Hey all,
I'm a new pistol shooter here. I grew up in a country where 99% of the people are indoctrinated into thinking that guns are bad and only the government should have a monopoly on them. So I am presently a tourist in a slightly freer country and am enjoying the ability to go to the range and do some shooting . I envy the US RKBA (don't y'all ever lose it!)
At the range I am shooting at, I am not allowed to do any draw-and-shoot. Just steady, aimed, pistol shooting at the range's maximum distance (15m). And each 9mm round is 0.75$ which is pretty expensive for an Eastern European country. The range instructor is a grizzled grouchy Russian who only speaks Russian so it is hard to understand what he is saying. I've uploaded the last 35 shots I did at the range after buying 100 rounds of 9mm ammo. My first 20 or so were wide off the mark until he noticed I was flinching while I pulled the trigger. I consciously tried to stop flinching (remembering a Youtube video instructor who said "You almost need to be surprised when you pull the trigger and the gun fires, so that you don't flinch") and the results were much better. In those pictures I was shooting 18 or 17 rounds respectively from a Glock 18 at 15m.
Q1: Is there any value doing marksmanship shooting with a pistol? Where you take a few seconds between shots, control your breathing, aim and movement, etc.? I can only imagine that in a scenario where I need to use a pistol defensively (if I do end up living in a freer country), a few seconds to aim and shoot (plus a few more seconds to recognise a life-threatening scenario and draw your gun) would be too slow. In other scenarios where you take so long, it won't be defensive anymore (e.g. robber is already running away) and therefore usage of lethal force is not justified.
Q2: Some people I've spoken to who were professional pistol wielders (few weeks training with just pistols) said that your basic stance should be with your main (trigger) arm completely straight with the elbows locked and your off-hand supporting the other hand. I personally found it more comfortable to shoot symmetrical with the gun in my mid-line, with my non-dominant eye closed and with both arms relaxed and elbows bent. Is this bad technique?
Q3: There are quite a few impressive Youtube videos of pistol marksmen hitting targets even hundreds of meters away. I'd love to reach that level of skill but I presume that 99% of the time when you need a gun, when you have a pistol and when you use the pistol, they would be at distances under 7m (I believe I read a statistic that most pistol encounters are over in under 7s, under 7 yards and with less than 7 bullets fired). Therefore given my limited ability and expensive endeavor to go to a range in another country to shoot, is my 15m range I am training at adequate?
Q4: Do pros still always line up their sights against their target or do you reach a point where you become so skilled you can shoot reflexively and hit targets?
Thanks for any tips and pointers you have. I would also appreciate recommendations of good Youtube video tutorials on pistol shooting.