The list of pistol marksmanship fundamentals is long and sometimes unnecessarily complicated with patterns of obscure reasoning. People want to standardize shooting fundamentals in order to train people in mass, but it ends up being done with skills that were not intended for the applications they are being used for. The military, in my experience, is a prime suspect of this problem. The effect mass training has is significant because there is alot to learn and things have to be taught straight to the point, with little explanation. One of the favorite lessons taught to people who are learning how to shoot is stance.
Stance is taught as the foundation to how we are supposed to shoot. It is claimed to be the key source to controlling recoil. In reality, stance is nothing more than how we hold ourselves while shooting. By setting a training standard of how to position ourselves and our hold on the pistol, it is the theory that we will better control the pistol. Let us evaluate the standard stance that is practiced these days in the military and the shooting community in general. The isosceles stance is basically where you stand with your feet pointed forward, shoulder-width apart. Your pistol should be held straight out with arms locked out and the elbows rotated outwards. The firing hand should have a solid grip with a hold on the pistol as high as can be achieved. The support hand should have tight contact under the trigger guard, pulling back into the firing hand on the grip to provide isometric pressure. Now let us look at what happens when you use this stance. Your balance is set on a stance square with the target, with little to no ability to shoot while on the move. With a more aggressive example of this stance, you end up looking like a turtle hiding behind your shell. With the elbows locked out, you risk over-extension and direct compression on the joints. This will result in joint problems down the line, with little help in recoil control in the time being. The squared up stand only controls recoil theoretically, and you will notice that a low powered round will rock someone back when they are in this stance. If you look at the history of the isosceles stance, you will notice that is was developed to be a way to develop shooting skills for two handed shooting at a beginning level. It was not meant to be a combat stance, but with the lack of understanding through the years, it has been tasked to do something it was not supposed to. Realize this and apply common sense to everything before you take it as the word of god in your instruction. You may find that your instruction is based on a misguided set of lessons and standards.
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