How To Keep The Shakes To A Minimum When Aiming?

Two things that work for me:
1. Keep your eye(s) focused on the sights even after you pull the trigger. (Thanks, Jeff! )
2. Consciously tighten your chest muscles to grip the gun, rather than putting a death grip on with your hands. A good exercise for this uses a weight plate (I use 5 lbs but I'm an old lady, you might rather use 10): While standing up straight, hold the plate out in front of you patty-cake style (i.e. your fingers are straight, not bent over the edges of the plate) for 30 seconds. Variation: turn from side to side while doing this.

Hope that helps.

In one of his revolver books, Grant Cunningham mentioned a trick that has worked pretty well for me-- don't try to hold it rock-steady, but move the sights in a small circle while gradually increasing the tension on the trigger. It's easier to make a small, deliberate movement than to hold the sights still.

I have some shake in my hands and find it transmits to the gun much worse if I grip too tightly. Sure, you have to have a firm grip, but a death grip will shake the gun like crazy. Finding your perfect compromise grip force is very important to minimizing the shakes while still controlling the gun, having it cycle properly, and staying on target. I am pretty much self-taught and was amazed the first time I softened my grip and saw the shake in the gun just start to disappear. That was the beginning of me really improving my shooting.

I also find that I sometimes shoot better by firing with the sights on the move through the desired POA as AZAndy said above. The biggest mistake is thinking you will ever stop moving the gun completely. For most of us that just doesn't happen. If you wait for it, you will get fatigued and shoot worse, not better.

Turn your arms in slightly which will result in your upper body muscles exerting more force to help your grip without inducing as much shake as a tighter hand grip.

Practice, practice, practice. You must teach the body motor controls. Holding a rifle or a pistol is a physical exercise. I have been primarily a sling rifle shooter and it takes years to teach the body to stay in position and be steady. But even then, the crosshairs are only perfectly still between heart beats. My best shooting is when it is cool, my heart beats are slow, and I can time the trigger pull between heart beats

I occasionally shoot good groups with my antique BSA Martini, all prone with a sling.

100 yards:



50 yards:






Once in a Blue Moon shooting I am shooting cleans in Bullseye 2700 Pistol, with a 22 lr. Not doing it yet with a 45! That pistol is just impossible!!! Offhand with a pistol, the most difficult thing I have had to work on is the flinch reflex. Even with a 22 LR the body flinches. I end up pushing on the pistol, slapping the trigger, pulling on the trigger. And, you have to teach the brain, through practice, that when you see a ten, to take the ten. Without flinching!. You will still be wobbling, but with years of practice, the wobble will be less.

I’m not sure how far you want to go to improve aim, but supposedly your diet and meds play a role. My asthma meds seem to make me more shaky, but without them I am a goner so I can’t fix that, but you can talk to your doc if you are on things like that and get swapped over to other meds with less side effect. Caffeine is bad too, nicotine probably, pretty much any stimulant.

Aside from those lifestyle changes I do much better with a compact grip in which I lean back and rest my arms against my body so that my body is holding the weight of the gun. Looks and feels awkward, but you get used to the feel. Greatly reduces my flinch as well when I’m shooting the more ridiculous guns like AR pistols, Draco, but is a marked overall improvement.

As I get older and older I find that my hands just as not as steady as they used to be, nor my eyesight as good as it once was. Plus my arms get tired a lot quicker than they used to. The cure? Reincarnation into a young body.

old lady new shooter said:

1. Keep your eye(s) focused on the sights even after you pull the trigger. (Thanks, Jeff! )

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Not to brag (well, maybe a little) but my wife did very, very well in IHMSA competition back in the '80s, and the above was the technique she used. She puts it like this, " Relax, and keep your sights aligned even as the gun goes off."

You should concentrate on gripping your handgun firmly with both hands but more so with your support hand... quite a bit more, as in a 60/40 load share of your grip. You'll be surprised how this simple technique can improve your accuracy and consistency.

Assuming you are firing standing offhand (no support) the 2 things that work the best for me with rifle or handgun are 1- fire as soon as you can deliver a well aimed shot, and 2- stay away from caffeine and other stimulants.

