Brian Dale
Member
Jack, The reason that Al Gore invented the Internet for us was specifically so that we could show off. 
This stuff is harder than I thought!!!
- Thread starter markos
- Start date
- Status
IME, the first principle of accurate shooting is trigger control: a smooth, press straight back on the trigger with only the trigger finger moving until the shot breaks. Maintain your focus on the front sight as you press the trigger, increasing pressure on the trigger until the shot breaks. Don't try to predict exactly when the gun will go off nor try to cause the shot to break at a particular moment. This is what Jeff Cooper called the "surprise break."
BY keeping focus on the front sight and increasing pressure on the trigger until the gun essentially shoots itself, you don’t anticipate the shot breaking. But if you try to make the shot break at that one instant in time when everything seem steady and aligned, you usually wind up jerking the trigger. Of course the gun will wobble some on the target. Try not to worry about the wobble and don’t worry about trying to keep the sight aligned on a single point. Just let the front sight be somewhere in a small, imaginary box in the center of the target.
Also, work on follow through. Be aware of where on the target the front sight is as the shot breaks and watch the front sight lift off that point as the gun recoils – all the time maintaining focus on the front sight.
Also, while practice in very important, remember that practice doesn’t make perfect. It’s “PERFECT practice makes perfect.” More frequent practice shooting fewer rounds, but concentrating hard on what you’re doing, will be more productive than less frequent, higher round count practice.
Practice deliberately, making every shot count, to program good habits and muscle memory. Dry practice is very helpful. You just want to triple check that the gun is not loaded, and there should be no ammunition anywhere around. When engaging in dry practice, religiously follow Rule 2 - Never Let Your Muzzle Cover Anything You Are Not Willing To Destroy." As you dry fire, you want to reach the point where you can't see any movement of the sight as the sear releases and the hammer falls.
Finally, some instruction is always a good idea. I try to take classes from time to time; and I always learn something new.
Think: front sight, press, surprise.
BY keeping focus on the front sight and increasing pressure on the trigger until the gun essentially shoots itself, you don’t anticipate the shot breaking. But if you try to make the shot break at that one instant in time when everything seem steady and aligned, you usually wind up jerking the trigger. Of course the gun will wobble some on the target. Try not to worry about the wobble and don’t worry about trying to keep the sight aligned on a single point. Just let the front sight be somewhere in a small, imaginary box in the center of the target.
Also, work on follow through. Be aware of where on the target the front sight is as the shot breaks and watch the front sight lift off that point as the gun recoils – all the time maintaining focus on the front sight.
Also, while practice in very important, remember that practice doesn’t make perfect. It’s “PERFECT practice makes perfect.” More frequent practice shooting fewer rounds, but concentrating hard on what you’re doing, will be more productive than less frequent, higher round count practice.
Practice deliberately, making every shot count, to program good habits and muscle memory. Dry practice is very helpful. You just want to triple check that the gun is not loaded, and there should be no ammunition anywhere around. When engaging in dry practice, religiously follow Rule 2 - Never Let Your Muzzle Cover Anything You Are Not Willing To Destroy." As you dry fire, you want to reach the point where you can't see any movement of the sight as the sear releases and the hammer falls.
Finally, some instruction is always a good idea. I try to take classes from time to time; and I always learn something new.
Think: front sight, press, surprise.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
Oh come on... what good is shooting well unless you can show off?? LOL
Actually, I know you are joking but I hope no one really took it that way. I was just trying to illustrate how someone (me) can go from missing the entire paper with all 5 shots to a fairly decent 5 shot group.
I'm not sure if anyone already mentioned this yet but I forgot to add you should use snap-caps for practice at home. When you use snap-caps you can easily see what you are doing wrong because there is no recoil to mask the movement of the revolver. You can pull the trigger 100 or more times in a night during commercials while watching TV. After 600-1000 or more trigger pulls you will develop good trigger skills. The added benefit is you will smooth out your trigger because of all the pulls!!! That's a win-win situation in my book. I wore out a set of snap-caps practicing.
Quoheleth
Member
Well, if you have the SP101 that will shoot DA or SA, practice a little shooting SA (single action - cocking it for each shot). That will let you become more familiar with the recoil pattern without having to worry about the DA (double action)'s lengthy and harder pull. The SA work will allow you to gain confidence, plus it will help conserve ammo a bit - it's slower shooting than double action.
After a couple cylinders full of SA shooting, try DA. That is where dry-firing will really pay off.
I might recommend trying to "stack" your trigger pull. At home, CYLINDERS CONFIRMED TO BE EMPTY or WITH SNAP CAPS, practice this. Pull the trigger back slowly, and you'll feel the trigger move, the cylinder turn, and hear a slight "click" as the cylinder is locked into place with the cam. Stop pulling the trigger at that point. Now, just a light pull will fire the gun. Continue your trigger squeeze when your sight picture is what you want. BANG.
I shoot my Rugers this way. It takes a little practice, and honestly I use my off-hand thumb as a bumper for my trigger finger. When my trigger finger bumps the thumb, I know I'm close...easy...gentle...BANG. It works for me.
Last thing: sight picture. Focus HARD on that front sight. Make sure the top is flush with the top of the rear sight, centered in the rear sight. With the short sight radius, that crystal-clear sight picture is necessary.
Well...one more last thing. Take your time. There are no races at this point in how fast you gotta empty your gun. Shoot slowly and deliberately. Focus on each part: front sight, rear sight, target, trigger pull.
AND HAVE FUN!!!
