Drawing a Blank...

As illustrated in a previous post, my shooting skill levels currently leave a bit to be desired. More often than not, I'm not hitting my targets consistently and tightly. Added to that particular brand of awful shooting, is the speed at which it happens.

To rectify the problem through more rigorous practice (without wasting ammunition, alarming the cat, neighbors and the police) I borrowed a blank firing stage pistol from Bri-guy. I figured it couldn't hurt to work on my stance, my grip, and my sight picture. A blank firing pistol is assuredly not the real thing, however it's not so far off that it doesn't help as it turns out.

I was able to correct my problems by dry firing the blank pistol (a Beretta 9mm replica) with a laser pointer attached. I activate the laser, ignore the red dot, take aim, and squeeze the trigger. Right away, I began to see the laser wandering all over the place just from my trigger pulls, that was an indication that I was doing something seriously wrong. With no recoil, theoretically there should be minimal movement of that little red dot.

A steady hand, I was not.

In reviewing my notes and the literature I've obtained regarding pistol shooting, right off the bat I discovered something critical I had either forgotten or likely never quite grasped. No pun intended, it had a lot to do with my grip. During my last outing on the range, I was applying force to the weapon in all the wrong ways while attempting to control the recoil. I was squeezing the weapon in both hands, with lateral force, instead of using a "push/pull" kind of feeling with my hands and locked arms. My follow through, if it was there at all, was abysmal.

Now with the practice I've been putting in with dry firing the pistol - usually 20-30 minutes a day - I'm able to establish a quick sight picture from initial presentation and deliver trigger pull after trigger pull with that laser point staying where it should. Suffice to say, if this were a game of lazer tag, I'd be getting close to Roland of Gilead good.