Thinking Man's Corner

Article by: Leo H.

If you look into the mirror today, do you see the same person who was there yesterday? As I grow older there are times I wonder who the hell that is, standing in my bathroom, staring back at me. The mind stays young while the body grows older. Hopefully, time also makes us a bit wiser with each passing day, every new experience, any opportunity to reflect upon the past in the hope of learning from past mistakes or repeating past accomplishments. Making the most of who we may be becomes the path of choice. Some days, though, it seems the more things may change the more they remain the same.

This particular philosophy lead me to thoughts regarding shooting stance one early morning over a cup of coffee (it may have been more like a pot). For whatever reason, my mind jumped down the “which stance is the best stance” rabbit hole from which I can’t seem to escape. I began to think back over the years of instruction I have received since I first stepped onto a firing range. What did I learn during that span of almost 50 years? What was right and what was wrong?

In 1976, I made the decision to pursue a career in law enforcement. I was 20 years of age and kinda floating through life. I felt I needed to find a direction to follow which would ultimately provide retirement funding. I had no money with which to attend college and couldn’t see a benefit into going into debt in the hope of earning a degree which might permit me to repay the loan at some point during my lifetime. I found you could become a pre-service candidate for the sum of $600.00 and pay your own way through the academy. Here was a loan I could afford to repay!

On the first day of the academy, they welcome you by telling you all the ways you can fail. From an academic perspective I had always done well on written examinations so I had no worries there. However, I had never fired a handgun in my life. In fact, I had never even held one or ever considered drawing a gun from a holster. My entire experience with shooting was BB gun generated, self taught technique, with the end result being the demise of many an empty coke can. I was worried about my $600.00 investment before I even made it to lunch on the first day of class.

As luck would have it, the range was located a short walk down the hill from the academy classroom. The Rangemaster (George Pinson) ate his brown bag lunch every day from his desk in the range house. I mustered up the courage to visit the range and ask if it would be possible to practice shooting every day at lunch. George gave me a thumbs up and moved his dining experience outdoors where he could watch me shoot (probably to ensure I didn’t shoot myself ). After a couple of days, he asked if I was just going to continue wasting bullets or was I actually interested in learning to hit the target. When I replied I really wanted to pass the firearms portion of the academy he agreed to take me on as a student. Thus began my journey into the world of firearms training. It has been a long trip with no end in sight.

During my first lessons with George, no instruction was provided into how to draw the gun. He told me I’d figure it out. He did provide instruction on how to properly grip a revolver with two hands, how to line up the sights, and how to move the trigger without moving the sights… much. There was no discussion on stance with the practice being for the shooter to figure out how to get the gun in front of their face so the sights could be seen.

In those days, we shot all the way back to 50 yards at the B-27 target with a fairly long period of time afforded in order to make these long, accurate shots. The emphasis was on bullseye shooting with primary focus on using the barricade to support the gun and shooting from the kneeing and prone positions. With George’s help, I was able to pass the academy and begin a lifelong quest to learn as much as I could in order to shoot well. I’m still working on it.

George was a serious competitor in the NRA Police Pistol Competition (Bullseye) game. Through his influence I also became involved and soon learned to use each match as an educational opportunity. I also found all of the top shooters to be extremely willing to share their opinions regarding shooting methodology. It wasn’t long before I found myself interested in learning to teach others to shoot. I looked to the NRA and in 1979 attended my first Firearms Instructor Course.

In 1979, I was introduced to seven shooting fundamentals. Among them, stance was explained as a “point shoulder” technique where the shooters foundation (hips) faced the target squarely and the pistol was pushed strongly out to the target with your shoulders being slightly to the rear of your hips. So… when I returned to the range as an instructor, I began teaching shooting skills to the doctrine offered by the NRA advising my students to stand using a point shoulder technique when firing at a B-21 target. Emphasis was still primarily on accuracy with the intent being to keep the majority of one’s shots within the small 5X area of the target to obtain the best overall score. Times were pretty benevolent.

In 1982, I attended a Firearms Instructor Course that was offered by the Georgia Police Academy. This course used quite a lot of handout material created by the FBI which introduced a stance identified as the “Weaver” stance as a means to better control a handgun at speed. The instructors who taught the class were very proficient with their demonstrations and I left the training class as a newly minted POST recognized firearms instructor. Returning to my department, I began converting everyone to the Weaver Stance in order to better prepare them to defend themselves should they ever be required to use deadly force. Several of them just couldn’t get the support elbow concept and ended up shooting what later was called the Modified Weaver or Chapman technique. I figured if they were hitting the target, and doing it safely, I wasn’t going to complain at this point.

In 1986, I attended another Firearms Instructor Course conducted at a regional police academy. I wish I could remember the names of all the instructors. Beyond a staff member, who served primarily to teach the classroom segment of the course, all the hands on drills were taught by a variety of individuals from various departments. Several of these instructors competed in the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) where shooting fast and accurate shots were required in order to win a match. The majority of the top level shooters of that organization had tweaked the “Point Shoulder” method with a stronger presentation which locked the wrists, elbows, and shoulders in what became called an “Isosceles Stance” as proper usage created an Isosceles triangle of the upper body. The feet were offset slightly rather than being parallel to each other in order to provide greater stability. Again, the instructors were well versed in their technique and I left converted to the “new” Isosceles Stance. Of course, I now passed on this new method as the “best there was to offer” to all the folks who fell under my instruction.

In 1989, I had the good fortune to attend a class offered by one of the first 20 IPSC Grand Masters (Billy Abbate). I watched him shoot Colonel Jeff Cooper’s El Presidente drill (Google it if you are not familiar) in 3.82 seconds clean… (I used to have a video) with a 1911 mounted with iron sights. While I had heard of IPSC, I had never seen a top level competitor shoot. I had NEVER seen anyone shoot that fast and actually hit the target. In his lecture about shooting fundamentals (I still have the notes) he made the statement, “shooting should not be stance dependent.” At this point, I was really starting to get confused as to what I should be teaching regarding stance.

Since that time, I’ve attended many other schools. I’ve also thought quite a bit about the practical application of shooting methodology as it relates to law enforcement shooting encounters. As a result, I think George was right all those years ago… teach them how to grip the gun, how to adequately utilize the sights based upon the circumstance and the weapon system, and how to move the trigger at a speed sufficient to make the shot. I found that once you begin working in a realistic environment, the stance really doesn’t matter… what matters are the hits and whatever is required for the individual shooter to make them with consistently.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1849)

Semper Optimum