Damn, I suck at shooting a pistol.

D

DaveC

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:redface:

Well, I tried out the new Glock on Friday, and came to the conclusion that I suck. I'm used to being able to shoot pretty decent with a rifle or shotgun, so this experience was a bit humbling and disturbing.

Generally, I found that I was consistently shooting to the left, and I had a hell of a time shooting it with both eyes open. I couldn't focus on the sight picture. What's the cure? Ammo, ammo, and more ammo? I only ran about 70 rounds through it, and a bunch through my buddy's Ruger .22.

Any tips would be great.
 
Join the club.

It's all a matter of practice. The more you get out, the better you get. And FYI, I don't shoot with bot of my eyes open either.
 
Get into competitive shooting. Nothing will motivate you more to improve than competing. And you'll also find that your fellow competitors will be very helpful in providing hints and techniques to help you improve.
 
I find burning up ammo keeps you used to it. I used to shoot religiously, every weekend at the range. Now that I don't , my shooting is not nearly as consistent. Things like trigger finger placement seem to matter more on a pistol.

Have you tried your pistol off a bench, to see how much of the shooting left is your fault?? This could be affected by different ammo too.

I know what you mean about the front sight being focused. I have a hard time shooting good groups on a round target(and yes, I do only focus on the front site). Try using one of those 100 yard grid type targets from Wally world and see if it helps.

Good luck.
 
Having a pistol that fits your hand is important. I found that the GLOCK grip was too thin near the top for me, and I could never shoot it as well as my Sig. My grip just wouldn't settle down, and I didn't like shooting it.

I put on a Magloc thumbrest/grip adapter, and now is fits my hand perfectly. Also, the thumb rest keeps my thumb up high and well away from the slide lock.

Now, my GLOCK is my favourite 9mm to shoot.
http://ww w.smartlock.com/thumbrestComp2-r.htm

PS: I also put on one of their mag wells and a bunch of grip tape and a Hi-Viz fibre optic front site. Yummy!
 
Practice, practice, practice.... only a fortunate few are "natural" pistol shooters & accurate first few times out.......... ;)
 
practise practise practise

I went to our local range Port Coquitlam, the guys there gave me a huge amount of advise and how to hold the gun is the most important. Also the trigger has a large impact on being accurate and keeps you more in the game and having fun. I recently bought a kimber custom and couldn't figure out why i wasn't more accurate. the trigger pull and weight has a great deal to do with shooting handguns. I shot a norinco 1911 in 45acp with a 3lb trigger. What a world of difference. Trigger job is a good start because your trigger is most likely 5-7 and 3 is the ticket.

good luck and PM me if you want more ideas
Steve
 
Practice with the .22, then move up.
I find the recoil with 9mm very unpleasant(wips the wrist too much), but .45acp is good. Just personal choice though.
Have fun
 
Dry fire practice! Learn to use the pad of your trigger finger. Put an empty shell on top of the slide and try pulling the trigger without it falling off.
It takes constant effort to use your trigger finger properly.
 
Yup, all that. ^^^ Plus read and watch everything you can find on it.

For example: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa50-plo48

I started shooting with my left eye closed but worked on it until I could shoot with both open.
 
pistolgroupanalysisbx7.jpg
 
Much has been said about practice, but what kind of practice? If you continue to practice making mistakes, you will eventually get very good---at making mistakes!
Sight picture and trigger release is everything on a pistol. All of my pistol competitions, except for large pistol silouette shooting, was one handed, usually known as bullseye shooting. This may be the hardest of any type of shooting to master.
I would think anyone starting out should use the one handed method, because if you master that, you can shoot the pistol by any other method you desire.
The original writer said he shoots to the left. This means as you pull the trigger, your hand moves to point the barrel to the left. Trigger control is needed.
You should start with a good 22 revolver with good target sights. You don't even need anyone else to partially load the cylinder for you. Put in about three shells, spin the cylinder, aim and depress the trigger, always using it single action. After each time the hammer falls, whether it goes click, or bang, spin the cylinder, and do this until all the cartridges you put in the cylinder are gone.
Short of having a professional to teach you, this is the best way there is to learn to shoot the pistol.
 
When I see a new shooter printing shotgun-like patterns a 7 yards with his Glock (which is something I see quite often), I just have to shake my head. Whoever is pointing these guys in the direction of Glock, M&P and similar pistols is doing them a serious disfavor.

You want to be learning the basics of handgun shooting with a pistol that has good ergonomics and even more importantly a good single action trigger. Guns with long/heavy DAO triggers are considerably more difficult to shoot accurately and are ill-suited for novice shooters. It's like learning to drive...on an 18 wheeler. Get a hang of the basics with a more user-friendly pistols and transition to Glock later if you must.
 
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