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Mired in controversy because of their portability, concealability, and deployability, handguns have long been a favorite of sportsmen because of their portability, concealability, and deployability.
These factors all combine to make a pistol very easy to set down and forget! Don't do it.
Always store your weapons safely! Keep in mind that handguns are that much more interesting to children.
Aditional safety concerns relate to the length of your pistol. A very short barrel may make it possible for you to misplace your finger, for example. I frown on "old west" style cowboy tricks. If you enjoy that element, I apologize, but I don't see that as good safe gun handling.
Shooting Principles
Click this picture
for a discussion on
handgun position
Your four principles of good, accurate, shooting apply to handguns just the same.
POSITION - The scope of all the positions for shooting handguns is beyond the range of this site. Same with arguments for said discussions. Put simply, there are one-hand, and two-hand positions; Offhand, and rest; considerations such as target/combat, etc.. For the purpose of this page, I will show you the method taught me, which I have found to be the most practical.
SIGHT ALIGNMENT - If you look at the sights on your handgun, you will find that they are very similar to the iron sights on your rifle. I was taught to inscribe a "D" shape with the movement of your arms, timing your trigger squeeze with the alignment of your correct sight picture and the bull.
TRIGGER SQUEEZE - Some handguns have fairly heavy, or jerky triggers. The effect being all the more noticeable. I prefer a medium weight trigger that travels smoothly with crisp release. Don't modify your trigger if you do not know exactly what you are doing. See the discussion for trigger squeeze below.
FOLLOW THROUGH - Only in the movies does the good guy fire 6-? rounds all on target(?) In reality, your pistol wil recoil. As with rifles, follow through means holding the weapon on target throughout the firing procedure, and reacquiring the target in a smooth motion returning from the recoil.