Why do I shoot every Glock low and left?

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eazyrider

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I own 2 Glocks, a 19 and 17 and I consistently shoot them both low and left. Nice groups, just low and left all the time. I don't seem to shoot any other firearm this way. Does anyone else have this problem with a specific type of pistol? How do I correct it? I am focusing on my trigger control, my grip and my stance. It is getting frustrating.
 
Low and left almost always indicate a pre-ignition push/flinch for a right handed pistol shooter. And it's nearly always combined with (indeed, caused by) a blink just before the shot goes off. It's possible that you've learned to time your blink/flinch with other guns and haven't yet with the Glocks, perhaps because of where the trigger breaks. Or, more likely, you simply don't "trust" those guns with the deep lizard-brain part of your mind that controls reflexive blinking and flinching. Maybe it's because they subjectively recoil more to you. Maybe you've read a bunch of stories of Glock KB's. Maybe they just hit your hands in the wrong way and actually hurt to shoot.

FWIW, it's not uncommon for people to be able to shoot X or Y gun without flinching, but have a big flinch with gun Z. Often this is recoil related, but there can be other causes.

The best way to see whether this is, in fact, a blink/flinch issue is to do the old ball-and-dummy drill. Get a couple of dummy rounds and have a friend load a magazine with a mix of the inert rounds and live rounds. If you flinch on a dummy round, the blast and recoil won't cover it up, and you'll feel the big push/dip. And your friend will easily see it happen. This drill isn't necessarily a cure, but it will help confirm or exclude the blink/flinch diagnosis.
 
Glock grip angle is different than most other guns. Trigger reach and ergonomics are different, too.
Best bet, get an experienced shooter to watch and critique you as you shoot. You can overcome the ergos.

I don't care for Glock ergos btw but they are fine guns.
 
Could be several reasons; Try using the pad of your trigger finger (the one on the tip), often too much trigger finger will cause that, and many people do it with Glocks beacuse of the Safe Action trigger. Too much trigger finger combined with tensing up the whole hand will put 'em low & left every time (RH) Add in the pre-ignition push/flinch ATL Dave mentions, and there you go. Low &Left.

I agree with drband; I don't like much about Glocks, except the fact I can shoot them well.
 
I had the same problem with a 19 and a 17. I understand that it is a combination of the grip angle and trigger pull, and can be dealt with. But, I didn't have the same issue with my other handguns, so I sold them, and swore off Glocks. I believe they are fine weapons, and fit a lot of people, are among the most reliable firearms out there, but they don't suit me. If I had problems with other guns, I would adapt myself, but since the issue is isolated to Glocks, I simply purchase other brands.
 
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You might have my haunting condition, JeereKay. It occasionally plagues me.
 
Low and left almost always indicate a pre-ignition push/flinch for a right handed pistol shooter. And it's nearly always combined with (indeed, caused by) a blink just before the shot goes off. It's possible that you've learned to time your blink/flinch with other guns and haven't yet with the Glocks, perhaps because of where the trigger breaks. Or, more likely, you simply don't "trust" those guns with the deep lizard-brain part of your mind that controls reflexive blinking and flinching. Maybe it's because they subjectively recoil more to you. Maybe you've read a bunch of stories of Glock KB's. Maybe they just hit your hands in the wrong way and actually hurt to shoot.

FWIW, it's not uncommon for people to be able to shoot X or Y gun without flinching, but have a big flinch with gun Z. Often this is recoil related, but there can be other causes.

The best way to see whether this is, in fact, a blink/flinch issue is to do the old ball-and-dummy drill. Get a couple of dummy rounds and have a friend load a magazine with a mix of the inert rounds and live rounds. If you flinch on a dummy round, the blast and recoil won't cover it up, and you'll feel the big push/dip. And your friend will easily see it happen. This drill isn't necessarily a cure, but it will help confirm or exclude the blink/flinch diagnosis.
I do fine with dry fire. But for whatever reason I am pulling each shot.
 
Your statement makes me think my initial conjecture was correct. Dry fire won't generally reveal a blink/flinch. Because your brain is not anticipating a loud bang/gun movement/blast.

The fact that you can keep the sights from dipping in dry fire suggests that you have adequate trigger control, but that anticipation of the shot is causing the problem.
 
Glocks come out of the factory at 5.5 - 6 lb. triggers. That is not conducive to great accuracy.

When I got mine, the first thing I did was install a Ghost kit and polish every internal. Now it shoots at considerably less pull and is as smooth as silk. My shots go where they are told.
 
If the groups are tight, then the sights need to be adjusted.

