Someone teach me how to shoot...please?

There are a number of threads in the archives that will be very useful to you. Do some searches for usernames "pax" and "timbokhan".

Other than that, you may want to slow down a bit, to allow yourself to reacquire the target before the next shot. Something else to help with muzzle flip is to hold the gun tighter and higher, but not too high or your hand will be bitten by the hammer and/or the cycling slide.

Look at stance and hold too. Isosceles is a bit less stable than the Weaver. The hold should be primary hand first, secondary hand on top of primary with respective fingers locking onto their counterparts of the other hand.

A lot of the magic is in the trigger too. Concentrate on the sight picture as you apply pressure on the trigger. Avoid jerking. Keep focused on the front sight. Don't try to yank the trigger at the very instant the sight picture is perfectly aligned - it is better to be surprised by the trigger fall even if the picture is imperfect at that moment.

Let us know what your paper target looks like. That will let us diagnose the problems better.

Welcome to THR! You will learn a lot here. I did.

May I suggest NRA handgun classe(s)

I found mine very helpful. It normally cost $70, but I got it for $35 because I got a discount through my local gun club.

The instructor can address your specific problems. No one else really can address your personal shooting without seeing you. No one can see you shoot over the Internet. Therefore, in person NRA lessons are the way to go.

Also, if your gun has those rail mount things to add laser light, you can have a steel weight made that follows barrel contour and mounts to the rail. That would reduce muzzle flip a lot without adding much weight to the gun (2 or 3 oz should be plenty). This was suggested to me by an NRA instructor, if I need it. This little bit of weight would be very effective at reducing muzzle flip because of leverage. The weight would be at the barrel end of the gun and have leverage multiplying the weights inertia.

Lastly, although I can't speak to your personal, specific problems, I use my second hand to stabilize the gun as much as possible by using my forefinger on the trigger guard recurve, if it has a recurve. If I'm shooting a gun without a recurve trigger guard, I then use my second hand to squeeze firmly around my primary hand. Also, the higher my grip the better. (it's implied that I squeeze firmly with my primary hand too) A good stance helps. I prefer the Chapman, although Weaver is also good. An NRA instructor would show you all these things.

Contact your local NRA instructor for lessons. I did this by calling my local gun store and asking them. They gave me the local NRA instructor's name, phone number, and email address. After that, I had it made.

I already had 30 years rifle experience and about 6 years handgun experience and I'd read books on handgun shooting. However, I learned a lot more from the NRA instructors that I never would have learned on my own or from a book.

I like this site:

http://www.americanshooter.com/Features/features.html

and this:

http://www.shootingusa.com/PRO_TIPS/pro_tips.html

If you're going to get shooting tips, might as well get them from champions.

This thread is the very reason I highly recommend starting out with a .22lr. With very little recoil and report you can concentrate on learning the basics. Once you have mastered them then shooting the higher powered cartridges will be much easier.
Instead of the Tracker get a .22lr handgun and see how quickly you will start to improve.

In your grip, both thumbs should be parallel to each other and both pointing forward towards the muzzle. Do not lock the bottom thumb over the top thumb. If you're right handed, your right thumb will be the one on top. Incorrect thumb positioning is quite common.

Do not limpwrist it. Limpwristing is detrimental to both accuracy and weapon cycling reliability.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5008

this has been an enormous wealth of info to me for learning how to hold and fire an autoloader properly, and includes a pic here and there.

no help on the revolvers, though.

How To Shoot A Pistol:
1. Stand facing the target with your weight evenly balanced and feet about shoulder width apart.
2. Hold loaded firearm in both hands with CONSISTENT grip. Hold pistol with dominant hand and then wrap off hand around the dominant hand with the thumbs pointed forward OR with weak thumb locked over dominant thumb.
3. Use dominant eye (close other eye if more comfortable) to align sights properly: top of front sight even with top of rear sight and centered horizontally in rear sight notch. Place the top of front sight at desired impact point on target.
4. Pull/squeeze/move the trigger carefully to fire the gun WITHOUT DISRUPTING THE SIGHT ALIGNMENT. (Jerking the trigger is a NO-NO.)

Do these simple things CONSISTENTLY and your shots will group into a small area on target. Then move rear sight to center shots into target (assuming adjustable sights).

Good luck. Some of us have been working on perfecting these skills all our lives. Hint: Number FOUR is the biggest single problem area for most pistol shooters. Another Hint: THERE ARE NO SIMPLE SECRET SHORTCUTS TO INSTANT MARKSMANSHIP WITH PISTOLS!!!

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

Are you using hearing protection?

If not,the noise and blast will add to your experience....in a bad way.You will know the noise and blast is coming and tighten up in anticipation of it.
It takes time and ammo to become a proficient pistol shot,and a litle hands opn training by an expert is not a bad idea either.

where are you located.

LHB1 gave some good advice, except for one important error. "with weak thumb locked over dominant thumb." No, No, No! Do NOT lock thumbs over each other, as the only thing it accomplishes is pulling your muzzle away from the target.

To test this, make a "handgun" with your strong hand. That is thumb up as if it were the hammer, and index finger out as if it were the barrel. Then wrap the 4 fingers of your weak hand around the three fingers of the strong hand, as if you were readying for shooting grip. Now lock your weak thumb over your strong thumb and notice how much the "muzzle" moves. Very detrimental to accuracy, and a very hard bad habit to break. It's commonly seen on many of the students at the local law enforcement academy here. Scores tend to improve 30-70% after breaking this habit.

