Hey guys finally bought and received my new Beretta 92fs and love the gun. Now I'm curious if there any kind of tips or tricks for essentially becoming a better pistol shooter? I know there are courses on it in other provinces (I'm in Saskatchewan) but is there stuff a guy can do when he got 20 mins to spare? Or is it go and get some range time? I'm trying to stay away from some of the stuff on YouTube as half of it seems a bit odd to say the least (don't think I need to know how to reload with one hand cause my other got "disabled")
Pistol tips and tricks?
- Thread starter Chairs
- Start date
Dummy rounds are cheap insurance in my opinion!
Dry fire until your arms are weak, practice your grip and be consistent with it, keep your eye on your front sight and watch for sight alignment as you squeeze through the trigger.
Other things I like to practice when I dry fire are ensuring I get into my natural point of aim and that I'm weight forward balanced. I'll focus on my target, close my eyes and raise my gun to the target and open my eyes to see how far off my sights are then adjust my stance to get my natural aim on to the target. Once I'm ready to start pulling the trigger I bend my knees slightly, just so they're not locked and I move my weight forward until I feel my toes want to start curling. Sounds weird but you will feel it when you start leaning forward. This will help keep you on target when the recoil wants to push you back, even a 9mm will put you off balance slightly.
If you have funds and time, get into something like a Black Badge course. I'd been shooting pistols for a couple years when I took mine and I still came away with a lot! I believe someone was putting together a course in Saskatoon, don't know if that's close but have a look in the Shooting Games section of the forum here
Dry fire until your arms are weak, practice your grip and be consistent with it, keep your eye on your front sight and watch for sight alignment as you squeeze through the trigger.
Other things I like to practice when I dry fire are ensuring I get into my natural point of aim and that I'm weight forward balanced. I'll focus on my target, close my eyes and raise my gun to the target and open my eyes to see how far off my sights are then adjust my stance to get my natural aim on to the target. Once I'm ready to start pulling the trigger I bend my knees slightly, just so they're not locked and I move my weight forward until I feel my toes want to start curling. Sounds weird but you will feel it when you start leaning forward. This will help keep you on target when the recoil wants to push you back, even a 9mm will put you off balance slightly.
If you have funds and time, get into something like a Black Badge course. I'd been shooting pistols for a couple years when I took mine and I still came away with a lot! I believe someone was putting together a course in Saskatoon, don't know if that's close but have a look in the Shooting Games section of the forum here
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Probably more then half the u tube stuff is weird but that just means there are a couple hundred videos out there that are great!
Look for videos done by top level competitive shooters.
Grip, wrist lock arm and head position,stance and trigger control.
Look for videos done by top level competitive shooters.
Grip, wrist lock arm and head position,stance and trigger control.
Jerry brought up the point i was going. To.
Your weak hand is the strongest hand. It better be tired when you done training, if not your not squeezing enough with it.
For a brand new guy, and to sum it up in one sentence, id say lots of rounds down range, lots of dry fire, squeeze hard with your weak hand, front sight is in focus, target and rear sights are blurry, slowly squeeze the trigger to the point you do not know when the shot will break, the shot will surprise you. And most essential, have fun with it!
Once you start getting nice groups , ie; 4-5" at 15 yards, you can start having fun rushing the shots a bit more as you see in the videos. In my opinion, you need marksmanship before speed, and the slowly squeezing with front sight focused is your basic go to beginner training.
Your weak hand is the strongest hand. It better be tired when you done training, if not your not squeezing enough with it.
For a brand new guy, and to sum it up in one sentence, id say lots of rounds down range, lots of dry fire, squeeze hard with your weak hand, front sight is in focus, target and rear sights are blurry, slowly squeeze the trigger to the point you do not know when the shot will break, the shot will surprise you. And most essential, have fun with it!
Once you start getting nice groups , ie; 4-5" at 15 yards, you can start having fun rushing the shots a bit more as you see in the videos. In my opinion, you need marksmanship before speed, and the slowly squeezing with front sight focused is your basic go to beginner training.
G-Man_Quagmire
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- North Delta B.C.
This helped me...
Print that up and take it to the range..............
