[Prion]

Hey, I'm new to handguns, a few hundred rounds through my XDM9. I'm almost always pulling down and left, pretty dramatically. When I dry-fire I dont notice the front sight dropping in that direction, only when live-firing. I've tried various different things like gripping tighter or looser, dropping my shoulders, relaxing, tensing, changing foot positions etc and it is almost always, 95%, around 7 or 8 o'clock and about two feet from center at 25 yds.:fire: I'm simply terrible:banghead:

[GregGry]

Are you sure your shooting at 25 yards and not 25 feet? At 25 yards your average pistol new comer would be hitting a 8x10 paper once every 7 to 10 rounds.


Your shooting low and to the left because of a flinch, a anticipation of the round going off. It causes you to roll your wrist forward/downward to counteract the forces of the recoil. If you were to put a dummy round in the mag, and then shoot on the range, you would find out. What will happen is you will hit the dummy round, pull the trigger, and the muzzle of the gun is likely to drastically be pushed downward.

The bit of left is normally caused by a incorrect trigger pull. Try using more trigger finger, and pulling it smoothly. Don't just jerk it fast.

[Prion]

I would say at 25yds I'm probably hitting 8x10 every 7 to 10 rounds like you said. I'll try getting some dummy rounds and mixing them in with live rounds. I am frustrated! From 10 feet away I can get rounds on paper but like I said all at 7 or 8 oclock

[possum]

first ytou need to start off with targets closer to build your confidence, and at ranges that are more realistic.

3-5-7yds max for a beginner.

it has nothing to with your foot placement the way you hold your mouth man it is all about the way that you press the trigger, at least you know what you are doing wrong, that is the first step. i highly reccomend that you do alot of dry fire, put the sights on target and work the trigger until you hear the click without changing the sight picture or sight alignment.

trigger control that is your issue and it is an easy one to fix with time and effort on your own.

[Delford]

I just purchased a Ruger P345 and I'm having the same problem. At 25 feet I'm consistently left and slightly low of center. Not way off but mostly not center - a few did. The range where I shoot is during CCW qualifying and once we took the class we can go and practice anytime they have another class. I got there early and I shot 100 rounds. My Range Officer fired one round dead center his first time. He was very helpful but I know it is the anticipation of the firing because I shot a 1911 at 30 feet and hit the 8x10 sheet regularly a month ago on a farm. I'm going to purchase the dry fire rounds at Bass Pro Shop to get the trigger action without the recoil until I get used to it. I'll also will live fire when I can, at least 50 rounds a month. Fortunately, my local Wally World had WWB 100 round boxes for $29.57 so I can continue to afford the live fire.

Del

[possum]

It causes you to roll your wrist forward/downward to counteract the forces of the recoil. If you were to put a dummy round in the mag, and then shoot on the range, you would find out. What will happen is you will hit the dummy round, pull the trigger, and the muzzle of the gun is likely to drastically be pushed downward.
this would be true if his shots were going straight under the desired area, then yes he would be having a huge anticipation of recoil and noise issue. which is the number one issue that i see with new people followed by the trigger press. yes that might be a part of the issue here, but more than anything he is jerking the trigger down and to the left and that is a classic right handed shooter not applying the proper trigger press.

[possum]

Delford,

read my posts, both of them please, and it will solve your issues.

[CWL]

Trigger control.

Work on trigger control. You want to press the trigger, not squeeze or 'slap' the trigger.

Something taught to me on how to isolate just the movement of your trigger finger from the rest of your hand: Hold your hand out like you are holding a pistol, but hold your fingers together like a blade. Now bend just the trigger finger at the 2nd knuckle until it is 90 degrees to the rest of your flattened palm. Do this slowly without moving any other part of your hand, fingers or wrist.

This is the movement you want to perform when firing a gun. You want to just press the trigger without moving the gun in even the tiniest manner.

Do this as an exercise whenever you have a chance, it's easy to do and not obvious to observers. This will improve your gun/trigger control.

[Prion]

Thanks guys, you are definitely right about trigger control. I don't think I'm flinching too much but I'm definitely just sort of slapping away away or squeezing. More to the point I just didn't think much about how I was pulling the trigger. I'll focus on the trigger next time I'm out and make sure I stand closer to the target for awhile. Thanks again.

[Pulse]

found this pdf file here a while ago.

its a target that you can print out and use for as target and it tells you preaty exactly whats wrong with your shooting.

[Big Bill]

Todd Jarrett on pistol shooting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa50-plo48

[GregGry]

this would be true if his shots were going straight under the desired area, then yes he would be having a huge anticipation of recoil and noise issue.

I have never met a shooter that shot low and to the left that didn't have an issue with a flinch. Trigger pull is one thing, and will account for a lot. However in this persons case I bet its a combination of the two.


Also, I have never met anyone that could shoot well at 25 yards without having a fair amount of practice. The trigger pull and proper sight alignment matter so much since half a millimeter off at the barrel can account for huge distances at the target. Stick to 25 feet and less. When you can shoot 1 hole groups under 2 inches any day of the week, 25 yards will be easy.

[possum]

also work on figuring out your triggers reset. the trigger reset drill is used for this. if there is any question to what this is or how you do it, let me know and i will be happy to share, it will greatly improve your ability to get the hits that you want.

[twoclones]

Other versions of the correction target at at http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=398239&highlight=target

[glassman]

I was doing the same thing at first. My brother told to put only my finger print on the trigger and slowly pull it straight through my rear sight. and also to keep my eyes open!! I didn't realize I was closing my eyes at the last second before the discharge. He also gave me a .22 to work with and then progressed to more powerful calibers. It helped a lot.