Shooting Fundamentals: Stance

Author: Graham Dunne

The two predominant stances in the firearms world are the Weaver stance, and the isosceles stance.

The Weaver stance is named after Jack Weaver, a Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff and renown competition shooter, who developed his own stance in the 1950’s, when people were still shooting one handed. The Weaver stance is simply creating isometric tension between the hands, a push and pull, to keep the weapon steady during recoil. The elbows are bent. It could be argued that this is more of a grip than a stance.

When Weaver began using his stance, people laughed at him. They stopped laughing when he was winning nearly every competition he entered. The legendary Jeff Cooper, founder of Gunsight, adopted Weaver’s stance, giving it even more notoriety. Law Enforcement officers changed the stance slightly, bringing back the dominant side foot, to make it more durable for real life shooting and hand to hand self-defense engagements.

The Isosceles shooting stance became popular in the 1980s when Brian Enos and Rob Leatham started using it to win International Practical Shooting Confederation competitions. The Isosceles stance is basically making a triangle out of your upper torso, indexing the target, similar to creating an arrow towards which you are shooting. As in the Weaver stance, there is isometric tension in the hands, although the elbows are extended, near to locked out, and rotated slightly upwards. The modern, or modified, isosceles stance, incorporates more leaning forward at the waist, and the dominant side foot slightly back.

I shoot with, and teach, the “modified isosceles” shooting platform. I believe it to be superior for the following reasons: firstly, it is instinctive. Meaning under stress your body will go to the position, while I feel the Weaver stance is less effective under stress. There was a study done in the 1980’s in which police officers were shooting it out with simunition rounds, in video recorded scenario training. Simunitions are painful, and a powerful teacher. Although the predominant shooting stance taught at the time was Weaver, almost all the officers went into an isosceles stance under stress. Many would not believe it, until the video was played for them showing that they did in fact go to the isosceles. Secondly, I feel that to be on target with Weaver you must use your sights or dot, versus with the isosceles stance you are creating a natural arrow towards your target and will be on target at close range without using sights or dot. Based on the FBI statistic that the average gunfight is 2 yards in distance, and 2.5 yards in duration, I believe you will probably not have time to find your sights or dot. Thirdly, with the elbows up I believe you are minimizing movement during recoil by eliminating the fulcrums of the elbows. Lastly, for the sake of muscle memory, I believe in one stance for pistol, rifle, shotgun, and self-defense, and with the Isosceles stance this is possible.
 
My advice is to try both at the range, and note your speed and accuracy from the holster, to include within 7 yards with unsighted shots. Next try both in tactical training, preferably with airsoft or simunitions. All that said, I do believe a good shooter can use just about any grip and stance and be effective. A “good shooter” being someone who understands the fundamentals of marksmanship and trains regularly. My opinion of what is a “good shooter,” is notably higher than most. Also note that a good shooter can get away with things that the average shooter cannot.

About the author:

Sergeant Dunne is a former Marine and police officer, with 30 years of service. He has served as a SWAT operator and sniper, and was a full time academy instructor for 8 years. A police Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross recipient, he is founder and lead instructor for Ragnar Tactical.