Video: Mastering Follow Through For Faster Pistol Shooting

Want to shoot fast and accurately? Work on your follow through.

As in life, the little things in shooting make a big difference. How you grip the gun, where you focus when aiming and how you follow through to the next shot. That last point, it gets glazed over a lot. But if speed and accuracy with a handgun are your goals, then it may be one of the most important factors.

Bantered about plenty, follow through ends up a vague term for many. Essentially, it’s the final step in a shot, where you maintain fundamental controls — breath, trigger, hold — through breaking the shot. On multiple-shot strings, it also includes resetting the trigger so the next shot is ready to go. It sounds logical enough, yet it’s a devil. Add a cubic centimeter or two of adrenaline to the bloodstream and even the most seasoned shooter can rush and fudge the process.

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Patients … steady-nerved, rock-ribbed patients are the key to mastering follow through. That, and of course, means practice. There’s no getting past putting in the work to become a better shooter.

Luckily, follow through is among the easiest skills to practice, given it lends itself to dryfire well. Obviously, live fire is also essential to really hone in, but going ammo free gives you the opportunity to concentrate on executing each stage without the pressure of hitting the target and in the comfort of your own home. That said, a training partner is indispensable in practicing follow through — live or dry. Mistakes are often imperceivable to the person behind the trigger. A fresh set of eyes can catch those minor sticky points and help you correct them.