Pistol skills lacking

Still alive is awesome, except for his love of Glocks. lol!

Listen to him. He's a good guy who knows how to coach. I do a similar thing, but I don't usually inflict Dot Torture on people. lol! Seriously though, start at 5 yds for a regular target. 3 yds for Dot Torture.

Focus on a smooooooooth trigger pull, while your sights are steady. You want the gun to go off as a bit of a surprise. Do not say to yourself - I'll make the gun shoot, NOW. Just don't do that. Slowly ease that trigger straight back. Remember to keep your focus on the front sight post, NOT the target. Also try closing one eye. Those are two big reasons I've found that cause a shotgun pattern at 10-yd distances.
 
I taught new shooters (probably thousands of them) so I think I got decent at it. Since you are far away (not in person) it makes it more difficult. Make sure you have a good proper grip ( dominant hand gripping pistol with weak hand wrapping fingers over fingers, and non-dominant thumb under your dominant thumb with both thumbs pointing forwards), a moderate grip. Just enough to control the firearm but nowhere near death gripping, pretty relaxed actually. Focus your vision on your front sight not the rear sight, or the target. Keep your sights level (front sight level with the two posts on the rear sight). What you are aiming at should be juuust at the top of the front sight post. Squeeze the trigger slowly with your trigger finger but make sure you are pulling with the middle of the tip of your index finger, not the joint, and not the very tip. Squeeze the trigger while focusing on your sight alignment as I described earlier until the pistol goes off. It should be a surprise when it goes off to you, and it should go off with the sights aligned on target. Repeat and repeat until it becomes second nature.
 
THESEUS said:
Well shot another 100 rounds with my G17 and pretty much my targets look like I'm using buckshot lol I've been shooting about once a month for a year and actually got out three times this month but still ####e. I'm pretty frustrated with my lack of improvement...
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Have you tried getting closer?

I think that you can learn a lot more shooting tight groups on a 'Dot Torture' - assuming that you can get close to the target - than you ever would shooting patterns from a distance.

http://pistol-training.com/drills/dot-torture

http://pistol-training.com/drills
 
++1 for the advice on trigger squeeze by jimbo and driller. The key is to let the bang surprise you as mentioned.

Other than total focus on your front sight ( I tell my students to focus so hard that the edges of the front sight look as sharp as a razor blade), do your best to visualize the trigger going straight back as you’re squeezing. Any pushing or pulling of the trigger ( usually due to a bad grip, tension or anticipation) at the last second will slightly shift your front sight, leading to a poor shot. If you’re shooting low left for a right handed, you’re likely flinching. Have your instructor do the “ dummy round flinch test” with you.

The Glock trigger has a “wall”. Resist the urge to squeeze extra hard when you get there. The pressure will increase as you overcome the 5.5 lb pull but do it smoothly, as jimbo14 said.

You can dry fire practice this at home. You know you’re doing it right when your front sight does not move when the striker releases. Driller’s tip on hand pressure will help. Watch YouTube videos on proper grip and grip pressure if you’re unsure.
 
Wendell said:
Have you tried getting closer?

I think that you can learn a lot more shooting tight groups on a 'Dot Torture' - assuming that you can get close to the target - than you ever would shooting patterns from a distance.

http://pistol-training.com/drills/dot-torture

http://pistol-training.com/drills
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I go to two gun ranges here In Saskatoon and the one is a 10m and back start line only the other is close up and personal just a bit further from to get to but that's the place I need to go.
I'll try this out next visit
 
driller212 said:
I taught new shooters (probably thousands of them) so I think I got decent at it. Since you are far away (not in person) it makes it more difficult. Make sure you have a good proper grip ( dominant hand gripping pistol with weak hand wrapping fingers over fingers, and non-dominant thumb under your dominant thumb with both thumbs pointing forwards), a moderate grip. Just enough to control the firearm but nowhere near death gripping, pretty relaxed actually. Focus your vision on your front sight not the rear sight, or the target. Keep your sights level (front sight level with the two posts on the rear sight). What you are aiming at should be juuust at the top of the front sight post. Squeeze the trigger slowly with your trigger finger but make sure you are pulling with the middle of the tip of your index finger, not the joint, and not the very tip. Squeeze the trigger while focusing on your sight alignment as I described earlier until the pistol goes off. It should be a surprise when it goes off to you, and it should go off with the sights aligned on target. Repeat and repeat until it becomes second nature.
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All of the things mentioned are my issues its getting more range time to combine all of that without thinking about it. I'll keep at it
 
Still alive said:
++1 for the advice on trigger squeeze by jimbo and driller. The key is to let the bang surprise you as mentioned.

