wanting to shoot my handguns better

[Medic!]

LOL, reminds me of when I bought my Mac in .45 (Class III) and took a buddy to shoot it. He was trying it in semi with stock folded. Trying to shoot it as a large handgun. That heavy bolt falling would make him pull and hit wayyyy high. After a few shots he said "how the hell do you hit anything with this". I put it on full auto and said "try it now". The grin on his face from ear to ear was hilarious.

Open bolt goodness.

 

[lowly monk]

I have been working on this for years. I now am OK with shooting center mass. Hold the target up to your chest. Yep.

 

[Ura-Ki]

We had an Old Gunny Range Master who could teach ANY yahoo to shoot like a pro with in just a few hours. Once he had taught the basics, he would turn us loose and walk down the line watching and would offer corrective tips as he went! #1 FRONT SIGHT Focus your eye on the front sight with the target kind of fuzzy, with practice, this becomes second nature! #2 Grip, and Consistency. Make sure you have a proper grip and you use that EVERY time. #3 Locked wrist, make sure your wrist is fixed in the sight plane every time the gun is pointed at the target. #4 Stance. Always use the exact same stance and body position. If you use Weaver, stick with it. If you use any other style, make sure you are doing it correctly! #5 Dry Fire practice 2 hours a week practicing all the previous steps until you can draw and snap a shot on target each and every time! Once you get to this level of proficiency, any problems will quickly show them selves and you will be able to correct them in no time!

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Do not aim for the center of the bull! I use a 6:00 hold. That is, the bullseye is the clock, aim at the lower edge! It is much easier to place the front sight at the bottom! So lining them up, see a little gap between the frt sight and the bull? Great, take up that gap to just put the top of sight to kiss the bull! Are the sides of the frt sight equidistant from the imaginary lines coming down from the edges of the bull? Cool! Gently squeeze her off! Now, if you want to Center the group in the bullseye, you can simply adjust the elevation to reflect the difference! I don't bother, after all, I'm hitting where I aim. Tight groups? Shoot from a bench and padded rest. Get every aspect lined up in your mind,
Grip
Sight picture
Breathing, I'm a semi-deep breath and expel to easy comfort guy.
Trigger control, good or bad trigger, you should try to start a gentle squeeze adding pressure ever so easily. When it breaks it should surprise you a bit!
Now! Where were the sights when the trigger broke? It's very important to train yourself to observe and remember where they were, hence where the bullet hits! It's called, "calling your shots" and I can't overstate how important it is? It's how you critique each and every round! Best of luck, practice makes perfect!

 

[teflon6string]

I am mostly shooting my Sig 9 or my Glock 23. But I'll have to go and try my mark iii and do some 22 practice that's a good idea. I don't need to be a marksman but my shots are all over the targets. I'm guessing I am flinching.

There's a fun drill I like for teaching others, and keeping my own reactions under control. Can you lay your hands on a revolver? Best choice is a .357, which has some potential kick - and you can vary the ammo.

Turn your back and let a friend load the cylinder for you. A random mix of magnum rounds, .38's and a spent shell or two (or all 6) will quickly tell the whole story. Watch the front sight dip every time you flinch for little or no reason. Have your buddy change the order and numbers of mixed rounds. Odds are he could use a little work too. Make it a contest and encourage each other.

Keep watching the barrel with each pull of the trigger, double and single action.

VERY revealing. And a fine tool to help you practice holding still no matter what's under the hammer.

 

[PiratePast40]

Check out Threat Dynamics in Tualatin, Home. Some good training is the best way to get started. Banging away at targets by yourself is a waste of time and ammo at this point. Once you get some training on the basics, you'll know what to work on. All the techniques people have talked about can then be a part of your training.

As you progress, start checking out things like the Brian Enos web site. There are sections dedicated to personal training that are valuable to everyone, not just competitors. However, competition can also be a great part of a training program.

 

[jbett98]

This target helped me.

 

[whitney]

Here is a helper that will only cost you a quarter.
If you believe the difficulty your are experiencing is flinching it will only get better with practice. The difficulty as previously pointed out is recognizing it.

