How to remedy wrist break?

[BridgeWalker]

Over the past several weeks since I started pistol shooting I've gone from being pretty on target at 7 yards and getting better at 25 to shooting consistently high, by about four to eight inches at seven yards. The troubleshooting wheels suggest I'm breaking at the wrist.

How do I fix it? I realize that proper training in teh obvious answer, but I mean this week, ya know? I can't remember how I was shooting before. I was thinking about it today and it came down to either just trying to hold the whole hand steadier, or trying to keep the wrist a bit stiffer and letting teh muzzle flip pull my whole arm up.

I'm shooting one-handed with my right hand, due to an injured left shoulder, although ironically I'm shooting better with my left hand, it just tires to the point of pain after five or ten shots.

I'm shooting a fairly heavy 9mm semi, so it's not a very hard recoil at all.

Yeah, this is what I was thinking about all day during Thanksgiving gathering...

 

[AZ_Rebel]

Another major reason for shooting as high as you are is looking at the target instead of the front sight. That causes you to look "over" the sights and consequently hit high. Line up your sights and keep the FRONT Sight in sharp focus. Make sure that you keep the sight in focus until after the shot is made. Quite often a shooter will look at the sights properly but at the last instant - before the shot is fired - shift focus to the target to see where the shot hit. That will invariably raise the sights enough to be high as you are.

Even one-handed it should be easy enough to "lock the wrist" throughout the shot... when you are concentrating on a good grip.

I suggest you do some dry-fire practice for your sight picture. Do a slow Compressed Surprise Break and keep that front sight in sharp focus until after the hammer drops. Then try the same thing on the range - Front Sight-Press Slow...
Good Luck!

 

[Shawnee]

Hi Delta...

Another thing to check is to make sure you aren't overdoing the practice... either the number or pace of shots.

Too many shots at a sitting can tire you enough to result in slight losses of attention/control. Remember there is no hurry to practice. and twenty shots fired at full focus is a lot better than 200 shots fired with less than full focus.

Good Luck !

 

[Ed Ames]

Dunno about breaking at the wrist. I'm not even sure what you mean.

This may have no relevance at all, but....

I once managed to develop a flinch during one long range session with a very heavy .22 target pistol (with scope it was close to 3 pounds). That gun offered as close to no recoil as you could get. I was alone in an indoor range focusing on each shot and after a while the gun sounded LOUD and I was just jumping. I went from forming one ragged hole to spraying all over the paper and I kept focusing harder trying to bring things back into control. I was shooting that little .22 and it went BOOM, each time I fired, BOOM, and I'd jump a bit, BOOM and I'd never jumped this way before, BOOM and I was barely on the paper BOOM and then BOOM someone fired a .44mag in the next lane. I all but jumped out of my skin! Then I fired again. pop. Within 5 shots (from the .44) I had some perspective again and was back down to where I started.

It was a weird experience and I took it as a demonstration of just how subjective all of our perceptions are. If you tune yourself in to a 9MM, or .22, or whatever, it can take over your perceptions until something comes along to "reset" your internal measurements. Not just that but also the problems with trying to "concentrate" my way to accuracy. I think that was the first time I was truly alone in an indoor range and therefore the first time I didn't have any other source of loud noises to judge against, and to break my focus. Nowadays I try to bring at least two guns to the range... a plinker (.22 or similar) and a thumper (at least 9MM) and switch between them. I find that having the contrast improves my shooting in general. That's on top of a lot of dry fire practice of course. I also like to have other things around, be it other shooters or an outdoor environment where the universe can't shrink down to just me and the target quite so easily.

Maybe that's just me though.

 

[BridgeWalker]

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of dry-fire practice with my shotgun lately. Guess I oughta expand. A thread on blinking while firing got me working on that one. Turns out I have almost no flinch on the shotgun, but I do bink every time I pull the trigger...

I'm definitely focusing on the front sight most intently, rear sight for lining up, and target in the background. Working on stance would probably make that more effortless and therefore more consistent, but one thing at a time.

What I mean, as I understand it, is I think I'm letting the muzzle flip jerk my hand upwards, bending sharply at the wrist.

It may actually have started the day I showed up when a couple of guys were shooting .300 win mags. I only had plugs (I know, I know....). The noise, coming unprdicatably sinc someone else was shooting, was astonishing and made me acutely aware of noise/hearing damage for the rest of the day. My shooting was off that day. I may have started doing something wrong that day related to heightened perception of noise. See, I usually have the luxury of the rifle/pistol range to myself. I am likely getting a Ruger Mark II in January.

Definitely not overdoing it. I've never shot more than 100 rounds of pistol in a day--too poor after leaving the trap range. Usually I stop at fifty, at least until I have gear to reload more.

I will work on the dryfiring, and try to be steadier. Part of it could also be that I've been sick a lot for the past month or so and haven't been doing any of my usual working out. My wrist and arm might just be weaker right now than I'm used to.

 

[CAnnoneer]

Ed has a point. I have noticed something similar too and indeed always go to the range with at least a .22 and a 9mm, sometimes doing some .357mag or .45 as well. I warm up with the .22, then switch to 9mm, then when I get tired, I go back to the .22. Sensitivity changes all the time; it is important to vary the calibers and/or loads to re-initialize internal gauges.

More specifically to the particular question, you may be doing something like "cowboying". To check, use a revolver with some some snap caps or spent rounds at random positions in the cylinder (spin the cylinder to randomize). That way, you will see what your wrist does. If you only have a semiauto, put in a snap cap together with the live rounds in the mag.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

If I might make a suggestion? You didn't say what you mean by "pistol" but let's assume it is a square frame semi-auto. Try putting a dime on top of the frame with your off hand--and then try dry firing. You might be surprised to find the dime moves on the frame from the way you move in holding the pistol. You may be focusing so hard on the sight picture that the gun is weaving without you even knowing it. If you are pushing or flinching in anticipation of the coming detonation (BOOM) the dime will fall of the frame.

Just a "quick and dirty" way to assess the circumstances.

 

[RecoilRob]

Another suggestion I might offer would be to get an accurate target air-pistol and practice with that. MUCH more fun than dry firing and you really, really get to see how you are doing. Plus, the relatively long barrel + slow velocity (350-380fps) means long pellet time in tube which forces you to follow through.

I have an Avanti 747...cost $129...and I shoot it weekly. Cheap Gamo Target pellets around $.01 per and will one-hole @ 10M (from a rest).

Pellet trap set up across the living/dining room makes for very convenient practice when I feel the urge.

Oh, what happens after your pistol fires isn't really that important. So long as you hold the same each time, and the pistol functions properly, allowing it to rise in recoil shouldn't be a problem.

 

[curmudgeon and anarchist]

All you have to do is pay attention and it won't happen.