If you've ever experienced firearms training in a formal capacity, it typically goes something like this: An instructor stands at the front of the room and starts running down the “fundamentals” of shooting, sometimes even demonstrating each. If you’re very lucky, they may even have you do a couple repetitions on each fundamental to really solidify the training points (“sarcasm - the use of irony to mock, or convey contempt) . These fundamentals can vary slightly based on agency, unit, or training company but the list often looks something like this:
Stance (how to stand with the gun)
Grip (how to hold the gun)
Sight Alignment (how to align the gun visually through the sight/s)
Sight Picture (how/where to place the aligned sight/s on the target)
Trigger Control (how to press the trigger without moving the gun; usually taught as a slow, steady application of pressure until a “surprise” shot)
Sometimes there are some additional fundamentals sprinkled in like recoil control, follow through, trigger reset, and scanning for additional threats. I’ve even seen breath control (how to breathe while shooting) in the “fundamental” repertoire. Incredible.
Now while this list isn’t necessarily wrong, it does leave a lot of ambiguity (and sometimes confusion) about what is important and why for both shooter and instructor, with regard to what we’re really trying to do with the gun. If we take a step back from each singular element or technique and look at fundamentals through a wider lens, the principles that make high level proficiency possible become evident. Understanding these principles make it significantly easier for the shooter to recognize error and apply correction and for the instructor to develop a training plan (teaching points, drills, progression etc.) that focuses on the right aspect at the right time in a shooter's development. Think of each fundamental above as the specific technique (a part of the total picture) and the principle behind the technique as the goal (the total picture). Without understanding the total picture first, it's hard to relay why each piece is important and impossible for a shooter to connect with what they should be doing in any real way.
Before we go any further, I think defining what fundamental actually means will be helpful. It may be a bit of semantics but, details matter. Fundamental - “serving as a basis supporting existence or determining essential structure or function”. While we’re at it, let's define essential since we can paraphrase the fundamental definition, for our use, as the “basis supporting essential function” - Essential - “absolutely necessary, extremely important”.
With these definitions and an understanding of what fundamental actually means, we arrive at a question. What is “absolutely necessary and/or extremely important” AND creates the basis for this in the terms of shooting a handgun well; or more to the point of this article, What are the actual fundamentals of shooting a handgun?
From my perspective it boils down to 3 items:
#1 - Physical Structure
#2 - Trigger Management
#3 - Vision
Below is a diagram I use to illustrate the total picture regarding fundamentals to our students. I call it the “Proficiency Triangle”. The cornerstones are the three fundamentals listed above. Everything else; draws, reloads, transitions, malfunctions, movement etc., are ancillary to these fundamentals and make up the inner space of the triangle. But make no mistake, good shooting (proficiency) is built on physical structure, trigger management and vision.

Physical Structure - I like this term a lot because it’s all-encompassing with regard to the shooter's physicality behind the gun. This physicality starts from the ground up and is the shooter's foundation for 3 principles: stability, mobility and recoil control/management. Your physical structure includes some of the traditional fundamentals we listed at the beginning as well as some additional items and is the total picture (principle) behind them; foot positioning, hip orientation, weight distribution, shoulder positioning, arm extension, hand placement, hand pressures and head positioning are all included in this. All of these pieces connect to one another and form the shooter's complete physical structure behind the gun. Changes or technical deficiencies anywhere in the structure leads to unpredictable behavior of the gun in recoil, inhibited movement, and/or an inability to stabilize the gun to the degree a target requires, quickly.
Trigger Management - Trigger management is another term I prefer over the common moniker, trigger control. The classic definition of trigger control is “to press the trigger without disturbing the sights.” While I agree with the general tenet, it leaves a lot to be desired with regards to the full scope of how the trigger could/should not only be pressed, but also reset. Trigger control only offers guidance on one direction of the trigger movement but it in fact, moves in two directions. Rearward to fire and forward to reset. How a shooter manages both of these directions greatly affects both metrics of shooting that matter, speed and accuracy.
Vision - Vision is all encompassing of both sight alignment (relationship of the front sight to the rear sight or the red dot to the optic housing) and sight picture (sight alignment in relation to the target) but we really only need to focus on the sight picture part. This is because a shooter's physical structure is what actually aims the gun and is directly responsible for the gun being in alignment on both the x and the y-axis. The shooter's vision is merely there to CONFIRM that the gun is aligned, where they intended to point in relation to the target. If a shooter fails to confirm that the gun is in alignment (sight alignment), and aligned on the target in the correct spot but presses the trigger anyway, the shot misses (negative influence on accuracy). If a shooter confirms too much, meaning the sights are in alignment in the correct spot of the target and they still haven’t pressed the trigger, time is lost (negative influence on speed). Vision, or more specifically, the shooter's understanding of what they need to see to guarantee the hit as early as possible is the capstone of proficiency.
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