I'm a bad shot :(

[poetdante]

So I've been shooting for just over a month now (yes, literally I got my first handgun in late December) and I have been going to the range every week. I've gone through as many youtube videos and forum threads on proper pistol techniques as I can. And still, my shots are not where I want them to be. The distance with the pictures below is from 21ft if not otherwise indicated. I circle the groups of 3-4 shots I took with pauses in between shots to re-align sights. Arrows indicate which target I was aiming for. I do my best to practice proper grip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iQb8j_hXnM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJrA7wMXuuQ) as well as sight alignment+picture, trigger control, and reset, etc. I use a weaver stance and really don't know what else can be causing my bad aim. Based on the diagram below I seem to both be squeezing my left hand (non-dominant) too hard (resulting in low and to the left shots) as well as heeling (resulting in an upward right shot) and just plain old downward shots (especially at closer ranges like 10ft).

Any advice? I try to hold the pistol (semi-auto) properly but is seems I need to have a good grip with both hands rather than most of the support with my left.

:banghead::banghead::banghead:

 

[poetdante]

More pics. Sigh.

 

[poetdante]

I spent 200 rounds total. I need a better way to train.

 

[Hardtarget]

I can only suggest two things.
1. Do not let your eye leave the front sight. You may be shifting your sight to the target.
2. Press the trigger. Steady pressure...no jerking. Only use 4 or 5 seconds at most. You'll get faster as you go along.

I'm no guru but I think you'll improve with time. Others have much more instructional value that I.

Keep shooting...careful, patient, practice. You'll get there.

Mark

 

[browningguy]

Actually what you need to do is take a lesson. I know, that's money you could spend on ammo, but find someone in your area offering an intro to handguns, or fundamentals of handguns or something similar. You'll shoot a lot better and feel a lot better for probably $100-150.

I've been shooting for 50 years now, and when my youngest daughter (she's 31 by the way) decided to get serious and get a chl last year I paid for her to take 2 classes. Now she shoots well and I feel better about her carrying.

 

[Drail]

Dry fire at home. A lot. Concentrate carefully on the front sight and see if it moves even a tiny bit when you press the trigger. If it does - there's your problem. Practice until you can press the trigger and see no movement of the front sight. As far as grip goes, all that is necessary is about the same amount of force you would use to shake someone's hand. Chicken choking the gun does not help. When you get to the range, concentrate on watching the front sight (let the target fuzz out a little) when the gun fires. Ideally it should lift straight up and come back down to exactly where it was before the shot. If it doesn't then you're muscling the gun too much. It may go up and left or right a little but it should come back where it was. You want a neutral grip that doesn't steer the gun to the side. And concentrate intensely on that front sight. And breathe. Relax. Don't "make" the gun fire - "let" the gun fire.

 

[9mmepiphany]

So I've been shooting for just over a month now (yes, literally I got my first handgun in late December) and I have been going to the range every week.

For only having shot a month, that isn't horrible and most of it shouldn't be too hard to diagnose. It would really help if you had some video of you shooting or at least pictures of your grip.

Some formal lessons would be the easiest/fastest/cheapest way to learn the correct techniques. I've taken a new shooter out before and had them shooting into a square post-it within 20 rounds.

While Dry Fire is a shooting mantra to improve your shooting, it doesn't do you any good to practice poor techniques...it just ingrains poor habits

I'll take some educated general guesses and see if it helps

I do my best to practice proper grip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iQb8j_hXnM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJrA7wMXuuQ) as well as sight alignment+picture, trigger control, and reset, etc. I use a weaver stance and really don't know what else can be causing my bad aim.

I took a look at both of those videos and I didn't think their description was very clear at all. I'd get away from the Weaver stance with it's push/pull dynamic. When first starting, you'd be just as well off using the Tea Cup hold. Grip has very little to do with shooting accurately. You're just as likely to introduce negative pressure to throw your shots off.

The strong hand fingers should pull the gun back into the web of that hand; the support hand fingers should apply lateral pressure to hold the gun in place

Based on the diagram below I seem to both be squeezing my left hand (non-dominant) too hard (resulting in low and to the left shots) as well as heeling (resulting in an upward right shot) and just plain old downward shots (especially at closer ranges like 10ft).

Ignore the diagnostic chart unless you are going to use it, as designed, for one-handed shooting

Any advice? I try to hold the pistol (semi-auto) properly but is seems I need to have a good grip with both hands rather than most of the support with my left.

:banghead::banghead::banghead:

You're over gripping the gun and slapping/snatching/flinching the trigger in anticipation.

