By Richard Bogath
Many of us can shoot instinctively. Many of us have had professional shooting instruction. Far few of us can explain or demonstrate why we can do what we do.
The following is an actual shooting instruction session between a young man and his girlfriend, exactly as I heard it from the next shooting port:
“So just line up the sights and then start pulling back on the trigger until it goes off. It should feel like…”
BANG
“Uhhh… yeah, you missed so you probably jerked it or something. Maybe you’re heeling the gun. Probably jerked it.”
BANG
“Yeah, you keep doing that so stop doing that.”
BANG
“You did it again. You’re never going to hit anything if you keep doing that. Just stop doing it. Stop jerking the trigger.”
BANG
“Im going to the bathroom. Here’s another full mag. Keep practicing.
Now being that I am a nosy, busybody when it comes to shooting and am completely incapable of shutting my trap or budding out unless directly instructed to do so, I leaned around the wall of the port and cleared my throat, drawing the attention of the clearly frustrated young lady holding up a 9mm Sig Sauer 226.
“Look at the front sight, not at the target, not at the rear sight. Line them up, but focus only on the front sight”.
I smiled, winked (in a Fatherly sort of way…this is a family article) and went back to my business. Within three minutes, between the gunshots, I picked up the distinct squeal of a happy young woman just as her boyfriend reentered and contributed the following…
“Wow! See what happens when you stop jerking it?”
After some laughter and introductions, the young man admitted that while being a good shooter himself, he found it frustrating and extremely difficult to convey his understanding and technique to another. After convincing them both to take my basic pistol course (her for the knowledge that it imparts, him for live demonstrations on how to convey information), they have both become friends and regular shooters at my open shooting time for former and current students at my little private range.
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Here Are 68 Exciting And Realistic Step By Step Gun Training Tactics (for Little Or No Cost)… You Can Even Do In Your Own Home
The simple fact is that it’s extremely difficult to become an effective instructor in any subject, much less shooting—where you have to not only convey knowledge, but technique, safety, demonstrative theory and process. It’s a lot to handle and it’s for this reason that there are many many firearms instructors out there, but very few really good ones.
But what about you—you just want to teach your lady, or man, son/daughter, grandkid, nephew or adopted third-cousin how to shoot. Maybe for defensive purposes, maybe just for plinking. Where do you begin teaching someone to shoot and what’s the best way to convey this kind of information?
Shooting Instruction Basics
1. Start With Safety
We all want to get to the “fun” part of shooting….the actual shooting. Not to disappoint your student, but pulling the trigger and firing the gun will be the reward for learning the rules of safety. It does not matter if they say them out of order, but it should be drilled into their heads that the three main, basic rules are so designed in case any two of them are broken, remembering and following any one of them will keep yourself and others safe.
- Finger Off The Trigger Until Ready To Shoot.
- Always Point The Firearm In A Safe Direction.
- Firearm Is Unloaded Until Ready To Shoot.
2. Don’t Take It Too Far – Basics Only
You never want to overwhelm your new shooter. After hammering the basic rules of safety into their head and firmly reminding them when they break a rule (and they WILL break a rule), ease them into it. Take it from the bottom up: Stance, arms, grip, finger placement, sight alignment, trigger control and breathing. From there, let them practice and keep practicing until they run out of ammo. There is no need or value to teaching them to draw from a holster at this point.
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Here Are 68 Exciting And Realistic Step By Step Gun Training Tactics (for Little Or No Cost)… You Can Even Do In Your Own Home
3. Be Calm
When teaching handling and use of firearms it is important to remember that not only will your student be excited, but in most cases they will also be a little frightened (or a lot frightened). Maybe they won’t admit it, maybe they will. Your assumption should always be that they are nervous about what you are asking them to do. For you, this is old hat already. Picking up a gun, loading and firing it could be as commonplace as brushing your teeth in the morning. But if you can remember back to your first time—not all of us can—it was probably more like standing on the tracks before an oncoming freight train. The point here, is that if you remain calm, your student has a better chance of remaining calm as well. Even if they break a rule—be firm, but do not chastise, yell or get angry at them. Educate them on why we do things the way we do them.
4. Be Patient
Some students can be frustrating. Extremely frustrating. While this harkens back to “Be Calm” above, patience is represented by your understanding that not everyone learns at the same pace. While maybe grip and finger placement on a polymer handgun was a snap for your to pick up. For others, it is a continual source of frustration and anxiety, taking months—sometimes years to get correct due to the fact that a persons preconception of how a gun is held is usually based on what was viewed on television and in movies. A nightmarish compilation of bad habits and poor marksmanship technique that the viewer takes as gospel. There will be some aspects of shooting that you will have to teach again and again and again to the same student. The worst thing you can do (aside from being angry) is to give up and let a bad habit continue. You do no service to your student or your yourself as an instructor (even if you are not a “real” instructor).
5. Listen To Your Student
Your student has questions. Lots of them. You will ask from time to time if they have any and nine times out of ten you will get the generic “Uh-uh”. Especially from kids, and “young adults”—believe me, they’ve got them and it’s now your job to pull them out and get them answered. Assume that the questions you had at their stage are the same concerns that they have. I like to bring up little segues such as; “At this point you might be wondering…” or, “A lot of people also wonder about…”, etc… Sometimes if you milk the question out of them, you give them the opportunity to realize that they did not understand something, or even make them feel comfortable asking a question they thought might have been a stupid one (there are never stupid questions). Listen to your student in the literal sense, but also as an instructor and help them realize what they should be asking.
There are good teachers out there and horrible teachers out there, just like any other profession. If you’re going to teach someone to shoot and you are not a formally trained firearms instructor then that’s just fine—so long as you keep in mind that you are teaching others and not teaching yourself. They will learn and experience things differently than you do or would. Patience, understanding and fierce attention to detail will help your student through the basics and help you become a better instructor—even if you never intended to be.
