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You should be competent in their use if you own firearms for any reason beyond collecting. I know that’s a hot take to read on a firearms website. However, how many people own guns who aren’t dedicated to being better? Being better at shooting isn’t hard. It comes down to breaking bad shooting habits and forming good habits. Good habits will make you shoot faster, straighter, and further with less challenge.
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There is admittedly a difference between a first-year shooter and a tenth-year shooter. Most of us can hit the target, and most of us can hit the target quickly and repeatedly, but we aren’t perfect. We’re far from it. We still have bad shooting habits, they just aren’t as easy to overcome. We have years of experience that have helped solidify those bad habits.
How do we break bad shooting habits at a higher level? The first step is being willing to change. Too many gun owners think they are good at shooting but have never tested themselves to find out truly. If you want to improve, even by a single percent, you’re in the right place. Let’s talk about how we can break our bad habits.
Be Willing To Learn
This can be the hardest one. If you’ve been shooting for a decade, you might be using techniques and habits that are a decade old. They aren’t bad, but they aren’t optimum. If we are trying to be 1% better, then we need to embrace new information and change our ingrained habits. There was a time when shooting a handgun was done with one hand, and that was acceptable.
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We moved on from that and embraced Weaver. And eventually, Weaver went out of style, and it was all about isosceles. These days, a modified isosceles dominates the shooting realm. This only encapsulates stance. There have been radical changes to how we think about achievable accuracy and how we learned it’s not so much about pulling the trigger as it is about maintaining a good grip.
Keep Updated
Information changes, and you should be willing to change it. Not only do you need to be willing to change your habits and learn, but you need to be willing to seek out new information. When something sounds dumb, it might be, but if it comes from a source you trust, at least hear it out, try it out, and see if it works. Too many people allow their egos to close off their minds, and that’s how you get stuck with bad shooting habits.
I learned this the hard way. I learned how to fight with a rifle in 2008 and carried that information for too long. My shooting style was old, outdated, and far from optimum. While it can be tough to embrace new ideas, it’s necessary. By embracing things I learned from gasp civilians, I was able to become a better, more effective, and more accurate shooter.
Identify Your Bad Shooting Habits
If we use optimum techniques and train hard, the next thing we can do is identify our bad habits. Sometimes, you can self-diagnose. I have this bad habit of locking my elbows while shooting a handgun. That might have been the style a few years ago, but we’ve learned that a slight bend makes a huge difference in recoil mitigation.
I learned this by seeing myself do it on camera while taking photos for articles. Use a cell phone front-facing camera to identify any potential habits. You can also film your shooting, draw, etc, and find advice online. However, make sure it comes from sources and forums you trust.
Easier Said Than Done
If I’m just shooting at the range, it’s easy to remember to bend the elbows slightly. I know I’m doing it wrong, but as soon as the timer beeps, I revert to my bad shooting habits. Just a little pressure was applied, and I dropped back to locking my elbows.
I could identify that because my mind was open to new information. However, I also had a bad habit of having my thumb ride the slide lock. I assumed this was something I couldn’t change until Rick Hogg, owner of Hogg Tactical, made one slight change to my grip. Problem solved. Sometimes, you need a professional instructor to identify those habits.
If not an instructor, a good shooter. When I’m at a match and the guy who takes first place every weekend tells me to do XYZ, I listen. Be willing to admit you have bad shooting habits and work to identify them. That’s how you can start breaking bad habits.
Putting the Work In To Fix Bad Shooting Habits
So, how do we fix our bad habits? It takes an admittedly conscious effort, and sometimes, conscious effort just isn’t fast, which can be frustrating. Breaking bad shooting habits is a bit like rebuilding. We have to go slow to get faster. Getting a sub-two-second Bill Drill won’t happen if you have bad habits, so keep the long-term goal in mind.
In my situation, where I instinctively lock my arms, I have to slow down and consciously make sure my elbows have a little bend in them, and make sure my grip is solid, and my thumbs aren’t riding the slide lock. I can do some better than the others and more consistently. The goal is to consistently draw, aim, and shoot the same way every time.
READ MORE: Why One Pistol Isn’t Enough
Fixing your bad shooting habits will take a combination of dry fire and live training. Dry fire is one of the cheapest ways to work grip stance, draw, and put a bend in my elbow. I have to slow down and tell myself, “Bend those damn elbows,” as I draw and dry fire. If I run it slowly, I do it right. I slowly add speed and only go as fast as possible, keeping my elbows bent and habits good.
The Good Habits
Dry fire can help instill good habits you can take to the range. Once you’re at the range, you might have to slow down again as live fire, timers, and accuracy are introduced. As you do so, you’ll begin to see yourself form new habits unconsciously, good habits. As a shotgun fan, I tend to give them more time than most.
One habit I built with shotguns through repetitive dry and live fire was establishing a push/pull as soon as I shoulder the gun. Even if I’m adjusting a red dot, looking through the sights, I unconsciously push/pull the gun. Training translates.
Put the Work In
Consistency beats all else. Work on your bad shooting habits consistently. Don’t binge and famine with weeks of hard training followed by weeks of excuses. It’s better to dry fire for fifteen minutes every night than try and scramble for intense training once a month. Beating and habits is as simple as being willing to learn, identify your habits, and consciously work to change those habits.
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Pretty good Travis, thank you. I will nevertheless mention that something older that works really good is better than something newer that doesn’t wotk as well for every body. Even if according to some it should be better, there are times it simply isn’t for every one, but of course you must try it fairly and completely to know for sure.