Line Up the Shot! Hand Guns : The Many Uses

Hand guns are sold at flee markets, general merchandisers, weapons conventions, pawn shops, on the street and just about anywhere else that you can think of. These weapons end up in either expert hands or ignorant hands. For the most part, it is the ignorant discharging of hand guns that we worry about. The ability to own a projectile weapon in America is one of the greatest liberties that we have. Liberty is a human need and a blessing. Liberty is protected through just cause. If one owns a weapon, the owner expected to be mature enough to use it properly.

Learning how to properly sight a hand gun in your ownership is one of the responsibilities of such ownership. The most likely sighting system feature sold as part of a hand gun is going to be the fixed sight system. You will see this tool on top of the weapon. It has a piece atop of the muzzle ( barrel ) that stands upward and it is thin. If you let your eyes wander away from this first piece in a direction down the top profile of the weapon unto the next feature, you will come to the other part of the sighting system. This time, the piece will be thicker, upright and it will have a "v" shaped notch in it. The two parts belong to your weapon's single sighting system and these parts have names. The first is called the foresight and the second is called the rear sight.

I will need to get off of subject here for just a moment to bring up four important considerations about targeting a weapon in general. ( one ) The first thing is relax a little. The first lesson of a martial art is of the need to relax. If you are stiff and shaky, your targeting will suffer. A stiff body falls down easy. Relax and let your center of gravity be well adjusted. ( two )The second thing is be natural. A hand weapon lends itself out as an extention of your own body. The weapon fits you well, when you have purchased well. Purchase a weapon that mates up to your own body structure. When you discharge the weapon, stand comfortably with your feet properly positioned to be stable with a somewhat "L" shaped pattern. ( three ) The third item that I need to touch upon is breath. Breathe! Targeting is a precision routine and you only halt the breath just enough to hold alignment of the sight as you fire your weapon. If you hold your breath too long you shake and thus your targeting again suffers. ( four ) The fourth thing about general sighting of a weapon, that I feel needs mentioning, is the fact that the weapon's going to move about. Expect it. When you pull on a trigger, the hand gun is going to move. When the weapon discharges, its going to move. Your reaction to the weapon discharging and the associated muzzle flash and sound will cause movement. Movement is the reason why the sighting system on your hand gun exists. The need to accurately place and adjust the shot alignment is always present.

Alignment of the shot using the fixed sights of your small arms weapon is a simple procedure. Your weapon's muzzle should point in the general direction of your intended target. You look through the "v" shaped notch of the rear sight in the direction of the forward sight. You level your weapon so the the top of the forward sight becomes even with the top of the "v" of your rear sight. The center of your intended target will rest upon the top of the image of your forward sight as the forward sight remains aligned as described above. Movement caused by many factors will cause this alignment to error and this error can become a factor all the way through to the trigger's pulling. The sight does not error unless the equipment is bent. It is movement that is ruining your shot line up. Go to a weapons range and work the details out. When you cancel the erroneous movement, the shot will line up.

Ok, it is in the human nature to want an easier way of doing things. This cheating the responsibility of lining up your shot before squeezing off a live round off is called many things such as finger point alignment or snap firing your weapon. Snap shooting is a favorite of the drive by shooter. That is why unintended people die or are injuried. In other words, they use a suck-butt technique of accomplishing their goal. If something you do with your hand gun or other small arms weapon gets deemed a felony, you will not have to worry about the whole shot alignment thing anymore. Most likely, if convicted of a felony, you will no longer be able to lawfully own a small arms firearm anymore. Out there, somewhere, some gun demi-god can snap shoot clean alignments and make impossible shots but it is most likely that you are not that person. The proper uses of a weapon are to aquire food, protect yourself or others from death and, finally, sports activities or competitions. You most likely will never be allowed to use a weapon to protect property itself. Use good judgment, relax, align well and practice at a gun range once in a while.