RIP

Rest in Peace, Mary Jo Kopechne.

BRASS: Key to Good Marksmanship

A common acronym used by the military to teach elementary marksmanship is BRASS. I use this in my CHL classes. It stands for:

• Breathe. The sequence of events leading up to firing a round starts with taking a normal breath.
• Relax. Next, let out about 1/3 to 1/2 of that breath, and hold it. The rest of the sequence should take less than 3 seconds, so you won’t be holding your breath long. If the rest of the sequence takes longer than about 5 seconds, that’s just too long, and you need to start over from the top
• Aim. This means that you will properly align the sights, with the front sight typically just below the part of the target you intend to hit. I teach my students to first align the sights while still at “low ready”, and bring the front sight up to the target.
• Slack. Now that the front sight is on the target, you place your finger inside the trigger guard for the first time in the sequence. “Slack” means pull the slack out of the trigger. All modern semiautos have a little slack in the trigger. Generally, a newer or well-maintained gun will have less slack than one that is worn or abused, but they all have some. In the case of a double-action handgun (such as my Ruger revolver), I find it useful to pull the trigger to the point where the gun is cocked, and stop there. That takes a bit of practice to develop muscle memory.
• Squeeze. The final part of the firing sequence. Continue to squeeze the trigger until the gun fires. The trick to getting the shot to go where you want it to is to squeeze steadily and straight back, so that you don’t know exactly when the gun will fire. This will keep you from flinching or pushing.

There is actually one more step to this sequence, and that is the “follow through”, or bringing your front sight immediately back to the aim point after the round fires.

The whole BRASS sequence, including the follow-through, should take less than 3 seconds.