Friggin' beginners' mistakes

[Dilettante]

I've been shooting for a couple of months now, both rifle and pistol, but pistol is what I need to concentrate on.
A couple of weeks ago I did .22 rifle practice again, and I thought I was doing okay based on my shots from a prone position, with sandbags.

So I got to go pistol shooting yesterday, and I couldn't hit anything. We shot a Walther P22, a Baretta 9mm, and a .357 revolver. The guns and ammo can't be faulted.

Even with the .22 I was anticipating the recoil. I could also see the sights shaking side to side as I aimed.
After shooting all 3 guns for an hour or so, I was finally starting to get some accuracy at 7 yards, so we moved over to the 25 yard line. We had about an 8" diameter shoot-N-C sticker over the target. Eventually I started hitting the middle circle (NOT the X) with the .22, but with the 9mm I couldn't even hit the sticker. :banghead:

One thing I realized in the last couple of weeks is that I tend to spring my finger forward right after pulling the trigger, as though the trigger suddenly got hot after firing. I don't know why I do this, but I do. I only noticed it when I finally made a few shots without doing that.
Yesterday I was doing it again, and had to make myself follow through on each pull.
It feels stupid but I'm guessing that this is a common problem with beginners.

What are some other mistakes that beginning shooters tend to make?

I'm trying to think of other things that I've been taught. I think I'm using the natural point of aim. I think I pause in breathing at each shot (I don't always remember, but I try). Obviously I aim with the sights level, and equal space on each side. The hand holding the gun is as high as possible. The other hand is cupped around the first.

I still don't know if I should grip it tight or relax.

Any suggestions? Any other classic beginner mistakes?

 

[stans]

I find a loose grip works well with 22's, but can be uncontrollable with heavier calibers such as 357 Magnum. Whatever grip you use, make sure it is the same for every shot. Increasing or decreasing grip pressure or position will string your shots vertically. Make sure your trigger finger is not resting on the side of the pistol frame, this can push shots to the left. I prefer to have the pad of my finger on the trigger, since this is the most sensitive part of the finger. For double action shooting, I move my finger up to the first joint for the extra pulling power. When pulling the trigger, pull directly back, not to the side, this will pull shots to the side. Keep your arm and head positions the same for every shot. Now, relax and breathe deeply and regularly, take your time with every shot.

 

[Waitone]

Pistol shootin' ain't rifle shootin'. Requies a completely different set of skills.

Fundamentals with pistol shooting are IMHO more important than with rifles simply because the margin of error is SO FREAKIN' SMALL.

I'd go to an NRA pistol orientation course before getting serious.

 

[Ky Larry]

Check out the targets at www.sportshooter.com/improving/targetgallery.htm
Hope they help.
Don't get discouraged. Like anything worth doing well, it takes time to learn to shoot well consistently.
Shoot well and often.

 

[PCRCCW]

Seriously, get schooled. Either by some great shooters you know or take an NRA course...etc.

Look around the net...their are alot of sites that will explain proper stance, grip, trigger pull, sight acquisition etc. If you read and practice this stuff with an open mind it will help your shooting.

Brian Enos offers alot of good advice here...

http://www.brianenos.com/pages/words.html#expanded

Also Matt Burkett is killer also......go here and then to shooting tips.

http://www.mattburkett.com/

Hope this helps....Shoot well.

 

[10-Ring]

When I take a new shooter to the range, I normally keep their targets at 20'-25' feet until they develop their skills & confidence. As distance increases, flaws in technique are really accentuated. Stick w/ closer targets, be patient & practice, practice, practice! Have fun

 

[Pumpkinheaver]

Practice, Practice, Practice!

 

[newman32]

I still consider myself fairly new to shooting, and I can relate. I use do go to the range, do reall, really crappy, and go home wondering why I didn't just stick with needlpoint. (That parts a joke.) Instead of listening to my goofy friends, I went and found some training which helped me tremendously. I learned I was holding the pistol wrond, pulling the trigger wrong, standing wrong, used a gun that didn't fit right and on and on. I'm not saying there is only one way to shoot correctly...each person finds their own way. But I have found that learning under the watchful eye of an experienced shooter who can give you constructive feedback was what it took to improve my skills. Practice, practice, practice is great, but just be sure you are not ingraining the WRONG things! Get training soon so you can practice the CORRECT things and not have to un-learn everything you thought you were doing right!

 

[RKCheung]

Anticipating recoil... trigger control... hmm... sounds like you are just too plain nervous! I recommend lots and lots of dry-fire. Get some snap caps and practice sighting in and a slow... steady... squeeze... Remember, you don't pull the trigger, you squeeze it. Also, practice squeezing the trigger all the way - remember follow through is important! Do not release the trigger for a full second after it fires.

