Weaver Stance

[Art Eatman]

I'm long-armed and fairly slender-built, so the modified Weaver came easily. Early on, it seemed to me that my right arm was like a rifle stock, and I've been a rifleman for eons.

I particularly like the recoil control aspect. I used to shoot a lot of full-house .44 Maggie, and the Weaver made life better.

Motion has alway seemed easy, whether dropping down behind cover or pushing off sideways out of sight. To me, it was much like a boxer's stance, or as earlier said, martial arts.

Not being an LEO, I doubt that room-clearing or clearing a building will be part of my deal. I'm far more likely to be retreating than advancing. Yellow racing stripe and all that.

 

[orionengnr]

personally like the Weaver for practice purposes, as I shoot well from it. But I also practice isosceles, one handed, and off-handed.

Thing about the Weaver that I like is that it's fundamentally similar to a martial arts front stance, and so it's a natural posture for me to assume (IE, muscle memory tends to put me into a similar posture when I feel threatened).

Bingo.

THE TRADITIONAL WEAVER STANCE:
(1.) Body bladed about 45 degrees in relation to the target (boxer stance)
(2.) Legs are locked at the knees.

Really? Guess I was taught wrong. See above...

However, this brings up a recent discussion with one of my trainers...and we disagreed about fundamental benefits of each stance.

My thought is that "blading" ones body will provide the smallest possible target. His opinion is that blading will only allow you to have several organs penetrated by one hit, where the Isoceles will allow only one organ at a time to be penetrated. Being a rather slender individual, I think I'll take my chances with blading and hoping he will miss me altogether.

without attempting to thread-jack, I'd like to hear some opinions.

 

[MLeake]

Blading...

... I like the smaller target aspect; I also like putting more muscle (left arm, pec, lats) between vital organs and bad guy. (Hey, maybe he opted for HP ammo in a low-powered round...)

OTOH, I normally don't wear body armor.

Guys that do wear body armor tend not to like blading, as it points the exposed armpit at the other guy's muzzle. This is especially true for guys who wear armor with plates in the front. Better off facing squarely, and letting the armor do what it does.

So it depends on equipment, in large part.

 

[Win_94]

how you're standing should be entirely independent from your sight picture and trigger manipulation.

Indeed!

I learned how to become a better marksman in the woods, hunting. One can't just take-up the Weaver stance sideways on a hill.

I'll shoot every position with all my firearms; I'll shoot prone with my handgun, if that's how I can hit the mark.

 

[steve54]

I was taught Weaver 40 years ago but now we teach isosceles

 

[jmortimer]

"Thing about the Weaver that I like is that it's fundamentally similar to a martial arts front stance, and so it's a natural posture for me to assume..."
I agree and also like not being squared up to target/someone shooting back at me.

 

[kraigwy]

Weaver or Isosceles??????

When I first started reading this post, I got to wondering "what do I use". I had to go outside and shoot to see.

I found I use a combination of the two, but for precision, I always reverted to one hand (too many bullseye matches in my background).

But after consideration I'm going to vote "neither".

I was just offered a job going to Never Never Land, teaching cops and security folks. (assuming I can past the hearing test which is iffy at best).

I was planning a new training-practice regiment (cause I'm gonna need it for me and teaching purposes). I thought back on all my having to use a pistol/revolver. From crawling through a muddy-slimy tunnel in SE Asia to my 20 years as a street cop. I got to thinking, every time I've used or thought I might have to use a pistol or revolver, it was always "one handed". I've always had something in my off (non gun) hand, be it flashlight, door knob, mirror, another bandit, ticket book or just peeking around a corner where I could only use one hand.

The only time I've use two hands was in practice or matches such as PPC, ICORE, Steel, etc. Even then when I had distant targets I reverted back to my Bullseye Stance.

No sir, if I'm going to practice for SD I'm going to stick to one hand, cause if the off chance comes that I may need my pistol or revolver, chances are its gonna only be one handed. And you can bet there is gonna be a lot of left-one handed practice in the next month.