I am shooting low. Can you help me?

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Ok.. I just bought a NIB Sig P229R (.40sw) on Monday night.

I have taken it to the range twice.. I absolutely love this gun, it fits better, shoots better, and is more accurate than any other gun I have owned.

My problem:

At short ranges of 9' to 12', I can get really tight groups where I want them (where I am aiming).

BUT.. at ranges of about 20' to 25' I still get fairly tight groups but they are about 6" lower than where I am aiming..

What am I doing wrong?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Assuming you are using a weaver stance, try bending your legs and lean into the gun, that should do it, you should see that the gun was pointing down, and a little adjustment will correct this.
 
Thanks.. I'm pretty sure I am already doing that. I'll have to be sure to pay closer attention to it next time out.
 
Completely unload the firearm. While balancing a quarter on top of the slide, practise dry firing the handgun, both in double and single action. If you cannot keep the quarter balanced on top of the slide, you are over compensating for recoil, and anticipating recoil by rocking your wrists downward as you fire the handgun (based on your description that you are hitting low). To cure this..., repeat this drill alot, slowly, to retrain your grip and accustom yourself to the new handgun.

LD
 
This can be due to many factors. Anticipation being one of them. This is an area with which I had considerable problems. I took a pistol class, and due to some prudent observation and coaching it was determined that my hard work on anticipation had actually paid off. However, each time we would do a course of fire I always had some low shots. The problelm turned out to be that I was drawing and driving my pistol out too hard. So hard, in fact that I was causing the muzzle to drive downward when taking my first shot. This is from an isosceles grip. As it was explained to me, when you reach the end of your arms length when driving the pistol into position, if you were able to open your hands precisely at that point, the pistol should drop straight down. As I was doing it, it would have flown into the target. As far as anticipation, the best diagnostic tool I have seen is a pistol with a laser. This is a very difficult thing to sort out on your own. I have found that having an experienced shooter carefully watch while you shoot will usually go a long way toward unraveling it. Another good tool is to have a buddy salt your magazine with dummy rounds so that you do not know when they are coming. If you are anticipating, this will reveal it also.
 
LD said:
Completely unload the firearm. While balancing a quarter on top of the slide, practise dry firing the handgun, both in double and single action. If you cannot keep the quarter balanced on top of the slide, you are over compensating for recoil, and anticipating recoil by rocking your wrists downward as you fire the handgun (based on your description that you are hitting low). To cure this..., repeat this drill alot, slowly, to retrain your grip and accustom yourself to the new handgun.
Click to expand...

Nice!!! I will do that! I'll pick up some snap-caps on my way home and do this tonight.

Thank you.

Snarlington said:
This can be due to many factors. Anticipation being one of them. This is an area with which I had considerable problems. I took a pistol class, and due to some prudent observation and coaching it was determined that my hard work on anticipation had actually paid off. However, each time we would do a course of fire I always had some low shots. The problelm turned out to be that I was drawing and driving my pistol out too hard. So hard, in fact that I was causing the muzzle to drive downward when taking my first shot. This is from an isosceles grip. As it was explained to me, when you reach the end of your arms length when driving the pistol into position, if you were able to open your hands precisely at that point, the pistol should drop straight down. As I was doing it, it would have flown into the target. As far as anticipation, the best diagnostic tool I have seen is a pistol with a laser. This is a very difficult thing to sort out on your own. I have found that having an experienced shooter carefully watch while you shoot will usually go a long way toward unraveling it. Another good tool is to have a buddy salt your magazine with dummy rounds so that you do not know when they are coming. If you are anticipating, this will reveal it also.
Click to expand...

Great info.

Thank you!
 
Aim higher?

Sorry, couldn't resist :)

You've been given excellent advice already. I would guess that recoil anticipation is indeed the issue here.

Focus on the front sight. No, really, _FOCUS_ on the front sight. Gently squeeze the trigger... front sight, front sight, squeeze, front sight... don't worry about the bang, it'll happen... front sight, front sight... Bullseye!
 
I did an exercise that pretty much solved my flinching problem, and i'd highly recomend it.
Get your most powerful gun. Preferably a magnum revolver, but i think it would be helpful no matter what you use.
No target. No worries about where the rounds go. Point it straight downrange, and focus like a laser on the FRONT SIGHT. Watch it intently until the recoil moves it. Use a smooth trigger pull. Do this with no target for 50-100 rounds. If you are using a magnum revolver, switch to a .45 or your most powerful auto. Do the same thing. FRONT SIGHT, smooth trigger pull, focus until the recoil moves it. Do 50 rounds this way. If you started with the magnum revolver, the .45 will feel like a .22... ok ok maybe not a .22, but it will feel tame.
Now take out a target and put it around 25 feet out. Do the exact same thing. Concentrate on doing the exact same thing you were doing without a target.
When i did this exercise, my first shot with a target was a dead bullseye.
I now start out my range sessions with my .357 revolver, no targets, and my flinching has basically disappeared.
 
Quote: My problem:

At short ranges of 9' to 12', I can get really tight groups where I want them (where I am aiming).

BUT.. at ranges of about 20' to 25' I still get fairly tight groups but they are about 6" lower than where I am aiming..

What am I doing wrong?
------------------
...

Couple of thoughts for ya;

Try switching ammo, either 165gr to 180gr or vise verse..

Also, take note of front sight with close range shots, and try and raise your sight a tad, and see if that will help bring your shots closer to home, IF you're not:

It could be just that at longer ranges you're jerking the trigger, as to get the shots off as soon as you have your front sight on target.. thus they're landing low, as opposed to closer shots and you're squeezing off the shots/trigger.


Ls
 
Try this Shooting Analysis Target...

It's set up for a right-handed shooter.

Also, if you can mount a laser on the gun, even briefly, it will describe your smallest hand movements.

--Ray
 

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