Educational Information

Grip of Your Gun - Staging a Trigger - Sight Alignment

Know the new Constitutional Carry Law

GRIP OF YOUR GUN


Grip of your gun #1

As an instructor I get to see lots of the same mistakes on grip.
Some people laugh at some of my descriptions but they make sense especially for women. Many instructors will use the handshake theory for your grip. How can a woman judge when a person gives them the wimpy handshake? Or how about the grip of death? Ladies let me make it simple. Think of stirring a pot of stew. The strength you use to hold the spoon to stir is about what you need to hold your gun. Just like the weird handshakes, wimpy and death, each has consequences.

Wimpy hold will probably cause you to near drop the gun, shoot the ground or air above. Next you will probably run for your life and say, “I can’t do this”. I got ya covered, so relax.

Unlike wimpy, the death grip is exhausting. I can see the muscle in your arm raise and knuckles turn white. You squeeze so tight making sure the gun doesn’t fall from your hands or your going to control the recoil totally, so you think. I’m exhausted already just writing this. For example, pick up one of your kitchen knives and hold it normally. Then squeeze it to get a harder grip and watch the front of the knife pull down slightly. Your pinky finger becomes the aggressor because of the muscles used to get the hard grip. Your gun reacts the same way, the pinky pulls your gun down and your shots are low.

Grip of your gun #2

Lets get the death grip to lighten up and wimpy to tighten up just a little. Make sure your gun is unloaded and practice the following:

  1. Pick up gun with your correct hand, making sure your trigger finger is on the frame. If you notice the area behind the trigger guard goes up slightly so your middle finger fits there perfectly. That is one of the balancing points.

2. If you’re using a semi-auto, the web of your hand should be at the top of the backstrap, just under the slide. You will notice that the gun feels right and is perfectly level., balancing point two.

3. The pinky and ring finger fit comfortably on the grip. (Remember the spoon).

4. Your support hand meets your gun hand in the following manner. Fingers over fingers. NO TEA CUP!

5. Your thumbs should be on the same side of the gun with the support thumb leading and the gun thumb following or on top. The heels of the thumbs should be touching or closed.
DO NOT TAKE YOUR SUPPORT THUMB AND PUT IT BEHIND THE SLIDE!! At some point and time if you do this, the slide will catch your thumb and slice it open like a razor. The result is lead contamination and bleeding, sometimes even to the bone.

The process is the same for the revolver.


Have fun practicing!!
Carol Ruh


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STAGING A TRIGGER

Have you ever wondered when your shot is close but still not quite where you want it, what to do? Knowing how to stage a trigger, or as some say taking up the slack, can make all the difference in the world.

Next time your at the range, here is a simple practice, for a semi-automatic. This is best started with an unloaded gun. Up on target with your front sight on target, pull the trigger slowly and you will feel like a wall about half way. At that point you stop pressing the trigger. If you continue the gun will fire. Knowing where that wall is and learning the feel of it is the point of this lesson.

This is best done slowly to start. Up on target, with your front sight on target, press the trigger half way, stop but keep your finger in that position, adjust your front sight again, now finish the shot. Once finished, keep your finger on the trigger but only allow the trigger to come forward just enough for the gun to recycle. You will know because you will feel or hear a click, and your finger will be in that half way position again. At this point you may take the second shot. You will find with practice your speed will increase and so will your control of your gun. Also by learning how your trigger feels will help the person who jerks the trigger and ends up with a wild shots.

If you have a double action revolver the same applies but the feel is slightly different. Again make sure your gun is unloaded for beginning.

Practice feeling the trigger, taking up the slack, notice the hammer coming back, and knowing where to stop before the gun fires. This way when your up on target you don’t feel like it’s taking forever for the shot to go off. The whole process will start again with each shot you fire. You will have more control and your shot will be more steady and true.

Remember do this slowly in the beginning. Your speed will pick up quickly as soon as you understand the feel of the trigger.

Have fun!
Carol Ruh


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SIGHT ALIGNMENT / SIGHT PICTURE

Sighting In

For proper sight alignment the top of the front sight is even with the top of the rear sight, and there should be equal spacing separating the front sight from the sides of the rear sight. The eye can only focus on one object at a time. It cannot keep the rear sight, the front sight and target in focus at the same time. The shooter must concentrate on the front sight. The front sight should appear sharp and clear, the rear sight should look less sharp, and the target should look blurred.

For example, think of your self driving down the road and a rather large bug smashes onto your windshield, your focus immediately changes from looking down the road to the bug. Even though your looking at this mess you can still see down the road, blurry though it is but workable. Same with looking at your front sight, it must remain clear and sharp. Without concentrating on the front sight you will never know where your shot will go on your target.

Now that you have acquired the proper sight alignment, then putting the aligned sights into their proper relationship with the target. No shooter can hold the pistol in a firing position without some motion. This motion is called “arc of movement”. The shooter should try to maintain proper sight alignment while maintaining a minimum arc of movement.

Proper sight alignment is the key to accurate shooting. Any misalignment of the front sight with the rear sight introduces an angular error that is multiplied with distance.

Carol Ruh

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Constitutional Carry Law


As of July 29th, 2010 you may carry a firearm discreetly
without a permit. More information is available:
http://www.gunlaws.com/ConstitutionalCarryEnacted.htm

Here are some things to consider:
1. You do NOT have reciprocity outside of this state, or 31 other states.
2. You may NOT carry concealed in a bar or restaurant.
3. You WILL still have to go through a background check with the FBI when purchasing a firearm.

YOU ARE STILL REQUIRED TO KNOW THE LAW!!
Go to the Classes page for more information and register for class offerings.


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