How to Shoot a Pistol Properly & Accurately

Pistols are the most common guns purchased by first time gun owners. There’s no denying the appeal. Compared to other firearms, pistols tend to be lightweight and are among the most comfortable guns to learn how to operate.

Although getting started is easy, learning how to shoot a pistol accurately can present a bit of a challenge for new shooters. If you don’t master the basics of shooting a pistol, you could injure yourself or others.

Learning how to shoot a pistol requires patience and practice, but it’s a fun pursuit that results in a lifelong skill. In this guide, we’ll cover what you need to know about handling your firearm safely and how to shoot a pistol properly.

Firearms must be handled with care. Knowing and following gun safety guidelines can help keep you and everyone around you safe. It also increases your confidence and comfort with your gun and shooting in general, whether you’re at a range or plinking.

Never Assume a Gun is Unloaded

Treating all guns like they’re loaded helps prevent accidental firing. Every time you handle your own gun or someone else’s, double check the chamber with the firearm pointed away from you and everyone around you. Before loading your gun, check the barrel for obstructions. Unload your gun before putting it into a vehicle.

Keep the Gun Pointed in a Safe Direction

Much like you would treat a pair of scissors, you should always make sure your gun is pointed in a safe direction. This means that if the gun was to accidentally discharge, it wouldn’t cause injury or damage to anyone.

Store Your Gun Away From Children

To prevent children and unauthorized individuals from accessing your firearm, unload your gun and store it in a locked location such as a steel gun safe. Store your ammunition in a separate locked location.

Be Aware of Surroundings

Avoid putting your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to shoot your pistol. Even experienced shooters can be startled unexpectedly. Stay aware of your surroundings and make sure that your target and the area around it are clear before shooting. You also need to know what’s behind your target, since some bullets can travel over a mile. If you miss the target or the bullet goes through the target, you are responsible for making sure that your shot doesn’t cause unintended injuries or damage.

Never shoot at water or a hard surface. Never climb over an obstruction such as a fence or tree with a loaded gun. Avoid drinking alcohol or taking medication that can impair your judgment when shooting. Make sure you know how to use your gun’s safety features and always follow safe gun handling procedures.

Use Protective Gear

Wear shooting glasses to protect your eyes when firing any firearm. Ear plugs or shooting ear muffs will reduce the chance of hearing damage.

Maintain and Understand Your Gun

Regular maintenance and cleaning will keep your gun in proper working order. Learning the ins and outs of your firearm is the best way to handle it safely. You should know how it works, how to load, how to unload, and how to safely clear a malfunction. The product manual should provide all of the details you need.

Use Proper Ammo

Make sure that each round of ammunition you use is the correct caliber or gauge for your gun. You can find the caliber or gauge on the barrel of shotguns and on the slide or barrel of pistols. Use new ammunition that was manufactured to industry specifications to prevent damage to your gun and injury to yourself or others.
Now that you know the basics of how to handle your pistol safely, let’s move on to the fun stuff!

Practice holding your pistol while it’s unloaded and get a feel for how it works. Compact guns with fixed sights tend to work well for new shooters. The Glock 19 is a favorite among beginners.

Whether you’re a beginner or a more experienced shooter who simply wants to learn how to shoot a pistol accurately, there are four steps that can help. The bare bones of mastering a gun come down to having the proper stance, a tight grip, clear front sight, and a smooth trigger pull.

Your shooting stance is the foundation of every shot you take. You need a stable upper body stance that tilts you forward with your knees slightly bent. Here are three popular shooting stances you can try.

Isosceles Stance

In this position, your arms and chest form an isosceles triangle when viewed from above. This is a comfortable and natural position for many shooters. You face the target with feet about shoulder-width apart, toes pointed at the target. Your arms are fully extended with the pistol in front of your chest. This position allows you to easily move to side targets, but it can be a bit less stable than other stances if you are pushed backward or forward.

Weaver Stance

With the Weaver stance, your non-dominant leg is ahead of your dominant leg and you’re leaning forward slightly. Your toes are pointed forward with your supporting arm bent and firing arm extended. This position helps support your dominant side and allows for a stable “push-pull” grip because you’re pushing with your firing arm and pulling back with your supporting arm, helping to control recoil.

Chapman Stance

This shooting stance is very similar to the Weaver. The main difference is that your shooting arm is fully extended. It’s a study stance, often referred to as the fighting stance or the boxer stance. It allows for more flexed knees, which absorb more shock during recoil.

Try each stance and see how you feel. Many beginners start with the Isosceles and then experiment with other positions. Finding the shooting stance that is most comfortable for you will help you build the foundation for how to shoot a pistol properly.

In addition to having a powerful and stable shooting stance, the way you grip your pistol determines your shooting accuracy and how well you handle the recoil. Many shooters choose to use a two-handed grip because it’s more stable than a one-handed hold, allowing for better accuracy.

The index finger on your dominant hand is your trigger finger. You should hold the pistol tightly so that the web between your index and middle fingers is as high as possible on the grip. This helps you contain and absorb the slide’s recoil as it moves back and forth.

As shown above, your non-dominant hand should wrap around the handle for extra support. You should cover the non-dominant fingers around the other fingers and place your thumb on your non-dominant hand so that it’s parallel to the barrel of the gun.

Your front and rear sights are designed to help you shoot accurately, so use them! You can’t rely on your eyesight alone since depth perception may deceive you.

Sight alignment is the relationship between your front and rear sight. Proper sight alignment means that both sights are in line with your eyes, which makes for more accurate shooting. The front sight or post should be centered inside the rear sight, with the top of the post even with the top of the rear sight.

Sights vary from gun to gun, but most pistols have a three-dot sight, with one dot on the front sight and the other two on the uprights of the rear sight. Align the three dots for an easy way to achieve proper sight alignment.

Sight picture is the connection between your sight alignment and the target. Are you aiming at the target you want to hit? Focus on the front sight and keep both of your eyes open to reduce eye strain. Everything else in the sight picture will be slightly out of focus.

The center hold is the most common way to find the right sight picture. With this method, your lined-up front and rear sights cover the area you want to hit with the bullet. If you’re set up correctly and your bullet is still not hitting the target where you want it to, you might need to adjust the rear sight.

You may need to experiment with different shooting stances to find the right position for you to comfortably see your sight picture.

There’s a tendency among beginners to want to pull the trigger quickly, which can result in a jerky shot that doesn’t hit your target. Taking the time to learn how to pull the trigger smoothly is an important step in learning how to shoot a pistol. It requires delicacy and patience, but it’s worthwhile when you start noticing improvements in your shooting abilities!

Start by taking a deep breath, then use your trigger finger to squeeze the trigger very slowly. Ultimately, the slower you pull the trigger, the better your shot will be. You can put in some dry fire practice (shooting without ammo) to hone this technique.

Whether you’re a first-time gun owner or have years of experience, shooting your pistol regularly is the best way to improve your accuracy. Keeping a powerful stance, a crushing grip, a clear sight, and a smooth trigger pull when shooting will increase your odds of hitting your target.

You’ll enjoy shooting handguns, rifles, and shotguns in a climate-controlled indoor shooting range with 3 bays, each composed of 8 lanes.

Whether you’re a first-time gun owner or have years of experience, shooting your pistol regularly is the best way to improve your accuracy. Keeping a powerful stance, a crushing grip, a clear sight, and a smooth trigger pull when shooting will increase your odds of hitting your target.

If you need more ammo, you can always find it at Green Top Sporting Goods, in store or online. We also have a wide range of new and used pistols for sale from top brands.