THE ROLE
OF THE WRIST

The Importance of the Wrist

• The wrist of the gun hand is the most important joint in shooting a handgun. It can bend upward or downward, inward or outward. It also tends to go to its strongest position as the hand exerts strength.
• This strongest position of the wrist is what I call its neutral position. This is because when all the muscles that can flex the wrist in any direction are contracted, the various tendons to which they connect will all be under equal or balanced tension.
• To gain some insight on this position, close your eyes and make the tightest fist you can, with the thumb up. Almost anyone who has not trained in a Japanese or Korean striking martial art will, on opening his eyes, see some degree of outward flexion of the wrist.
• If the sight picture is adjusted by motion of the wrist, the wrist will most likely return to its strongest or neutral position as the trigger is pressed, particularly if the shooter has any anticipation of recoil. This will direct the shot away from the original point of aim.
• For this reason, the handgun should be grasped as firmly as possible, stabilizing the wrist in its neutral position. Adjustments in sight picture should be made by the position of the feet and motion at the other joints, such as ankles, knees, shoulders and neck.

• I am more inclined to go with Fairbairn and Sykes on this point. However, being the modest soul that I am, I must disagree with these two venerable authors in one regard with respect to the angle of the gun barrel relative to the forearm and its relationship to the wrist:
  • They speak of bending the wrist to achieve the firing position.
  • I maintain that if the wrist is bent away from its strongest position, it will return to that stronger position under the greater muscle contraction at the moment that the gun is fired.
  • I believe that the issue is one of ergonomics - that you need to select or modify your handgun so that it naturally points correctly when you grasp it as firmly as you can.
• If you don't have access to the books that I have mentioned, the position of the gun in the hand to which I refer can be checked in the following manner:
  • Grasp the unloaded gun, with your finger out of the trigger guard and point it at the ground, about a foot in front of you, while facing in a direction where you will be able to raise it safely to eye level.
  • The gun should point straight to the ground. When you raise the arm to bring the gun to eye level, the gun will point straight ahead, giving you either a coarse body index on a target that you are facing squarely or a very rapid sight picture, with minimal flexing or twisting of the neck.
• A great deal of research suggests that most people will confront deadly threats by facing them squarely and will focus on the threat, rather than on their sights. If, like me, your primary shooting method is sighted fire, training in sighted fire with body mechanics similar to those used for unsighted fire will give you the greatest likelihood of hitting your threat under stress, whether you're using Plan A or Plan B.