I think I'd mentioned last year that my wife had given me a Glock 43X, which I promptly (well, as promptly as circumstances allowed) took out to shoot and immediately discovered I shot it like crap, with large groups off to the left. I adjusted the rear sight so that although my groups were large, they were reasonably centered. A few weeks ago, I was out with it again and, although at just a few yards or so from the target, was able to get tight groups including one with 4 out of 5 rounds through a single hole and the fifth one nearly touching the larger hole.
What happened in between is that I undertook time (and bought some tools) to understand why I was a decent enough shot with most of my handguns, but not this one. I initially reached out to Jon for some advice. Just going off my description, he suggested that I work on my surprise trigger break to make sure that I wasn't anticipating the recoil and jerking the gun down and to one side. So, I started conducting some dry fire. And to help me with my dry fire, I purchased an inexpensive laser dry fire/bore sighting cartridge.* I was just using small targets of opportunity in my house for practice (my wife's small collection of china dolls on a high shelf, a clock face, etc.) but Jon links to downloadable dry fire targets from Memphis Beach that might work better.
Using the laser training cartridge, I still noticed some movement even when I was absolutely sure that I had a surprise trigger break. I realized that what was happening was even though I thought I had a good grip on the pistol (and I think it is a matter of the ergonomics but might also be that I'm getting older) I actually wasn't gripping as tightly as I needed when I brought the pistol up to aim, with the result that when I pulled the trigger, the sympathetic reflexes caused my hand to tighten up slightly, thereby pulling the barrel down slightly. By making sure I had an almost crushing grip on the weapon, I was able to address that issue in my dry fire.
Unfortunately, due to a wet winter and spring and other obligations, I was not actually able to go out to the desert to do more live practice until last month. Due to the time gap, I did jerk the gun my first couple of shots due to anticipating the recoil. But keeping in mind Jon's advice and what I had discovered about needing an extra strong grip, I was able to get the tight groups that I wanted. And, frankly, in retrospect it makes sense because I had a similar issue with a 1911 until I switched out the flat recoil spring housing with one that was arched.
This has been a long intro to some shooting advice Jon has in this most recent newsletter. He writes:
You may think that God gave you your little finger to clean your nostrils and ear canals. But the truth is that God gave you your pinkies to control muzzle flip (a part of recoil). Not to prevent or eliminate muzzle flip, control it.
Your modern semi-auto combat (self-defense is combat) pistol is designed to pivot about the tang (where the web between your thumb and index finger is jammed up high and tight) on recoil. [If the pistol did not dissipate impulse (force X time) by rotating, the jerk (3rd derivative of displacement with respect to time) could cause medical problems in your wrists.] Recoil is just conservation of momentum. It is neither good nor bad. It's just reality. We accept reality and accommodate it. The tang (deepest indentation of the backstrap) is the fulcrum. The lever arm is the distance from the fulcrum to the force perpendicular to the lever arm. The longest lever arm you have is the force from your support-side-hand little finger against your grip. So your grip must be long enough to allow your support-side-hand little finger to press the grip.
You will not pull with the little fingers to prevent muzzle flip. That would be WRONG! You simply grip tight, aware that the little fingers are active (because they usually are not in untrained persons), and allow the pistol to recoil.
Pushing with the firing side hand and pulling with the support side hand (which is difficult with an isosceles arm position, that's why Chapman, advocated the Chapman version of the Weaver arm position) will minimize movement of the pistol upon recoil. Actively gripping with the little fingers will minimize muzzle flip.
Of course, this is assuming you always strive for and have achieved a surprise trigger break. It is the surprise break that will defeat all of your autonomic nervous system responses to the report and recoil by allowing the bullet to exit the muzzle before you jerk, flinch, push, freeze, etc.
Actually, you can train yourself not to blink when something approaches your eye. But, it's a stupid thing to do. That's why your optometrist surprises you to get your eyeball pressure.
Moving on, I'm well aware of the dangers of firing warning shots, but sometimes people need reminders. Thus, I liked that Jon included this bit:
Never fire warning shots. You will not be on a multi-million dollar range with soft dirt berms to catch your bullets. Any bullet fired down will hit the concrete floor, the asphalt pavement, or a rock and ricochet injuring someone (maybe killing him), maybe you. Any bullet fired up will come down with equal speed (gravity on Earth is a conservational field) on someone's head probably killing him.
Never shoot to wound. Shooting in combat is a low probability event. So you must always shoot to the center of mass of whatever your intended target is to get a significant probability of hitting your intended target. Shooting for an arm or leg just about guarantees you will hit an unintended target. There are no misses. There are only unintended hits, which destroy property and injure innocent persons (maybe killing them).
Taking a slightly different tack, focusing on the elements of self-defense, are you really facing an imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death if you are shooting into the ground, the air, or deliberately trying to hit a criminal's leg?
If you are considering appendix inside-the-waistband (AIWB) carry, Jon has some thoughts about it, including his attempts to use the technique. AIWB carry is not for everyone.
I've always used the modified Weaver stance, termed the Chapman stance, for as long as I can remember, which probably means that is how I was taught by my father. Jon writes about the Chapman stance:
I think that pushing with the firing-side hand and pulling with the support-side hand is fundamental to control recoil which includes minimizing muzzle flip. In the Chapman version of the Weaver arm position, the firing-side arm is locked out straight, as the stock of a long gun, and the support-side arm is bent at the elbow and the elbow is down, not sticking out to the side. This allows the bicep of the support-side arm to pull the pistol grip in towards you.
It's hard to get this push-pull tension with an isosceles arm position. And most instructors of the isosceles position don't teach the push-pull tension. But note that the support-side hand is in front of the grip, so can only pull. (Ya, the support side hand can squeeze the grip, but that's only the grip strength pressure. Maybe 100 pounds for a man, maybe 70 pounds for a woman. It's nothing compared to the force due to the larger muscle groups closer to the spine and of course the bones used in skeletal structural support of the pistol.)
After linking to an article from Massad Ayoob on different types of pistol stances, Jon lists a bunch more reasons why he likes the Chapman stance. Be sure to check it out.
Jon had caught my post about the Army offering a reward for information leading to the recovery of M17 pistols that went missing, and offers up a story that illustrates how little interest the Army appears to have in recovering any such missing weapons. Basically, Jon was at a gun show when he was approached by someone wanting to sell what appeared to be a NIB M-17 for a ridiculously low amount. The man claimed to have many more in the trunk of his car. Jon was naturally suspicious and reached out to Army CID to try and get information on the serial numbers so he could identify whether the pistol offered for sale was one of the stolen ones, but they were unwilling to share that information. Which, of course, begs the question of how they expect a dealer to identify one of the missing weapons should it cross their counter. It's an interesting story, so check out the full thing.
Anyway, a lot more tips, information, and links to article and videos, so be sure to read the whole thing.
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* I purchased the CVLIFE 9mm Laser Training Cartridge & Laser Bore Sight from Amazon (don't worry, I don't get anything from Amazon for referring people so if you find a better price elsewhere, go for it). Please note that they offer other calibers, but those are just the laser training cartridge and do not include the constant on endcap for bore sighting.
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