I have been teaching the fundamentals of shooting for some time now. Most know them as stance, grip, sight alignment, sight movie…blah blah blah. Though this is a correct way of listing the fundamentals, in recent years I have taken to reducing the fundamentals to just one. Marksmanship.
I know that probably sounds stupid but bear with me. If I’m teaching a new shooter, I define the fundamentals the old-fashioned way, since I have to teach them how to do each of them. When I’m teaching more advanced shooters, especially Tac guys or firearms instructors, I simply sum the fundamentals up as marksmanship.
The reason is pretty straightforward. We are not using guns for range fun. Competition, “target shooting”, and plinking are all great ways to use guns and all require some level of skill. Skill based on the fundamentals. For professionals or defense-minded civilians, marksmanship is the fundamental, because we need to build a skill set based on marksmanship. If you can’t hit what you aim at on demand, you are not ready to build a practical skill set. Marksmanship is simply the beginning, not the end goal.
A high level of marksmanship allows for a higher practical skill set to be built. If you can’t shoot small offhand groups on demand, you will be limited in how far you can go when pushing the balance of speed and accuracy.
I want to reiterate, that basic self-defense, at the close ranges typical of crime in the U.S., is not what we are talking about. Plenty of sub-par shooters have defended themselves because of their situational awareness and good decision-making. We have to have those things to be successful in most cases. If we want to be able to handle a wider variety of practical shooting challenges, like some law enforcement and military teams might be required to do, then we have to have our marksmanship down. You cannot consider yourself an elite tactical shooter without having the ability to print small groups at a distance.
Fast draws, shooting on the move, shooting one-handed while on rappel – all must be built on marksmanship. If you gloss over the “boring” job of shooting groups in order to, you know, hit what you’re aiming at, you will never be very good. You might be fast and flashy, but fast and flashy only gets you so far.
Of course, if a shooter needs work on the actual fundamentals, then we will break them down and fix what’s broken. In many cases though, shooters do not have a specific problem, they just need to flex their accuracy muscles a bit more. You don’t get stronger and faster by talking about it, and you don’t get more accurate that way either. You need to spend time in every shooting session building your slow-fire accuracy. It is one of the few things that cannot be done dryfire (though dryfire can help) and must be practiced on the range. Every single time. Build your actual ability to hit small things at a distance and you will never regret the time spent.
having been strictly a target shooter most of my 67 years, grouping was always my goal, and in my profession of Land Surveying the distinction between accuracy and precision in locating and marking a boundary corner is the same as in shooting, you practice your profession until you achieve to skill to produce both as an end result
2023 has had much trouble of it’s own, my prayer’s that 2024 will see restoration of so much for our families, for our nation, Blessings to your family
Yeah, I didn;t want to get into the whole accuracy vs. precision thing, as it just confuses most people. Marksmaship to me, encompasses both. Here’s to 2024 and thanks for reading and commenting!
Nice read – thank you!
Thank you and I hope you have a happy New Year!
I think the problem is when instructors use things either out of context or using a one size fits all technique for everyone. There is time to use body index, gross sight pictures, then seeing what your need to see!! Thank you Todd for laying great foundation for understanding pistol training.