This will only work on slide operated firearms;
*place a quarter flat on the top of the slide.
*execute your normal firing sequence without causing the quarter to fall.
*if you cause the coin to fall before the trigger breaks, relax and start over until you can cycle the firearm without flinch.

The idea is to get through the exercise without spilling the coin. It will take a concerted effort on the shooters part to refine the mechanics of their shooting style.

~Whitney

 

[BlackRyder]

I am mostly shooting my Sig 9 or my Glock 23. But I'll have to go and try my mark iii and do some 22 practice that's a good idea. I don't need to be a marksman but my shots are all over the targets. I'm guessing I am flinching.

Buy some dummy rounds (I like the snap caps, personally) and look up "ball and dummy drills".
I basically eradicated my flinch by doing the ball and dummy drills (you can do them by yourself, too, just load 2 magazines at once, one with the snap caps and one without, and kind of "mix them up" so you don't know which magazine is being inserted into your pistol) and also switching to a .22 caliber pistol every other magazine.
Also, end every range session with 20 perfectly executed, slow fire shots from the .22 to really get the smooth, no flinch pull ingrained in your muscle memory. By doing this, I got rid of my flinch in under a month.
Now I just need to learn to stop screaming like a Muslim at a funeral every time I pull the trigger.

Edit to add: another thing that helped me was to think about watching my front sight flip up and back down throughout the recoil cycle... By focusing on making sure I saw every inch of its movement during firing I made sure that I was keeping my eyes open and not muscling the gun, anticipating recoil, or flinching.

 

[maddog]

Chris Sajnog put out a good vid

Low left is generally from "slapping the trigger." I worked through this by taping a piece of paper, with a 1 inch square colored in the middle, on the door of my bedroom closet. I dry fired my pistols until I could press the trigger to where the front sight would not move within the sight picture. It really doesn't take very long and it will fix your low left. I have a PPQ that releases best with just the very tip of my trigger finger where my G23 releases best with the trigger mid way between the tip and first knuckle. Move that position for you until you find what works best for you. And as said earlier, check each fundamental (stance, grip, breathing, sight picture, trigger press, and follow-through) with each dry fire and soon these things will be automatic. Hope this helps.

 

[BlackRyder]

I love Chris Sajnog's stuff - his videos and articles really helped me figure out the basics when I started shooting pistols a little over a year ago!

 

[snarlingdog]

Chris Sajnog put out a good vid

Low left is generally from "slapping the trigger." I worked through this by taping a piece of paper, with a 1 inch square colored in the middle, on the door of my bedroom closet. I dry fired my pistols until I could press the trigger to where the front sight would not move within the sight picture. It really doesn't take very long and it will fix your low left. I have a PPQ that releases best with just the very tip of my trigger finger where my G23 releases best with the trigger mid way between the tip and first knuckle. Move that position for you until you find what works best for you. And as said earlier, check each fundamental (stance, grip, breathing, sight picture, trigger press, and follow-through) with each dry fire and soon these things will be automatic. Hope this helps.

How hard of a grip should I have?

 

[maddog]

A firm, solid grip with locked wrists. Not so tight you think you'll crush the grip, but very close to that. No pressure with the trigger finger and the left hand (assuming you're right handed) supporting the weapon's weight, left thumb off the frame with the right thumb sort of resting on the left one lightly. Experiment with it to find what works best for you. Increase and decrease the grip pressure with the dry fire to discover what's best for you. You should feel comfortable with it.

And this fellow's a descent shot, too.

PS
My g23 has a tendency to throw the front sight out of alignment when the striker is released and I had to learn to anticipate that. Putting the trigger mid-pad and envisioning pushing the trigger up and back towards the striker eliminated that for me. You'll discover this kind of stuff during your dry fire practice.

 

[Koda]

Is there any place in the area that does classes for handguns? I would love to put a hole mag in the black on a target. I am a member at Johnson creek gun club and go once a week and it seems I never really improve. So I any suggestions? thanks

couple of places to give a call and see what they can offer you. At the least, start taking their programs bottom up....

