It’s All in the Presentation

The ready position is a key part of your draw phase as well as a neutral stationary position. Unlike the high ready or low ready, the ready position or neutral ready position has the muzzle parallel to the ground pointed down range towards your target. You should have a proper two-hand grip and the trigger finger extended along the frame.

From the neutral ready position there are two different methods in which the firearm extended toward the target in relation to the front sight. Both have their advantages and proponents. Either can be highly effective.

The first method is to extend your arms straight out and up while maintaining the barrel horizontal to the ground. The advantage here is that at any point the trigger can be pulled and rounds can be put on target. The degree of accuracy will be affected by distance and your ability to set good body alignment toward the target. Ideally in this method your sights would be aligned and interrupt your focus on the target.

The second method starts the same. When it comes time to extend out you will tip the barrel up slightly. Now the front sight will be the first thing you see as your pistol comes up into your sight plane. With your front sight on the target you will rock or cam the rear up dropping the front sight into the notch of your rear sight.

As the saying goes, “Front sight, front sight, front sight.” Many believe you can’t stress enough the importance of seeing your front sight. There is even a methodology dedicated to front sight shooting in up close and fast shooting.

I favor the the horizontal. Why? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First is that if I need to pull the trigger anytime along the path to full extension I have a reasonable chance of hitting the target in front of me. At point blank range, generally considered under 10 feet, you should not need perfect sight alignment to hit your target. You need speed. Can you miss at 5 feet or 10? of course. Plenty of “trained” police officers do it under stress, while moving, or at moving threats. Your level of training under stress will dictate your proficiency.

Second, at longer range targets you will more time to line up your sights for precision. Simplified, the horizontal is faster close up and slower at long range. What is the real difference in time we are talking about? For most shooters with a grasp of the fundamental it would be measured in tenths of a second.

Third, rocking the rear sight up adds another mechanical movement at extension. Minimizing movement will minimize time, in theory.

Lastly, many people involved in self defense shooting report they never even saw their sights. This is because of a phenomenon called Tunnel Vision. They become fixated on the threat. Sometimes so fixated that all they see is the knife or gun and not even the face of the attack. Your body is telling you, “Hey! Watch out for that!” Training under stress and competing will help you to expand your vision.

You can see that a few tenths of a second makes either technique easy to argue which is better. A expert shooter in either form will be faster than a novice using the other method. Pointing out specific individuals or special operations groups using one or the other is not a good comparison. It is what technique you will use and practice that makes a difference.

The more you train and practice the better you will be able to perform either of these techniques. Dry fire practice for a while then take it to the range and put yourself on the timer. Sight alignment is about precision. Use a good distance and target size that will force you to use your sights.

Out train, Outperform, Outlast.