Handgun accuracy

[LPPOsecurity]

Ok, question time, the past couple times I've been out shooting my carry pistol I've been noticing that I tend to group a hair low and left of bull, what advice can u give me? Is it me or possibly the gun and in either situation, what can I do to correct that?

 

[U.S. Patriot]

Sounds like you may be slapping the trigger. Instead of squeezing it. Try this at home and see if it does not solve the problem. With an unloaded gun. Take a penny and sit it on your front sight. Find something to aim at. Squeeze the trigger, without causing the penny to fall off of the sight. This will teach you proper trigger squeeze.

 

[snowman]

The dummie load drill works well too. Load a full mag, and put in a few dummie loads in the mag, it's best if you don't know where they are so have a friend load them if you can. Watch what your pistol does when you pull the trigger on a dummie load. You can see if you are jerking the trigger very easily.

Also it could be a simple as your sights need adjusting...

 

[LPPOsecurity]

Ok, question time, the past couple times I've been out shooting my carry pistol I've been noticing that I tend to group a hair low and left of bull, what advice can u give me? Is it me or possibly the gun and in either situation, what can I do to correct that?

 

[rmabrey]

Im not an expert so my explanation may suck but assuming you are right handed you may be pulling with your left hand to much. That sounds weird even to me but someone can probably explain it much better.


if you are left handed its trigger squeeze.

 

[WhitleyStu]

http://www.homegunsafety.com/correction_chart.gif

 

[wag1911]

You might try tightening your grip a bit more. What can happen is that when you press the trigger your other 3 fingers are reflexively tightening as you move your index finger. Generally, if you have a fairly strong grip, those three fingers cannot tighten much more than they already are which means that pressing the trigger will not cause misalignment. You need the strongest grip you can have without inducing shaking of the hand. If you golf, think of how strong you hold a driver as you tee off - that's the kind of grip you want. Not a death-grip, but a very firm one.

Another possibility is flinch. I.E. you are anticipating the recoil and as you pull the trigger you are pulling the gun downward to get ahead of the recoil. This is very common. You can check this by loading snap caps into your magazine with live ammunition. If the gun moves instinctively when you pull the trigger on a snap cap, then you know you have flinch. The cure is a lot of dry fire practice and following through on the shot. I.E. keep the sights aligned on target and do not worry about recoil - your gun should still be aimed on target after the shot if you pull the trigger on a snap cap! Condition your mind to think every shot is a snap cap and you will soon cure the problem.

Hope that helps!

 

[Coach]

Going to be hard to determine what you are doing without seeing you shoot or even the target. Does the gun group the same for you on bags? Does it group the same for someone else? Get someone knowledgeable to watch you shoot.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Typically, for a right-handed shooter, hitting "low and left" is an indicator of jerking the trigger a little with your finger instead of a steady pull to the rear.

That graphic contained in the link that WhitleyStu posted is very good. Not definitive, but still good.

-J-

 

[Jack Ryan]

Ok, question time, the past couple times I've been out shooting my carry pistol I've been noticing that I tend to group a hair low and left of bull, what advice can u give me? Is it me or possibly the gun and in either situation, what can I do to correct that?

Those little screw looking things on your sights are for adjusting them, not just holding them on there.

 

[esrice]

Is it me or possibly the gun and in either situation, what can I do to correct that?

In most situations its the shooter.

Like Coach suggested, I'd take the shooter out of the equation and try shooting from a bench on a bag or rest. If it hits point-of-aim, then its you. If its still off, its the sights.

 

[Mike_Indy]

Assuming right handed, I'd say grip is too tight. The chart that WhitleyStu listed is a good thing to look at.

The USCAA had an article last month that was related to the one hole drill. At a fairly short range shoot the target and see where the follow-up shots (2 go). In my case I was also slightly low left. They sighted a grip being too tight as the issue as well. Loosening the grip did help in correcting my issue. Working on making it automatic for me know.

 

[kwood]

http://www.homegunsafety.com/correction_chart.gif

this is an interesting chart
thanks for sharing

 

[rebr]

this video helped me a lot on grip and trigger pull

YouTube - Todd Jarrett on pistol shooting.

 

[MikePapa1]

LP, here's a printable target that might help.

http://reloadbench.com/pdf/files/TargetRightHanded.pdf

There's a left handed one, as well. I used the right handed one when I had problems and it worked for me.