Don’t forget the fundamentals.

ByHunter Elliott

Jan 5, 2016 #Colt 1911, #Colt 1991, #handgun fundamentals

I was teaching a pistol class the other night and we were going over flash sight picture, double taps, target transition, and some more intermediate skills and drills. It was a great class and we all learned a lot. The thing about instructing a class, if you listen to your students, you as well can learn from their feedback. It got me to thinking that with all the high speed low drag training to be had, I fear many continue to skip the basic fundamentals, the foundation all other skills are built from. We can all agree after some cool tactical classes and IPSC/IDPA matches it can be a bit boring to get on the square range and punch paper focusing on grip, sight alignment, sight picture, trigger control, natural point of aim, and breath control. I believe it is a good idea to get back to the square range with a pistol of a known quality to practice the fundamentals, from time to time. Allison and I spent a few hours with a Colt 1991, a pistol of known reliability and accuracy, to brush up on fundamentals. In the Marine Corps we had a saying, “perfect practice makes perfect”.

It was not as quite as exciting or sexy as hard core drills or intense matches, but it is equally important to shore up your foundations, at least that is my opinion. He is a short clip of Allison stepped off to twenty five feet shooting an eight and a half by eleven paper target. This is something I try to do at least once a month going through about fifty rounds.

By Hunter Elliott

I spent much of my youth involved with firearms and felt the call early on to the United States Marine Corps, following in my father's and his brother's footsteps. Just after high school I enlisted and felt most at home on the rifle range, where I qualified expert with several firearms and spent some time as a rifle coach to my fellow Marines. After being honorably discharged I continued teaching firearm safety, rifle and pistol marksmanship, and began teaching metallic cartridge reloading. In the late 1990s I became a life member to the National Rifle Association and worked with the Friends of the NRA. Around that time my father and I became involved with IDPA and competed together up until he passed away. I began reviewing firearms for publications in the mid 2000s and have been fortunate to make many friends in the industry. Continuing to improve my firearms skills and knowledge is a never ending journey in which we should all be committed. I am also credited as weapons master on a few independent films.

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