How To Shoot Better

Learning how to shoot better is easier than you think. It does not require expensive guns or a large amount of ammunition. Shooting better takes time and effort. You need to practice your stance, grip, sight picture, trigger control and follow through. Shooting is an art produced by focus and hard work. Want to shoot better? Practice the following tips in your spare time and surprise yourself during your next range session.

To shoot better, you will need:

• An unloaded handgun
• A quiet room
• A wall

1. Verify that your handgun is unloaded. Unload your handgun by removing all ammunition from the chamber and magazine well. If you have a revolver, empty all cylinders and count the bullets to ensure it's empty. When you are done, double check again. Leave all ammunition in a different room.
   
2. Get into a quiet room. Get into a room with a section of a bare wall. Take your unloaded handgun and always point it in a safe direction.
3. Develop a good stance. Think of your body as a tank and your handgun as the cannon. You want to provide good support for your cannon. Keep your feet at shoulder width apart, with your front foot forward. Put sixty percent of your weight on the front foot and slightly bend your knees. Now lean your shoulders and upper body slightly forward. This is your stance, and it will help you shoot better by providing a rock solid platform.
4. Get a good grip. Your body connects to the handgun via your grip. To shoot better, you need to cover as much gun space as possible to give you the best possible grip. Take the handgun in your strong hand and grip it firmly, with your thumb pointing up. Now wrap the second hand around the handgun’s grip with your thumb pointing forward. Lower the strong hand thumb and point it forward. Grip both sides of the handgun with equal force, but don’t let your hands shake.
5. Sight picture. Your eyes will naturally focus on the target. Instead, focus on your front sight first and only then aim your sight at the center of your target. The goal is to have a clear picture of your front sight and a fuzzy image of the target. As this is counter-intuitive, practice will improve your ability to attain a proper sight picture. Now place the front sight at the center of the rear sight to create an imaginary line crossing all three dots. At this point, you are ready to pull the trigger.
6. Trigger control. Think of the trigger as a delicate instrument. Pull it back with even pressure, using the first joint in your finger, and keep pulling until the trigger releases. To shoot better, you must not jerk the trigger. Be consistent and smooth. You want the gun to be steady every time the trigger breaks.
7. Follow through. Maintain your stance and trigger control. Keep pointing the handgun at the target and release the trigger to allow it to reset. Maintain this follow through, pause for a second or two, then decide whether to send an additional round downrange. This will help with accuracy and consistency.
8. Face a wall. Get into your stance and extend both arms forward. You want to have the handgun right in front of your face, an inch or two from the wall. Find the front sight and focus on it as you go through the above steps. Your goal is to minimize any movement of the front sight. Always focus on the front sight. Any jerk of the trigger will cause the bullet to miss.
   
9. Practice makes perfect. Consistency is key and you need to do this several hundred times. If you take this seriously and practice a few times a week for a month, you will shoot better. Your bullets will land where you want them to and your groups will tighten. Keep it up and people at the range will come and ask you how to shoot better.