Other than total focus on your front sight ( I tell my students to focus so hard that the edges of the front sight look as sharp as a razor blade), do your best to visualize the trigger going straight back as you’re squeezing. Any pushing or pulling of the trigger ( usually due to a bad grip, tension or anticipation) at the last second will slightly shift your front sight, leading to a poor shot. If you’re shooting low left for a right handed, you’re likely flinching. Have your instructor do the “ dummy round flinch test” with you.

The Glock trigger has a “wall”. Resist the urge to squeeze extra hard when you get there. The pressure will increase as you overcome the 5.5 lb pull but do it smoothly, as jimbo14 said.

You can dry fire practice this at home. You know you’re doing it right when your front sight does not move when the striker releases. Driller’s tip on hand pressure will help. Watch YouTube videos on proper grip and grip pressure if you’re unsure.
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Definitely I'm pressing too hard once the I hit the wall and I think that's causing me to jerk the barrel to the left a majority of the time.
I purchased the itarget package to do dry fire at home in between the range to see if I can get that trigger pull to smooth out.
 
I spent about a year after I got my first pistol watching YouTube videos and reading about pistol shooting fundamentals, it only helped me so much. I was shooting 8-10” groups on a good day at 10-15y and wasn’t really doing much but learning what not to do lol, I took a handgun level1 class locally and it was an eye opener. First day was in class going over the fundamentals, day two was live fire drills at a local range. My groups shrunk dramatically, like a 25rd group in a 3-5” hole at 15y, having a knowledgeable instructor stand beside you and critiquing you is something you just can’t get from YouTube.

Learning the fundamentals of marksmanship will transfer over to any type of firearm your shooting, have someone teach you to shoot a pistol accurately will make you an even better rifle shooter. It’s all the same technique no matter what the gun, grip, stance, sight picture, trigger press and follow through. Take a class locally if you can find one, you’ll learn a lot and have a fun time doing it. Pistol shooting accurately isn’t easy at the best of times but once it starts to click it’s more fun than shooting a rifle sometimes, at least I think it is.
 
Still alive said:
++1 for the advice on trigger squeeze by jimbo and driller. The key is to let the bang surprise you as mentioned.

Other than total focus on your front sight ( I tell my students to focus so hard that the edges of the front sight look as sharp as a razor blade), do your best to visualize the trigger going straight back as you’re squeezing. Any pushing or pulling of the trigger ( usually due to a bad grip, tension or anticipation) at the last second will slightly shift your front sight, leading to a poor shot. If you’re shooting low left for a right handed, you’re likely flinching. Have your instructor do the “ dummy round flinch test” with you.

The Glock trigger has a “wall”. Resist the urge to squeeze extra hard when you get there. The pressure will increase as you overcome the 5.5 lb pull but do it smoothly, as jimbo14 said.

You can dry fire practice this at home. You know you’re doing it right when your front sight does not move when the striker releases. Driller’s tip on hand pressure will help. Watch YouTube videos on proper grip and grip pressure if you’re unsure.
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Yup dry fire practice. Teach your brain there is nothing to fear and get that muscle memory. Great advice ^^^

THESEUS said:
All of the things mentioned are my issues its getting more range time to combine all of that without thinking about it. I'll keep at it
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You will get it. It's no fun if it's too easy :)
 
As most have said, handgun shooting is an art.

A trick I was taught, more for practice, but will help possibly in this scenario is the cable tie method.

Get yourself a cable tie. Thicker ones are better. You only need a small piece. Prove G17 safe. Move the slide back just enough to slip the cable tie in between the breech & chamber. This stops the gun going into battery. The G17 trigger will then not engage the firing pin sear. It's not the same trigger pull, more squishy, but enables you to pull the trigger without having to rack the slide.

Pointing at a safe target focus on the front sight while pulling the trigger. The front sight should not move (as theres no shot).

I found the I tweaked ever so slightly. It helped me identify this and focus on my grip.

Other technique is to place an empty casing on the slide & pull the trigger. That casing should not move.
 
