This is an update to an article I published over seven years ago.
Bad
habits are something we all try to guard against, but they often creep
into our shooting. Some shooters learn bad habits because the people
teaching them do not know any better. Even when taught correctly, others
develop bad habits through failing to apply what they have been taught.
Flinching, anticipating the shot, chasing the sights, changing your grip, etc., are all bad habits. In this article I examine some of the
more interesting variations I typically see.
1. Going too fast for your skill level.
This
is an issue for shooters, instructors, and match safety officers. From
the shooter perspective, do not try to go faster than you can safely
perform the task. I tell novice shooters they must master the
fundamentals of safely drawing and presenting the pistol before they try
to speed up.
The
picture at right shows a video frame capture of a of a novice shooter
trying to draw faster than his skill level. In this draw sequence, he
fired the round into the ground approximately 3 feet in front of where
he was standing. Although he did not believe he was doing it, he was
subconsciously placing his finger on the trigger early in the draw
process before his pistol cleared the holster and was pointed toward the
target–a negligent discharge waiting to happen.
This
is not just a novice issue. I recently asked several accomplished
Expert and Master-level shooters if they had ever felt the pistol muzzle
with their support hand when they were trying to draw quickly. In other
words, had they ever let the support hand get ahead of the firing hand
on a draw? All admitted that had happened at least once when they were
learning to draw and shoot quickly. Speed comes with the mastery of the
fundamentals. Don’t go too fast for your skill level.
2. Performing ritualistic movements during static range training.
I
see this all the time from novice shooters in classes and during pistol
matches. One student would rotate the pistol to the left every time
after he reloaded — even when doing the reload at speed. When I asked
him why he did this, he sheepishly admitted he had seen someone else do
it and thought it looked cool.
Unnecessary
flourishes and motion might look cool to some, but this does nothing
more than add time and inefficiency to the task. That extra half-second
required to get your sights back on target adds up and could cost you
your life in a self-defense encounter. Efficient pistol manipulation is
critical to developing speed and eliminating unnecessary movement is the
key.
3. Drawing slower as distance to the target increases.
I
routinely see shooters who draw quickly when the target is close and
who literally go into slow motion for distant targets. Your draw speed
must be the same regardless of distance.
Indeed,
the faster you draw for distant targets, the more time you will have to
settle the sights and make an accurate shot. Keep your draw speed the
same for every distance.
4. Taking your finger out of the trigger guard between shots.
The
only time your finger should be in the trigger guard is when you are
intentionally firing a shot. That said, new shooters often take their
finger completely out of the trigger guard between shots even when they intend to
fire a follow-up shot. Instead, the shooter should release the trigger
and allow the sear to reset and prepare for the next shot.
Trigger
reset is the distance the trigger moves back toward its “at rest”
position before it re-engages the internal linkages (sear, etc.) at
which point the pistol may be fired again. This distance varies among
pistol designs. All motion equals time, so you want to eliminate
unnecessary motion.
For
those who wish to advance further, the next step is to train yourself
to begin resetting the trigger as soon as you feel the pistol start to
recoil. Your goal is to have the sear reset as soon as your gun returns to battery (slide fully
closed). Then, as the pistol settles and the sights return to the target
after recoil recovery, you are ready to press the trigger once again.
With
practice, most shooters should be able to easily achieve splits (the
time between shots) of 0.25 – 0.30 seconds. Many shooters will get in the
0.19 to 0.24 range and truly advanced shooters will get into the 0.14 to
0.18 range with some going beyond. Gordon Carrell, who has more than 60
national, regional and state titles including the 2011 Smith &
Wesson Indoor National Championship, once told me his fastest recorded
split was 0.11 seconds. A friend of mine who is an IDPA 6-gun Master did
it in 0.10 seconds as measured frame-by-frame in a video.
5. Failure to maintain a solid firing grip.
Anytime
you have your pistol in your hand, have it in a solid firing grip with
your finger along the slide or frame outside the trigger guard. This
includes initially loading the pistol. Do not switch hands when loading — have the magazine in a pouch or pocket accessible to the non-firing hand. When holstering the pistol, some shooters just sort of hold
the pistol’s slide and grip–a sure recipe for
eventually dropping the loaded pistol when they snag something as they
attempt to holster. Maintain a solid grip with the firing hand.
6. Unnecessarily adjusting your grip:
Another
common problem is the shooter who unnecessarily adjusts or
re-grasps his pistol before and during a firing string. This is a bad
habit that always seems to be waiting in the wings. I typically see this immediately after the draw; however I’ve seen novice and even
experienced shooters do it after every shot.
More
unnecessary motion. Learn to acquire a solid firing grip as you
initially grasp the pistol while it is in the holster, then maintain
that grip as your support hand comes into play and you begin to fire.
7. Pointing the pistol at yourself when you holster:
Some
shooters tend to dig for the holster with the pistol’s muzzle when they
holster the pistol. This is often accompanied by the shooter pointing
the pistol inward toward his hip or waist.
