Helping Women at the Gun Counter
When a woman consumer approaches your gun counter, be welcoming! She may be an educated consumer or she may be new to firearms – either way, help her have a positive experience.
Racking Your Pistol Slide
Many women lack the arm and hand strength of men, and this can be very evident at the gun counter. It is not only frustrating for some women, but it can be embarrassing, too. However, knowing the right techniques, women can rack the slides of most guns very easily.
Shooting on the Move
Shoοting while moving is an advanced skill that requires practice and training; however, it is an important skill that most shoοters will want to work on. It is unlikely there would a defensive scenario when you would stand face-to-face with a gunman like a old Western duel. Get off the X! Move! Get to safety as fast as possible. If you’re a competitor, there may be stages when you move then shοot, but there may be some that require shοts while moving, too.
Firing a Shot
Just as any professional basketbaII pIayer spends decades going over the basic mechanics of shοoting a free throw, a gun owner must repeatedly practice these basic mechanics of firing a shοt.
Your Pistol’s Safety Features
Most pistols have safety features to help prevent an accidental or negligent discharge. Some safeties are external and easily seen on the gun, while some are internal safeties that prevent a round from being fired if the gυn is dropped or struck. Early revolvers did not have any safety mechanism, so the hammer rested down on an empty chamber so the handgun would not fire, but most modern double-action revolvers have an internal safety, either a transfer bar or hammer block, to prevent firing without a trigger press.
How to Change a Pistol Magazine
Removing and inserting a magazine into your pistol is a basic function that new shooters must know, but it is also an important task that needs to be done correctly so that you develop muscle memory with the right habits. If you plan to use your pistol in a defensive situation, then you will need […]
Shot Groupings
A tremendous amount of insight can be obtained about a shooter’s skill level by looking at how bullets hit a paper target. The shooter’s consistency and skill are revealed by the tightness or looseness of the shot groupings, the measurement of the proximity of bullet holes to each other on a target.
How to Pack Up Your Gear After a Shooting Session
When you finish a practice session and are ready to prepare to leave the range, use good etiquette for packing your gear. Be deliberate in your motions when packing up, just as you are when you are setting up your bench for your shooting session.
Clean Your Firearms
Each time a gun is fired, carbon residue builds up within the bore and barrel. Over time, this build-up negatively affects bullet trajectory and gun performance. Shooting dirty guns can result in malfunctions and permanent damage.
How to Introduce Your Kids to Your First Gun
The COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic is making many families rethink their family safety plans. If you have made the choice to purchase a firearm for home or self defense, it may spur questions from your children or you may be looking for how to best introduce your children to a new gun in the home. This article helps you navigate these conversations.
How to Store Your Firearms
Part of being a responsible gun owner is properly securing your firearm at all times. When you purchase your first firearm, you should be researching the training classes that you want to take on how to safely and proficiently use it, and also consider the safe or storage options you are going to use to secure it.
Your Family Preparedness Plan
Part of being a good first responder for your family is to anticipate situations that you may have to address and ensure that you have the tools and knowledge to prevail in an emergency. This article discusses how you can be prepared to hunker down with your family when you need to shelter in place.
Trigger Control
Trigger control is the act of manipulating the trigger to fire the gun without disturbing your sight alignment. A pistol shooter may become frustrated if her shots are always slightly off center, so one place to troubleshoot is your trigger press. The shooter should press the trigger smoothly so that the sights remain on the […]
Invite a New Shooter to the Range
Any time is a great time to invite a friend to the range. Especially if he or she is a nonshooter or antigunner, introducing your friend to gun safety is always rewarding for everyone. Before you take a new shooter to the range, plan using this checklist so that you give her the best experience possible.
Establish a Safe Direction
Anytime you are handling a firearm, you must follow the 4 Rules of Gun Safety with great care. When you’re at a range, it’s very clear what is down range, but what if you are at your home, a hotel, a classroom, or somewhere else where you have to manipulate your firearm? Rounds go through walls and can leave houses and buildings. If you’re not in a place with a proper backstop, you must establish what is a safe direction that can minimize damage if a round was accidentally discharged.
Pistol Grips to Avoid
When a shooter has a poor grip on her pistol, she may experience a malfunction or difficulty achieving target accuracy. The grips shown are not dangerous per se, but they are techniques to avoid. They are often seen in movies and typically reflect the lack of real firearms training. Grips to avoid include: Tea Cup […]
Shooting With Your Support Hand
There are times, both in competition and self-defense, that you may need to shoot with your support hand. In competition, the course of fire may call for it or in a self-defense situation, you may not have use of your strong hand. Practicing shooting with your support hand is an important skill to develop.
