What would the proper shooting stance be for a recoil-free arm cannon?

Question

Quick summary: it’s the modern day, and everyone can use magic. Some of that magic is of the variety that lets you launch energy blasts from your fists, similar to a Mega Man style arm cannon. You mentally activate the ability, clench your fist, wait for the energy to manifest around your arm, hold it at the ready for as long as you like until you’re ready to fire, then mentally release the energy to shoot.

What I’m thinking about regarding this is what the proper shooting stance for this sort of thing would be, the sort of thing professionals like police and soldiers would be taught. My immediate instinct is that since there’s no recoil necessitating the two-handed pistol stance, the proper stance for using magic like this would be sort of a one-handed archery stance where you turn your body to the side to keep as little surface area as possible facing your target. Am I wrong? Is there another reason people are taught to keep one arm bracing the arm holding the gun besides recoil? If so, what would the actual best stance be?

Answer 1

Seems to me that the most stable way to aim one's arm would be something like this:

Where the support arm wraps around the torso and under the aiming arm. One can then stare straight down the forearm for aiming and, since you mention in comment that the direction of the wrist doesn't matter, the wrist can be dropped slightly to not impede vision.

The torso can pivot in this position from a side-stance shot (exposing the side to the enemy) or a front facing shot (exposing the front to the enemy) so, either stance could be used based on one's armor or cover.

The kneeling version of this would be the same or would use the support arm as when using a rifle - anchor the elbow on the up knee and use the support hand to brace the aiming arm.

The prone version of this needs to change somewhat. The support arm would anchor the elbow to the ground while using the support hand to rest the aiming arm, similar to how the support hand aims a rifle in the prone position.

Answer 2

Yes, you are right. Under those rules, aligning hand (or arm), shoulder, eye and body in the straightest way would be the best posture for accuracy.

Essentially the postures adopted by Olympic handgun shooters or archers:

But we can play around a bit.

You said that you have to accumulate energy around the arm before shooting...

• How accurate are those shots? If they have a wide dispersion, a stance for accuracy may matter less.
• How bright is that energy? Bright enough to be like having a lantern aiming at your eyes and you'll blind yourself shooting like Mega-Man (and Mega-Man projectiles seem very bright!).
  That would mean you would want to channel energy outside your view range and then aim and release with the quickest motion possible.
  On the other hand, sunglasses. Maybe they are even more common than reality, maybe they are combat gear and wearing one is a sign of imminent hostilities.
• Does that energy 'rattle'? Maybe that energy doesn't accumulate peacefully around your arm, but it's more like a violent storm and you can't avoid having it jerk your hand around if you aim like an archer.
  In that case you may need to adopt a more stable stance and grab your arm/wrist.

Answer 3

In real conflict your most ideal position is always prone. Barring this, any position behind cover. This is for a few main reasons:

• Increase accuracy in shot (a steadier arm) and therefore greater range
• Reduced profile to the enemy
• Greater ability for stealth

No-one uses pistol stances anymore - it is simply not practical as you present too large a target.

You need to move from cover to cover. Anyone caught out in the open, standing, or walking will be noticed, and of course easily targeted.

A prone position is this:

Even when a recoil-less rifle a prone position is desirable. If it is not practical due to obstructions or terrain, a semi-prone position is desirable, like this:

It matters little if your arm is the weapon, or if you are wielding arms. The priority in a conflict would be the same, you need to increase your chances of survival.

I remember a Navy SEAL saying that you have to go to cover. Anyone caught in the middle of the street has too high a chance of being killed. Even when you move you squat to reduce your profile. Having said that, mobility and awareness are greater issues, being able to move quickly to a position, in a way where your opponent does not know where you are, but you know where your opponent is. But that's a whole book...

Answer 4

Kung Fu stances.

If you are going to shoot magic missiles during a fight, you may take a page from the Avatar series of cartoons. Martial arts classicaly train you into stances that diminish your profile and vitals exposure to attacks. Your aiming and shooting would also flow with your other movements, and this would sinergize well with hand-to-hand combat too.

You can also mix those martial arts and change stances as needed. Airbending is the most focused on evasion and dodging attacks, firebending is the most aggressive art and earthbending meets attacks head-on.

For reference, those arts are based on real life martial arts:

• Firebending was modeled after northern shaoling Kung Fu.
• Earthbending is hung-gar, mantis and tiger Kung Fu styles.
• Waterbending is based on Tai Chi.
• Airbending is based on Pa Kua (also spelled Bagua).