1. Don't try to make the gun go off when the sights are perfectly aligned on the target.
2. See the aligned sights on the target and press the trigger slowly to the rear.
3. If the sights drift off, don't snatch at the trigger to make the shot go off, before the sights do.
4. Just keep pressing as the sights wobble across the target.
5. Don't check each shot you fire, don't even look at the target until you've fire 3-5 shots

 

[hovercat]

Try shooting single action, cocking the hammer manually before each shot. This should lighten the trigger pull so that you do not need a death grip to hold, and a trigger finger worthy of Hercules.
If that works, a smoother/lighter trigger may be in order, or a different firearm.

 

[Radagast]

If your gun has a flat front sight, then dry fire with a coin balanced on it. That's what I did to get better with my Glock.

Also what model of firearm are you using? Some are much harder to master than others and there may be minor tweaks available that will improve your control. My group size halved when I changed the sights on my Glock to Heinies, halved again when I changed to a factory reduced power trigger connector. Ditto for My Beretta when I changed out the main spring for a lighter factory offering.

 

[Radagast]

Oh, round count helps! I considered myself 'good' after around 20,000 rounds & a couple of years, half of that in IPSC competition and drills. Don't be discouraged when your gun isn't even broken in yet.

 

[Fred_G]

Actually what you need to do is take a lesson. I know, that's money you could spend on ammo, but find someone in your area offering an intro to handguns, or fundamentals of handguns or something similar. You'll shoot a lot better and feel a lot better for probably $100-150.

I've been shooting for 50 years now, and when my youngest daughter (she's 31 by the way) decided to get serious and get a chl last year I paid for her to take 2 classes. Now she shoots well and I feel better about her carrying.

Gonna vote this. I shot a ton of ammo, did OK, but was never happy with my shooting. Took a class, and the instructor changed my grip. I shoot much better now.

 

[conw]

If your gun has a flat front sight, then dry fire with a coin balanced on it. That's what I did to get better with my Glock.

So you pressed the trigger, reracked the slide, replaced the coin, pressed the trigger, reracked the slide, and replaced the coin?

Seeing as you can't press the Glock trigger twice in a row without using live ammo or manually racking the slide the coin trick seems a bit odd...maybe I'm missing something?

 

[poetdante]

Hardtarget:
I keep my eyes on the front sight and apply steady pressure and keep focus on the break so I am not slapping the trigger.

browningguy
I took a CHL/CCW class. I will invest in a pistol course but the local range doesn't have any coming up for a few weeks.

Drail:
I dry fire for 15 minutes in the morning and night. I notice a slight twitch to the right sometimes, but never to the left, which is where a lot of my shots are landing.

While my eyesight isn't great (glasses, getting into guns meant giving up lasik, I'm only 26 btw) the picture is very fuzzy and the front sight is in focus. Sometimes I have to close one eye first and open the other to get it into focus but I ALWAYS make sure the front sight is the last thing I focus on and it is lined up properly.

Shots are taken at the bottom of every exhale, making sure the trigger break is worked up to smoothly as possible.

9mmepiphany
Here are some pictures I tried to take of how I hold my pistol. And yes, those bullets in the background are all the loose rounds I found on on the range floor over the last 3 visits (most of them today actually). Your last bit of advice is the hardest I find to follow. I can't help but to "glance" to see where the shot went. But, I've gotten better haha. I know I need to keep the focus on the front sight and I do try to do 3-4 shot sets before bringing the target in for analysis (see pics).


Thank you guys for all of your help so far. What is ironic is I had my best friend and his gf come with me at the range (they decided to show up just as I was leaving so I stuck around to help them out) and neither had really shot a gun before (friend had once a month ago with me, his GF was 90lbs and never held one). So I told them everything you guys told me plus gun safety, range rules, etc. Their shots were just as good as mine Hence my determination to get help from the community here.

And yes, I WILL take a class, although one-on-one might not be available. I am certainly willing to spend the money on it.


hovercat
I shoot a PX4 Storm Compact in .40 which is only double action for the first shot.

Radagast
Even though my PX4 Storm has a slight tilt to it's front sight I do try doing the penny balance thing. Doesn't work after a few shots but I manage to get 3-4 double action pulls before it falls off. As for round count...I think I've gone through 800 rounds, maybe more?

A note on ammo. Being a student meas I buy a lot of re-manufacture ammo is used (no room for re-loading but I do collect brass! Almost 3000 casings in just a month ) I am not expecting match grade stuff, but at least I want to hit a 3 inch circle at 30ft, not too much to want in terms of accuracy. As for accuracy, aiming for the head gives me much better groupings than at "vital" parts like heart, liver, and solar plexus (when I have 2inch circles there).

conw
It is a little hard to do with a double action but I can usually cock the hammer of my Beretta back without shaking the penny off of my tilted front sight

 

[788Ham]

Maybe Mr. Borland will be along soon, he has a short video of himself doing the coin routine… flawless ! In fact he "shoots" 6 rds {empty cylinder by the way }, the coin never wobbles. Don't get down on yourself, bet he didn't do that the first 6 times he tried it either. Mr. Borland, you're needed on aisle 1. lol

 

[poetdante]

Yah there are no pistol classes offered here (at least until May).

