Sheriff Jim Wilson recommends what he calls the “modern Weaver stance.” It is balanced, focused, dynamic, and able to deal with recoil in order to deliver quick and accurate repeat shots.

Since the virtual beginning of the handgun, shooters have tried to find ways to handle it in the most efficient manner. This has been especially true when employing a handgun as a defensive tool.

Getting the gun into action quickly and making accurate hits are tasks that are just as important as selecting the actual handgun to be used. For this reason, a lot of thought has gone into the business of shooting stances. And I'm not just talking about recent developments, either.

For instance, dueling came to America with our earliest settlers, and it thrived during the 18th and 19th centuries. In this country, dueling reached its zenith in and around New Orleans, Louisiana. By the early 1800s, there were several schools in New Orleans that taught the gentry how to properly defend themselves against nasty insults--real or imagined. The whole practice became so formalized that it didn't just matter that you won a shootout, but it was equally important that you used the proper form. You might say that they were actually choreographing gunfights.

(left) Point shooting can be quite dynamic; however, it would be more so if the shooter used both hands on the gun and made use of the gun’s sights. (right) The original Weaver stance is great for delivering quick multiple shots, but the shooter’s erect posture doesn’t allow for the movement needed to deal with a dynamic threat.

It was from this early training that the duelist's stance was derived. The shooter stood with his feet quartered away from his target, presenting the strong side of his body towards the target. One authority suggested that this placed the shooter's heart as far away from the threat as possible.

In the dueling stance, the legs were straight and the shooting arm was raised to eye level and held straight. The weak hand was held loosely at the side. By now, you may have snapped that the dueling stance is still alive and well among bullseye shooters the world over. And today, we call it the "bullseye stance" or the "target stance."

Since bullseye shooters are still using it in this day and time, it should not be a great surprise that this stance is capable of delivering very accurate fire. You might also note how similar this handgun stance is to the corresponding rifle shooter's stance. It clearly provides a solid platform for accurate shooting.

However, the target stance has a number of characteristics that make it less than desirable for personal defense. The one-arm, locked-elbow hold makes fast, repeat shots very difficult. In addition, it does very little to help the shooter contend with the heavier recoil of defensive handgun ammunition. Further, the erect carriage of the body does little to prepare the shooter to move quickly to a new location (cover) or to deal with a new threat coming from another direction.

With the advent of the revolver and our nation's move towards the western frontier, the strict rules of dueling fell by the wayside. Most shootists raised their gun to arm's length and used only one hand, but they didn't put as much value on style. Style was not nearly as important as winning the fight.