Over the past several decades, one of the hotly debated issues regarding the use and employment of the pistol for other than bullseye or conventional pistol competition has been whether a one- or two-hand grip is preferable to the other. The two-hand grip has clearly been declared the winner by the majority of those in the mainstream gun press as well as in "practical" handgun competition circles. In fact, the two-hand grip in all its variations has become such a standard component of handgun shooting that one-hand shooting has become regarded by many as either a strictly advanced technique or a negligent and irresponsible practice.

When confronted by a threat, the natural reaction is to crouch while pointing whatever weapon we have toward the threat--often with one hand.

This is no less true in the vast majority of law enforcement training programs, as the influence of the practical pistol and other competition-oriented shooting disciplines has been significant for many years. But perhaps the main reason the two-hand grip has come to be so widely accepted as the most stable and effective method for firing a pistol is quite simply because it is.

However, when preparing to use the handgun for real-world, defensive applications, common sense and reality dictate that not only should more emphasis be placed on firing and manipulating the pistol with one hand but the majority of training time should be directed toward the development of one-hand pistolcraft skills.

Before diving into this aspect of pistol shooting, I would like to provide a little background. This article marks my first return to commercial magazine writing since my last "In the Line of Fire" column was published in Guns & Ammo back in 2001. At that time, I had written extensively about the work I was then involved with as director of the Massachusetts State Police Firearms Training Unit.

The "new paradigm" police firearms training program developed during my tenure with the FTU--and the subject of a book I wrote, Police Pistolcraft--has since been widely studied by many members of law enforcement around the globe. It has been adopted in whole or in part by several agencies as of this writing and is being evaluated for adoption by many more. Now, back to our discussion.

Capt. W.E. Fairbairn and Capt. E.A. Sykes observed in their classic treatise, Shooting to Live with the One-Hand Gun, that the pistol--revolver or automatic--is used primarily for two distinct purposes. One is target shooting for sport or pleasure; the other is combat.

They also made it glaringly clear that while the two activities shared similar characteristics, they were as different as "chalk and cheese." When used for close- or long-range target shooting, a proper two-hand hold provides the shooter with an optimum amount of stability, consistency and control, allowing for careful sight alignment and aiding in precise trigger manipulation.

The fact that the target presents no threat to the shooter means that the shooter, with some practice, can learn to focus his vision on the front sight, while the rear sight and target, kept in alignment, become slightly blurred. A steady trigger press is then applied, and if the "surprise shot break" is achieved, the shot hits the mark.