[another okie]

What causes this?

[jjmorgan64]

Probrably going to need a little more info, with handguns I would guess the most likely cause is going to be grip, does it shift just a little on recoil?

[another okie]

Hard to say. Grip occurred to me. I have never really been able to produce a consistent grip pressure.

[jjmorgan64]

Does this happen with all firearms or just a certain make, model, if so what gun?

[cool45auto]

Come on, okie! Give us some more info.:)

[another okie]

Sorry! Ok. With my revolvers and 1911 I tend to group left, probably due to jerking the trigger. But with my Glock 17 I tend to create a vertical string over the center of the target. At 20 yards the string is about two feet, which is pretty bad. I seem to have trouble maintaining a consistent grip in terms of strong hand-weak hand pressure, and I think this affects the groups.

I have read so many different views about grip pressure that I don't have confidence in any grip. The result is inconsistency. It seems like very strong is best for short range rapid fire, but lighter is better for target. Well, I do both target shooting and IDPA/IPSC type shooting, fast and furious. So do I settle on one, or switch?

[blades67]

So do I settle on one, or switch?


Both, with much more practice.

[Nick96]

Off hand, sounds to me like if you are getting vertical strings, you've got trigger pull technique down pretty good. Most right handers tend to shoot low and left. My guess would be this seems to occur more often when shooting rapid fire. To which the obvious fix is SLOW DOWN.

[Archie]

That pattern is a classic result of watching the front sight carefully in terms of side to side alignment, but loosing the alignment up and down.

Cure: Keep your focus on the front sight and make sure the tops of the front and rear sights are even. And don't loose track of the side to side alignment.

The "low and left" grouping you mentioned is indicative of recoil anticipation. (Presuming you are a right handed shooter.)

[JiminCA]

Purely vertical movement is probably mechanical, in my judgment. Anatomical problems rarely align vertically on the target, but rather along diagonals.

You might have a barrel lockup problem. Shoot someone else's Glock and see if it exhibits the same behavior. Or have someone else that you know handles a Glock well shoot yours and see if it "goes away".

I had a 1911 with a lockup problem that strung vertically big time. The barrel just wasn't in the same place (vertically) every time.

Or.......(alternative theory here) Dry fire and watch what the sight does when the trigger snaps. The full weight disconnector can cause a little jump when it lets go. That might be causing it.

[Monkeyleg]

Yet another opinion: if you were shooting off sandbags (handgun or rifle) and getting vertical stringing, it could be the barrel or the load. But with shooting offhand, I'd bet that you're not holding your head in the same position each time, assuming your sight alignment is correct.

Letting your head drop slightly while aligning sights will result in shooting low; conversely, holding your head a little too high will result in shooting high.

Of all the shooting problems I've had, vertical stringing is the easiest for me to correct. Head alignment is much easier to repeat than grip.

[Croyance]

Part of vertical stringing is breathing. If you fire after exhaling, then after inhaling, you will get a vertical group. Your group seems extreme for this, and I really don't believe it is the only cause, just one among many.