Guns are complex pieces of machinery — if they weren’t, people wouldn’t pay hundreds of dollars for a few pounds of metal. However, guns have been around for several hundred years, and thus are a mature technology. They’re reliable if maintained properly and don’t require a lot of operator knowledge to be used as intended. The average shooter doesn’t need to be able to diagram the inner workings of every firearm in existence, but it does help to understand a bit about how the things function. If nothing else, maintenance is a lot easier if the user knows what general parts they’re likely to find the first time he breaks down his weapon. Likewise, the average player or Storyteller doesn’t need to be able to recite ballistics tables from memory, but a basic understanding of the subject matter never hurts when crafting a story.
How Guns Work
To fire a gun, the wielder pulls the trigger, the protruding part of an internal mechanism. The trigger breaks and releases a small catch, or sear, which is holding back a metal fi ring pin. The firing pin, in turn, has been keeping a small spring compressed. When the firing pin is freed of the sear’s restraint, the spring drives the pin forward into the back end of a cartridge, which has been sitting in the gun’s chamber. The explosive portions of the cartridge then detonate.
The force of an explosion tends to move in the direction of least resistance. When a cartridge’s propellant explodes, the expanding gases from this reaction are surrounded by the relatively immobile metal of the cartridge casing and the chamber in every direction except one. That direction is down the barrel of the gun, at the near end of which the chamber is located. However, in order for the explosion’s force to move outward, a small obstacle needs to be shoved out of the way. That obstacle is the bullet, which the explosion forces down the barrel at speeds of hundreds or thousands of feet per second. Giving the bullet direction before it exits the gun is the realm of marksmanship.
Marksmanship
Waving a gun in the general direction of a target and spraying lead isn’t usually effective. Consistent accuracy requires the shooter to have a stable stance, good alignment of his weapon’s sights and their eyes, and control of his breathing and trigger finger.
Of course, in the middle of a gunfight, speed is more precious than aim. That’s when training takes over and gives a definite advantage to the practiced shooter who’s refined all these actions to the reflex level and can shoot accurately without putting conscious thought into the process. Firearm experts universally agree that shot placement is more important than caliber, magazine capacity, ballistic performance, safety configuration or any other engineering factor. The best gun in the world means nothing if a shooter can’t hit his target.
Handgun Marksmanship
Firearm instructors teach three basic stances for handgun shooting: two for combat and one for marksmanship. All of the following examples assume that the shooter is right-handed; reverse “right” and “left” for southpaws.
The Weaver stance places the shooter’s torso at about a 45-degree angle to the target, with their right shoulder away from the target and their right arm coming across her body, elbow almost straight. They hold the gun in their right hand, with their left hand wrapped around it. Their right hand pushes forward as their left hand pulls back with equal force, establishing the dynamic tension that allows them to control recoil. This stance minimizes the profile the shooter presents to their target, and the left arm provides a bit of protection for their torso.
The Isosceles stance thrusts the gun directly in front of the shooter, with both elbows locked or nearly locked and the left hand wrapped around the right hand. The shooter leans slightly forward from the hips to resist recoil. This stance presents a wider target profile than the Weaver but feels more balanced and natural to many shooters.
A normal competition stance places the shooter’s body sideways to the target, with their feet spread shoulder width apart. Their right hand is raised to eye level and their elbow slightly bent, while their left hand is tucked behind their back or at their waist. This stance evolved from the classic pistol dueling stance of the Renaissance era, and, while it does present a smaller target than the Weaver or Isosceles stances, offers less support.
Point shooting, otherwise known as stress shooting, is a variant handgun and shotgun technique that emphasizes rapid reaction to close targets. In point shooting, the shooter uses their instinctive understanding of space, physics and body position rather than of aim and posture, using the alignment of their hand to point at the target with their wrist and elbow locked. Some point shooting advocates teach the shooter to put their right index finger along the side of the gun, point it at the target and pull the trigger with their middle finger or left index finger. Point shooting avoids the problem of fine motor control going away in a high-adrenaline situation but is effective only at close range.
Two-Handed Shooting: The Strength requirements for one-handed firearms assume that the character uses only one hand. Shooting with both hands increases their effective Strength by 1 for the purpose of avoiding penalties from Strength minimums.
Bad Handgun Technique: “Gangsta-style” shooting, popularized by movies, is the “technique” of tilting a handgun parallel to the ground to fire it. This moves the sights and barrel out of a proper shooting position and allows the shooter’s wrist to flex upwards under recoil, which makes them much less accurate. In addition, with a semi-automatic, the gun ejects its brass upward — into the shooter’s face — rather than to the right, thus making jams likely as the brass can’t always clear the ejection port. Many professional shooters wince when they see a street punk holding a gun like a bike’s handlebar. Shooting gangsta-style inflicts a –1 penalty. However, shooting gangsta-style provides a +1 bonus to Streetwise rolls in appropriate situations, such as attempting to impress gangstas or wannabes immediately after they’ve seen the character shoot.
Limp-wristing is the shooting term for not locking the wrist of the shooting hand. This leads to poor aim with every type of handgun as the weapon’s recoil starts the gun moving before the bullet leaves the end of the barrel. In autoloaders, a weak grip is even more of a problem because the grip transfers more of the gun’s recoil to the shooter’s upper arm. This can rob the gun of the energy the weapon needs to cycle its action, resulting in a jam.