How to Grip a Handgun
A proper grip helps better manage recoil and muzzle rise, and helps a shooter with accuracy, speed, and retention. The hands should be as high on the gun as possible. The handgun should fit in the hand to be straight like an extension of the shooter’s arm. The support hand’s fingers should wrapped around the front of the strong hand, so that all four fingers overlay the three lower fingers of the strong hand. While the strong hand squeezes the pistol with front-to-rear pressure, the support hand clamps pressure from the sides. This gives 360-degree pressure on the pistol providing a stable grip.
How do you know if you’re getting good training?
A smart consumer will research options; a good student will, too, when seeking a firearms instructor. Here are names of the best and 9 red flags to watch out for.
How to Clean Your Shotgun with Swab-its
By Michele Makucevich. When it comes to maintaining firearms, Swab-its’ Bore-tips offer improved barrel cleaning and lubrication while the Gun-tips line offers four distinct sizes and lengths of swabs to ensure cleaning and lubrication of the harder to reach areas that are often neglected. What you need: shotgun rod, solvent, lubricant, Swab-its Bore-tips in correct gauge, Swab-its 9 piece Gun-tips, a rag or paper towels. In this article, we address cleaning the Over-Under Shotgun. To demonstrate, we will clean and lubricate a Beretta Silver Pigeon.
How to Clean Your Revolver with Swab-its
By Michele Makucevich. Swab-its’ Bore-tips offer improved barrel cleaning and lubrication while the Gun-tips line offers four distinct sizes and lengths of swabs to ensure cleaning and lubrication of the harder to reach areas that are often neglected. In this article, we will address cleaning the Revolver. To demonstrate, we will clean and lubricate a Taurus Tracker .357 Magnum in titanium.
Shotgun Fit: Understanding Stocks
There are many factors involved in shooting a shotgun accurately, but one of the most important and least understood is gun fit. Most manufacturers offer a standard stock dimension, something that fits the average shooter. Since shooters don’t have an opportunity to choose between different stock sizes and configurations, they just accept the gun as it was built and learn to shoot what they have. In a perfect world that wouldn’t be the case – every hardcore target shooter would be able to walk into a gun store, just like walking into a shoe store, and pick a gun stock as perfect as the right pair of shoes. It may seem daunting, but getting the right fit isn’t nearly as complicated as we make it out to be. The measurements are easily understood and it would behoove every shotgun shooter to be on speaking terms with them. The most important thing to keep in mind is that almost all stock measurements start at the rib line and go down. This article describes parts of the stock and some of the measurements in a rough order of importance.
Come Shoot With Me! Christi Tate Tells How to Invite Other Women to Shoot
Christi says, “I invited the women to shoot with me. It’ll just be fun, the camaraderie and shooting together again. I wouldn’t know any of these gals if not for the Brownells Fall Fest match. We started getting to know each other on Facebook before we met personally. Now, we have women, most who are members of A Girl & A Gun, coming together from all over to shoot. It just takes being creative and getting the people. Why can’t we do this everywhere?”
How to Clean Your Pistol with Swab-its
By Michele Makucevich. When it comes to maintaining firearms, Swab-its’ Bore-tips offer improved barrel cleaning and lubrication while the Gun-tips line offers four distinct sizes and lengths of swabs to ensure cleaning and lubrication of the harder to reach areas that are often neglected. Reusable and easy to clean with soap and water or mineral spirits, Swab-its products are more thorough, quicker and easier to use than traditional methods of firearms cleaning and do not leave the residue or lint left behind by patches, mops and cotton swabs. In this article, we will tackle the Semi-Automatic Pistol. To demonstrate, we will be cleaning a Sig Sauer Spartan 1911, a beautiful piece with a stainless steel slide and frame and a custom Oil Rubbed Bronze finish.
How To Be An Effective Learner
5 Fundamentals Of Pistol Marksmanship Partnered with 5 Key Points of Effective Learning If you’ve ever tried to teach someone how to shoot a handgun, or tried to learn from a friend or family member, it may not have gone as smoothly as you expected.Over the last 11 years Julianna Crowder has taught thousands of […]
Get Started in Competitive Shooting
If you have ever thought to yourself “I wish I could do that, but I’m not a good enough shot” or “I need more practice” and it is keeping you from trying your hand at action shooting sports, here is something that you should know.
How to Find a Firearms Instructor
The first step to learning to shoot a gun is to find a good instructor. Learning correct marksmanship skills and creating good habits from the start will give you a solid foundation for success and confidence at the range. Here is how to find the right firearms instructor.
How to Manage Recoil
Managing recoil is done with your entire body. A proper stance gives you a stable platform so that your gun can function. It is important to keep your weight forward on the balls of your feet. Even while standing practicing with static target shooting, your posture should be forward, aggressive, and ready to move.
How To Fit Your Hand To Your Pistol
size/shape of your hand + how to fit checklist + size/shape frame/grip = right gun for you! Trying different handguns is like trying on shoes: You may wear a size 8, but not all size 8s fit the same — only you know if it’s “right” for you and absolutely love it… or not. Similarly, many […]
