Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns A case of the shakes

As most of y'all know, I underwent Chemo over the summer.

A few weeks ago, I had the first real opportunity to fire a pistol since the bug juice. I seem to have developed a bit of a shake. I ascribe it to general weakness left over from the procedure. I was able to keep the shots on a pie plate at 10 yards, but with some difficulty.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to improve my steadiness?

How could we not?

Well, if your shaking is from "general weakness," maybe start doing some isometric exercises to get stronger. If it's due to some other medical cause, then your doctor is the one to ask. I realize that I haven't offered much help, but I think what I've said is accurate. I wish there was a simple, general cure for shaking, but if there is, I've not heard of it.

Best wishes!

I'm starting with what they call a "Survivor's Clinic" next week. Their job is to clean up messes associated with Chemo and Radiation. I'd planned on mentioning it to them. I'm already pretty certain I need PT; I can't do a deep knee bend anymore. I guess OT is on the list as well.

Shooting with the shakes is not necessarily an accuracy killer. I remember shooting competition with a man from Mississippi and he shook like a leaf on a tree during gusting winds, yet he was an excellent shot

Maybe you could get a medical permit for one of those now outlawed pistol braces.... The lemons to lemonade outlook.

I'd start with a Unloaded pistol, just hold it out in front of you, and aiming it!, Do it alot it will help you, as your not used to holding weight out in front of you! Wishing you well this Thanksgiving.

Does it increase, the harder you grip?

This. Any exercise for that matter. And lots of practice.

Shaman, Five years ago I walked a path similar to yours. Thankfully, my valley wasn't as deep as yours and I suffered less than your experience. I was 65 at the time. Some therapy was found to be helpful for sure. Exercise and regular activity helped regain balance and strength. Now, 5 years later that treatment has proven to have been successful. I am still here and have ability to be active and to enjoy life. Strength, balance, flexibility, are not what they once were but I'm 5 years older too. There is much that I still can do with fairly rigorous physical requirements. I've been blessed. Hang in there and be active. Healing does happen.

It's either from being too weak or gripping the gun too hard trying to compensate for weakness, I'd guess the latter and I'll address that.

Shakes don't come from holding the gun too hard with your hands. They come from too much tension in your biceps, shoulders, and back. (Which you probably have, trying to compensate for lost grip strength.)

Hold the pistol with your hands only. You don't need anything else to support it. Let the gun recoil. Right now you'll have less recoil management that you normally would, but that'll get better with time. You only need enough strength to keep it in your hands when it fires. And you can do that.

Relax everything but your hands and wrists.

I have in my 70's developed rapid tremors while holding a handgun...it's infuriating. Having been a heavy equipment mechanic/welder for my adult life, I have very good hand strength, I still wield a 10 pound splitting maul with authority...but do you think I can steady up a 2.8 pound revolver? Looks like a 7.0 on the Richter scale. Aging is not for the faint of heart.

Dry fire is going to be a key. Then live practice.

The fact is that you will have lost a good bit of strength, but you can overcome that, as well as the shakes through modification of technique.

I am not going to discuss all the fundamentals, as volumes have already been written about that. This is specific to your issue(s).

Find a practice target and with an unloaded gun, you will see that if you attempt to hold the gun steadily on target for more than a single second or two you begin to shake. So don't.

First, always start each evolution, with the gun pointed down in front of you, finger off the trigger, with you holding it in a relaxed position orienting it towards the target.

Then begin the evolution by bringing the gun up and onto target. Unless you immediately find the X ring and a sharp focus on the front sight, do not attempt to hold the gun in that position. You will begin to shake, and the longer you attempt to hold the gun there, the more you will shake.

Instead, take the handgun and while focusing on the front sight (with the target blurry in the background) begin to rotate the gun in a sideways figure 8 pattern to the right and left of the target, with the center of the figure 8 pattern being the bullseye. Do this a couple times, then stop at the center of the figure 8 and quickly squeeze the trigger in one smooth motion.

If you hold the gun up for more than a few seconds/a few figure 8 patterns and feel yourself beginning to fatigue, stop, lower the gun to the low ready position, relax and take some big breaths to get more oxygen into your bloodstream and when you are ready, do it again.

You will find with practice you can begin to take fairly well aimed shots in spite of having shakes, or having heavy strength issues.

I have taught this technique before to people with various issues and if they put in the work, coupled with using good fundamentals, they get good results.

Hope that helps

Thanks for the tutorial Mackay. I'll work on that.

I haven't been able to get to range lately, as my driving privileges have been suspended.

The docs tell me loss of upper body strength is normal resulting from open heart surgery. And with PT it will return in time.

Mike

A four-year-old shooting a BB pistol doesn't shake - it doesn't have anything to do with strength. Do you shake just pointing a finger? If yes, consult your doctor. If no, emulate that process when you fire a pistol.

When I'm running the range I call that a "case of the Mondays."

LOL

Thanks guys. This was just what I was looking for.

As I said, I'm probably going to be evaluated for PT and OT in the coming weeks as part of the cleanup from the Chemo. We'll see what they all say.

In the meantime, I'll start dry firing and see where that gets me. I probably won't be actually shooting much until Spring.

I like laser grips for indoor practice. I know right where the bullet would have hit when the trigger falls. Most of my life a hand gun was for hunting both small game and deer. Using some kind of rest whenever practical was a given.

If your main goal is self defense practice then learning to shoot from a braced sitting positions probably isn't worthwhile. If you would like to just find ways to adapt and keep shooting because it's fun there are a bunch of options to try.

I have a micro red dot on several revolvers now. I'm 67 and use high backed camping chairs to get comfortable outside. They fold up small and weight between 1 pound and 2.



Getting ready for deer season in a high backed chair one knee crossed over the other for a rest I hit 10 for 10 shots on a 5" steel plate at about 65 yards this year.

When it's cold out I have a down under quilt for a camping hammock. With a Winter sleeping bag I'm warm but only use that setup watching long open fields and hunting with a rifle.

Learning to adapt is key to aging "reasonably well".

What MacKay said

I have some kind of neuro issue doctors call "essential tremors" - translation is 'they have no idea the cause' Some days worse than others.

Trying to work around this caused me to notice that intentional movement is the key for my situation. Since it's impossible to be completely steady, I raise the handgun up to the point of aim and fire in one motion. Kind of like shooting a long bow - draw and release in a fluid motion. Deliberate movement seems to smooth out the shakes even if it's just a few inches of movement.

Any movement will throw the round off target. The trick is to slow and stop the movement just at the correct sight picture.