As above... practice practice practice!

 

[YodaVader]

What are some other mistakes that beginning shooters tend to make?

Some new shooters that I have observed that shoot all over the target and backboard seem to make a common mistake - I ask them what they are clearly focusing on - the front sight or the target? If the target is the clearest most in focus part of the sight picture when the gun fires you will probably shoot shotgun pattern groupings. The front sight should be clearly in focus for accurate shooting.

 

[Navy joe]

Ok, you already know that the root of all evil is trigger control. Stance really don't matter until you get into movement, recovery for follow up shots and recoil management. A good shooter could stand on his head and will still hit the target if he can line up the sights and control his trigger squeeze.

So with that in mind, you are making the biggest newbie mistake, shooting too much. Sounds like you burned some ammo down and all that you did was ingrain bad habits. So, next time take the .22 and take the 9mm. Never load more than two in the mag. Take your time with every shot like it's the most important one of your life. Squeeze through the trigger. As far as grip and stance, do what comes naturally, it will probably look close to an isosceles though. Grip it tight, grip it loose, see what you like for each gun. Just squeeze the trigger.

Do you see the muzzle flash when the gun fires? If not you're closing your eyes, a common involuntary loud noise response. Look for it. Squeeze the trigger. If you start to flinch, stop and dryfire the gun some until the sights don't move. Then shoot the .22 for a while. Wear double hearing protection to reduce your flinch response. Once you get good like that, go back to loading your mags up full, but slide some snap caps in at random. Forget where or what mag they are in. Dryfire if one of them catches you flinching.

Dryfire at home. Shoot the .357 with light .38 loads for now. It's all in the trigger finger and its wiring. Think practice.

 

[Sean Smith]

Go slow, and focus on the fundamentals. Pay attention to what you are doing. Precisely correct stance and hold are not critical as long as you are consistent and not obviously unnatural.

SQUEEZE the trigger, applying steadily increasing pressure until the gun goes off. The exact moment it goes off should surprise you. Concentrate on following through and not jerking or anticipating recoil.

Go slow. Slow is smooth. Once you are smooth, you can go fast. Smooth is fast.

Focus on the front sight. Bullets go where the front sight goes.

Inside, say, 15 yards, everything about hitting is trigger control and front sight focus.

 

[dairycreek]

Get some help - NOW!

Shooting is not unlike golf! You can quickly learn a lot of bad habits and when once learned, are really difficult (if not impossible) to unlearn. I strongly urge you to find someone to give you the kind of instruction that gets you off the the right start doing things the right way right off the bat. I does not cost that much and will set you on the right path for a lifetime of good shooting. Good shooting

 

[pax]

Dilettante (love that user name),

I understand where you're coming from and really emphathize with you. I've been shooting for about three years now. When I started handgunning, I decided that I would learn to be a good shot even if it killed me! I'm not so far along the road yet that I've forgotten my own newbie mistakes ... still making too many of them, but I'm going to keep working on it.

Even with the .22 I was anticipating the recoil.

Yep, that's a biggie. I still do this sometimes and find my muscles getting ready to jump. Cure for it is to concentrate only on keeping the sights lined up while smoothly compressing the trigger. The tension on the trigger will change as you slowly pull your finger backwards; what you want to do is to keep the trigger moving at the same speed throughout the entire process.

This is going to sound a bit paradoxical, but when you

...see the sights shaking side to side as I aimed.

, you should NOT worry about that. Especially, you should not try to 'grab' the magic moment when the sights are absolutely perfect. What happens when you do that is that you pull the gun off target by jerking the trigger back. So don't worry about that very normal wobble. Just concentrate on smoothly compressing the trigger.

In order to see what I mean about the trigger pull being most important, try the following at about 5 yards from your target. It's a drill I did in a Jim Cirillo class that really helped my shooting quite a bit.

1) A normal sight alignment looks something like this: |__|__| with the center line representing the front sight aligned on the target. While concentrating ONLY on a perfectly smooth trigger pull, line your sights up in this normal way and fire one shot.

2) Line your sights up like this: ||____| and really, really concentrate on that same perfect trigger compression. One shot.

3) Line your sights up like this: |____|| Again concentrating only upon trigger control, fire one more shot.

4) It is difficult to represent the next step with an asci picture, but the next sight should be fired while your sights look like this: |__.__| -- that is to say, with the front sight a bit low, but aligned properly side-to-side and with the front sight on target. One shot -- and remember, PERFECT trigger pull.