Rifle Marksmanship
Prone, kneeling and standing are the three basic positions for combat rifle shooting. All of these positions use the same basic principles. The shooter pulls the rifle tight against their shoulder with their right hand. Their left hand goes under the rifle’s barrel and loosely grasps the foregrip to support the barrel. Their cheek is flush against the rifle’s stock referred to as “getting a cheek weld”, which naturally puts their right eye in line with the rifle’s sights or scope. On a scoped rifle, the shooter’s eye is several inches back from the scope’s rear lens, as shooting with the face pressed directly against the scope usually leads to a recoil-induced black eye.
Many shooting instructors teach their students to shoot with their dominant eyes rather than their dominant hands, which can cause a great deal of initial confusion for the small portion of the population whose eye dominance doesn’t match their handedness. This section assumes a right-eye-dominant shooter.
In the prone position, the target is about 20 degrees to the left of the shooter’s long axis. The shooter rolls their torso and hips slightly to the left to make breathing easier and to prevent their abdominal pulse from affecting their aim. Their left leg is straight, with their right hip bent at a 45-degreeangle for stability and the inside of their right knee flush with the ground. Their left hand slides under the rifle’s foregrip, supporting rather than grasping, with the left elbow against the ground. Their right elbow is cocked slightly outward from their body, also in contact with the ground.
In the kneeling position, the shooter’s left foot goes directly below the rifle, allowing their left elbow to tuck into the hollow between their left kneecap and femur for solid support of the rifle’s weight. Their right knee and foot go to the ground, with their weight evenly distributed between their right knee and both feet.
In the standing position, also known as the offhand position in competition, the shooter stands with their feet spread at shoulder height, their torso aligned at almost a right angle to the target, leaning slightly backward and to their right to balance the rifle’s weight. Their left arm is tucked against their ribs, allowing their entire bone structure to support the rifle’s weight. Their right elbow is extended in a natural position, with their upper arm about 30 degrees away from their side.
In addition to these three positions, competition shooters sometimes use a fourth position, bench or seated. In a seated position, the shooter sits on a chair or stool, with a table or bench in front of them on which their left elbow rests to support the rifle’s weight. Most militaries do not teach this position as a combat shooting stance due to the rarity of proper equipment on the battlefield, but this stance is part of the curriculum for police sharpshooters who usually operate in urban terrain and have ample time to set up their shooting positions.
Shotgun Marksmanship
Shotgun shooting, because of the close ranges involved, relies more on instinct than rifle shooting. The basic shotgun shooting stance is similar to a good boxing stance: one foot leading, with the shooter leaning forward at a slight angle to absorb recoil and ready to swing to either side. As with a rifle, the shooter pulls the shotgun’s stock tight against her shoulder to absorb recoil, bringing the side of the stock up to their cheek so their line of sight naturally follows the shotgun’s barrel.
Bad Rifle and Shotgun Technique: Storytellers may choose to replace the rules for one-handed firing with the following rules for more realistic results.
As Hollywood shows us, it’s possible to hip-shoot a longarm, holding it just above waist level with the stock tucked under the right arm. This is a normal reflex for a shooter who’s surprised while carrying a gun loosely at waist height and brings it up to point at the target as quickly as possible. Hip shooting has two critical disadvantages: the sights are nowhere near the shooter’s eye and the gun is not properly braced to absorb recoil. If a character hip-shoots a longarm, increase its Strength requirement by 1 and double any range penalties the shooter incurs — but the character automatically wins any Initiative ties that turn.
Shooting a longarm one-handed is even more awkward. Regardless of how strong a character is, he doesn’t have the leverage necessary to control a gun whose center of mass is up to a foot in front of their shooting hand. If a character one-hands a longarm without the support of a bipod, increase the longarm’s Strength requirement by 2 and apply a –4 penalty to the character’s attack roll. Bullpups are a slight exception to this situation due to their rearward center of gravity, but still need both hands for stability: one-handing a bullpup applies only a –2 penalty. One-handing a longarm has no benefit, but a character may have no choice if they lack the use of one hand.
Marksmanship in Combat
Human physiology has evolved to react a certain way to immediate physical danger. Blood vessels in the arms and legs constrict blood, reducing blood flow in expectation of imminent injury to the extremities. Blood sugar levels rise, resulting in stronger and faster movement. Blood pressure and rate of respiration increase while vision and consciousness focus on the immediate threat. Unfortunately for a shooter in a combat situation, all of these factors occur at the expense of the judgment, situational awareness and fine motor control, which are critical to accurate shooting. An Olympic-caliber marksman who finds their life threatened for the first time is fortunate if they can put 1 in 10 shots into their intended target.
The best way for a shooter to prepare for a gunfight is to train until they’ve developed the muscle memory necessary to carry them through violence without conscious thought. Militaries and law enforcement agencies have long been aware of the difference between safe, calm target practice and the chaos of actual combat, and they train their personnel relentlessly to ensure their survival. The core of this training is reflexive aim for the target’s center of mass. “Called shots” and “shooting to wound” run directly counter to the principle of accurately putting a bullet into the target’s vital organs. A moving person’s arms, legs and head all flail around too much for accurate aim if they’re moving, or just popping in or out of cover, in a fight.
In game terms, this is why a character normally can only make 1 effective attack per 3-second turn, even if their gun is capable of much more rapid fire.
