will help correct user error, which in most cases is what causes poor accuracy.

I'm a lefty so I assume I just reverse the thing along the vertical axis. Would that be about right?

Thanks for that.

I would assume so, but lefties will burn in hell so its hard to say. Lefty is wrong, just wrong.

FOR STARTERS calm the shaking down until you get use to or lose that shaking you will just have bad muscle memory. Once you have gotten beyond the shaking, it's more about relaxing your hand muscles and the feel of the trigger.
You should be to the point that you know exactly where the trigger pull point is. On my sig i squeeze a tad to feel the tension in my hand as i get to the sweet spot in the trigger i adjust my aim. As i'm coming from above the target slightly to my impact zone i squeeze that tiny bit of pull left in the trigger. Most aim issues are due to trigger pull. Most people don't take the time to learn their trigger. If you play with yours, you'll see exactly what i'm talking about, if you already don't know what i mean. the tiny bit of actual pressure to fire a round and the amount to fully pull a trigger are vastly different and lead to bad shots.

I find that a smaller crosshair works better. Aim high chest for pistol rounds and on an eco, only aim for the head.. But make sure that you... oh real guns. LoL!

Muscle memory is the key. You have to teach your brain to know when exactly it's going to fire. Use a snap cap and dry fire the shit out of your gun over and over until you know exactly when the hammer is going to fall or the firing pin is going to be released. This will strengthen your trigger finger muscles somewhat and make you remember when you're about to fire. Hope this helps.

My advice is breathing. Make sure you are always aiming center mass at the target. Take a breath, then exhale and slowly squeeze the trigger. Itsbasically just putting consistant, firm pressure on the trigger using the "meaty" part of your index finger. Think of yourself doing the "come here" motion with your trigger finger. Slow, firm, controlled. F*CK recoil, I could care less about it.


I usually qualify with both the M911 and M16A2 as a expert. I learned from a guy who had attended the army's Sniper Qualifier course at his old ranger unit. He didnt make the cut, but that F*CKER could shoot a tick off a dogs nuts 300 meters away. It also helped me to qualify with Germany's rifles as well. They use HK G36C, Walther P9 and some old ass M4 MG which you have to be prone and leaning into just to aim with the horrible recoil.

Hope that helps man.

lolol, i took this shit seriously at first, i thought you had a speshul gun with an adustable crosshair or something.

The G36 is beautiful, I remember back a few years ago the German Soldiers would pull the guard duty on Ramstein's Air base, god were those mean looking soldiers, and guns.

Yea, they still linger around Ramstien now. Just hanging with Americans and getting drunk. But the first time I shot the G36C, I almost came in my pants.

Why's that? I am in the market for a rifle next. The gun club I'm a member of has a 1,000 yd range.

Thanks all for your tips. I'm going to try modified weaver or just plain weaver next time-- the countering grip pressure seems like it may artifically steady my hands. (strong hand press forward, weak hand pull back)

See, I knew someone would think it was serious, so I had to add the "oh real guns" part.

Those are very fun with some large steel. Gotta love the 3 second delay from trigger pull to *DING*!

Dirk it's been a little while from when i last fired a pistol, but if u want i'll try and get a hold of a friends pistol
and maybe i can shoot some pictures of stances and such, if not i can explain u a couple of hints and such
over the mic, i would rather not type it all in here ;)

I wish i saw this diagram before i went yesterday. Went to the range with my buddy to put 300 rounds through his brand new Kimber 1911 and kept hitting upper right. I was telling myself the whole time to stop F*CKIN anticipating the recoil but i kept doing it from time to time. One thing i will say though is I WANT A KIMBER 1911! wow what a smooth F*CKING gun.

I put several hundred rounds thru mine this weekend. I think the biggest reason for my "shakes" were that I was gripping the pistol too tightly. Once I loosened up (only during the last 50 rounds or so) did I see a huge difference in just shakiness.

The other things I was noticing, such as anticipating recoil, caused my shots to go straight DOWN. I found that interesting compared to the chart. Maybe my recoil anticipaiton involves breaking my wrist down.