Butcherbill said:
I spent about a year after I got my first pistol watching YouTube videos and reading about pistol shooting fundamentals, it only helped me so much. I was shooting 8-10” groups on a good day at 10-15y and wasn’t really doing much but learning what not to do lol, I took a handgun level1 class locally and it was an eye opener. First day was in class going over the fundamentals, day two was live fire drills at a local range. My groups shrunk dramatically, like a 25rd group in a 3-5” hole at 15y, having a knowledgeable instructor stand beside you and critiquing you is something you just can’t get from YouTube.

Learning the fundamentals of marksmanship will transfer over to any type of firearm your shooting, have someone teach you to shoot a pistol accurately will make you an even better rifle shooter. It’s all the same technique no matter what the gun, grip, stance, sight picture, trigger press and follow through. Take a class locally if you can find one, you’ll learn a lot and have a fun time doing it. Pistol shooting accurately isn’t easy at the best of times but once it starts to click it’s more fun than shooting a rifle sometimes, at least I think it is.
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I agree. If you can master pistol shooting you can shoot anything properly. Pistols exaggerate anything wrong with your shooting technique. You should be able to shoot your pistol at man sized target at 200m without too much issue once you figure things out. Then you learn about precision shooting long range and get addicted to that as well :)
 
You might want to check out some youtube video, like from
- Warrior Poet society
- National shooting sport foundation
Also look the the US Bullseye event, those guys are shooting the 45 one handed and you can find a lot of good tips on good shooting skills.

Try to do some "dry fire" if you can , it will save you some money on ammo.
(1) make sure the gun is unloaded
(2) remove all magazine and ammo from the room
(3) find a wall with nothing on it, wall colour does not matter
(4) stand close to wall such that when you hold your pistol in the shooting position, the gun muzzle is about a inch or two away from the wall
(5) dry fire the gun
(6) you need to ensure that there is no "sudden" movement of the front sight when the trigger release
 
driller212 said:
Then you learn about precision shooting long range and get addicted to that as well :)
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I’m picking up a Howa 1500 in .308 in an MDT chassis from a close friend soon and will be stretching my legs a bit further this year, can’t wait to scratch the surface of longer range shooting. I’ve already found a dead end logging spur I can set up targets out to 500y, which will be plenty to start out with. Really looking forward to it. ;)
 
It all comes down to knowing what you're doing. Getting instruction will solve 90% of your accuracy issues. I took a friend out for his first time shooting pistol just this weekend. I showed him everything from proper grip & stance to mental and physical techniques and tricks. We started out at 7 yards and slowly moved back to 25 yards. All along his groups were almost as good as mine, though he shot slower taking his time. But the results were that a complete newbie with a good understanding of the fundamentals was able to group within 4-5 inches at 25 yards.
 
Todd's targets (may he rest in peace) are great, but unless you obtain some decent training with someone who can explain the how's and why's behind pistol shooting, you're just burning ammo for no reason. Also, if you think once a month is going to result in an improvement, well, you're going to be disappointed. Learning how to shoot, and that includes bows, takes a lot more practice than that. 3-4 weeks off between sessions means you're constantly starting at step 1 every time you go out. Get some training, learn how to self diagnose, learn how to do dryfire practice, and then maybe your once a month sessions will see you improve.
 
The best thing that you can do for practice on your own, is to put a few dummy rounds randomly in each mag. This will highlight what is most likely a recoil anticipation on your part. Start slow, focus clearly on your front sight. Squeeze the trigger slowly, don't pull it, and wait for the shot to fire. When you unknowingly get to the dummy round you'll see your front sight drop when the trigger breaks. This is your anticipation. Get to a point where the front sight doesn't move when you hit the dummy rounds and you'll notice your grouping start to improve greatly!

Start close to the target if you can. Like 10-15 feet and just shoot at a blank piece of paper. Put the first round into the paper, and then try to hit the same hole with your next round. This will give you a finer point of focus and will force you to go slow.

Also, google some images of what a proper sight picture should look like. Front sight being in focus is the key.

Do this a few times and report back on the location of your groupings in relation to your point of aim. I guarantee you'll improve!
 
BullOnParade said:
A (stock) Glock 17 is not a bullseye gun. What size target are you shooting at and what ammo are you using?
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I agree.
I was use to shooting my CZ & happy with the results......I bought the Glock 17 & couldn't hit paper LOL

A fellow at the range said " its a Duty gun, not a target pistol". I nodded ok....then sold it.
 
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