Gun Work - Handling the Sixgun Properly, Part 2

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Pistol Work Part II
and
The One-More-Shot Syndrome

by Jim Taylor

The essence of being a good shot is practice as we have said previously. This is fundamental. Since not everyone who desires to be a good shot lives where they can shoot every day, dry-firing is an obvious part of practice. It is not my intention to go into the all various aspects of dry-firing a gun. You should learn the particulars about your firearm yourself. Just be aware that some guns cannot be dry-fired without damaging them and sometimes even those that are deemed safe for dry-fire suffer damage from it. For instance I use Ruger Old Model single action revolvers. Fairly straightforward, there are no transfer bars or weak links in the Old Models and one can dry-fire them for years. One day I was holding the sights on a target on the wall, cocking and snapping the gun, endeavoring to hold the sights study through the hammer-fall. As I pulled the trigger I heard a snap, and something hit the floor. It turned out to be the spur on the hammer! The metal had fatigued or something and the hammer spur had snapped off. I had it rewelded, kept it in my parts bin for years, and when I built up my little .357 I put the hammer in it where it works fine today. That is the only time I ever had anything like that happen.

For most guns, "snap-caps" are best used. These cushion the blow of the hammer and keep parts from battering. You can purchase them from most any gun shop. In the old Colt SAA I used to put a small leather strip in frame and used that to cushion the hammer fall. It kept the frame from battering. I have done that on the 1911 Colt ACP also.

I use small targets to align the sights on while dry-firing. I like the target to appear slightly smaller than the width of the front sight when I look through the sights at it. This allows me to try and keep it centered when squeezing the trigger. If my follow-through is good the sights will not move off the target during the squeeze and hammer fall. For really precise work I like the target to appear 1/2 the width of the front sight when viewed through the sights. A simple black mark on a piece of white paper works quite well.

For draw and point shooting, I hang a tennis ball from the ceiling on a string. Then I swing the ball from side to side. I practice pulling the gun and poking the ball with the end of the barrel. You can tell when you hit it square. Cocking and squeezing while doing this can be helpful. Practice for smoothness and consistency, not for speed. That will come with time and excitement.

The draw is accomplished by dropping the hand to the gun, pulling the hammer back as the gun is coming out of the holster. My trigger finger is held out straight alongside the frame and is NOT in the trigger guard. As the gun comes up clear of the holster it is poked toward the target. As the gun is being shoved toward the target my trigger finger goes into the trigger guard. The trigger is pulled as the gun is poked at the target. This mainly serves the purpose of keeping me from shooting my leg, though I have found it does help to hit what I am looking at also.

Some years ago I was showing off in front of some shooters. I would toss a piece of 2x4 about 4" long with my gunhand, then jerk my pistol and shoot the block before it went 3 feet in front of me. Using full power loads in the .357 Magnum. In those days I just stuck my finger in the guard as I jerked the gun, never thinking. On one occasion the gun hung up slightly in the holster and I fired a shot through my pants leg. While it did not hit me, it scared me badly enough that I changed my ways of doing things and practiced never sticking my finger into the trigger guard until the gun was being poked at the target. I have never had a problem since.

BEWARE

The single largest problem of dry-firing is what is known as the "One-More-Shot Syndrome". This affliction usually befalls the dry-firer at least once in his life. Dr. Chris could explain the problem better than I, but basically it is caused by the repetition of the same action over and over during an extended period of time. The synapses in the brain get "locked" into doing something the same way, and if a completely different action is not undertaken, the person will perform that same action unconsciously, even if consciously not intending to. While most times it results in no harm, it is potentially deadly.

I remember a cop who was dry-firing and practicing his draw before he went on duty. He had spent over an hour practicing while waiting to head for the station. When it came time to leave he loaded his gun, walked to the door, spun around, jerked the revolver and fired, centering a vase at the end of a 20 foot hallway. While the shot was clean and accurate it did cause some consternation on the part of his wife. Fortunately no one was in the line of the bullet which stopped several rooms later in a wall. This type of "accident" is more common than most people like to let on. And like the weird uncle in the family, no one wants to talk about it. But for those who undertake dry-firing on a regular basis, you do need to be aware of it. For if you do not handle it right you WILL fire the gun later even though you do not want to.

I had a close friend who started dry-firing on a regular basis every other evening. I warned him that at the end of his dry-firing sessions to put the gun away - out of sight - and not to touch it for at least an hour. He said, "Sure, fine, OK." One day I went to visit him and he was in a strange mood. Finally his wife said, "Are you going to tell him?" and he related how he had been dry-firing. He put the gun away, but picked up his Colt Detective's Special and fired a shot through the wall. No one was hurt. But they could have been. I had hard time not saying, "I told you...!"

If you spend time dry-firing, when you are done PUT THE GUN AWAY. DO NOT TOUCH IT OR ANOTHER GUN FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR. GO DO SOMETHING TOTALLY UNRELATED - SOMETHING DIFFERENT. If you don't you will fire it one of these days, unintentionally. No matter how much you do not want to.

I was a kid living at home and one day spent several hours in front of a mirror, drawing and snapping, trying to beat the ugly guy in the mirror. I decided to go out on the range and shoot some live ammo, so I put that gun away, strapped on a 7 1/2" single action, loaded it and walked past the mirror on the way out of the room. As I walked past the mirror I made one of the fastest, smoothest draws of my life and centered the ugly guy in the mirror. The shot was extremely loud in the house but no one else was home. The mirror happened to be an antique vanity of my mothers. The shot ruined as you might imagine. I checked the hole in the wall, and in the living room, left a note for the folks saying I had to be elsewhere, that I had a slight accident but was unhurt, and departed until things cooled down a bit.

I was present once when an individual shot himself with a gun he did not remember loading just a minute before. The bullet went down his leg, alongside the knee, crossed over the shin and exited just above his ankle. A mid-range .44 Magnum load, this wound laid him up for a year. He swore he had not loaded the gun, yet he was the only one who had been handling it. When I picked it up I found 4 unfired rounds in it.

Dry-firing is a fun way to improve your skill or maintain your skill level. And it is effective. Like all gun handling, it must be done in the proper manner. Be aware of the dangers and act accordingly. You do not have to be one of the "accidents". While some of them are slightly humorous, they can be deadly. We do not want or need those. And I have plenty of stories already of holes shot in walls, ceilings, furnaces, and of thermostats shot off the wall and holes blown in mattresses. I would rather not have any more.

Click HERE for Part I

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