A flinch will usually result in wild shots into the dirt. And shaking from the Glock trigger over travel and stacking usually results in 10 inch groups at 25 yards. But small, tight groups means the shooter and gun are doing their jobs, but the sights are off.
 
Note that the OP reports low and left on two different Glock pistols. It's possible the sights are similarly off on both... But perhaps not the most likely explanation.
 
My personal opinion is that it isn't blink/flinch, if it was you would not be experiencing tight groups that are low and left. Your groups would be much bigger. Concentrate on the first digit of your trigger finger being pulled straight back and see if that doesn't correct the problem.
 
A smarter man than me once said, "Shooting rifles is a science, shotgunning is an art, and shooting a handgun is a skill."

Skills take repeat practice to master. The biggest challenge for me when shooting a handgun is separating the "hold the gun" muscle commands from the "pull the trigger" muscle commands. Once you can pull the trigger without moving any other hand muscles, you've almost figured it out!

Edmo
 
Nice groups...
"Nice groups" is not very descriptive. If you're consistently shooting 6" groups @ 25 yards and they are low left, then you can adjust the sights with confidence.

If you're shooting 6" groups @ 5 yards and they're low left, then it's almost certainly not the gun.
 
There is a multitude of bad information in this thread. The chart in Post #7 is especially heinous...unless you are shooting using only one hand

This is the best advice so far
Glock grip angle is different than most other guns. Trigger reach and ergonomics are different, too.
Best bet, get an experienced shooter to watch and critique you as you shoot. You can overcome the ergos.

This was also especially insightful
Note that the OP reports low and left on two different Glock pistols. It's possible the sights are similarly off on both... But perhaps not the most likely explanation.

This is really where we need to start
If you're shooting 6" groups @ 5 yards and they're low left, then it's almost certainly not the gun.

We need to know what a "nice group" is and we need to know at what distance the OP is shooting.

RE: Moving Sights
The Rule of Thumb is that you shouldn't even consider moving your sights less than the size of the group you are able to hold.

If you are holding 1" groups are 5-7 yards and you're hitting a couple of inches to one side, you might consider tapping your sight over. If you can't even stay on a 3" x 5" card at that distance, you can't really tell how far off you are from being zeroed.

I was shooting a new gun recently and 1" groups were regularly printing about 2-3 inches to the left. A simple lessening of the pressure of the fingers of my right hand centered the group
 
I had the same problem with Glocks years ago. I solved it by pointing a little up and to the right. A couple thousand rounds later and my groups started going where I was pointing so I just aimed center so problem solved. I found, for me, the Glock will show less than good trigger control more than other pistols.
 
I own 2 Glocks, a 19 and 17 and I consistently shoot them both low and left. Nice groups, just low and left all the time.

How do I correct it?
If you indeed consistently shoot low/left all the time, you correct this by replacing the front sight with a lower one/file the plastic front sight lower and drifting the rear sight to the right.

If the pistols are fairly new, I would first shoot enough rounds to break in the pistol/trigger to smooth things out before I drifted/modified/changed sights.

While I found almost all Glocks I shot to have same POI as POA from 7-15 yards, occasional low/left POI to be shooter related but keep in mind not every one's hands are the same.
 
I'd recommend getting yourself in front of an experienced shooting coach as 9mm and others suggest. There's quite a few ergonomic parameters that could be causing your symptom of low and left. That's very common in my experience and fairly easy to diagnose. I've fixed that problems for others by changing grips, pressure, and in one case the master eye taking over.

Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress.
 
Try this drill at the range. If you are flinching it will become apparent. If you do have a flinch, repeating this drill should help by concentrating on the basics and being slow and deliberate with each shot first dry firing until you can stay on target through the trigger break and then live fire.. Good hearing protection is a must. I wear ear plugs and ear muffs.



Not sure what grip you are using but this is a good and short video on pistol grip. A proper grips helps a lot.



Try varying your grip pressure on your Glock and finger position on trigger. You should not need a death grip but a good firm grip along the line of holding a hammer to drive nails. I have found it also helps to concentrate strong hand grip front to back on the pistol grip.




If you are not shooting a Gen 4 Glock you might want to try the Grip Force adapter.



https://www.amazon.com/Grip-Force-G...TF8&qid=1480445192&sr=8-1&keywords=grip+force

I just put one on mine and so far so good. My Glock 19 is not the most accurate pistol in my hands but not bad. I shot this at 7 yards last range trip right after I put the Grip Force adapter on.

 
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I solved that "problem" with a Lonewolf Timberwolf frame. Now I shoot POA/POI. My opinion is that's it's the grip angle. If you don't have a natural point of aim with a Glock factory frame, then change the frame or the gun. BTW, I tried the gripforce adapter and it didn't change a thing.
 
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