Handgun Shooting Positions: Bad Stances - 2

In our last post, we studied a bad shooting stance, namely the cup-and-saucer or teacup grip. In this post, we will study another bad shooting stance, the wrist brace grip.

This one is famously seen in the Dirty Harry series of movies starring Clint Eastwood playing the role of "Dirty" Harry Callahan, a police inspector working in the San Francisco Police Department.

Click on image to enlarge

The Dirty Harry series of movies are famous for phrases such as "Go ahead, make my day" as well as usage of the Smith and Wesson Model 29 revolver firing .44 magnum cartridges, which we discussed many months ago in an earlier post. In fact, Dirty Harry extols the virtues of the model 29 with the following speech:

I know what you're thinking: 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?

The speech was not completely true because by the time the first movie in the series was filmed in 1971, the model 29 was no longer the most powerful handgun in the world. However, sales of the model 29 went up drastically after this movie was released, because of this speech.

Surprisingly, Clint Eastwood uses a grip that consists of holding the revolver in one hand and gripping the wrist of that hand with his other hand. This means that the weak hand is offering almost no support to the strong hand. If this was real life and not a Hollywood movie, it would be very hard for him to support the recoil of such a big revolver.

Dirty Harry isn't the only movie character to use the wrist brace grip technique. In the above picture, we see the famous English spy, James Bond (played by actor Roger Moore), using the same technique with his comparatively smaller Walther PPK pistol.

In the next post, we will study some more bad stances.

Handgun Shooting Positions: Bad Stances - 1

In many of our previous posts, we have looked at various good stances to use when shooting firearms. In the next few posts, we will look at some of the bad shooting stances. Most of these bad stances are because of the influence of the movie industry and music videos.

The first bad shooting stance we will look at is the infamous "cup-and-saucer grip", also known as the "teacup grip". This one shows up in a lot of movies and TV shows. In this, the shooter holds (cups) the pistol in his dominant hand and then rests the bottom of his handgun magazine in the off hand (the saucer).

Click on image to enlarge.

Here, we have the character Jack Bauer, played by actor Kiefer Sutherland, from the popular TV show "24". As you can see, he is attempting to use something like a weaver stance. However, pay attention to his hands, especially his off-hand, and you can clearly see him placing his dominant hand and the magazine butt into his off-hand.

The above is another picture of Jack Bauer clearly using a cup-and-saucer grip.

Click on image to enlarge

Jack Bauer isn't the only character around who uses questionable methods to hold handguns. In the above picture, we have James Bond (played by actor Daniel Craig) using a cup-and-saucer grip as well.

Click on image to enlarge

And finally, the Alice character (played by actress Milla Jovovich) from the Resident Evil series of movies, also using the cup-and-saucer grip, this time with a revolver. You may see this grip used in a lot of other movies as well.

This technique was once actually taught to revolver shooters in the Wild West (and sometimes called the "palm supported grip"). The main reason it is bad with modern firearms is that the off hand provides almost no support against the recoil, which forces the user to aim the target again for each of the subsequent shots. Also, no matter how strong the user is, the recoil will make the user's hands separate and the off-hand needs to be reapplied after every shot. Additionally, if a cartridge is overloaded, the additional pressure has to be released somewhere, and in the case of handguns, it may forcefully eject the magazine out. If the user is using a cup and saucer grip, the off-hand will get a pretty nasty smack.

We will look at more bad stances in subsequent posts.

Handgun Shooting Positions: Shooting from the Hip

In this post, we will discuss a technique that is often seen in cowboy western type movies (i.e.) shooting from the hip.

We have a representative image of this technique, as demonstrated by movie actor Yul Brenner. Notice how the revolver is fired at about the hip level, which means the shooter is not using the sights to aim it.

This technique is only used in short range situations, as one cannot be sure of hitting a target at longer distances without using the sights. It is employed in quick-draw situations where the shooter may not have the time to draw the firearm to eye-level. The shooter draws the firearm from the holster and shoots it as soon as possible.

This technique was also taught by Fairbarn, Sykes and Applegate, who were instrumental in training some of the first modern commando forces during World War II. The team of Fairbarn and Sykes also developed the Fairbarn-Sykes fighting knife, which was issued to British commando forces, SAS, as well as US Marine Raiders during World War II.

As can be imagined, this technique is only useful at short ranges, because the sights of the weapon are not used at all. It is used when great speed (but not necessarily great accuracy) is needed. Therefore it is possible to miss the target completely as well. There is also a risk of accidentally discharging the firearm during the process of drawing it from the holster and shooting oneself in the leg.

Handgun Shooting Positions: The Isosceles Stance

In our last post, we looked at the Chapman stance. In this post, we will look at a stance that was around for a while, but only gained popularity in the 1980s, the Isosceles stance.

Before we go into studying this stance, let us discuss the term "isosceles". Readers with experience in mathematics, engineering or drafting would have encountered this word before: an "isosceles triangle" is a triangle where two of the sides are of equal length, similar to the image below:

So what does an isosceles triangle have to do with shooting stances? All you have to do is observe a person using an isosceles stance and you'll see the resemblance:

Notice how the shooter's arms are both held out extended fully, so that they resemble the two sides of an isosceles triangle.

There are two main forms of the isosceles stance. The first is the traditional isosceles stance, as shown in the image below:

In the traditional isosceles stance, the shooter stands with the body in an upright position, with both feet placed parallel to each other and pointing at the target. The knees are kept mostly straight.

The other stance is the modern isoceles stance or modified isosceles stance, which is shown below:

In the modern stance, the shooter keeps the feet apart about a shoulder width, but positions one foot ahead of the other. The knees are slightly bent and the upper body leans forwards toward the target.