5) Finally, adjust your front sight to be as high as it was low before and fire one last shot. Again, PERFECT trigger pull, even pressure all the way through, etc etc.

Now, go look at your target. How big is your group size? What you see is the worst possible result of a severe sight wobble. If your groups are wandering more than this, it is because your trigger pulls are not in complete control. Plus, after doing this drill you should understand on a gut level that you do not need to 'grab' the exact perfect right this second moment and snatch the trigger back; all you have to do is smoothly compress the trigger every time.

One thing I realized in the last couple of weeks is that I tend to spring my finger forward right after pulling the trigger, as though the trigger suddenly got hot after firing. I don't know why I do this, but I do.

That one is really familiar to me too! I try counting 'one one thousand two one thousand' before I will allow my finger to relax. Any time I notice my follow throughs have disappeared again, I'll shoot at least a dozen shots with that full two second follow through. It feels really stupid, but seems to help.

Dunno if any of that might help. Keep working on it...

pax

No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions. -- Charles Steinmetz

 

[RVSinOK]

I was taught "BRAS". OK, take your mind out of the gutter, and think -

Breathe
Relax
Aim
Squeeze

I personally think the "R" is the most important one. There are a TON of good pieces of advice here, but that is the one I concentrate on. Works for me, but YMMV!

 

[Standing Wolf]

In your situation, I started asking old timers for advice at shooting ranges. I paid more attention to those who shot well than those who didn't, but even some of the latter bunch were very helpful. Virtually without exception, they were glad to share what they knew—and it was more than I've still managed to master to this day.

Shooting is a lot easier to show than tell.

 

[P95Carry]

Most has been said ........ but - under ''non comat'' conditions .... SQUEEZE is name of game ...... never ''pull'' or ''tug'' ....... ''progressive'' ... another word to toy with.

If the shot goes when you expect it ... you are probably in error ....... if shot goes and you think''damn, it went''......... chances are you are doing better. Results will usually prove that.

Even shooting rapid ..... SMOOTH is name of the game. Concentrate on sight picture ....... increase pressure ... 10% - 20% - 30% - ..... etc ----- until trigger ''breaks''. That'll give an ''oh - it just went''!!

One other point ..... no one can hold a hand gun steady and motionless .. hard even from rested .... but .... as you sight and keep picture ... there is a ''circle of confusion'' ....... keep that picture circling around the point of proposed impact .... AND follow the trigger discilpline .. and you WILL hit more than you'd think possible.

 

[Kobun]

DRY FIRE!
A lot!
Just don't make a even bigger mistake doing it at home. (With ammo).
Dry fire gives you the fundamentals and builds muscle memory.
Should be done for hours and hours, thousands of repetitions.

Hold gun in strong hand, and place palm of support hand on the grip. Get as much contact as possible with the grip. Then roll the support hand fingers around the fingers of your strong hand.
Hold the gun like you were using a hammer.
60% of the grip (squeese) is with the support hand!
Just the first didgit of your trigger finger pulls on the trigger.
Make sure you have some space between the trigger finger and the grip, so it doesn't drag.
Consentrate on this every time you dry fire and you will in time do this automaticly.

 

[sctman800]

anticapating recoil

This was one of my problems that took some work. I shoot revolvers so I leave one or two rounds out. This way I don't know when it will just go "click" if you are anticapating the recoil you (me) look silly. I have gotten rid of the habit pretty much, but still do it once in a while to remind myself. Jim.

 

[Jim K]

Wow, that is a lot of advice, some of it contradictory.

Try this:

Concentrate on the sights and squeeze the trigger. DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE TRIGGER, think only of the sight picture.

Jim

 

[Fed168]

I recommend some ball and dummy drills, along with dry firing. Ball and dummy are done on the range. The magazine is loaded with live and dummy ammo, you should have the same sight picture for each trigger pull. The trigger is pressed back smoothly in one motion, with the acutual shot being a surprise. The sights should not move.

Too much grip on the gun is as bad as too little- even pressure with both hands. Make sure you have as high a grip as possible on the pistol, The only part moving is your trigger finger- focus on that. A thing to remember is "firm wrist, front sight, press." The only thing clear is the front sight, everything else has a blur to it.

Bring the gun up to your eyes, using whatever stance suits you, and focus on that front sight. While focusing on the front sight, press the trigger back in one motion, without anticipating the recoil, until the shot is fired. When it is fired, release the trigger forward until you hear and feel a click- it is reset, and press back again. The trigger finger never leaves the trigger until you are done firing.

