Finally got to shoot my new M&P9 but have question

A great way to practice is to buy a cheap rail mounted laser ($15) on eBay, pick a point on a wall in your house and dry fire the snot out of the gun, if the gun moves when the shot breaks you'll see it dance around. Start close and work your way back as you get better.
 
mudgunner49 said:
You offer the verbal equivalent of "just keep trying stuff on your own and you'll magically figure it out. Somehow. Maybe...", and yet somehow somebody who supports use of proven fundamentals is leading the pack on BS opinions?? check yourself before you wreck yourself.
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i'm just fine thank you very much.
can't shoot a 100 rounds and expect to become a sniper. that is what i am saying. practice makes perfect (you might have possibly heard that before)
technique and theory advice helps, but you have to develop a feel for it yourself.
don't care how amazing advice you get or how many classrooms you attend, you won't be good until you spend some serious time on the range actually doing it.
it's common sense for most of us really....
 
kandress said:
A great way to practice is to buy a cheap rail mounted laser ($15) on eBay, pick a point on a wall in your house and dry fire the snot out of the gun, if the gun moves when the shot breaks you'll see it dance around. Start close and work your way back as you get better.
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Dry fire is overrated. When you are aware that no shot and thus no report or recoil will occur your form looks great. add the report and recoil and the flinch will come with it. Seek training and practice with a buddy who may or may not load your pistol for you. The use of randomly placed snap caps in your magazines will keep you focused on your form over anticipating recoil. Then again, if you haven't a clue as to what the fundamentals are or how to apply them, then all of the advice in this thread is pointless.

Tdc
 
eco said:
i'm just fine thank you very much.
can't shoot a 100 rounds and expect to become a sniper. that is what i am saying. practice makes perfect (you might have possibly heard that before)
technique and theory advice helps, but you have to develop a feel for it yourself.
don't care how amazing advice you get or how many classrooms you attend, you won't be good until you spend some serious time on the range actually doing it.
it's common sense for most of us really....
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Spoken like the classic untrained uninformed plinker. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that your performance is less than stellar. Based on your lack of knowledge and your vague "advice" you have yet to understand or apply the fundamentals. Practice makes permanent, not perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect permanent. Doing it wrong repeatedly only solidifies your errors and retards progress. Hey its your ammo and time feel free to waste both while hoping your performance improves.

Tdc
 
I just got mine approved by the CFO and now I'm waiting for delivery like a kid on Christmas! I got an M&P9 and -22.
 
TDC said:
Dry fire is overrated.....Tdc
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Actually.......No it isn't.

Dryfire is one of the best training tools there is.

It costs nothing and allows the shooter to practice maintaining sight picture while breaking the shot. Dryfire drills are used by every serious shooter I know and are recommended by most professional shooters and instructors.

Dryfire practice can include every part of the shooting process including the draw, target acquisition and sight picture, breaking the shot and mag changes. When I was learning to shoot handguns ( and I am definitely still learning) I probably dryfired a couple of hundred shots for every round I put downrange.

I still believe in dryfire and use it constantly during the shooting season.

John
 
John in B.C. said:
Actually.......No it isn't.

Dryfire is one of the best training tools there is.

It costs nothing and allows the shooter to practice maintaining sight picture while breaking the shot. Dryfire drills are used by every serious shooter I know and are recommended by most professional shooters and instructors.

Dryfire practice can include every part of the shooting process including the draw, target acquisition and sight picture, breaking the shot and mag changes. When I was learning to shoot handguns ( and I am definitely still learning) I probably dryfired a couple of hundred shots for every round I put downrange.

I still believe in dryfire and use it constantly during the shooting season.

John
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I said its overrated not useless. People put far too much merit in dry fire. As I posted before, dry fire is great for understanding and applying the fundamentals and their mechanics. What it doesn't do is offer a realistic training experience as you know there will be no recoil so your natural flinch(everyone does it) will not be present. You can dry fire for days but your flinch will return as soon as you start shooting. Live fire practice with other drills are the only way to reduce your flinch, not dry firing. Kind of like learning to drive without ever leaving the drive way..

TDC
 
TDC said:
I said its overrated not useless. People put far too much merit in dry fire. As I posted before, dry fire is great for understanding and applying the fundamentals and their mechanics. What it doesn't do is offer a realistic training experience as you know there will be no recoil so your natural flinch(everyone does it) will not be present. You can dry fire for days but your flinch will return as soon as you start shooting. Live fire practice with other drills are the only way to reduce your flinch, not dry firing. Kind of like learning to drive without ever leaving the drive way..

