# I always thought knuckle aiming was a normal aim style



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Yesterday my neighbor and his sons were plinking on his field berm range on B27 silhouettes and they had laser sight grips and I carried my 2 3/4 inch barreled pocket .38 revolver and shot using my crutch arm to get a Weaver variation with the forearm cuff of the crutch vertical supporting my weak leg while steadying my gun hand.

Out of 30 rounds, I put 23 in the 9 and 10 zones and 6 in 8 zone and one went a Maggie's Drawers off the hip of the target.

During my times on the firing line, he and his sons noticed not only did I not have laser sights but it didn't look like I was using my sights.

When I told them my grandfather and father taught me to "aim to the right of the belt buckle" with my index knuckle as if pointing which placed the round at critical mass and my range instructor decades ago agreed pointing often was a good short range quick aim, all three shook their heads and smirked.

When I defended my odd stance by saying most got in the kill zone, they said they weren't laughing at me but at themselves because they couldn't always clearly see their laser spots and finger pointing down and off the sweet spot to compensate for the pistol frame while seeming sort of quick draw made sense and was easier and less expensive than trying to see a laser spot and less shaky than sighting with the pistol sights.

We then went through another box each of rounds and a roll of target patches as they practiced knuckle pointing and I just practiced standing or from sitting in a patio chair.

Sure our groupings with point aiming weren't real tight but before the three finished their extra box of ammo , we were all hitting the 9 and 10 zones on the first 3 shots and most of our total shots


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

never really heard of knuckle aiming

I don't use a laser , it takes batteries 

always used the sights for the most part mostly factory sights 

index finger pointing for short range point shooting with any gun if your index finger is parallel to the barrel on draw your body know how to point a finger and maybe that is partially what you mean by knuckle aiming.

I hear guys talk glock , 1911 grip angle argument, well I have proven it to several people now , as long as the index finger is parallel to the barrel you can switch from the different grip angles easily. also jump to revolvers , small grips big grips little guns big guns.

when the grip is good and the index finger parallel to the barrel the sights line up naturally , even in the dark nearly to dark to see the sights your looking strait over the gun and the grip and index finger make the gun line up you look at the target the gun is in your vision.

even the little blade front and notch in the rear sights on the old service revolvers , I have found they are decent to about 50 yards if you have the trigger control to not pull the gun off target while squeezing


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> never really heard of knuckle aiming
> 
> I don't use a laser , it takes batteries
> 
> ...


You’re right that grip angle isn’t critical in composed, carefully aimed shots, but grip angle becomes very important when trying to shoot fast, which is where knuckle-aiming comes from. 

Even if your first shot is carefully aimed, trying to pull a fast follow-up shot with the “wrong” grip angle can be difficult. It bothers some shooters less than others (and a few not at all), but the problem it creates for many is in how their hand muscles rebound after recoil. 

If the grip angle is off from what your muscle-memory is built around, your hand is not going to settle the front sight back to where it needs to be to reference in the rear sight- and you’ll spend that extra fraction of a second driving it there. 

1911 shooters will find that a Glock’s front sight settles way high, and has to be driven back down, and vice-versa.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

I don't use sights on my Kimber Ultra RCP (.45acp) unless you call a trough a sight.


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

GunMonkeyIntl said:


> You’re right that grip angle isn’t critical in composed, carefully aimed shots, but grip angle becomes very important when trying to shoot fast, which is where knuckle-aiming comes from.
> 
> Even if your first shot is carefully aimed, trying to pull a fast follow-up shot with the “wrong” grip angle can be difficult. It bothers some shooters less than others (and a few not at all), but the problem it creates for many is in how their hand muscles rebound after recoil.
> 
> ...


Don't know about the whole knuckle aiming thing, I'm a thumbs FWD guy, so I just point my thumbs at the tgt

I agree about the grip angle. I competed for many years with 1911's, when I grab a Glock and shoot anything that resembles instinctively I can count on a very high shot. IF I aim, it's not the case, but I still have issues with fast follow up shots. 

Generally it takes my about 1000rds and multiple range sessions to transition to a new gun to the point I'm on auto-pilot.


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

Chuck R. said:


> Don't know about the whole knuckle aiming thing, I'm a thumbs FWD guy, so I just point my thumbs at the tgt
> 
> I agree about the grip angle. I competed for many years with 1911's, when I grab a Glock and shoot anything that resembles instinctively I can count on a very high shot. IF I aim, it's not the case, but I still have issues with fast follow up shots.
> 
> Generally it takes my about 1000rds and multiple range sessions to transition to a new gun to the point I'm on auto-pilot.


Same here. When I can get both hands on a pistol, I shoot thumbs-forward, and use them to point. Even with an off grip-angle (I’m a ‘murican 1911-angle shooter), it’s not too bad with a euro-angle gun. The stacking of my thumbs kind of counteracts the grip angle and references more on the slide/barrel. 

I’m NOT a pistolero of any regard, but I have had the rare fortune of being taught to shoot a pistol by some really (really, really) good pistol shooters. I’ve been lucky to have alone-time on the range with (no kidding) Travis Tomasie, Robby Johnson, and Daniel Horner (all of the AMU) and even Phil Strader (much as I can’t stand him), and I did my very best to listen to what they were telling me. 

My shooting form is as much an exaggeration of what they taught me as I can muster. I shoot with a stone-rigid off-hand, and a completely limp strong-hand. My left hand drives the gun, and my right hand is just there to pull the trigger (and be a second thumb to point at the target). I never have done much “knuckle aiming”, but I do get the concept, and it’s pretty much the same thing as “thumb aiming”, just with a different reference point.


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

Cabin Fever said:


> I don't use sights on my Kimber Ultra RCP (.45acp) unless you call a trough a sight.
> 
> View attachment 88446


Nice.
I’m a huge fan of reference sights on a combat pistol. They serve to give you a point of reference to use when you’re training to shoot your weapon instinctively. They can really accelerate that learn-to-shoot-it-instinctively that Chuck referenced above.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

I run thumbs forward , but index finger parallel to slide

some guns have a easy tactile reference , like the glock the take down bar is where my index finger needs to be , that found it comes up flat
but similar references on the Ruger and Smith can be found or made with a small bit of textured tape.

I guess index finger pointing is my instinctive shooting. if your index finger is parallel to the barrel is works well.

figuring out your draw to put that finger parallel may take some work or adding a tactile reference .

if you start with no gun and pick a target , look at it say the light switch across the room, keep sitting or feet planted , close your eyes and point your index finger at that point you were looking at , open your eyes , for most people you will be pointing at that target your body has a has a life time of muscle memory.
now with your empty gun and grip so that your index finger is parallel to the barrel use that tactile reference if needed a strip of grip tape down the frame parallel to the barrel. try that eyes closed it should point where your finger does 

since you can naturally point at a target with your eyes closed, and with the proper grip your sights point where your index finger does , it lines things up fast or if in the dark at shorter range across the room distances no aiming is needed


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Thumb or knuckle aim are both finger point types. Whichever you use, you learn how far off to point aim to the right or left. I was just taught to use my knuckle to point aim the barrel.

My father used the knuckle aim point technique with his 1911 and even if the barrel bushings were worn, he could put a magazine load of rounds in a 4 to 5 inch grouping at 15 to 20 yards.


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