TargetTalk

Of all the Basics that make up Pistol Shooting, what do you think is the most important ?

Stance
Position
Grip
Breathing
Sight Alignment
Trigger Control
Shot Sequence
Focus
Concentration
Preparation
Follow Through
Shot Analysis
Mental Control
Equipment
Ammunition

Try to arrange the list most important to least important ?

I will start, the most important is .... 1/ Trigger Control.

Some of these are (to me, at least) intertwined.
For instance, you can't have perfect sight alignment when it matters (when the shot releases), without maintaining concentration.
Having said that, I feel sight alignment is the most important. BECAUSE: you can do everything else perfectly, but if your sight alignment is off, your shot will be off.
Of course, I guess the reverse is also true; you could have perfect sight alignment, and mess it up with faulty trigger technique

Actually, looking at your list depresses me. It's a miracle I ever have a good shot.

Seriously though, for me it's all sight alignment. When I concentrate and focus on the front sight (see what I did there), everything else just happens

Desire. All else is nothing without the desire to train.

Trigger control for me followed by sight alignment and follow through running a close second.

You have left out "good luck" ...I try to practise that as well.

1. Focus

Because without focus the other factors will be sub optimal.

Beer!

Without it, what's the point?

As Ben Franklin said, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!"

Well, he also said to "fart proudly"; also very effective on the firing line.

You need all of them in equal measure but I would knock ammo off the list. If its .177 it will do.

1) Trigger control
2) Sight alignment.

Align the sights and don't let the trigger release mess it up.

Having said that, when you're shooting well these are the last things you think about: they just happen.

deadeyedick wrote:You have left out "good luck" ...I try to practise that as well.

It's a well known fact: the more you practise the luckier you get.

Applies to the number of women you ask as well.

May be not today, may be not tomorrow, but soon, a manly girl will suck Rover on his orbit, and ask him, "Do you feel lucky today, punk?"

Do you, punk? Go ahead make her day !

The realisation that you can't snatch the shot, you have to shoot smoothly to a rhythm and take the best possible average.

You're going to wobble/wander, what the brain thinks it is seeing and processing happened 0.2 of a second ago, when the brain thinks its sending a signal to the trigger finger for it to react instantly it actually takes another 0.2 of a second for it to happen. Add a bit of hesitation and lock time and its 0.5s between the perfect sight picture happening and the bullet leaving the barrel - good luck trying to jag that.

Apart from that trigger control, that seems to be the variable with the most capacity to turn a good shot into a bad one.
If you can accept that your best option is to release the trigger smoothly while you're roughly in the aiming area you should get better results than trying to snatch it.

Also you left out:

Strength
Fitness
Muscle tone

I'd put them at 1, 2 and 3, since you won't start a match without 1, won't finish without 2 and won't do well without 3.

It’s 90% mental, 10% physical, the body achieves what the mind believes... Ah, one more thing to add... Once you find your groove, just keep going with it...

David Levene said: [*]1) Trigger control
2) Sight alignment.

Align the sights and don't let the trigger release mess it up.[*]

I agree. All the other items are just techniques to make the basics (above) easier to accomplish.

Focus on the foresight and smooth trigger control. The other items are collectively important in arriving at the point of shot release.

Sight alignment & a smooth release are also the only pieces that have to be done simultaneously. You can assemble all the other stuff one piece at a time. You can train until the trigger release is fairly automatic, which allows you to concentrate more on the sight alignment.

Sight alignment and smooth trigger during a very short "window of opportunity". This short window tends to occur pretty early, much earlier than most people think.

seamaster wrote:Sight alignment and smooth trigger during a very short "window of opportunity". This short window tends to occur pretty early, much earlier than most people think.

This is one of the most important things you can learn from an electronic trainer. If you study your hold over a large number of shots, you will almost invariably find periods of stability well before the shot breaks. The typical trace will show a "settle", followed by a series of wobble & settle periods. Eventually, the wobbles get bigger, and the "settles" are less stable & shorter. You can NOT wait until your hold settles to begin your squeeze. That almost guarantees that the shot will go off after your hold begins to deteriorate. You have to trust your hold and begin your trigger action BEFORE the pistol settles. That is the only reliable way the shot will go off during your earliest period of minimum wobble.

The mental control seemed to be most important to me so far.
Freshening up your mind gives better observation over what else from the topicstarter's list could be improved.