The Isosceles shooting stance is a shooting technique for handguns. It became popular in the 1980s when Brian Enos and Rob Leatham started using it to win International Practical Shooting Confederation competitions. [1] [2] It is one of the two main stances for pistol shooting alongside the Weaver stance. [3]
The Isosceles Stance is a two-handed technique in which the dominant hand holds the pistol or revolver while the support hand wraps around the dominant hand. Both arms are held straight, locking the elbows. Viewed from above, the arms and chest of the shooter describe an isosceles triangle (a triangle with two equal sides, from Greek iso "equal, uniform" and skelos "leg"), [4] which gives the stance its name.
The Isosceles Stance passively absorbs the recoil of firing the handgun using the shooter's skeletal structure, rather than active muscular tension, as in other shooting stances, like the Weaver Stance. [1] [5] [6]
The Isosceles Stance is a simple stance, and is natural to perform under stress. [5] [7] Because the Isosceles Stance orients the torso of the shooter forward, it increases the usefulness of a ballistic vest compared to other shooting stances, which tend to present the less protected side of the torso, but also provides a larger target in the process. [2] [6]
The Modern Isosceles shooting stance is a more aggressive, forward-leaning version of the Traditional Isosceles. The shooter places the shoulders forward of the hips, the feet shoulder width apart, support-side foot slightly forward, and the knees bent. These changes to posture shift the center of mass forward, helping the shooter better control recoil. [1] [5] [6]
A long gun is a category of firearms with long barrels. In small arms, a long gun or longarm is generally designed to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder, in contrast to a handgun, which can be fired being held with a single hand. In the context of cannons and mounted firearms, an artillery long gun would be contrasted with a field gun or howitzer.
Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon. Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can be considered acts of shooting. When using a firearm, the act of shooting is often called firing as it involves initiating a combustion (deflagration) of chemical propellants.
The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, semi-automatic pistol available in the 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W calibers. It was based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at FN Herstal. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized. FN Herstal named it the "High Power" in allusion to the 13-round magazine capacity, almost twice that of other designs at the time, such as the Luger or Colt M1911.
An isosceles triangle is a triangle with two equal sides.
The Beretta 92 is a series of semi-automatic pistols designed and manufactured by Beretta of Italy. The Beretta 92 was designed in 1975, and production began in 1976. Many variants in several different calibers continue to be used to the present.
The .38 Super, also known as .38 Super +P, .38 Super Auto, .38 Super Automatic, .38 Super Automatic +P, or 9×23mmSR, is a pistol cartridge that fires a 0.356-inch-diameter (9.04 mm) bullet. It was introduced in the late 1920s as a higher pressure loading of the .38 ACP, also known as .38 Auto. The older .38 ACP cartridge propels a 130-grain (8.4 g) bullet at 1,050 ft/s (320.0 m/s), whereas the .38 Super pushes the same bullet at 1,280 ft/s (390.1 m/s). The .38 Super has gained distinction as the caliber of choice for many top practical shooting competitors; it remains one of the dominant calibers in IPSC competition.
The Vis or Vis 35 is a Polish 9×19mm caliber, single-action, semi-automatic pistol. Its design was inspired by the Colt 1911 pistol designed by American John Moses Browning.
The Desert Eagle is a gas-operated, semi-automatic pistol known for chambering the .50 Action Express, the largest centerfire cartridge of any magazine-fed, self-loading pistol.
The 10mm Auto is a semi-automatic pistol cartridge introduced in 1983. Its design was adopted and later produced by ammunition manufacturer FFV Norma AB of Åmotfors, Sweden.
Point shooting, also known as target- or threat-focused shooting, intuitive shooting, instinctive shooting or subconscious tactical shooting, is a practical shooting method where the shooter points a ranged weapon at a target without relying on the use of sights to aim. Emphasis is placed on fast draw and trying to score preemptive hits first. In close quarters combat, where life-threatening situations emerge very quickly, sighted marksmanship techniques become risky, so advocates of point shooting emphasize a less sighting-oriented style that prioritizes the tactical advantages of quick fire superiority and suppression.
A handgun holster is a device used to hold or restrict the undesired movement of a handgun, most commonly in a location where it can be easily withdrawn for immediate use. Holsters are often attached to a belt or waistband, but they may be attached to other locations of the body. Holsters vary in the degree to which they secure or protect the firearm. Some holsters for law enforcement officers have a strap over the top of the holster to make the handgun less likely to fall out of the holster or harder for another person to grab the gun. Some holsters have a flap over the top to protect the gun from the elements.
A gunstock or often simply stock, the back portion of which is also known as a shoulder stock, a buttstock or simply a butt, is a part of a long gun that provides structural support, to which the barrel, action, and firing mechanism are attached. The stock also provides a means for the shooter to firmly brace the gun and easily aim with stability by being held against the user's shoulder when shooting the gun, and helps to counter muzzle rise by transmitting recoil straight into the shooter's body.
The Weaver stance is a shooting technique for handguns. It was developed by Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Jack Weaver during freestyle pistol competition in Southern California during the late 1950s.
A semiwadcutter (SWC) or flat-nose is a type of all-purpose bullet commonly used in revolvers. The SWC combines features of the traditional round-nosed bullets and the wadcutter bullets used in target shooting, and is used in both revolver and rifle cartridges for hunting, target shooting and plinking. Full wadcutters frequently have problems feeding from magazines reliably in semi-automatics, so SWCs may be used when a true WC is desired but cannot be used for this reason.
Limp wristing is a phenomenon commonly encountered by semi-automatic pistol shooters, where the shooter's grip is not firm enough and the wrist is not held firm/straight enough to keep the frame of the firearm from traveling rearward while the bolt or slide of the pistol cycles. This condition often results in a failure to complete the operating cycle, properly termed a malfunction, but commonly termed a "jam". Both semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic shotguns, if fired without the stock held against the shoulder correctly, may also be prone to limp wristing. Of the important variables involved in this type of malfunction, bullet and gas momentum, slide and barrel mass, recoil spring pre-load and spring rate, and shooting hand and arm mass are much more important than the compliance (limpness) of the wrist.
Paris Theodore was an American inventor of gun holsters and firearms and shooting techniques used by government agents and police departments in the U.S. and abroad, as well as by the fictional James Bond.
A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun which needs to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder. The two most common types of handguns are revolvers and semi-automatic pistols, although other types such as derringers and machine pistols also see infrequent usage.
The modern technique is a method for using a handgun for self-defense, originated by firearms expert Jeff Cooper. The modern technique uses a two-handed grip on the pistol and brings the weapon to eye level so that the sights may be used to aim at the target. This method was developed by Cooper into a teachable system beginning in the 1950s, based on the techniques of shooters like Jack Weaver, Mike Rousseau and others, after experiments with older techniques such as point shooting. The method was codified in book form in 1991 in The Modern Technique of the Pistol by Gregory B. Morrison and Cooper.
The Steyr M1912, also known as the Steyr-Hahn, is a semi-automatic pistol developed in 1911 by the Austrian firm Steyr Mannlicher, based on the mechanism of the Roth–Steyr M1907. It was developed for the Austro-Hungarian Army and adopted in 1912. It was the standard Austro-Hungarian military handgun of World War I. It was able to endure the adverse conditions of trench warfare during World War I.
John Harold Weaver was a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff and the developer of the Weaver stance, a popular shooting stance for firing handguns.