How to Have Fast Follow Up Shots with a Handgun
A proper shooting stance, grip, and sight picture is critical to fast follow up shots.
Shooting quickly is meaningless if shot placement is all over the place. A fast rate of fire must be accurate in order to be effective, be it in a shooting competition environment, or in self defense. This is quite the hotly debated topic amongst the shooting community, and is one we have discussed before.
Champion competitive shooter Dough Koening teams up with the National Shooting Sports Foundation and provides some tips on how to shoot quickly, while retaining accuracy.
A stout stance helps fight recoil, but remember, there isn’t always enough time to assume a textbook shooting stance in a dynamic shooting environment.
We’ve talked about grip before as well. Maintain a high grip with the thumbs pointing forward at the target. It helps index the target and maintain a solid grip on the pistol.
Grip tension is a tricky component of gripping a pistol. Too loose and recoil will get away from you. Too tight and the gun will be shaking and you’ll get tired quickly. Doug recommends holding the pistol about the same as you would a hammer.
Remember, consistency is key in fast and accurate fire.
Live fire practice
Don’t start pulling the trigger as quickly as you can as soon as you hit the range. That’s how bad habits are formed. The key is to shoot with a consistent rate of fire at your skill level. Put each follow up shot down range only when you have re-acquired a sight picture. Shoot as fast as you can confirm the sights are on target.
Dry fire practice
A solid grip, trigger control, and shooting stance is very important for practical pistol shooting at any speed. Building good habits for a consistent grip, trigger control, and sight picture can easily be done with dry fire training home.
Dry fire practice is the key to firearms proficiency.
Written by Brian Purkiss - always a student, sometimes a teacher.
I don't consider myself a competition shooter - I think of myself as a performance pistol shooter. I am all about performing at as high of a level as possible. Towards that end, I am obsessive about learning how to perform. I spend a lot of my life learning from the best across the entire firearms world and even into other areas of performance and other sports. I am a USPSA Carry Optics Grandmaster, currently working towards my second GM title in the Open division.
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