stance when shooting

[Rick Womack]

I Would like to kown the proper stance when shooting. I shoot right handed and twist left handed .My left foot about 12:oo and my right foot about 3:oo .Is this a good stance or do I need to change.

Edited August 3, 2008 by Rick Womack

[Joe4d]

Maybe for bulleseye style , stationary shooter stationary target there may be a proper "stance" that maximizes stability. But for USPSA type games that are fluid there is no stance. The only thing that matters is the relationship of the gun to your dominant eye that should pretty much allways be the same. Ideally the upper body from the sternum up stays about the same but you will constantly be leaning, stretching, squatting, bending etc etc. You will also be continding with uneven ground and surfaces or having one foot in the air. If you cant hit unless your feet are in a certain spot you are gonna be in deap kimshi either gaming or on the street.

[Rick Womack]

Maybe for bulleseye style , stationary shooter stationary target there may be a proper "stance" that maximizes stability. But for USPSA type games that are fluid there is no stance. The only thing that matters is the relationship of the gun to your dominant eye that should pretty much allways be the same. Ideally the upper body from the sternum up stays about the same but you will constantly be leaning, stretching, squatting, bending etc etc. You will also be continding with uneven ground and surfaces or having one foot in the air. If you cant hit unless your feet are in a certain spot you are gonna be in deap kimshi either gaming or on the street.

where in the atlanta area would someone practice these other positions.

[BSeevers]

Rick

Nothing wrong with learning the "perfect stance" and then trying to get as close to it in comp to get your best performance. A pic of you would help a lot.

[chemepharmd]

where in the atlanta area would someone practice these other positions.

You can find information about Georgia clubs at http://georgiaipsc.com/. I've shot at both Cherokee Gun Club in the Gainesville area and South River in Covington, and I'd recommend both as very good places with good people. There are several others in the Atlanta area, though.

[38supPat]

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5231

[ALPHA's]

I Would like to kown the proper stance when shooting. I shoot right handed and twist left handed .My left foot about 12:oo and my right foot about 3:oo .Is this a good stance or do I need to change.

Feet straight ahead, knees bent ,back srtaight,rotate forward a little, 60% of weight on front of feet. try it once see if it is good.

rod

[AlamoShooter]

for All sports worth doing "Nose over toes"

the For-head and the chin have equal line to targets. = the head should not tilt forward and the chin drooped. This lowers the air flow to the lungs and the big thing is the eyes should stay in center of the eye socket ( up and down)

Get the head rite and the body will follow.

The knees are designed to travel over the toes.

IN your shooting stance you can check you balance with = Can you take a step forward or a step back with ether foot with out shuffling before you take the step. And next try it with your hands pointed at a target.

The Ass / Butt does not stick out when you bend your knees rite.

Edited August 29, 2008 by AlamoShooter

[VegasOPM]

Have a friend pass you a basketball (better yet a 5# medicine ball) or throw a football, really hard- right at your chest. That is the stance that you use to deal with energy directed at you- same thing as recoil.

[Flexmoney]

Have a friend pass you a basketball (better yet a 5# medicine ball) or throw a football, really hard- right at your chest. That is the stance that you use to deal with energy directed at you- same thing as recoil.

Hmmm...that sounds familiar. I didn't know others were doing that?

[sherpa]

Have a friend pass you a basketball (better yet a 5# medicine ball) or throw a football, really hard- right at your chest. That is the stance that you use to deal with energy directed at you- same thing as recoil.

I think I learned that too from Ron Avery. But I find it a bit too aggressive a stance. My stance is similar but not too aggressive though.

[Jake Di Vita]

I find the majority of people aren't nearly aggresive enough in their stance and grip to control recoil as effectively as possible.

[Duane Thomas]

The Bill Drill is a really excellent tool to sort that out. A slightly off balance stance may be able to survive a single shot, or even a fast pair, with no really apparent shifting. But the cumulative recoil of six fast shots will show up any weaknesses right fast.

[Jman]

I find the majority of people aren't nearly aggresive enough in their stance and grip to control recoil as effectively as possible.

No question. A football coach (a real good one) told me our stance should not be much different than say, a linebacker. A linebacker about to absorb the hit of a running back square in the chest. You got to be ready for that shot or he'll just step on your throat on his way to the goal line. He really emphasized the rear end or tail and the bend of the lower back. The butts got to be "out there" so it helps tilt our upper body weight forward. I hope I didn't butcher some of coaches descriptions to bad. Retired now, he's been credited with defining and teaching the modern techniques used by offensive linemen playing at the highest level.

Jim

[atek3]

I find the majority of people aren't nearly aggresive enough in their stance and grip to control recoil as effectively as possible.

No question. A football coach (a real good one) told me our stance should not be much different than say, a linebacker. A linebacker about to absorb the hit of a running back square in the chest. You got to be ready for that shot or he'll just step on your throat on his way to the goal line. He really emphasized the rear end or tail and the bend of the lower back. The butts got to be "out there" so it helps tilt our upper body weight forward. I hope I didn't butcher some of coaches descriptions to bad. Retired now, he's been credited with defining and teaching the modern techniques used by offensive linemen playing at the highest level.

Jim

Having never played Football, I'm curious how much knee bend AKA how low and wide should my platform be. Assume for a minute we're talking about something like a bill drill, no potential for movement or transititions. Some pros seem to take a lower stance than others.

thanks,

atek3

[G-ManBart]

Having never played Football, I'm curious how much knee bend AKA how low and wide should my platform be. Assume for a minute we're talking about something like a bill drill, no potential for movement or transititions. Some pros seem to take a lower stance than others.

thanks,

atek3

I think that's going to vary based upon your size, strength and the gun setup you're shooting. A big, strong guy isn't going to have to be as aggressively postured as a petite female would to perfectly resist the recoil of the gun (assuming the same gun/ammo). For totally static shooting I'd be surprised to see the best shooters with a dramatic knee bend or with their feet spread much more than shoulder width apart.

Probably better than anything else, go out and shoot some bill drills and vary your stance and see what happens. If you really want to do it right, set a camcorder off to the side so you can see how much your body moves. Use a timer and combine all of that to see what your idea stance/setup is....since we're all built differently the perfect setup is rarely going to be the same. If it's not right you're going to be bounced all over the place and you'll get poor hits. If it's right your body will soak up the recoil and the gun will come back right where it should.

In fact, the more you do something like this, the more your body/brain learns to better position itself to stay balanced. After a while you won't have to think about it, it'll just happen. R,

[Jman]

This might help some...

Jim

[atek3]

would you mind posting links to the images? the thumbnails are really small.

Thanks,

atek3

[Jake Di Vita]

Great picture.

Something also important to note, is Dave stays that low in his stance throughout the entire stage. At no time does he lose his aggressiveness and stand up.

[RobMoore]

The best way I know of to fix a person who has a luke-warm stance is to have them shoot while standing on a 2"X6"x3' set roughly in line with their stance (strong side slightly back).

Make them stand with the back half of their feet hanging off the back of the board, and shoot Bill Drills. If they don't get their weight forward and be aggressive, they will fall off the board (obviously they will need a spotter for safety).

Edited March 30, 2009 by RobMoore

[G-ManBart]

This might help some...

Jim

In the first pic Dave is moving, but he asked about a static position (assuming you're replying to atek3's question and not the year old initial question). Pictures of folks shooting static classifiers look different from those on stages where they're moving for obvious reasons. R,