I may have discovered a better way to shoot short barrel handguns.

kcub

New member
If I get my sp101 closer to my face I can see the front site more clearly between the rear posts. I have to squeeze the upper arm of my non trigger hand up against my body, sort of a cramped weaver.

Haven't tried it yet on the range. Anybody else tried something like this?
 
Haven't tried it but I've found my snub nose sp101 is a very difficult gun to shoot accurately at any sort of distance. I'm always up for suggestions so I'll give that a try next time I'm at the range
 
This might work for you but it might not work well with other guns in future and chances are that any instruction you might take would try to undo this style.

You might want to investigate eyeglasses (for better focus at the sight distance) and shooting more in the future to perfect your technique.

I could do 50' groups with my DAO SP101 that were better than many of my regular shooters could do with a Ruger .22 target pistol. I'd just had 10,000 rounds more practice under my belt than they had.

But the SP isn't meant to be super accurate for distance. If it was, it would have more complex rear sights.
 
If you could find a copy of Chic Gaylord's 1960 book 'Handgunner's Guide' you would see that he advocated a position he called "rock the baby" which brought the handgun close to the eye.
 
I suspect if you put a snub in a Ransom rest it would be a accurate as a silhouette gun.

I only need reading glasses which is typically where the sites are.

This "weaver in a phone booth" way makes it work almost like a peep site.

Just align the front site on the target and go bang, forget about the rear site as you will naturally center it.
 
If you have trouble seeing the sights, don't move the pistol close to your face, increase your Depth of Field (the distance from your eye where everything is in focus). "But my eyes aren't what they use to be and I can't see the sights clearly. How can I increase my DoF?" Quick, simple, and best of all it's free.

* Take a piece of black electrical tape and a regular paper punch.
* Stamp out some 1/4" diameter circles of tape and stick them to an old matchbook or something similar so that you can remove them easily.
* Then take a small awl or finish nail set and punch a hole in the center and keep it small.
* Now stick one on your shooting glasses where you sight through when shooting like this.

100_7674.jpg


You'll hardly be able to see the black circle as it will appear to be just a ghost image but inside the center you'll notice that you can clearly see both the front and rear sight as well as the target, even if it's 100 yds away!! What you've just done is place a tiny aperture close to your eye. Opticians and photographers understand that to increase your Depth of Field, one needs a tiny aperture to sight through. That's why photographers want to use the smallest aperture setting they can and vary the shutter speed; they get pictures with more of the scene in focus.

Give it a try. It's easy and free.
 
Yeah but with no reloading equipment the price of .357 ammo these days doesn't exactly encourage one to practice.
 
You can likely get another front sight blade (they're just pinned in IIRC) and make a narrower front sight. Also, while you're at it you can make your front sight more of a modified post to give you a crisper sight picture and still be snag free.

An easy thing to try is "Sight Black" which is soot in an aerosol can. That will give you a super crisp black sight picture, but it wiped off with a rag. Birchwwod Casey makes it. Bullseye shooters use it.
 
The method that you are describing sounds like the close quarter technique.
Nothing wrong with using it, if it works for you.
 
COSteve:

If the gun in question is a defensive piece, don't do that. You won't be able to shoot it for crap when it gets real.
 
Go ahead and try it. If it works for you, then its a good thing. There was a competitor that used a very similar stance, Murray Gardner (IIRC) I remember seeing him in a picture in this stance. He simply called it a modified Weaver.
 
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