I need shooting tips

[mechanic66]

I went shooting recently with a friend and used his S&W 4506 (.45 cal semi-auto) and I always seem to shoot low and to the left. Why?? What am I doing wrong. Other people shot it and it shoots true.

I don't seem to have this problem with other handguns (9mm; .40; .357 etc).

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Deepdiver]

Could be the way that the piece fits in your hand (i.e. finger reach to the trigger) and you are pushing the gun down and to the left when you squeeze the trigger. Try dry firing and watching where the barrel drifts to when you pull the trigger - then adjust your grip to eliminate the problem.

 

[DigMe]

Could be that because it's a larger caliber than you normally shoot you are anticipating and pushing the gun slightly before the shot. Or maybe you're slapping or overpulling the trigger. If it's happening in single action mode you might be pulling the trigger harder than you need to and pulling it down in the process as you shoot.

brad cook

 

[mete]

You may be doing something wrong if you are not pulling the trigger straight back or if you are moving your hand instead of just pulling the trigger. However with handguns point of impact depends greatly on exactly how you are holding the gun and consistant results require consistant grips. Since each gun has a different size and shape grip and each persons hand is different you should never expect different shooters to have the same point of impact.

 

[10-Ring]

Sounds like all you need is some dry fire practice. My favorite drill for this is the dime on the front sight & pull the trigger as many times as possible w/o dropping the dime...you may wanna invest in a snap cap.

 

[coldshot03/04]

According to my "Trouble Shooting" target: Low and Left can be caused by
1.Tightening Fingers.
2. Jerking or Slapping the Trigger.
Go tohttp://sportshooter.com for the target.

 

[Chicken-Farmer]

Reasons...

It sounds to me as if you are placing too much of your shooting finger onto the trigger. You are pushing the gun left when you "pull" the trigger. Try using only the first pad of your shooting finger on the trigger. You are shooting low because you are flinching and jerking the trigger anticipating the round being fired. The key to pistol shooting is the line up your sites, focus on the front site making the rear site and target blurry. The front site should be in focus. Now slowly squeeze the trigger and let the gun surprise you when it goes bang, don't anticipate the recoil or the bang or you'll throw the bullet off. The reasioning behind not jerking the trigger is that pistols have such short barrels and the bullet has minimal time inside the barrel to stabilize. Any small movement on your part will end up making drastic changes in the bullets path down range.

Jeff Mays

 

[mechanic66]

Cool! thanks for all the tips

 

[hd1.]

Chicken-Farmer said it!

I learned this from a LEO who operates the local range. I rented a Kahr MK9 from him with the possilility of buying one. While I was trying it out, I was hitting consistantly low and to the left. The LEO was able to point out that I had "Too much finger" on the trigger. Sure enough, when I used only the fingertip (pad) I began hitting closer to where I wanted. In other words, I had to compensate for the small size of the gun. With my larger guns, the trigger finger seems to fall to the correct position without much thought to it.

 

[jimcon]

One very likely cause of shooting low and left is not following through. The sequence of shooting should be focus on the front sight, press the trigger, recoil occurs, reacquire the front sight, get the front sight back on the target, reset the trigger and finally decide whether to shoot again. Please notice that the above sequence does not mention looking at the target to see you hit or miss. If you try to look at the target after pressing the trigger, you will move the gun usually low and to the left. It may seem hard to believe but your hand is faster than the bullet moving down the barrel.
Just remember that all guns will hit what they are aimed at. It is your job to do the aiming and hold the aim point.
We recently had Jim Crews give a intermediate handgun class in NH. Jim is an absolute magician when it comes to fixing handgun accuracy problems. The overall improvement of the class accuracy (including the beginning shooters) was astounding.

 

[bountyhunter]

Classic Trigger Yank

I always seem to shoot low and to the left. Why?? What am I doing wrong.

That's from yanking the trigger instead of squeezing it. If I had a dollar for everytime I've done it, I could buy Bill Gates.

BTW: yanking the trigger also leads to the "sympathy squeeze" of the other three fingers in the right hand and that rotates the gun left and down.

 

[Edward429451]

Sounds like all good advice to me. A good way to practice followthrough is with light loads. After awhile when you're getting the hang of it, slip one or two warmish to full house loads in with the light ones in an unknown order and try it again. You'll be through with the followthrough by the time your brain realizes it was a hot one. Build from there.

Its nice to drop the hammer on that 7th round and not have it dip when it clicks. Maintain followthrough. Good thread.