Sharpen the Sword #2: The Stances
A stance is a platform — the foundation you build your shooting from. It won’t win a fight by itself, but a stable platform makes everything above it work better: grip, sight alignment, recoil control, and movement. Below are the three commonly taught stances, what they feel like, realistic stick-figure drawings to illustrate body orientation, and straightforward pros and cons so you know when to use (or modify) each.
Isosceles Stance — the square, symmetrical platform
Description: Face the target squarely, both arms extended roughly equally, shoulders level. Your weight is balanced, feet about shoulder-width apart. It’s simple to learn and reproduce: many new shooters find it the most intuitive two-handed presentation.
Pros
Easy to teach and repeat under stress.
Predictable recoil recovery for many shooters.
Good baseline for marksmanship fundamentals.
Cons
Larger frontal exposure than bladed stances.
Less natural for rapid lateral movement unless you specifically train pivots.
Often needs modification when using cover or moving dynamically.
Weaver Stance — the push–pull control
Description: A bladed, staggered-foot stance. The support-side arm applies a forward push; the strong-side elbow draws back slightly, creating isometric push–pull tension between the arms. The torso is angled toward the target.
Pros
Push–pull tension helps some shooters manage muzzle rise during rapid follow-ups.
Bladed torso reduces frontal target area.
A classic option for steady sight picture for those who master the tension.
Cons
Requires proper muscular tension and timing — can be a learned dependency.
Over-gripping or wrong elbow posture ruins its benefits.
Footwork is less naturally mobile unless you practice it intentionally.
Tactical Stance — the mobility-first platform
Description: Built around mobility and maintaining an upper-body shooting platform even when your feet aren’t perfectly set. The torso is slightly bladed, weight slightly forward, and feet placed for quick movement (forward, back, lateral). Upper body presents a stable shooting frame while legs stay “athletic” and ready to move.
Pros
Excellent for shooting while moving and from irregular positions.
Upper-body stability transfers to different platforms (long guns, carbines).
Taught widely by military and law-enforcement instructors for real-world applications.
Cons
Requires coordination: moving lower body while holding a stable upper platform is a skill to be trained.
Not always the most “set-and-hold” precise posture for static long-range precision without training.
Novices may feel less steady until they learn the disconnect between a mobile base and a stable upper body.
Practical caveats — how to train these stances safely
Start with dry-fire and slow live-fire progressions to engrain safe habits before adding speed or movement.
Prioritize a solid two-handed grip and trigger control — your platform starts at the hands. If your grip is weak, no stance will save you.
Practice movement and shooting together: stepping, pivoting, shooting from cover and while moving laterally. The bad guy won’t pause for you to “get your feet right.”
Don’t over-specialize on one static stance. The real advantage is being able to build a stable upper-body platform in changing conditions — not being perfect at a single planted-foot posture.
My take — which stance is right?
So which one is the right one?
Let me be frank: you’re not going to assume any of these textbook stances in a real gunfight. They’re not the positions you’ll use while shooting around cover, clearing rooms, moving, or running. They’re the platforms you build on. For that reason, I teach and use the tactical stance with both new and experienced shooters.
I don’t claim to have been in a firefight, but the tactical stance gives real advantages: mobility, a consistent upper-body shooting platform even if your feet aren’t perfectly planted, and easy adaptability to other weapons systems. Military and special teams instructors teach variations of this stance more than the others — and I tend to draw from that experience because their methods come from hard, repeated real-world testing. They’re still around to teach it for a reason.
I’ve learned from guys who have been in fights. They corrected my misconceptions and improved my shooting. The takeaway: get your upper body on a stable platform and move your feet however you need to. Your platform begins at your grip (see my previous post on grip). The tactical stance works across multiple platforms; the isosceles and Weaver often need modification or abandonment when you switch from handgun to long gun or when you need to move fast.
At the end of the day, shoot from the stance that (1) makes you comfortable and (2) lets you shoot most accurately at speed. But don’t be the flat-range shooter who only drills from one static position. Train movement. Train shooting from cover and concealment. Train moving forward, backward, and laterally. Train target transitions while moving. Push your training to the point where it starts to fail — then keep working where it fell apart until it doesn’t.
Train for a real fight, not just for the perfectly squared range drill.
Prepared in Spirit. Ready in Strength.
