Front sight flight pattern?

[635 PCSO]

I have finally been able to see the front sight jump out of the notch on my 686 while shooting. I was blinking before but overcame the issue just to hit another problem. Now after the shot the front sight jumps up and then arcs to the right to the right. I then have to correct my sight picture and while squeezing the trigger to keep up a good shot cadence. Can someone explain how I can change grip or my stance to get the front sight to travel straight up and down? This would certainly close the gap on my split times. At this time I have eliminated the problem being caused by trigger jerk, the sight moves to the right well after the shot, just before the sight falls back down it moves. I have tried squeezing with different pressure on strong and week hand it did not help, my accuracy actualy dropped when I did this.

Any sugestions?

I am shooting right handed iso stance, 4 inch 686. I am wondering if this is caused while I am letting the trigger return?

 

[Soap]

Is the barrel of the gun perfectly aligned with your wrist? It should form a straight line ideally.

 

[Jim March]

<scratches head>

I'm a Weaver-stance shooter so I'm not sure I can help.

That said...first, are you right-eyed or left? I know that sounds weird, but I'm right handed, left eyed. So I cant the gun to the left and line up on that eye. If you're subconsiously doing the same, you might not understand that you're doing it and compensate your hold accordingly.

To find out which "eye you are", hold your finger straight up at arm's length and line the tip up with some distant object...then while keeping focus on the distant item, bring your forefinger slowly straight back until it either hits (or is ABOUT to hit!) your dominant eyeball, OR you hit your nose every time in which case you're "ambi-eye" .

Next: I think you can control this "directional flip" with your off hand. You might try paying more attention there.

When I'm in the Weaver, I'm able to line my strong-arm forearm bones up with the gun's topstrap/barrel, exactly in-line. I find this helps my control a lot. There's a point where under serious recoil, the Weaver is better than Iso - it's probably out past 357 territory unless, well, you're on the small side (which isn't anything to be embarassed about). If so, you might ponder trying Weaver just to see what happens. The guys shooting crazy stuff like the 454Casull, 475Linebaugh and such all shoot Weaver, from the pics I've seen...and the curve of the gun tends to be "up and curving left" for right-handed shooters. They don't even TRY and keep the off-hand on the gun, they just let it roll and drag it back down.

But again: as I'm no expert on Iso, and freely admit it, let's see what others come up with.

 

[Jim March]

Daniel: that's a Weaver-hold technique. He can't do that from the Iscoceles hold. Iso was designed for 9mm/45ACP power levels and barely works with strong 357s in a smaller gun - he didn't mention how long his barrel is, if it's 4" and he's of normal stature he should be OK, shorter tube and/or smaller dude and he may need to re-think Iso even though it's "all the rage" in police training circles.

 

[Soap]

Jim- I've seriously been off my game lately...I didn't even notice "iso" stance. I hope the end of this semester comes swiftly!

 

[635 PCSO]

First thanks for the response.

The barrel is a 4 inch it is not in line with my wrist. This is hard to explain, but here it goes I hold the with my wrists bent, in other words my elbows are well below my wrists. My arms are not fully extented or locked. I turn my elbows out slightly. I learned about this from reading a book Surgical speed shooting. It feels comfortable and I do not have to muscle the gun during recoil. From what I understand the iso stance should allow the gun to return on target with little effort on the shooters part. So far I have learned to make the 357 recoil a non issue I do not have to fight through it, however I cant get the front sight to fall straight down. In order for the barrel to be in line with my wrist I think I would have to lock my elbows. I am open minded to whatever works, I will move the position around a bit and see what happens. I was hoping I could correct this problem with my off hand, but I have had no success so far. My next guess when I was releasing the trigger to return I was pulling the gun a little. I will try moving the stance around a bit.

I originally shot weaver, I am just trying something new to see if it is better, so far it has made for more efficient shooting. In weaver the sight did not return to its original position and I was fighting recoil.

I am left handed right eye dominant. I shoot rifle, bow, shotgun, pistol right handed because of this. I shoot with both eyes open with the pistol. I have not noticed me canting the gun. Size is not an issue I am about average 6 foot 196, plus or minus a few pounds pending the wifes cooking menu Oklahoma still teaches weaver in the Academy, like I said I am just trying everything out to see what I like.

 

[Jim March]

Ah. We have a bit more info to work with.

I'm thinking the key is the percentage of the hold that's being done with the left hand, versus right. But having focused exclusively on the Weaver, I'm not 100% sure on that.

Jerry Mikulek uses a variant of Iso where he points his elbows straight out to the sides and flexes them on recoil while *locking* the wrists hard up. The result is "straight back recoil" versus any sort of rise. I'm thinking there's GOT to be a definate power limit to this gag but a 4" L-frame 357 may not be out past the envelope, and hence might be worth at least playing with?