This
is common when the shooter is using an inside-the-waistband holster
(IWB) or when using a holster design that allows the mouth of the
holster to collapse when the pistol is withdrawn. Although not as much
of a problem with outside-the-waistband (OWB) holsters, I’ve seen
shooters do it with this design as well. Don’t point a loaded pistol at
yourself. (Note: Some IDPA guys had an absolute fit when I originally used this picture. The pistol had a chamber flag and was clear of ammunition.)
8. Failure to train with the auto-lock trigger finger manipulation holster:
The
auto-lock trigger finger manipulation holster has been commercially
available since 2006 with at least four variations currently on the
market. As a retention holster, this design protects and retains the
pistol well and automatically “locks” the pistol in the holster when it
is inserted without the need to manipulate anything.
The
retention release mechanism is located on the outboard side, in the
pistol’s trigger/trigger guard area. To properly operate the release,
the shooter establishes a strong-hand grip, extending and straightening
the trigger finger exactly like a draw from any style of holster. The
shooter then applies finger-pad pressure with the trigger finger to the
“release button” that deactivates the retention and allows the shooter
to draw the pistol.
However,
unless the shooter deactivates the retention before beginning upward
pressure as part of the draw, the retention continues to hold the pistol
in the holster. Often, the inexperienced shooter then begins tugging on
the pistol and tends to transition from finger-pad to finger-tip
pressure causing the trigger finger to bend.
When
the novice shooter finally manages to deactivate the retention and
draws the pistol, this bend in the trigger finger positions the finger
near or on the trigger, and the finger tends to stay in motion. As the
trigger guard clears the holster, the finger enters the trigger guard
and contacts the trigger — occasionally with unpleasant results. I have
witnessed two people shoot themselves doing exactly this.
The
holster is not the problem, it works exactly as designed. If you are
going to use an auto-lock trigger finger manipulation holster, you
absolutely must train with the holster until a safe draw is second
nature — for that matter, you should do this with any holster you use.
For
Safety Officers: You will see the belt rise if someone is doing this.
Stop them immediately and explain what they are doing incorrectly.
9.
Failure to clear cloth in holster:
IDPA,
USPSA, IPSC, CAS, etc are all active sports, and shooters often have
their shirt tails or other garments drift out during the course of a
stage. If the shooter fails to clear this cloth from the mouth of the
holster when he re-holsters his pistol, this cloth can find its way into
the trigger guard.
As
the shooter presses the pistol into the holster, the cloth jams, which
can lead to an unwelcome loud noise as the cloth tightens around and
pulls the trigger. Always visually confirm that your holster is
completely clear of any cloth or other obstruction when you holster a
loaded pistol.
10. Placing empty or partially empty magazines in your mag pouch:
I
cannot guess the number of times I’ve seen shooters put an empty or
partially empty magazine into their mag pouch, then later discover it is
not fully charged when they run out of ammunition. In a match, this is
cause for laughter at the competitor’s expense, but in a self-defense
encounter it could be fatal.
Stow your empties in a pocket, not in the pouch.
11. Crowding Cover:
Novices
frequently want to crowd (get extremely close to) cover. This limits
their available work-space to manipulate the pistol and may lead them to
point the pistol in an unsafe direction as they maneuver to the next
firing position.
With
IDPA fault lines, a shooter is considered behind cover no matter how of
much his upper torso is exposed, as long as his feet are not touching
the ground on the other side of the fault line. The fault line must
extend at least three feet from the cover barrier. Not crowding the
cover provides space to manipulate your pistol and maneuver.
On
the competition stage design side, I occasionally see stages designed
in such a manner that they force shooters to crowd cover. In a IDPA
match where I served as safety officer, one stage required the shooter
to maneuver in a tight V-shaped barricade space and fire through ports.
The stage had a barrel obstacle in the center of the V which forced the
shooter to maneuver close to cover and prevented the Safety Officers
from staying with the shooter as they fired the stage — obviously a
less-than-optimal design.
On
a related note, many stages have ports through which the shooter must
engage a target. Shooting through the port does not mean you must stick
the entire pistol through the port. The time you lose poking your pistol
through is doubled when you now must pull it back out before you can
move on. More inefficient and unnecessary motion.
12. Hollywood Ready
At
some point, film and television producers began directing the actors to
hold the pistol vertically next to their face so both were visible in
the scene. This generated a bad habit among novice shooters who believe
pointing the barrel at the sky is an appropriate ready position.
There
are several reasons not to do this, including the fact that if you fire
a round with the pistol next to your face you will likely cause
permanent hearing loss.
I
often see novice competitors who are crowding cover use the “Hollywood
ready” as they move away from a shooting position. Step away from the
cover and use a low ready or compressed ready when you move.
Bad Habits
These are some of the bad habits I’ve seen — I suspect there are others and welcome comments or input.
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