Start at 7 yards. Not too far, not too close. Draw a small shape on the target- square, circle, what have you, and use that. With the above mentioned drills and suggestions, you should be able to put all your rounds into the shapes.

Remember, aim small, miss small.

 

[Keith]

I give you this advice freely even though it took me ten years to learn it.

I started as a rifle guy and never owned a handgun until I was in my thirties. I shot handguns enough to "qualify" in the military and that's about it.

When I did pick up a handgun I found I was a pretty poor shot and being such a great hand with a rifle, figured I just needed to practice more. This first handgun was a very small compact 9mm S&W (don't even recall the model) and I shot thousands of rounds through it and if anything, just got worse. I put that handgun away.

Some time later a friend offered me a Ruger .22 that he couldn't keep (transferring to New York). He practically gave it to me, so I took it and started shooting it. And in no time I was pretty good with it and the more I shot it, the better I got.
So, I dug out that small 9mm and began shooting it - and lo and behold, I was pretty good with it too! For a while, then my shooting deteriorated again.
Began shooting the .22 and got good again...

A few people are natural handgun shots, but most of us are not. I'm in that latter category - and so are you (or you wouldn't be having the problems I had when I started). Some people are never troubled by recoil, but most of us have to overcome it in some fashion until the good shooting habits are so ingrained that they are a permanent part of our shooting habits.
And it IS about overcoming completely normal human nervous and muscular responses. You are supposed to jump when somebody claps their hands next to your ear. And if you know they are going to do it, it is just as normal to anticipate that noise and "flinch". You can't reason that response away! You must repeat the exercise until your autonomic nervous system is completely deadened to that particular set of stimuli - trigger pull/noise/recoil-flinch.

The solution to my problem was to simply put away the centerfire guns and shoot tens upon tens of thousands of rounds of .22 before I picked up a larger gun again. And that's what I did. Today I can pick up a .454 and shoot it as well as I can a smaller handgun. But I still shoot at least ten .22's for every centerfire round I put down range, because it's cheap and effective training.

And that's what I advise you to do. Every time you pick up a centerfire handgun, you are in effect, re-training your autonomic nervous system to respond to a trigger pull with a "flinch".
Put away the centerfire guns until you've shot several thousand .22 rounds. Then pick up the centerfire and shoot just a FEW rounds. Go back the .22 and shoot a lot more. Repeat.

Eventually, you won't need to shoot the .22 any more. But I'd still advise you to shoot a lot of it because it's the cheapest round out there and you'll shoot a lot more.

Keith

 

[CZ52GUY]

...awkward adolescence...

I got back into handgun shooting the middle of last year after an extended absence. I really enjoy it and thanks to a good friend who got me back into it (former military, LE0, and collector), I get excellent instruction and exposure to many different types of handguns to shoot.

My first six months showed visible improvement each session culminating with shooting a ragged hole at 7-yds...I thought I had...ARRIVED!

The very next outing, I shot worse than my first time back out, primarily because I did not relax, and tried to incorporate EVERY BIT OF RESEARCH I had consumed from some of the very some authors referenced above. It was a bitter pill to swallow that I had not "arrived". I was out-thinking myself...to use a sports analogy (I played varsity basketball in high school)...I was "aiming" instead of shooting...I find that there is a rhythm to shooting...a mental point of reference where target-sight alignment is similar to when I was shooting 3-pointers...kind of like "mental radar lock".

I've made steady improvement since then, and most days can take down 6 knock downs (similar to Glock GSSF plates round) at 15 yards with one magazine (often with multiple hits per steel plate to knock them over because they are 1/2" thick (home made setup) and the angle is probably too steep toward the shooter on a hill.

I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be (every bulls-eye seems to have a corresponding "flyer"), but I'm in it for the long haul.

My words of advice as you progress.

1) Relax
2) Practice
3) Relax
4) Get advice, perhaps some formal training, but don't set expectations too high...it may take a while for the instruction to take hold and for you to master what you are being taught.
5) Let yourself enjoy the time out there regardless of results.

Trust me, your groups will improve...you have to let yourself succeed...beyond technique, with anything you pursue (I've seen this with sports and the business world also) sometimes you have to get out of your own way and let it happen.

Good luck and safe shooting,

CZ52'

 

[4v50 Gary]

Biggest common mistake for males? Watching TV/movies and then trying the stuph.

 

[Rogelio]

Great advice from the guys....

Also, please listen to 4v50 Gary, he is right. There is NOTHING cool on shooting like all those guys in TV series or movies (no, you can not hit a guy if you shoot at him while you are being blasted away by the explosion that has just destroyed your house!!!)

Get a certified instructor, they are worth the investment!