• Classes & Clinics (Clackamas County Public Safety Training Center)
• About TD Classes (located in Tualatin)

If you cant afford a class right now pick out some drills from pistol-training.com » Drills that you can do stationary at your gun club range and practice those along with the good tips from the forum members replying to this thread. There are some good youtube instructional vids too (just be certain to put on your BS hat and sift thru them all).

 

[jrd541280]

One video I came across this last summer helped me immensly. It was of a guy named jerry miculec sp. It was about proper form. The hardest part is following through with everything he says to do until the shot is fired. If you concentrate enough, you soon start repeating the rythm. I am a terrible pistol shot but when I follow his instructions if find my groups getting better and better the more I shoot.
Man that guys is fast and accurate!!! Someday maybe after I practice a whole bunch, I might be able to get off a shot as quick as he can empty a 15rd. Magazine
Helped me. If I can find that youtube video maybe the wife will help me post it.

 

[cooper]

This target helped me.

View attachment 323367

HA HA I HAVE THIS LAMINATED AND STAPLED ON MY PERCH....MAKE SURE YOUR NOT JUST GOING THROUGH THE MAGS LOOKING FOR RANDOM IMPROVEMENT...BETTER RATIO IF YOU DO POINT OF AIM MAG DUMP FOR MYSELF THAN THAT...LIKE OTHERS THE ROUNTINE MUST BECOME YOUR ONLY MOVEMENT...IT WILL COME IN TIME WITH YOUR EFFORTS. GOOD JOB SHOOTING WEEKLY....LUCKY
HAD A NEIGHBOR GETTING STINKY HAD TO SLOW DOWN A BIT....BOUGHT HIS WIFE SOME FLOWERS AND HIM A SIXER...

MIXIN IN 22 CALIBER WITH 1 FULL SIZED MAG ROTATING 2 FULL SIZED MAGS EVERY OTHER WEEK......GOTTA KEEP EM WAVING...I AM LUCKY TO HAVE SUCH NEIGHBORS.THANKS BILL

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

i used to be not so good at shooting my handgun. i found having a buddy load a mag with live ammo and snap caps helped me correct my issues

 

[Larrabee]

Your job is to keep the sights aligned while slowly increasing pressure on the trigger. Each shot should be a surprise. Watch that front sight!

 

[PiratePast40]

i used to be not so good at shooting my handgun. i found having a buddy load a mag with live ammo and snap caps helped me correct my issues

This summer, I learned something new about that technique. If you put in 3 snap caps in a row, it gives you a chance to learn from the lesson and correct your mistake. Remember, it's important to practice correctly, not just practice.

 

[oknow]

Precise Handgun Trigger Control - AllOutdoor.com


Handgun trigger control subtleties were noted recently during an observational opportunity at a handgun training course using a virtual reality training system.

The instructor continued to press the trainees on proper handgun hold and more specifically on trigger control, including the proper placement of the trigger finger. I learned to shoot handguns in the backyard of my rural Missouri home at the age of 10. I just simply pulled the trigger until the gun went off.

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inRead invented by Teads
Handgun triggers have as much variability as girl or guy friends. Essentially no two handguns, either revolvers or pistols, have triggers that react to engagement exactly the same, even the same models off the assembly line the same day.

pistols. Handguns functioning single action means the hammer has to be cocked back manually, then the trigger released with finger pressure. Double action guns require more pressure that in effect uses the trigger to "cock" the hammer or striker mechanisms. It is the amount of pressure on the trigger to release it that demands the practice to attain the precision.

Precision trigger control adds immensely to the accurate shooting of a handheld gun. It is difficult enough to hold a handgun on target given the short line of sight. Add to that a temperamental mechanical trigger that can either release with little pressure or one that requires considerable pressing to release. It takes practice and lots of it with each individual gun you own and use.

For the truly self-conscious shooter there are also finger positions to consider. Most competitive pistol shooters learn which finger pad to use for the most precise control of trigger pressure to apply for the best release. I generally use the tip of the trigger finger, but others use the second pad back, which I personally find more difficult to control the trigger pressure.

The key factor here again is real practice. Some guns you can practice trigger pull with, but I recommend using the practice rounds with the spring in the primer pocket to soften the punch of the firing pin to avoid damage. Otherwise copious live round practice is the best teacher of trigger control.