Q
After a couple cylinders full of SA shooting, try DA. That is where dry-firing will really pay off.
I might recommend trying to "stack" your trigger pull. At home, CYLINDERS CONFIRMED TO BE EMPTY or WITH SNAP CAPS, practice this. Pull the trigger back slowly, and you'll feel the trigger move, the cylinder turn, and hear a slight "click" as the cylinder is locked into place with the cam. Stop pulling the trigger at that point. Now, just a light pull will fire the gun. Continue your trigger squeeze when your sight picture is what you want. BANG.
I shoot my Rugers this way. It takes a little practice, and honestly I use my off-hand thumb as a bumper for my trigger finger. When my trigger finger bumps the thumb, I know I'm close...easy...gentle...BANG. It works for me.
Last thing: sight picture. Focus HARD on that front sight. Make sure the top is flush with the top of the rear sight, centered in the rear sight. With the short sight radius, that crystal-clear sight picture is necessary.
Well...one more last thing. Take your time. There are no races at this point in how fast you gotta empty your gun. Shoot slowly and deliberately. Focus on each part: front sight, rear sight, target, trigger pull.
AND HAVE FUN!!!
Q
22-rimfire
Member
It is definitiely not as easy as it looks or as presented in movies or TV. I always think about Mel Gibson shooting his 9mm or the boys from Dirty HarryII or III (the one with the motorcycle cops) with their 357's and of course Harry with his 44's..
A snubbie is not a good choice to learn to shoot with. But a steel framed one is much better than one of the lightweights. A 22LR would be much better.
I took my CCW class and shot a new revolver to qualify, a 3" GP100 with full 357 mag loads. I hadn't even shot the revolver prior to shooting my targets. I passed easily, but my shooting was not as good as I expected based on shooting longer barreled 357's. You wouldn't have passed.
Keep shooting. I'd use regular 38spl rounds until you get used to the gun. Shoot single action most of the time to learn to basics. Double action shooting is much harder to master even at close ranges.
A snubbie is not a good choice to learn to shoot with. But a steel framed one is much better than one of the lightweights. A 22LR would be much better.
I took my CCW class and shot a new revolver to qualify, a 3" GP100 with full 357 mag loads. I hadn't even shot the revolver prior to shooting my targets. I passed easily, but my shooting was not as good as I expected based on shooting longer barreled 357's. You wouldn't have passed.
Keep shooting. I'd use regular 38spl rounds until you get used to the gun. Shoot single action most of the time to learn to basics. Double action shooting is much harder to master even at close ranges.
As promised, a report on my second range trip, now new and improved with photos.
Well I said, all bullseyes with my 336.
Ok, it was only at 25 yards, but I was still pretty happy. I wasn't as happy at 50 yards.
I figured I would just embarass myself at 100 yards, so I didn't even try. And finally, my revolver at 10 yards. I followed your advice and it went much better. 28 out of 30 on the paper and my accuracy improved significantly.
Now for the bad part of the trip. I am going to a state range, so there is no rangemaster. The shooters have to police themselves. Until the end of this last trip, it seemed to work very well. We called a break and went down the line with everyone yelling clear. People (including me) headed towards their targets. I was about half-way there when some ***hole at a 100 yard station took a shot. Scared the crap out of lot of people and really caused an uproar.
Well I said, all bullseyes with my 336.
Ok, it was only at 25 yards, but I was still pretty happy. I wasn't as happy at 50 yards.
I figured I would just embarass myself at 100 yards, so I didn't even try. And finally, my revolver at 10 yards. I followed your advice and it went much better. 28 out of 30 on the paper and my accuracy improved significantly.
Now for the bad part of the trip. I am going to a state range, so there is no rangemaster. The shooters have to police themselves. Until the end of this last trip, it seemed to work very well. We called a break and went down the line with everyone yelling clear. People (including me) headed towards their targets. I was about half-way there when some ***hole at a 100 yard station took a shot. Scared the crap out of lot of people and really caused an uproar.
Brian Dale
Member
Well done, and thanks for posting pics.
It's a shame that a moron went to the range when you were there. I imagine that the other shooters let him know how unappreciated his behavior was.
It's a shame that a moron went to the range when you were there. I imagine that the other shooters let him know how unappreciated his behavior was.
Sunray
Member
A 2.25" revolver isn't the best thing for an FNG, but that's what you have. How's it feel in your hand? The fit to your hand is critical. If you can't easily reach the trigger with no stress to your hand, you won't be able to shoot it well. That applies to everybody.
Too small can be fixed with a change of grips. Too large can be, sometimes, but not always.
Have a trigger job done(all new firearms need one due to frivolous law suits), quit mixing the ammo(you'll have to try a box of as many brands as you can to find the ammo your revolver shoots best) and go take some lessons. Get some upper body toning exercise too. Holding 25 ounces(1.5 lbs) out on the end of your hand isn't something anybody does regularly and it takes upper body tone.
Oh and civilization won't be coming to an end any time soon. Despite that gas prices are hurting the economy severely.
Too small can be fixed with a change of grips. Too large can be, sometimes, but not always.
Have a trigger job done(all new firearms need one due to frivolous law suits), quit mixing the ammo(you'll have to try a box of as many brands as you can to find the ammo your revolver shoots best) and go take some lessons. Get some upper body toning exercise too. Holding 25 ounces(1.5 lbs) out on the end of your hand isn't something anybody does regularly and it takes upper body tone.
Oh and civilization won't be coming to an end any time soon. Despite that gas prices are hurting the economy severely.
- Status
