Stance

Standing in one place should be simple enough, but it is one of those things that can haunt a shooter. The stance has to provide a stable platform so that your body is not swaying around and so that you don't tip over when the gun goes bang. If you have a weak stance, you can sway back and forth or side to side which is going to affect your point of aim. Even with the best of stances, in wind you will still be swaying but luckily our body magically knows what to do with the rest of the body to maintain our point of aim. To prove this, get in a car with a weight similar to your gun (don't use a gun!), drive around a hilly area and see what your arm does naturally, it will try to maintain the "point of aim" without you having to do much of anything. Your body will respond to those changing conditions.

A lot has been written and spoken about the exact angle you should stand relative to the target. In reality, I don't believe there is any angle that is right or wrong or perfect and there CERTAINLY is no specific stance or angle that is good for everyone.

Some information exists about the "natural point of aim" and you adjust your stance to achieve it. With this technique you approach the line, pick up the gun, close your eyes and raise the gun to point to where you think the target is, open your eyes and see where you are aiming. You then adjust your stance and repeat this until you are on target. I have tried this for a while and really don't believe in it as written and talked about. I do believe there is some merit to it.

Our shoulder joint has a lot of freedom of motion, it is a ball joint so you can move your arm in any direction. The shoulder muscles are also complex enough to maneuver the upper arm to point in any direction. Within that full range of motion, there is going to be certain positions, or ranges within that motion, that you have better control over. Finding those areas is to me is far more important than anything else regarding the angle of your stance.

I currently step to the line, look at the target and align myself with what feels right. I don't raise my arm, rather, I trust the feeling in my neck as to the angle of stance. When I raise the gun for the first shot I will know if things are close enough. I may adjust, but it is not a mechanical task, rather it is just a natural shift in how I am standing till everything feels right. This whole process takes a couple of seconds at most.

I believe that the most important part about the stance is that you are stable and can stand in that position for the duration of the match. Furthermore, can you replicate it close enough that you can assume the position without going through a lot of messing around. In other words, don't make more of it than it is. Don't waste a half hour trying to figure out what angle to stand at, rather, spend that time doing dry fire!

Unlike many other shooters, I do not believe that standing "open" or "closed" to the target will affect you point of aim and your grouping all that much. In other words, if I stand at an angle where my arm and back are in a straight line, I don't shoot to the left. When I am standing with my back at a right angle to my arm, I don't shoot right. You shoot where you look and where your eyes tell you to point the gun, the rest of your body will accommodate that action.

How does it affect the score? I don't believe there is a lot of impact on the score or even the area of aim if your stance is off angle. However, if you are wobbling around like a drunken sailor, it would have adverse effects on your point of aim.

Another thing to consider about stance is that you don't always have the option of selecting where to put your feet. Shooting indoors is great, you have a nice, flat surface to stand on. Some outdoor ranges have concrete to stand on, many don't. That means you could be standing on very uneven ground. There could be: ant hills, rocks, lumps of dirt, all of which can be very distracting. You might be able to kick them down a bit and try to flatten the surface, but chances are good it won't be a nice flat surface like an indoor range. As such, you have a choice, either stand on the lumps and bumps to maintain your "perfect stance angle" and deal with the distraction, or you change your stance angle to find a place for your feet to be stable. I don't like distractions nor standing on lumps, so I find a place to put my feet on as flat of a surface as I can to achieve a stable platform.