 

[chris in va]

I'll be honest with you, could be the gun. Oh NO I said it!

Example. I just started carrying and bought...a gun. 9mm. Hits looked exactly like yours and I was very frustrated. Then I started looking around for something that fit my hand better and rented a few at the range. One gun stood out with shots actually resembling tight groups. I then bought a 9mm version and happily ever after.

Moral of the story, might be you, might be a mismatched gun.

One more thing, you are probably flinching. A compact 40 caliber recoils a fair amount. Its a hell of a gun for a beginner, like giving a teen the keys for a supercharged Tahoe. Try shooting something full size in 9mm or even 22 and see how your hits improve.

 

[poetdante]

Well I could try a different backstrap on the grip... but the reason I got this gun (other than it having a ton of safety features for a first-time shooter like me) is that if felt...right. I love how it holds in my hand. But you may be right.

I also bought a Ruger SR45c for my gf to use and it fits my hand really well too. I get about the same accuracy with it as my PX4. Also, gf's accuracy is about the same as mine, but her shots aren't all over the place. Hence why I think "I" am the bad shot. Friends shooting my gun don't have tight groups, but at least all their shots are hitting center of mass in a 4inch group. Mine, well you see how many times I "missed" plain and simple.

 

[kitsapshooter]

ignore the target. post the chart and shot a sting of 4 or 5 shots. Stop and closely examine the chart. Repeat and correct from that point.
Of course if you were close to me I could coach you.
The chart works well with a two hand grip since it is based on what the shooting hand is doing.

 

[chris in va]

Well until you can rent a few other guns, try this.

Focus your mind solely on the trigger and front sight. Envision your mind is only controlling your trigger finger. Slowly bring the sights onto target from the right or left, and when you get 'lock on', focus only on your finger pulling that trigger in a controlled, precise manner.

One more thing. You're right handed. Are you also right eye dominant?

 

[poetdante]

I think the chart works well with identifying what the problem probably is, but correcting said problem needs a third eye perspective. I'll try to get some video up when I go to the range next time (I think I hooked my friend and his girl into shooting so if I ay them in ammo for their rental gun I think they will video record me haha)

But yah, I checked all the local gun ranges in Louisville, KY and none are offering pistol training until late April/May. My nearest gun range is really pushing "Women on Target" and CCW classes and the one about 40min away only has "Pistol Safety" classes. Back in December I remember seeing TONS of Pistol/AR/Shotgun safety classes lined up and now they are all gone. What's a fair rate to offer an instructor for one-on-one training for a member of his gun range (i.e I go there once a week and they know me on first-name basis). Would $300/hr be too little?


chris in va
Yes I am right eye dominant. My left eye is off by a few degrees but it doesn't affect my sight too much. I just have to focus in with my right eye before I can use both eyes to shoot (sometimes I actually have to close my left eye but this only marginally helps my accuracy)

 

[chris in va]

Oh wow, you're in Louisville...so am I. We should hit the range.

BTW I live near Knob Creek where you can shoot all day for $10. Easier to shoot there anyway as you don't get that echo effect like in an indoor range.

 

[poetdante]

Meeting up with strangers I find on the internet lol. It depends on which range. I have a membership at TG&G because OpenRange is too expensive and Knobb Creek is too far away. I'm up for some range time, just don't mock me when my shots are worse than the pics I posted

Knobb Creek is a nice place to shoot, but the periodic cease fires and muddy terrain when wet, plus being so far from me makes me not able to afford the trips. TGG is like down the road from me so I go there. But once it's warmer I plan on going to Knobb Creek once a month for long gun and shotgun practice (indoor range doesn't allow any rifle but a .22LR)

 

[chris in va]

Well let me know, I have my own business and this is our slow season so I have nothing else better to do. Been shooting handguns for about 11 years and belong to an IDPA competition club.

 

[poetdante]

Is IDPA like steel targets? What's that like and is it expensive? I swear shooting is addicting and not good for my student budget haha. But I've been chasing that "high" since my first shotgun shot in the woods of Tennessee last Christmas...

I know that KY Firearms Training (http://kyfirearmstraining.com/calendar/2014-kentucky-firearms-training-calendar/) does tactical training classes, but noone is doing just normal training.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Would $300/hr be too little?

Too much.

$70-$100/hr should be plenty...that's what I charge