Consistently inconsistent.

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Ryan112929

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Hey all. I'm a relatively new pistol shooter. Friday morning is my range time and I'm always the only guy there so there's no one to tell me what I'm doing wrong. Lol. I seem to shoot ten (or so) ####ty groups and then one nice tight (for me anyway) one. Drives me nuts that I can't seem to repeat it when I want to. It's always a surprise! Sight unseen I know it's pretty tough to diagnose my issues but any tips would be most welcome. I shoot standing square to my target, two handed grip at about 40' or so. I'm heading out tomorrow morning as usual to punch some holes some targets. Thanks for reading. Ryan
 
I'm no expert and consider myself "new" as I've only been pistol shooting for the past couple years. I started out with a 22lr and gradually moved up in caliber. Regardless of what caliber I'm shooting I still usually start out at about the 3 yard mark and work my way back to 25 yards which is my range maximum. I've tried starting at 25 yards and find it a little discouraging sometimes. ;)

What caliber are you shooting? Practicing dry firing can sometimes show you what you need to correct. I'm sure others with more experience can offer up more advice.

Enjoy the hobby!
 
More than likely it's inconsistent grip, a flinch, or you could have trigger issues ( either you or the gun) . What type of handgun and what caliber are you shooting? Like Temps says, bring it in to the closest that your allowed at your range and start there. If it's a semi you could have a loose bushing and that would throw things off, or improperly sized bullets could have a similar effect. More than likely it's the human part of the equation, try to get a solid grip, focus on your front sight and let everything else blur out, control your breathing and shoot slowly. See if it's you or the gun.
 
If your sights are aligned when you squeeze the trigger, the shots will go to point of aim. Think about that. If they don't, it's you. Start close with a big target, and work out farther as you get better. If you can get instruction, progress will come sooner.
 
It's definitely worth the time and money to seek out some formal training. I'm not sure about your area, but there are probably some options. My recommendation is to stay away from tactical type courses and focus on the fundamentals of shooting first.

Good luck.

Will
 
Tough to say exactly what your doing wrong with out seeing you shoot but ensure you are gripping the pistol properly and start close 5 to 7 yards draw a 4 in circle and group in that circle, don't move back until you can place 10 rds in the circle then move back to 10 and repeat and so forth. Make sure you are getting proper sight picture and keep focused on that front sight, in time with practise your grouping will get better as your learn proper sight picture, trigger press, grip but accurate pistol shooting takes time, lots of practise, and training. If your flinching try and find a buddy to go with you and do a ball and dummy drill.
 
Thanks guys. I'm shooting a GSG1911 with the ZRTS upgrade. I don't have much to compare it to but the trigger is nice and crisp if maybe a little heavy and everything else is nice and tight as well. Starting at 3 yards and moving out is maybe the ticket. I hadn't considered beginning from that close. I'm in Lafleche, Saskatchewan and there is a great club close to me but they meet Wednesday nights and I work in the road so I'm not able to go when others are around. Friday is my day off and nobody else is there so I lack the benefit of others instruction/input (not to mention just being able to visit with other shooters)however that means I can pretty much start as close as I need to and take as much time as I want to so there's a plus I guess. I really am just trying to learn on my own most of the time. I'll give your suggestions a try today. Thanks very much. Ryan
 
Check out you tube there is a lot of videos that can help you attain proper sight picture, grip, and trigger press. Just take your time start close and slow and work out to distance. Keep in mind practise does not make perfect, perfect practise makes perfect.
 
Dry fire practice! Over and over and over to get that trigger control/grip down; attach a cheap laser if possible to see your POA and help control it - helped me a LOT!
 
Are these bad groups basically all over your target of are they kinda all grouped to one direction? If they are all over it means your grip is bad and inconsistent if they tend to be all in one direction it's normally because of flinching or bad trigger control.
 
bkelly4790 said:
Are these bad groups basically all over your target of are they kinda all grouped to one direction? If they are all over it means your grip is bad and inconsistent if they tend to be all in one direction it's normally because of flinching or bad trigger control.
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Pretty much all over. Except for the odd one which groups great... I'm a long time rifle shooter so I've always considered myself a pretty darn good shot. This is pretty humbling. Lol
 
Ryan112929 said:
Hey all. I'm a relatively new pistol shooter. Friday morning is my range time and I'm always the only guy there so there's no one to tell me what I'm doing wrong. Lol. I seem to shoot ten (or so) ####ty groups and then one nice tight (for me anyway) one. Drives me nuts that I can't seem to repeat it when I want to. It's always a surprise! Sight unseen I know it's pretty tough to diagnose my issues but any tips would be most welcome. I shoot standing square to my target, two handed grip at about 40' or so. I'm heading out tomorrow morning as usual to punch some holes some targets. Thanks for reading. Ryan
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Sounds like my experience. No one at the range to critique me. Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn for over a year. Groups all over the place. Then I discovered that things got a lot better when I removed my glasses. Target was fuzzy but my groups really tightened up. Again, no one around to point out that the front sight needs to be visibly sharp not the target.

I almost gave up hand guns over that experience.

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I didn't know that either. Thank the Internet and folks like you or I'd still be fighting that one too. It's much different than looking at my target through a scope. I'm enjoying the learning process and the challenge very much though. Can't be great at everything right away or it'd be no fun right?
 
Ryan112929 said:
I didn't know that either. Thank the Internet and folks like you or I'd still be fighting that one too. It's much different than looking at my target through a scope. I'm enjoying the learning process and the challenge very much though. Can't be great at everything right away or it'd be no fun right?
Click to expand...

Everything you learned from shooting a rifle with open sights tends to get amplified in a handgun. Grip, trigger, sight radius, etc.

There are plenty of YouTube videos from reputable, professional shooters about these individual items (and more) that would probably be very helpful (being visual and all that).
 
Get on You Tube and put in the terms "travis haley pistol grip" and watch and learn from the resulting video.

The other thing is to commit to a full pull of the trigger. And don't snatch at it. It ain't your Xbox controller. You want a progressive and even increase of pressure on the trigger and don't stop until it's fully back against the travel limit. Don't just pull until it goes "BANG!" and then flinch to a halt. Hold the trigger back fully all through the recoil and only when it settles down ease the pressure off and let the trigger push your finger forward. It's all about this even pressure build and release and a commitment to a full pull through the trigger stroke.

Sights focus. You can only focus on one thing. And for handguns that needs to be the front sight. Let the target and rear notch be a little fuzzy, it's OK. A clear view of the front blade and holding it in the fuzzy rear notch and on the fuzzy target in proper alignment will give you your best accuracy.

If none of this works you might well have a flinch. Get some snap caps and mix them in with your regular ammo. Without looking reach into the dish of ammo and load them in your magazine so you don't know where the snap cap is located. When you hit a snap cap if the gun jiggles around at all instead of just remaining steady and going "click" then you have a flinch you need to deal with. You need to learn to not try to fight the recoil in any way. The BANG and recoil should just be something that happens while you're holding the gun steady and pulling the trigger. It sounds corny but try to get your head into that Zen like state where you are only focusing on these things and the "BANG" and kick is something that happens as an unacknowledged occurrence in passing.

And good luck with all this.
 
Trouble with YouTube is that i never know who is legitimately an expert and who is just a guy with a GoPro. Would you be able to suggest a name in particular that I could look up? It's pouring rain here today so I've got nothing but time to check it out. The road out to the range is dirt so it's all but impassable in weather like this.
 
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