You can see more on the martial coreography of the series by looking for "avatar creating the legend" on Youtube. The movements were modeled and supervised by a Kung Fu master.

Answer 5

The two-handed stance might still be the best option for precision shots and sideways stance the best option for aiming.

Try taping a laser pointer onto your arm and aim at one point for a few seconds. Now imagine not having a tiny red dot indicating the point you're aiming at. Depending on how far away your target and how big your magic blast is, a few millimeters off in your aiming stance means your shot lands several inches off target.

Archers stand sideways because it's the best stance to line up the arrow with your eyes to make targeting possible. _{It also increases the distance you can draw the string and thereby the force the string puts on the arrow upon release, but that is outside the scope of this question.}

For your magic shot that means:

• If it shoots in the extension of your forarm, a sideways pose makes aiming easier because your eyes are in line with your shot.
• A two-handed pose improves stability. A two-handed sideways pose might be awkward enough to negate the stabilizing effect.
• If you can control the direction of the shot mentally it doesn't matter which pose you choose.

Answer 6

Is there another reason people are taught to keep one arm bracing the arm holding the gun besides recoil? If so, what would the actual best stance be?

Control. Two sets of muscles puts less strain -- and thus less possibility of "jitter" -- on each muscle.

But it takes for granted that handguns have front and rear sight posts for aiming. Your arm cannon won't have that; you'll have to shoot it "sideways", and aim like it's a shotgun (which has only a front sight, and not a rear sight).

Answer 7

The more stable a platform you can provide for your forearm, the better you can stop it from "wobbling". Bracing with the other arm could help.

Lying with your feet toward the enemy and bracing against your legs might help even more. (Look up the Creedmoor position and the "dead frog" shooting position, for example.) But you might decide that creates too much risk of hitting your own legs with your own energy bolt.

If the direction of the bolt is determined by the alignment of the bones in your forearm, you have the problem of aiming, because your forearm is not equipped with gunsights and it is hard to get your eye in line with it. You can use something like the stance in Hueco's answer to press your upper arm against your face and get your eye close to the axis of your forearm. You can also lie down at an angle to the direction you want to "fire" and press your face down on your shoulder to get your eye nearly aligned with your forearm, placing a hand under your arm to brace it against the ground.

But what about adding artificial sights? If you clamp a sighting device to your forearm, will that interfere with making the magic bolt? What if you have a surgeon graft ridges of bone onto your radius so that you have raised points on your skin that you can sight along?

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Regarding the doctrines of facing the enemy in order to minimize the number of organs hit by one shot or to take advantage of body armor, consider how the use of magic energy bolts changes the tradeoffs. What is the nature of how the bolt injures someone, and how can you minimize the risks?

For example, I suspect that part of the thinking behind "only let them hit one vital organ at a time" is that nowadays you might survive being shot in one vital organ. In the 18th century that was generally not possible, so giving your opponent one chance to hit two vital organs at once would have been better than giving them two chances to hit just one of the organs. But now that you're throwing around magic energy, how much does it matter which way you are facing an incoming bolt? Can you provide any kind of armor or magic protection against it, and how does that work?

Answer 8

The one handed stance is probably the best for the reasons you mentioned. Less body area facing the opponent which is good for defense. Alternatively, if you have a shield spell in the other hand being face on has an advantage where you stick your shooting hand through the defensive spell.

Another concern is do you sight along your arm or hand (or finger?) to aim the spell. Is there a pinky spell? How do you sight the ring finger containing the mythical vein straight to the heart? Most likely firing the spell will be arm up so you can see where you aim. If guidance mid-flight is possible shooting from the hip might be a better option to disguise the intent.

In a world where everyone runs around with hand cannons defense becomes far more crucial.

Answer 9

Ignoring the rest of your body: right in front of your eye, so that the hammer/butt is touching your cheekbone.

It would (probably) give you the easiest way to site.

With a real gun, holding a gun there would break multiple bones in your face.

Answer 10

The marksmanship principles would still apply:

• Hold must be firm enough to support the weapon
• Weapon must point naturally at the target without undue physical effort
• Sight alignment must be correct
• Shot must be followed through without disturbing the aim

The amount of recoil only actually affects the last principle - all of the others are before the shot. These principles apply whether firing a .50BMG rifle or a .177 air rifle, and it's worth noting that the firing positions are very similar for both. In order to be accurate, you need to hold the mass of the weapon (and indeed your arms) steady in order to line up the sights, regardless of recoil.

So overall I'd say that the ideal firing positions would be the same for a recoil-free weapon as they are for any other similarly-shaped modern weapon.