Elbow lockout?

[Mban2]

How far is the optimal elbow extension when the pistol is presented all the way out.   Do most people shoot with elbows just barely not locked all the way out?  Or do people prefer to have more bend in them?

[boatdoc173]

I am NO expert. I am still learning with every session at the range afte r   years of practice.  

 

I usually have my arms almost straight  but not   locked out.I am pushing the gun into my support hand /arm FWIW. so my shooting arm is the limiter. If that elbow is slightly bent, the support elbow will be too

[Eureka1911]

I generally try to emulate what the guy in this picture looks like. Let my arms act as shock absorbers

 

[johnbu]

What i've picked up is to grip the gun, push it out fully and SLIGHTLY rotate the points of the elbows  horizontally.  That seems to allow much more palm to palm squeeze and still give recoil cushion. 

 

But, it's very much a work in progress!  Interested in hearing from more experienced shooters.

[ArrDave]

I find it more productive to focus on how much heft it feels like I'm putting up under the beaver tail of my pistol - focusing on getting behind the gun.  As a result the old "press out until lock out, then bring it in a touch" ends up where my arms end up.  Elbows rolled out, gun lifted up to eyes.  I shoot a Shadow in production, if it matters.  

[CJ56]

I used to shoot with my elbows locked and it worked very well for me.  Then I bought a pistol that recoils straight back.  I had never seen that before.  It required me to adjust my stance so that I had some give in my elbows.  It took a while to get adjusted to that after so many years of shooting with elbows locked.  I know that's an old style of shooting but I'm an older guy.  But I did adjust to having bent elbows and it has allowed me to shoot much quicker follow up shots.  I still have never seen another pistol that has no barrel flip at all like the one I bought though.  Locking your elbows gives you a solid stance that is repeatable every time without having to think about it.  But I found out that not every gun works well with that stance. 

[IDescribe]

Like in the pic above.  Slightly bent, and rotate the elbows outward, which serves to clamp your hands down on the grip of the pistol even harder.

[Stickman301]

I am not a fan of arms straight out and really don't think it has more bearing on shooting like your wrist and elbows.  Arms straight out tend to roll your elbows in which makes your grip tighten on the bottom of the frame.  Arms slightly bent and rolling your elbows up/out tends to tighten the grip on the top of the frame (where the fulcrum point is during recoil).  Locking your non-firing wrist will have significant effects on muzzle rise/recoil control and makes faster follow-up shots.

[bluedevil008]

Naturally extended, tension in the forearms gripping the gun hard.  Bring the gun to your eyes, not your eyes to the gun.  The arms should not be fully extended.  I did that when I was a C-class shooter, and now I'm (about to be) a M-class.  It might seem counter-intuitive starting out, but it makes consistent gun tracking and target transitions significantly faster.

 

 

[Boudreaux78]

The one thing I would add is that when shooting one handed, right or left, lock out your arm. Turn your body, putting the same leg forward as side holding the gun and the opposite leg back for bracing. If you try to shoot without locking your arm out on one handed shooting, you will eventually have a failure to feed. 

[blueorison]

Balance.

 

Depending on body type, musculoskeletal ratio/composition, you already might attain the optimum position of your upper carriage in relation to the gun by pressing out slightly and not going to the point where your elbows are almost locked.

 

Balance permits efficacy.

 

Don't solely silo yourself into the thought process that "the most effective way of handling my pistol with my arms to handle recoil" is the most important.  Realize that your line of sight, how far your neck has to crane to place your eyes to that line of sight (optimum sight tracking/target tracking/movement in and out of position of your upper carriage) is also critically important.

 

Why don't you have the same stance shooting .22 as you do 10mm?  Why do Open shooters sometimes not extend their arms as much as Production shooters?

Because intrinsically, your body understands that at some point, recoil handling is the priority.  Most are typically more relaxed shooting .22 because of the recoil/concussion/etc. reduction, but watch how some change their positioning to favor their eye tracking more than "recoil handling/mitigation/reduction".  

Understanding Biomechanics

And why locking your elbows like all the tactical shooters do, and craning your neck, and the effects that has on your athletic performance might or might not be the stupidest thing you do.  

 

Hope that helps.  Big picture.  Don't get caught up.  Balance.
 

Source: I studied Kinesiology/Sports Science/Biomechanics as part of my major.

Edited October 11, 2017 by blueorison