Learn › Track 03 · Fundamentals

Stance & natural point of aim

Two shooters hold the pistol equally still. One shooter's shots creep sideways the longer each hold lasts. The other's don't. Same pistol, same eyes, same trigger. The difference starts at the floor.

Your skeleton has an opinion

When you raise your arm and relax, it settles in one direction. That direction is your natural point of aim (NPA). It is set by your feet, hips and shoulders, not by your arm.

If your NPA is on the target, the pistol stays there with almost no effort. If it is off, you can still force the sights onto the black, but only with muscle. Muscle shakes, tires and lets go at the worst moment. The fix is never to steer harder. It is to turn your whole body until relaxed means on target.

Building the stance from the ground up

Start with a standard stance, then fine-tune it with the NPA drill below.

• Feet about shoulder width apart. Many shooters start with the body turned about 45° away from the target. That is a starting point, not a rule.

• Weight even between the feet and slightly forward: roughly 55 % on the balls of the feet, 45 % on the heels.

• Hips pushed back a little, so the upper body leans slightly back to balance the outstretched arm and pistol. Knees relaxed, not locked. Back and neck straight.

• Head upright. Bring the pistol up to your eye. Don't tilt your head down to meet the pistol. Turn your head toward the target only as far as is comfortable. A neck twisted hard for 75 minutes complains.

• Free hand in a front pocket or on the belt. A back pocket twists the spine.

• Shooting arm extended, elbow and wrist firm from the lift through the follow-through. A slightly bent elbow is also a legitimate choice and needs less muscle.

Turn angles of 15–30° are also recommended by some coaches. One source says a relaxed wrist moves about 5° per shot against about 2° when locked. Both figures are unconfirmed. Use them as ideas to test, not targets.

The study was small, so treat it as a reason to experiment, not a law. Try your usual width, then try narrower, and compare holds over a few weeks.

You must stand free, with both feet inside the firing point, and hold and fire the pistol with one hand.

Finding your natural point of aim

The NPA drill uses one trick: with your eyes closed, you can't cheat. Your arm goes where the body sends it.

• Stand side-on to the target, somewhere between 45° and 90°, in your normal stance. Pistol arm down.
• Close your eyes. Raise the arm (later, the pistol) in your normal way and let it settle without aiming.
• Open your eyes. Check where you point: left, right, high or low.
• Lower the arm. Move the rear foot a little toward the side of the error. The body rotates around the front foot.
• Repeat until you open your eyes on the target. Then do the whole drill again holding the pistol.

Try it below. Each new shooter starts pointing somewhere else. Use the feet, never the wrist.

Re-check your NPA after every rest. When you sit down and stand up again, your feet rarely land in exactly the same place. The eyes-closed check takes ten seconds.

Try it in the simulator

The hold simulator gives you a random NPA, so shots drift if you ignore it. Raise the pistol, then hold C (or the “close eyes” button) for two seconds and relax. When you open your eyes, the sights show where your body points. Lower, move your feet with the arrow keys (or the arrow buttons) toward the error, and repeat until the sights open on the black.

• Your natural point of aim is where the body points when the arm relaxes. Muscles can override it, but only until they tire.
• Start with feet about shoulder width or narrower (one study suggests ~30 cm), weight slightly forward, head upright, pistol to the eye.
• NPA drill: eyes closed, raise, open, then move the rear foot toward the side of the error. Repeat with the pistol.
• Move the feet, never steer with the arm or wrist. Re-check after every rest.

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