looking straight out through your shooting eye. Keepyour shooting arm fully extended.In the one-handed position, the shoulder of yourshooting hand should be slightly raised. Turn your headin order to see the target through the sights. The easewith which your head can be turned is anotherdetermining factor in how far you must turn to the rightor left. There should be no strain on the neck muscleswith your head held upright. The whole position, withthe exception of your shooting arm, is one that can bemaintained with the least muscular effort. Your body isbalanced, rather than held in position. The muscles ofyour shooting arm and shoulder should be tightenedsomewhat to sustain the weight of the pistol and tomaintain a correct grip. Excessive tightening of themuscles of your shooting arm and hand should beavoided. The tension in the muscles of your shooting armand hand should be maintained after the hammer falls.This will assist in getting off your second shot quicker.Because of the differences in the body structure ofindividuals, the standing position will vary slightly.However, regardless of your size, your position shouldbe relaxed and comfortable. The pistol should point atthe center of the target or you will be tense while firing. Ifyou are tense, there will be excessive muzzle movement.Trigger SqueezePoor shooting is most often caused by disturbingyour aim as the bullet is leaving the barrel. This is usuallythe result of jerking the trigger or flinching. The triggerdoes not have to be jerked violently to spoil your aim;even a slight off-center pressure of your finger whilesqueezing the trigger is enough to move the strike of thebullet several inches.Flinching is a subconscious reflex caused byanticipating the recoil from firing.Jerking results from attempting to fire the pistol atthe precise time that you align the sights with thetarget.Heeling causes the bullet to strike the target highand to the right.You can correct all these shooting errors byunderstanding and using the correct trigger squeeze.Both flinching and jerking will cause the bullet to strikethe lower left section of the target. An attempt to correctflinching and jerking by tightening the large muscle inthe heel of the hand may cause heeling. An impropertrigger squeeze will cause more misses on the target thanany other single step of preparatory marksmanshiptraining.You obtain a correct trigger squeeze by applying auniformly increasing pressure on the trigger straight tothe rear without disturbing the sight alignment until thepistol fires. The trigger slack, or free play, is taken upfirst, and the correct squeeze continues steadily until thehammer falls. If the trigger is squeezed properly, youwill not know when the hammer will fall. This is the bestway to prevent jerking, flinching, and heeling.To help you squeeze the pistol trigger properly, usethe acronym BRASS as you did with the rifle. You mustalso learn to call your shots. If you cannot call your shots11-23Student Notes:Figure 11-35.—Two-hand grip.
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