Pistol Accuracy Tips

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killchain

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Hey guys,

I'm not a novice shooter, but I've got a problem lately. When I shoot my Beretta 92... I am always hitting low and to the left. Constantly. It's making me angry, because I can shoot all of my other pistols dead on.

EDIT: It's not the sights... others have shot the pistol and can shoot it fine, it's something with me.

It's got a stock trigger, and I don't mind doing some work on it... but I don't want a hair trigger and I don't have the funds to buy some Ubertriggar kit from Uzbekistan.

Can anyone give me some tips on how to work this kink out of my shooting? It would be much appreciated.
 
I had a inox 96 in 40sw and it had a horrible trigger. I sent it back to Berreta for a trigger job ,about $40 at the time 2002. It was just as bad.. I ended selling it..they're reliable combat guns for up close and personal work and not a target gun I guess. Thought about buying a used 92 in 9mm but the lousy triggers tuen me off.
 
its either your sight picture or the way you are pulling or jerking the trigger
 
All of the above, just remember to press through the trigger. Do not try to make the pistol go off when you think the sight picture looks perfect, or you will jerk the shot down and to the left if you are right handed. Instead focus on the front sight post, accept you have an arc of movement, and press through the trigger while concentrating on the front sight. Don't worry about being slightly off a perfect sight picture, a good trigger break will usually still result in a hit if your front sight is in focus and somewhere on the target.
 
try this:
One trick an old timer showed me a way to compensate for a heavy trigger pull, was to start at the top of the target and pulling the trigger while the gun is moving when the sights hit 6 o'clock on the target. By timing your firing with your downward movement it actually helped with jerking and anticipated recoil thru the downward pressure of arms moving down. It sounds crazy but it does work.
 
You could try installing a reduced power main spring (say 18lb) this may give you a better trigger pull.

Also try the chart
target_righthanded.gif
 
Morgo said:
You could try installing a reduced power main spring (say 18lb) this may give you a better trigger pull.

Also try the chart
target_righthanded.gif
Click to expand...
What and where is this spring, exactly?

Because sitting here practicing the trigger pulls, I have started to notice that my Beretta's trigger is the stiffest one I have.
 
Trigger control, grip, and anticipation.

Grip: Try to get it high and tight. If you hook your index over the trigger guard, make sure you're not pulling down on it.

Trigger control: Practice dry firing. You don't even have to aim at anything in particular (just a safe backstop). Practice until you can consistently drop the hammer without moving the sights.

Anticipation: Load a snap cap in each mag. Low and left might indicate some anticipation. Perhaps your Beretta gives you a warning just before the trigger breaks, and your recoil response is kicking in a bit early. If you have a .22, bring that along and shoot a mag whenever your shots start to drop with the Beretta.
 
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killchain said:
What and where is this spring, exactly?

Because sitting here practicing the trigger pulls, I have started to notice that my Beretta's trigger is the stiffest one I have.
Click to expand...

He's talking about the mainspring that powers the hammer. It's located in the rear area of the grip frame just behind the magazine well. You access it through the spring plug held in by a pin. You need to remove the grips to get at it.

It's not entirely the gun though. For some reason the extra trigger tension is causing you to develop a flinch. The gun may be contributing to it but only because you've got the inclination that just needed something to bring it out. Some time with one of your other guns or, better yet, a .22 if you have it will likely help. Keeping ol' man Flinch at bay seems to require occasional refreshers. And those are best done with a light recoilling round such as a .22 pistol.

Having a buddy load your mags and mixing in a snap cap is a great way to find out how much you're flinching. If the gun does anything but sit still and just to "click" when you encounter the snap cap then you've got some flinch issues.

Wolff has reduced power mainspring kits for the Beretta 92. I'm just about to order one for my own recently acquired 92. In the meantime go in and cut 3 turns off the existing spring. It makes a big difference. But not as much as a proper length softer spring will produce so it's still worth getting the spring kit from Wolff.
 
BCRider said:
He's talking about the mainspring that powers the hammer. It's located in the rear area of the grip frame just behind the magazine well. You access it through the spring plug held in by a pin. You need to remove the grips to get at it.

It's not entirely the gun though. For some reason the extra trigger tension is causing you to develop a flinch. The gun may be contributing to it but only because you've got the inclination that just needed something to bring it out. Some time with one of your other guns or, better yet, a .22 if you have it will likely help. Keeping ol' man Flinch at bay seems to require occasional refreshers. And those are best done with a light recoilling round such as a .22 pistol.

Having a buddy load your mags and mixing in a snap cap is a great way to find out how much you're flinching. If the gun does anything but sit still and just to "click" when you encounter the snap cap then you've got some flinch issues.

Wolff has reduced power mainspring kits for the Beretta 92. I'm just about to order one for my own recently acquired 92. In the meantime go in and cut 3 turns off the existing spring. It makes a big difference. But not as much as a proper length softer spring will produce so it's still worth getting the spring kit from Wolff.
Click to expand...
Well, the irony of the situation is that my ".22LR pistol" is in fact a Ceiner conversion kit for the exact same pistol.

Come to think of it, I do shoot that kind of low and left too.

So you can snip the spring down a bit?
 
For the 9mm it hasn't bothered it a bit. The number of turns to clip off is based on some writeups I found while googling for "beretta 92 trigger job". Apparently the model 96 DAO uses a slightly lighter mainspring just to make the continuous DA pulls more tolerable.

If it were me in your shoes I think I'd try one or two more sessions with it as it is. Learning to master a bad heavy trigger pull may have some major good points to offer in terms of learning to support the gun in a consistent steady manner while pulling so hard with the trigger finger. I suspect that if you can manage this without pulling it down you'll be even a better shooter when you do the stopgap clipping of the stock spring and even better when you get your Wolff spring kit.
 
I'm going to assume you are right handed?

Watch your front sight, make sure you left hand is covering as much of the grip as possible (no gaps), press the trigger (do not yank) and most importantly don't get yourself frustrated dwell only on the good shots and not on the bad ones! Remember that shooting is as much psychological as it is technique, the more frustrated you get the worse it's going to get.

However based on your statement it sounds like it's not your technique "because I can shoot all of my other pistols dead on" so that it sounds to me like you just need more trigger time on the Beretta 92. It's possible that it could be the grip of the Beretta or the trigger itself, I would probably guess the trigger. IMHO the Beretta 92 series has not the worlds greatest trigger.

Remember not all handguns fit all people, I've owned handguns that I shoot very well and other that I can't shoot well at all. I've owned two Beretta 92's and I sold the first one because I couldn't shoot it well, a couple years later I gave the Beretta a second try bought another one, again I couldn't shoot it well. So I came to the conclusion that the Beretta 92 and I were simply never meant to be a match.
 
BCRider said:
For the 9mm it hasn't bothered it a bit. The number of turns to clip off is based on some writeups I found while googling for "beretta 92 trigger job". Apparently the model 96 DAO uses a slightly lighter mainspring just to make the continuous DA pulls more tolerable.

If it were me in your shoes I think I'd try one or two more sessions with it as it is. Learning to master a bad heavy trigger pull may have some major good points to offer in terms of learning to support the gun in a consistent steady manner while pulling so hard with the trigger finger. I suspect that if you can manage this without pulling it down you'll be even a better shooter when you do the stopgap clipping of the stock spring and even better when you get your Wolff spring kit.
Click to expand...
Well, I was planning on buying another one for myself for Christmas and since they are pretty cheap, I figured I'd get another factory one and toy around with this one.

I did the fix you suggested, and already... WOW. Dryfiring this thing feels MUCH better. Thanks for the advice!
 
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