Firing a pistol

There items here to watch for, targeting, trigger action and anticipation...

Iron Sights

The sights on a regular pistol are known as Iron Sights and the target is correctly up at by lining up the front and centre sight with the gap made between the two rear sights.

The three must line up correctly at the centre of the target you are aiming for like so:






If you have the central iron target at the front of the pistol is too high the shot will be high on the target you are aiming for like so:






Conversely if you have the central iron sight to low the shot will be low on the intended target, like so:

Smooth trigger application

Once the gun is aimed at the target, the trigger must be pulled back but you must not pull the gun off target before the shot is fired. The trigger must come straight backwards and not pull to the sides.

You want a smooth, even, uninterrupted pull. Practice this by Dry-firing the gun, ie firing and empty gun. First position the sights when the gun goes click where it would have fired you can see if the gun was still on target. (Original Picture credit)

Anticipating kick

Another point to watch for in your own anticipation of the kicks of the pistol. Again you need to train yourself out of this habit by using a revolver with some empty chambers so as to control your anticipation.

Once you have shot a few times you can look at this to see where you may need attention.