This. If you can film yourself from the side with a phone etc. This is good too. You will then see all your unconscious movements that you where not even aware of doing. Like anticipating hands movements and grip changes after a shot etc...
Spend some time with a person who knows is basics well is also the way to go.
- Location
- West Quebec
Thanks for the link they have nice little printable folding reminders..
Your question may have been addressed but the 92 is one of the only centre-fire pistols I have where the docs specifically state to avoid dry-firing this gun. Snap-caps, get 'em and go to it...as others have stated...lots
Take a look at pistol-training dot com. Most of the serious pistol shooters (some are professionals, others are Canadian) are on there, there's a "drills" section that's terrific. As far as training goes, it just happens that one of the better schools in Canada is in Regina (no-not that one) a real shooting school with highly skilled and experienced instructors, google Agoge-Tactical, also watch out for Phase Line Green courses in your area, you'll get more from qualified professional instruction than you ever will from blowing a case of ammo down range in the general direction of the target.
- Location
- Keswick Ridge NB
This thread should be built into a sticky. I am also a novice pistol guy and it is super helpful advice. Thank you!
Cocked&Locked
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- S. Ontario
Lot's of rounds down range is only a help if your putting them down range correctly....practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Don't worry about fast as fast is the enemy of precision, fast will come all by itself once you get accurate, but if you try to teach yourself to go fast first, and then tighten up, it's a much longer road.
Dry fire is your friend, especially once you understand how to use the fundementals of grip, breathing, trigger control, sight alignment, and follow thru. It will illustrate in a clearly visable manner where you are f#$%#ing up.
Next, while the 9mm is ok, if your serious about getting accurate go buy a rimfire, as you can shoot cheap enough to shoot alot, and the recoil doesn't hide breakdowns in follow thru or yanking/flinching or anticipation to the point that you as a new shooter won't see them. I'm NOT saying don't shoot the 9, but when you see your groups open up past a reasonable size, put it down, grab the 22, and find out what your doing wrong.
Your berretta should be able to group in the 2" range at 15 yards, possibly better if it's happy with your ammo...anything bigger then that is you Once you can do that, push the target back to 20 yards, then 25.....most shooters are content to blast away at 7 yards, never getting better and shoot patterns, not groups. There is nothing wrong with this if it's your thing, but it won't teach you anything, nor will you ever get better...keep challenging yourself. Once you find yourself able to shoot a group at a longer range, you'll be amazed how fast you can shoot the same group at closer range. When i was competing IDPA, slowfire bullseye at long range was always part of the training regime..not always a big part, but always there. It trains focus and discipline...and usually solves those occasional random flyers you can't figure out.
Finally, if you can, find a good pistol shot...again, if they can't print 2-3" at 15-20 yards, they probably don't have a whole lot to teach you...so choose wisely.
Dry fire is your friend, especially once you understand how to use the fundementals of grip, breathing, trigger control, sight alignment, and follow thru. It will illustrate in a clearly visable manner where you are f#$%#ing up.
Next, while the 9mm is ok, if your serious about getting accurate go buy a rimfire, as you can shoot cheap enough to shoot alot, and the recoil doesn't hide breakdowns in follow thru or yanking/flinching or anticipation to the point that you as a new shooter won't see them. I'm NOT saying don't shoot the 9, but when you see your groups open up past a reasonable size, put it down, grab the 22, and find out what your doing wrong.
Your berretta should be able to group in the 2" range at 15 yards, possibly better if it's happy with your ammo...anything bigger then that is you
Once you can do that, push the target back to 20 yards, then 25.....most shooters are content to blast away at 7 yards, never getting better and shoot patterns, not groups. There is nothing wrong with this if it's your thing, but it won't teach you anything, nor will you ever get better...keep challenging yourself. Once you find yourself able to shoot a group at a longer range, you'll be amazed how fast you can shoot the same group at closer range. When i was competing IDPA, slowfire bullseye at long range was always part of the training regime..not always a big part, but always there. It trains focus and discipline...and usually solves those occasional random flyers you can't figure out.Finally, if you can, find a good pistol shot...again, if they can't print 2-3" at 15-20 yards, they probably don't have a whole lot to teach you...so choose wisely.