With either stance, the upper body is rotated left or right as needed, to aim at targets that are not directly ahead of the shooter. This stance provides good support to the shooter and either eye can be used to aim at the target, as the gun is held at the center between both eyes. Unlike the Weaver or Chapman stance, the shooter absorbs recoil using their entire body. Also, if the shooter is wearing body armor, then this exposes the full body armor to the enemy (unlike the weaver or chapman stances, which expose the weaker armpit area to the enemy).

The only problem with the isosceles stance is that it isn't as suitable to use when the shooter is moving around, because locking the joints tends to make the gun bounce around. If the elbows are slightly relaxed, then it reduces the skeletal support that this stance provides. Another disadvantage is that while this stance is suitable for smaller ammunition loads, but when using full powered ammunition, the resulting recoil feels severe and makes shooting multiple shots difficult.

This stance was around for quite a while, but didn't really gain popularity until the 1980s, when two shooters named Brian Enos and Rob Leatham used it successfully to win IPSC shooting matches. It is often the first two-handed stance taught in most firearms training courses. The Modern Isosceles stance is now preferred by many shooters over the Weaver stance.

Handgun Shooting Positions: The Chapman Stance

In our last post, we studied an influential stance called the Weaver Stance. In this post, we will study a stance that is very similar, which is called the Modified Weaver a.k.a the Chapman Stance.

This particular stance is named after Ray Chapman, another influential shooter. Like Jack Weaver, he had a California police background as well and was the rangemaster at the Los Alamitos police department. He adopted Jack Weaver's stance and modified it slightly. It uses the same push-pull tension of the Weaver stance, but instead of bending both arms at the elbows, the Chapman stance holds the dominant arm in a straight position and locks the elbow. The support hand elbow is bent and provides the tension.

The following two images easily illustrate the difference between the two stances:

In the above picture, we have a person demonstrating the Weaver stance. Note how the elbows of both arms are bent.

In the above image, we have the same person demonstrating the Chapman stance. Notice how the dominant hand is extended so that it is straight and the elbow is locked.

Ray Chapman successfully used this stance to win the SWCPL championship in 1964, 1967 and 1970 and also won the first IPSC World Shoot in 1975.

The advantage of this stance over the Weaver stance is that it gets its stability from both muscle and skeletal support and is more suitable for people who lack upper-body muscle strength.

Handgun Shooting Positions: The Weaver Stance

In our last post, we looked at the one-handed handgun shooting stance. In this post, we will look at a commonly used handgun-stance called the Weaver Stance.

The Weaver stance is often seen in movies and videos that involve handguns and even people not familiar with firearms will recognize the stance, although they may not know its name. The pictures below show the stance, as demonstrated by the inventor himself:

This position was originally pioneered by Jack Weaver, a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff, in the late 1950s. His stance consists of the following:

1. The shooter's dominant hand is extended out until the arm is almost fully extended and the handgun is at shoulder level.
2. The support hand then grips and wraps around the dominant hand. The elbow of the support arm is bent straight down and held closer to the body.
3. The foot corresponding to the support hand is held forward of the dominant foot. So if a person is right-handed, the right foot is held out to the back and angled sideways and the left foot is placed forward. The person also leans towards the left foot and puts more of their weight on it. Knees are slightly bent.
4. Head is slightly bent to align the gun sights to the target.

Jack Weaver successfully used this stance when competing in the "Leatherslap" matches organized by the legendary Jeff Cooper. The object of such competitions was to pop twelve 18" wide balloons set up at 21 foot distance in the fastest time. Even though this stance looked a bit ungainly when it was first used, this technique allowed Weaver to quickly aim the handgun at eye level and beat opponents who were using other stances. As Weaver admitted later, "it looked kind of stupid, and everyone was laughing at me, but it worked!".

Since other competitors were using some form of single-handed shooting technique, they would often shoot a bit faster, but not necessarily hit their target. As Jack Weaver observed about his two-handed technique, "a pretty quick hit was better than a lightning-fast miss!". He won quite a few of the early competitions using this stance and this influenced the adoption of this stance by others, as well as the abandonment of one-hand shooting techniques.

Due to Jeff Cooper's influence, this stance became popular in the military and police. It is a very stable stance. There are several advantages of this stance:

1. This is an excellent position during routine searches and interviews because
1. Weapon's side is away from the person being searched.
2. Groin area is protected by the support leg.
3. Person is better balanced during an attack.
4. Person can periodically glance backwards to check traffic and other people in the area.
2. Most police encounters are short distance (less than 7 yards away)
3. When firing magnum loads, this provides better balance because the strong foot stabilizes the shooter.

Disadvantages of this position include:

1. If the shooter is wearing a ballistic vest, it exposes the side of the ballistic vest which is vulnerable.
2. It is difficult to shoot on the move when using the weaver stance.
3. More complicated to learn compared to some other stances.

Handgun Shooting Positions: One Handed Stance

In the last few posts, we have studied several rifle shooting positions. In the next series of posts, we will look at several handgun (i.e. pistols and revolvers) shooting positions. The first one we will study is the one handed stance.

The origin of this stance dates back to the first pistols and back when dueling was common. The idea was to present the least amount of body surface area to the opponent and this could be achieved by facing the opponent sideways. Another reason was that it allowed the shooter to use the other hand for something else, for example, holding the reins of his horse, or manipulating a door knob.

The one handed stance was taught in the US military for a long time, as illustrated by the image above. However, many soldiers could not manage the recoil of the Colt M1911 pistol and accuracy suffered as a result. Hence, two handed stances have been taught in recent years (which we will cover in following posts).

Many competitive pistol shooting events (such as air pistol events at the Olympic games) also mandate that the shooter should use only one hand, particularly because it is more challenging than shooting two-handed.

Notice how the shooter shoots with one hand holding the pistol and the other hand placed on the hip.