Originally posted by havok
Great post. Very informative!

The only thing I want to add to this:

When aiming, try holding your breath as you aim. It helps with aquiring a steady aim towards the target.

[edit on 2-9-2009 by havok]

Holding your breath is acceptable, but better still is to exhale. Holding your breath adds to the natural tremors after a couple seconds.

I'd like to add a couple things I have learned.Firstly,I always shoot alternatively right and then left handedly.Especially at first,it helped to advance my skill level as it seemed one hand sort of teaches the other what not to do.I found no confusion with eyes and sight pictures and do it this way to this day.Gotta watch it with the Steyer AUG though,with the wrong bolt,I could get a mouth full of casings.Hot shells.

Which leads to another aspect which is how to shoot a semi auto in a slow full auto fashion.You place both trigger fingers in the trigger guard,with one touching the trigger and the other touching the inside of the guard while also lightly pressing the back of the trigger finger.You set up a tension and steady pull and a bit of adjustment in relative tension and you will start to get double taps then triples then a slow but full auto emptying of a full magazine.I can do it with a 1911 .45 but it's rough on the tension finger.Better with a Walther PPK which has s stout spring in the trigger guard as a takedown release.

Another thing for beginning shooters of semi-automatic or automatic weapons: only fire as rapidly as you can comfortably put rounds on target. You can work to improve your fundamentals and speed; spraying and praying will get you nowhere. Remember: it is not the smoke you make, nor the noise of your burst that count. IT IS THE HITS THAT COUNT.

it's important to be prepared for gun powder. When I shot a .44 taurus for the first time, the damn powder gave me a small cut on the inside of my nose. I wasn't expecting it and dropped the gun. luckily, it didn't go off but it was still nerve wracking.

Great post. First thing taught in U.S. Army AIT and every other service is sight alignment. The major mistake made is firing too fast. Don't try and pop off as many shots as possible in a short time. Even with a semiauto every shot after the first will be off that much more. Take if from someone who has been in a firefight. I watched a 20 year old with a M-5 empty an entire clip from 15 yards away and hit nothing but air. Keep your cool and take your time. A well trained bullet is better than 1000 untrained.

Also, in regard to the comment about holding your breath. I was on the range in Ft Hood and heard the worst skull cracking noise across the wall. I walked around and noticed a PFC laying on the floor with his rifle next to him. He had held his breath, passed out, hit the wall in front of him and the rifle fell on his head. That guy was taking motrin for 2 weeks.

Just remember, respect the gun.

Advice for picking out a handgun that fits you,

Pick up a weapon. Point it at something. Close your eyes while trying to hold it steady. If you open your eyes and you are still on target. You are okay.

If it has drifted, don't buy it.

Yeah, I always had the problem of double vision

So since im left handed I just close my right eye, because every time I go to look down the scope, I get 2 of the same image and it really throws me off.

It's a real pain in paintball too, bah.

I shoot a .22 lr bolt action hand gun w/ 9x 30mm scope fixed at fifty feet and have cut the hanging target in half by connecting the bullet holes.

that said , take a deep breath , let half out , pull when I am on , relax when I am off .

1/3 weiver , weight even on both feet .

the key to precsion shooting is the trigger pull .
cut the pin off a thumb tack , tape it to your trigger .
if you draw blood , your a twit .
if you get good with the tack , try it with out it .
you lose 2 MOA with the tack in place , but you learn to pull evenly .

lose trigger pull with a hand gun , and you lose 50 feet of range .

frankly speaking , a very good hand gun is good only to about 200 feet .

learning to bench rest or sand bag first , will teach a great meny bad habits , but will teach trigger pull , and iron sights .

Dang! Someone's breaking into my home right now and I ... let's see, the front sight goes ... wait, wait, wait ... no, that's the rear sight. Hold on. What's that circle at the top again? Okay, so if that single thingy goes between the double thingy, it means .... YAUGHHHH!