TDC
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TDC this is simply not true. I dry fire virtually every night, for 10 to 15 minutes. I shoot once every two weeks (ammo and time constraints). I do not have a flinch.

Dry fire training ingrains fundamentals. I agree with you that if you are sloppy in your dry fire training you will be sloppy at the range, it requires attention to details and consistency. At the range, I would bet on the skill of a consistent dry fire student over an inconsistent live fire student every day.
 
TDC said:
Dry fire is overrated. When you are aware that no shot and thus no report or recoil will occur your form looks great. add the report and recoil and the flinch will come with it. Seek training and practice with a buddy who may or may not load your pistol for you. The use of randomly placed snap caps in your magazines will keep you focused on your form over anticipating recoil. Then again, if you haven't a clue as to what the fundamentals are or how to apply them, then all of the advice in this thread is pointless.

Tdc
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TDC said:
I said its overrated not useless. People put far too much merit in dry fire. As I posted before, dry fire is great for understanding and applying the fundamentals and their mechanics. What it doesn't do is offer a realistic training experience as you know there will be no recoil so your natural flinch(everyone does it) will not be present. You can dry fire for days but your flinch will return as soon as you start shooting. Live fire practice with other drills are the only way to reduce your flinch, not dry firing. Kind of like learning to drive without ever leaving the drive way..

TDC
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Clobbersauras said:
TDC this is simply not true. I dry fire virtually every night, for 10 to 15 minutes. I shoot once every two weeks (ammo and time constraints). I do not have a flinch.

Dry fire training ingrains fundamentals. I agree with you that if you are sloppy in your dry fire training you will be sloppy at the range, it requires attention to details and consistency. At the range, I would bet on the skill of a consistent dry fire student over an inconsistent live fire student every day.
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Again, re read my posts above. Nowhere did I say dry fire was pointless or useless. Dry fire is grossly overrated. Its great to say you can take your sweet time at home and depress the trigger with no sight wobble while pointed at a light switch. Its a completely different experience when you know/expect recoil and report. Dry fire is great for building muscle memory for a proper trigger squeeze and sight alignment. Both of which require training to understand and apply properly. Practicing bad form is of zero value, and doing so for hours is no less pointless. Your short practice sessions are of merit, but any longer is a waste of time and effort. A dry fire regimen that incorporates the draw stroke, dry fire, immediate action drill and/or reloads is an excellent way to practice what you can without live fire.

If your shooting involves anything other than slow deliberate fire at a stationary target then dry fire is not going to help you. Shooting at speed requires the application of the fundamentals without conscious thought, it must be muscle memory. The only way you're going to hone such a skill is through live fire. The same can be said for working the reset.

To recap, dry fire is useful for working on the basics and nothing more. If you want to shoot well at speed and without a flinch then it takes live fire to do so.

TDC
 
I was just about to ask the same question. I am glad I wasn't the only one who had this problem. Brought my m&P out after waiting for this horrible weather to calm down and found that I was shooting low left as well. Will also work on my control and such. I am just curious as to how it turned out for you in the end? How many shots through before you started hitting your targets?
 
you can dry fire all night if you want, if you know the gun isn't going to shoot, your not going to flinch. it will get you used to the trigger and feel the mechanics of when the trigger gets released...

Then after a few shots you will start flinching again. pick up some snap caps, load both your mags up with the caps, or better yet get someone else to load them for you, and then go through a few mags.
To make it cheaper, fill the mag with 2 live rounds and snap caps the rest of the way, you will be surprised at how fast you learn. and slowly put a few more live rounds on...just le the trigger take you by surprise is the best advice for beginners...but don't let the recoil hit you in the face.
 
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I am a relatively new handgun shooter and also found that I tended to shoot low and left (I am right handed) I found I was putting too much pressure (squeezing) my little finger too much causing the firearm to can down and left. I relaxed the little finger and started shooting straighter - but remember opinions are like A holes - we all got one. Good luck
 
The best thing a new shooter can do is take a training course in your area. I think it is quite funny to see posts telling the OP to buy more ammo or a smaller pistol and "you'll figure it out". This is the scenario I think of if that was a logical conclusion...

Let's go and perform heart surgery. I'll get trained and practice what I have learned.

You get a 1000 humans or maybe a few thousand pigs to practice on.

Who do you think is going to have more success?

Perfect instruction plus perfect practice equals competence in whatever you do.

Jason
 
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