The Power Stance for Defensive Handgun Shooting

You can get into endless debates with people over isosceles versus weaver stances. The stance you really need to have is a combat, power Power Stancestance.

With the weaver stance you tend to lose your balance and sway sideways.  With the isosceles stance you don’t have good back to front balance and are flat on the feet.  Either one of these don’t follow what a person should do in a fight.

When you get into a gunfight you need as many odds in your favor as possible. I had an old Sergeant Major in the Army that talked about percentages. Everything you did wrong (wrong stance, wrong grip, not enough sleep, etc) was a loss in combat efficiency.  Do too many things wrong and you are operating at 50%. That’s not good enough for a gun fight.

So how can you have a combat, fight stance that contributes to your success?

Weapons System

Your body has to be part of the weapons system along with the gun and your brain.  Balance and mobility are the keys.  You might get hit. Your body has to be prepared to accept the impact and keep you fighting.

The thing about the Power Stance is that a human’s body naturally falls into it when presented with a fight situation.  I think of the power stance as between the isosceles and the weaver. Your body and arms from a triangle, but one leg is dropped back to provide balance and allow the body to assume a natural fighting position.

I know this works. I was taught the isosceles stance but when I had critical shooting situations I always found myself dropping a foot back and crouching. It just felt right.

The Crouch

It is natural instinct to crouch when faced with danger.  In fight or flight situations, the first natural thing is to turn to the danger to identify it and crouch to make yourself a smaller target.  Don’t fight the instinctive move, go with it.

Your feet should be at least shoulder width apart with one leg slight rearward, like a boxing stance. Knees are flexed. Once again, this is a natural fighting stance.

Your head will tilt forward with the shoulders coming up to protect the head. There is an old shooter saying “nose over toes” which will help you remember this.

Keep your hips as the center of gravity and be prepared to explode either way with your feet.

There’s more to this besides mere physical mechanics. You need to have your brain in the right mind frame in a gun fight. By having your body in a natural fighting stance you will get this “combat” mindset.

Let us know in the comments what type of stance you use and why.

Photo Credit: ManOnPHI via Compfight cc

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