Why am I shooting to the left?

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kumma

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Real strange thing has been bothering me for a while. When shooting my Smith 686 right handed it shoots to the left of point of aim each time about 3 inches or so. I shoot it left handed for the hell of it and it shoots dead on. Im right handed by the way. I changed back and forth a few times today and each time the same result. All shooting was done with one hand only, Now with my ruger sp101 right or left handed it shoots point of aim each time. What am I doing wrong.

Craig
 
Not that easy to tell! I'd fancy grip is at the root of this, and wonder how well you are holding the sight picture at release. I'd imagine and hope that 686 S/A trigger will be pretty sweet so hard to see that as a factor.

Have you checked also for dominant eye? I'll bet it is something fairly subtle. What about two handed? You do not mention that.
 
Anticipating the shot? Or maybe your grip. The pad of your index finger should be on the trigger; if your finger is any further through the triggerguard it could push the revo to the left as you squeeze the trigger. :)
 
Could also be pushing with the trigger finger.

If you let it flex sideways at the knuckle instead of pulling straight back from the 2nd you can actually push the gun sideways.

I find I shoot slower but more "perfectly" with my weak hand because I concentrate on doing it correctly more than I do my "natural" right-handed shooting, so errors sometimes don't show up.

You can practice isolating the trigger finger just by loosely forming a fist and extending the index finger, then repeatedly bend it in a 90 deg. Strengthens the appropriate muscle too.
 
Thanks carebear, that's what I was tryin' to say. You are so much more fluent than me with the language, but hey, I'm first generation in this country.
 
For me an my CZ 52 it was pushing on the heavy and gritty trigger with my trigger finger. Since I worked out my problem with that I get nice vertical strings now. Just need to fix that and I'm set ;)
 
Riley,

Thanks. I think you do just fine. I tend to use two words where one will do.

My sales/legal background coming through I guess.
 
diagn_left.jpg



diagn_right.jpg
 
how'd you know I was a left winger for 6 years. Never could score alot so back to defense I went, well that and being bigger than most as well. :)

I place the trigger in the first joint. While dry firing tonite it looks like the gun is twisting or torquing in my hand when im pulling the trigger. Must be part of the reason because it sure has a sweet trigger and im definatly right eye dominant
 
One thing that will make shots go low and left is "wristing". That's where instead of only contracting the muscles of the trigger finger, there is squeezing by the other fingers as well. You can see the effect of this by watching the muscles of the inside of your forearm. Trigger finger only, verly little observed movement. All fingers, a bunch of muscle movement.

But if the error is only a slight bit to the left, Carebear pointed to a possible cause.

Art
 
That happened to me, and it took the longest time to realize, that my dominant eye had changed. I was/am right handed and shoot with my right eye, but lately, it seems to change back and forth. When at the range, when I bring the gun up, right hand, and right eye, I close my right eye, and the sights are lined up with my left eye. At that point, I'm shooting to the left. If that is the case, I move the front sight to the right,ahd shoot with my right eye, and I'm center of the target. I know this sounds crazy, but this may be your problem! FourFive :banghead:
 
Cross-dominance is not the llikely culprit. You just don't have any (acquired) bad habits when shooting with your left hand and are probably paying closer attention to sight alignment and trigger control.

When shooting r/h, make SURE that your trigger-finger is not making contact with the handgun anywhere else but with the pad of the fingertip on the face of the trigger THROUGHOUT the trigger pull. Sometimes, our trigger finger placement gets sloppy and the trigger finger winds up "resting" (bearing) on the frame. As the trigger finger contracts, it induces lateral Left pressure on the frame, which causes the front sight, hence the shot, to go left.

Have enough of the pad of the trigger finger on the trigger. Make CERTAIN that you are pressing the trigger back in a straight line toward the the rear. (Some folks have a tendency to press the trigger slightly sideways (Left lateral force), causing the muzzle to torque to the left and down.)

Having too much of the trigger finger on the trigger can result in the finger exerting lateral force on the trigger to the RIGHT and (perhaps) down. (See if your trigger finger is curled around the trigger.)

Make sure that when you are pressing the trigger, only the trigger finger is moving. A common problem is sympathetic contraction of the rest of the shooting hand, causing sighting variations. Olympic shooters spend hours just practicing this with and without a gun in their hand.

Needess to say, critical dry-firing, esp. with a coach, will go a long way to improve your shooting skills.
 
I have a terrible time when firing 1911's, I always to left with them. But I notice I end up with the trigger tucked into the first joint on my finger, or the trigger slips to there when pulling it back. 1911's are baby pistols.

I have a glock 20 and 2 large frame EAA Witnesses that end up grouping around the center of the target. So I personally stick with the large frame double stackers. I find I fire those naturally with the tip of the finger without having to contort my hand. I really like the feel of the 50AE DE, but I'd much rather carry a lever action rifle than one of those, a lever action rifle weighs less than a DE.
 
I bought one of those adjustable aluminum ones with the three holes and a tiny allen screw. I don't want to fiddle with mine anymore since it's parkerized which means it turns into a pile of rust if I try to carry it. Need a sidearmor IWB or something for it.
 
So you're a sweaty big handed guy.... :evil:

I have short fingers for my hand size so I tend toward smaller grips. The opposite problem as yours I guess. The big Glocks are a stretch.
 
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