Another Dry Practice Observation…

I’ve written previously about my revolver dry practice routine. Recently, I noticed something that I was doing subconsciously. Namely, the degree of cant when aiming one handed.

I noticed that I cant the gun to a noticeably greater degree with my support hand than I do with my primary hand. (Apologies for the crappy cellphone pics, but you get the idea…)

I have concluded that what I’ve been doing is essentially putting the front site in front of my dominant eye. I am strongly right eye dominant, and yes, right, wrong, or indifferent, I squint/close my left eye when aiming a firearm.

When I trained with Mike Seeklander, he had us try both canted and vertical when shooting one handed to see which worked better for us individually. He did add the caveat that the goal should be better recoil control (getting the sights back on target) instead of simply what “felt better”. Truthfully, my recoil control was probably better with the gun held vertical, but I tend very strongly to cant the gun. Under duress, I imagine I would cant the gun. I would also posit that the required accuracy plays a role, and I am more easily able to keep the front sight on a target through the double action trigger press with the gun slightly canted.

When I trained with Mike Pannone, he addressed the subject by advising that the degree of cant was dependent on finding the least degree of muscular tension (my words, his explanation was far more eloquent).

I’m not sure who is right, and honestly, I haven’t yet tested this on the range, but I think my takeaway from dry practice is that I’m doing what I need to do to see what I need to see. I’m not thinking about canting the gun, I’m just trying to “hit” the target and call my “shots”. Obviously, YMMV.

Just to revisit my previous post, I cannot claim daily dry practice, but I can at least claim relatively consistent dry practice. Astute observers will note that the revolver I’m holding in the pictures above is not the 642-1 referenced in my earlier post. Indeed, I recently I acquired the M&P 340 that I wanted. I managed to snag one under MSRP, even when factoring in shipping and transfer fees, so I’m happy with the purchase. My local FFL even had Federal Gold Medal Match in stock, so I snagged a couple of boxes of that as well. The revolver is not appreciably lighter than my 642-1, but the sights are a definite improvement.

My latest obsession is a .32 H&R Magnum J frame, but those are also stupidly expensive these days. Time will tell…

As always, thanks for reading. I know the blog hasn’t been very active of late, but as was mentioned in a recent thread on pistol forum, eventually one(s) run(s) out of things to write about and priorities shift. I can’t speak for Robert, but I really only intend to post when I have something to say. Nonetheless, if you care to support the blog by shopping with our Amazon Affiliate link, the support is much appreciated.

Take care, and check six. We all are indeed living in “interesting times”.