My Uncle Carroll was taught to shoot a pistol by Uncle Billy Tilghman, "The Marshall of the Last Frontier."

He used to say, "Uncle Billy, I can't hold it still."

And Uncle Billy would take the gun and say, "It don't have to be still. It just has to be <BANG!> on target when it goes off."

My recommendations are:

1. Keep your eyes focused on the front sight -- the target should be just a blur.
2. Increase your squeeze as the sights are moving toward the target, hold when the sights are moving off.
3. Do not try to make each shot perfect -- just strive to have the sights somewhere on the bull.
4. Don't force the shot. If you can't get the shot off in a reasonable time, lower the gun and try again.
5. Keep aiming AFTER the shot. You should have a clear mental picture of where the sights were when the gun went off -- and that's where the bullet hole should be. (This is called "calling the shot.")
6. Exercise -- both aerobically and with weights.

Don't smoke. I personally noticed a big difference when I quit.

Lay off the caffeine. I rarely drink anything with much anyway.

Like someone else mentioned, checks meds if you're on any.


AND, don't even think about shooting after trimming your yard with a weed eater. AMHIK.

In the vein of Vern Humphhrey’s last post I am pleased to be able to tell where a shot will hit much of the time. I am seeing where the sight is aiming when the shot goes off. That feels good.

ATTHECROSS said:

I appreciate people saying that they have issues with keeping the gun still like I do. I have always thought that it was just me.

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Yeah, and it's kinda surprising too! Most of us on these internet message forums never admit to shooting anything over 1" groups at 100 yards with a rifle, or 2" groups at 25 yards with a handgun. I know I never do.

rpenmanparker said:

In the vein of Vern Humphhrey’s last post I am pleased to be able to tell where a shot will hit much of the time. I am seeing where the sight is aiming when the shot goes off. That feels good.

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You're half-way there! If you can call your shot, you know WHY a particular shot went astray, and you can learn to correct it.

Vern Humphrey said:

My Uncle Carroll was taught to shoot a pistol by Uncle Billy Tilghman, "The Marshall of the Last Frontier."

He used to say, "Uncle Billy, I can't hold it still."

And Uncle Billy would take the gun and say, "It don't have to be still. It just has to be <BANG!> on target when it goes off."

My recommendations are:

1. Keep your eyes focused on the front sight -- the target should be just a blur.
2. Increase your squeeze as the sights are moving toward the target, hold when the sights are moving off.
3. Do not try to make each shot perfect -- just strive to have the sights somewhere on the bull.
4. Don't force the shot. If you can't get the shot off in a reasonable time, lower the gun and try again.
5. Keep aiming AFTER the shot. You should have a clear mental picture of where the sights were when the gun went off -- and that's where the bullet hole should be. (This is called "calling the shot.")
6. Exercise -- both aerobically and with weights.

Click to expand...

I could not agree more. Well said.

Embrace the wobble. Let your eye and your trigger finger operate in unison, yet separate from each other. Thus, the "surprise" break.

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When using a rifle, I try to not hold my breath too long before taking the shot.

TheSquire said:

When using a rifle, I try to not hold my breath too long before taking the shot.

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I found breath holding doesn't work for me because my heart beat has a greater shake effect.

Instead, one deep breath 5 seconds before shot with normal exhale then another deep breath with slow exhale while aiming, ideally making the shot when I've exhaled about half way, between heart beats. I've found that the slow exhale covers or masks the heartbeat some resulting in less wobble between heartbeats.

If not ideal, for example a wind gust at trigger pull time, I hold the shot and repeat breathing sequence. I usually cannot do two deep breaths with slow exhale in a row because on the second one I feel like I'm running out of breath, so to speak.

One very fundamental thing that can accomplish a lot in this area for some folks (depends upon the source of the shaking) is to develop some specific exercises to strengthen the muscles involve.

I do mine every morning.

I was trained to do small figure-8s over the target, squeezing slowly each time the sight crosses the X-ring. Trying to hold the gun still CAUSES shaking.