Thumbs should be parallel to each other and aiming forward towards the end of the slide/muzzle.

+100 on Majic's advice. Get yourself a .22. Test several brands of ammo to see which kind it likes best. Buy several bricks of this ammo. Practice, practice, practice. Buy more ammo. Repeat.

Rimfire ammo is the only cost effective way to get enough practice to become really proficient.

Besides....it's fun!

You can read and download the Army Pistol Marksmanship Training Manual at this link: http://www.bullseyepistol.com/amucover.htm.

First, learn the basics of shooting a handgun, then practice. After that you can work on shooting specific to particular competition that includes draw and fire, etc. The basics of shooting are the same regardless of caliber or type of handgun.

Get yourself a .22 lr to practice with. You can get a .22 conversion for your .45 that will pay for itself in the first 1,000 rounds of lower cost .22 ammo.

Go to the local bookstore or on-line and get a copy of "How To Become A Master Handgunner : The Mechanics Of X-Count Shooting", by Charles Stephens.

Short, very informative book.

If you don't mind a 2 hour drive, just give me a holler and I'll take you to the Bullet Hole in Omaha.

Joe

Asknight,
Clearly we have a difference of opinion on the thumbs issue. I think we sometimes make the mistake of insisting that other shooters use exactly the same grip that we use. IMO consistency is the primary requisite of a grip, especially for newcomers. Refinements can come later after they gain some experience. I can shoot either way and do. Usually I put the weak (left) thumb over right thumb to keep the right thumb on gun and ensure adequate left side grip pressure. Otherwise my right thumb sometimes lifts (old high thumb shooting habit from Bullseye competition days) and then shots drift toward 9 o'clock. Using weak thumb on top of right thumb also lets me use left thumb for cocking revolvers when shooting my .44 Mag S&W M629 Classics. YMMV.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB

Here is a pdf I made from Steve C's link.

LHB1, indeed we have a difference of opinion, but I intend to keep it respectful.

I felt that I needed to point out that error as that was my grip style early-on when I began shooting handguns. I was swiftly and firmly corrected by my instructors and they proved to me that my accuracy increased when I deleted the thumb-lock. This was also evident in my peers on the firing line at the time. Rather than the thumb, I use my left palm for controlling pressure on the left side of the grip, as it has a larger surface allowing more pressure control than the thumb.

I respectfully disagree that the student in question needs to focus on the other basics before proper grip. Proper grip is way up there close to the top of priorities, after the four rules, of course. It's been proven to me that an improper grip will be more difficult to correct later after having become comfortable with it .

Rimfire ammo is the only cost effective way to get enough practice to become really proficient.

Click to expand...

Pellet guns are even cheaper, and you can practice in your living room. They won't help with recoil, but everything else is the same.

I responded to your other thread, Looking for a .22.

Best move anyone can make is to run a rimfire for practice. When target shooting your double action semi auto, start out with only shooting single action. Then as you get better, move to learning the trigger action as you flow through double. Dry firing without distraction, learning every notch as you concentrate on the aim is what separates those that are so-so from those that are much better. Knowing right when that sear is going to break, is more key to having the sights lined up. -Something you can see is the easy part. NRA courses aside, ultimately what will make you better is -practice-. Even with some bad habbits, you'll still be a better shooter with practice. Remember, your non-trigger hand is only there for support, not to hold the firearm. One of the best things is a Rimfire Bullseye league. First, test the firearm for accuracy, then set a realistic goal of proficiency. Strive for that, then set another higher goal.

Since you're proficient with revolver, there's hope. Really. Don't give up!
But it's most likely the trigger motion or recoil that's giving you the twitch. Not the shot, but the slide movement/recoil. Someone had a post recently about "Limp Wristing". It'll kill your accuracy. The publications listed above are great resourses too.

Hang in there. You'll get it.

Are you stringing group/strings left to right, up and down? All over? Have you fired from a sand bag rest? What distances are you shooting? What do you feel is an adequate group of five or ten rounds at that distance? What ammunition are you using?

-Steve

Get a .22

Shooting

It is real hard to give proper marksmanship tips on to Internet, this impersonal medium. One really needs to watch your techniques one on one to effect any improvement and elevate your skills at all. My recommendation, for you, would be to go to a local or nearest gun school and get some professional handgun training. That is if you are serious about your shooting. We can all waste an awful of your and our time otherwise.....Good luck..

What really helped me was two drills:

The first, at the range, to practice your grip. Make sure you're doing your grip right, maybe get someone to critique you. Lay the gun down on the bench. Pick it up, get your right grip, focus on front sight, squeeze off a shot, lay the gun back down. Repeat 50 times each time you go to the range. Start very slowly and deliberately, gradually working up your speed, don't be in a hurry. Speed will come later, get the form down first. This helps get your grip down.

The second thing that helped was dry fire practice to help with trigger work and sight picture. I rubber-banded an ordinary laser pointer to the side of my pistol. It doesn't have to be pointed at POI, it just has to be stable and not move. Now do your dry fire practice at a spot on the wall. The laser will give immediate feedback as to what you're doing wrong. Practice a hundred or more dry fires every day or three for a few weeks.