How to become a better shooter

scott_r

scott_r

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Hey Guys

Im fairly new to pistols, about 1 year in and really suck in comparison to shooting a bolt gun or semi auto .223. What can I do to get my groups better? I really don't know any good pistol shooters and lessons aren't available at my range, I can spend a day on the range and not see a soul. Ive been watching alot of youtube vids and am working on proper grip, trigger finger, stance ect.. Any other suggestions? What distance should a beginner shoot at? Ive been shooting at about 10 yards and at times can get nice groups then others its terrible. Going out to 20 yards and things get real bad..lol
I own an M&P .22 and M&P 9, the .22 version I shoot waay better then the 9mm and shoot it alot more. Should I be shooting the 9 more and practising with it or work with the .22 and get the basics down with that? Appreciate any help.

Cheers!!
 
Hi Scott,
Congrats on getting into handguns!
You own 2 striker fired handguns with long and heavy trigger pulls and a bit of creep. SA triggers are easier to use when learning trigger control. Firstly, I recommend snap caps for the 9mm and practicing slow dry firing at home. Put up a target in your house 10 yds away from you, make sure your gun is EMPTY and take your sight picture. SQUEEZE the trigger STRAIGHT BACK, do not pull it or push it. Let the let off surprise you. Monitor your breathing when you practice squeezing. When the gun goes click, note what your sight picture does. Does it move left, right, up or down? Each direction or combination of directions will indicate a fault. Keep practicing dry firing until you can comsistently maintain a fairly steady sight picture everytime you squeeze the trigger. Take your gun to the range and have a buddy load your gun for you. Have him mix snap caps and live rounds in whatever combination he chooses and you shoot. On the empties, again check your sight picture and see if it's on target. Keep practicing with the .22. Cheap on ammo and good for developing good shooting skills without incurring the dreaded flinch! If you have good technique with a rifle, the handgun will come soon too! Good luck!
PS 10 yds to start is a good distance. Gives you immediate feedback and inspires confidence.
 
The snap cap method mentioned above really works. You will laugh the first time you get to a cap instead of a live round and realize how much you may be flinching (or anticipating the bang). To fix this (somewhat) for me I shot a lot with the biggest caliber I had, and would sometimes shoot really slowly while forcing my eyes to stay open and not flinch, not even worrying about aiming so much but just trying to not anticipate the fire. After a while of this go back to aiming. Also great advice above, when I was new (not that long ago) I was also surprised at how much of a difference the, at home dry fire exercises, and mag change exercises, made things smoother and more accurate at the range. I think it's a muscle memory thing.
 
This will help you clearly understand your shooting results.

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If you are left handed, just switch the results to mirror what is displayed.

It has helped me greatly with getting better at shooting pistols.
 
^ Agree all above
I'm not a pro, far from it but a few things I have picked up along the way in my opinion;
The M&P is a fine pistol and works great for many, but not all.
My Wife has the M&P 9mm and it is perfect for her but even with the large back strap on it, it feels loose in my hands.
A Glock, I tried out.... Don't even go there with me lol.
I checked out a 1911 and it felt too long and thin to my hands, finally I checked out a Beretta 92 and it felt perfect.
There is many different handguns out there and I guess half the fun is also trying them out.
Long story short, as with most things, you also need to feel comfortable with it, if you are always struggling and "working around it" your progress will be frustrating.
 
I actually found a 9mm snap cap while collecting range brass my last trip and tossed it in my bag. I will give it a try.

According to the pie chart my biggest problem is jerking...any solutions to this other then to not jerk..lol How can one improve on that.

Cheers!!
 
scott_r said:
I actually found a 9mm snap cap while collecting range brass my last trip and tossed it in my bag. I will give it a try.

According to the pie chart my biggest problem is jerking...any solutions to this other then to not jerk..lol How can one improve on that.

Cheers!!
Click to expand...
Jerking the trigger comes from anxiety, anticipating recoil, anticipating a bad shot, anticipating the noise, anticipating pain etc. just plain old anxiety. Re-read what I posted above and keep practicing squeezing the trigger and your sight picture. It will come. Perfect practice makes perfect. You just have picked up some bad habits that need to be broken.
 
When i started handguns 3 months ago, i made sure to feel all my triggers, shoot over sand bags to really see the POI of your sights, adjust all your adjustable sights to the 6 o'clock hold, then again shoot over the sandbags until your POI is known for each hadgun, i did pretty good with this method, i can shoot all my handguns in a satisfactory manner even if i am still a beginner... JP.
 
Lots of good advice...

What worked really well for me is sort of unorthodox, but really helped me improve my shooting. I turned away from the whole .22 approach, and used the pistol that I was comfortable with. The reason I did this is because when you make the transition between the .22 and, let's say a 9mm, the recoil between the two is like driving a Cavalier, and then driving a Porsche...very noticeable difference. So now, you have to get accustomed to the greater recoil...there goes the learning again. You will feel "brand new" again, and sort of like you're starting to learn all over again...that's what happened to me, and it was very frustrating.

So what I did was I began to bring less ammo with me to the range, and began to focus more, to be more precise with what I was doing. Taking my time, and knowing that I didn't have a tonne of ammo that I could blow through (kept shooting and shooting, trying to get it right...I was just wasting ammo, getting frustrated and not learning anything). By limiting myself, I was actually training myself to become a better shooter. It made me concentrate more, and this allowed me to make sure everything was in place: grip, stance, sight picture, trigger pull, etc. This is when I began to notice a difference in my shooting, an improvement in my shooting.

Again, this is just me and what I did. It worked for me, and I'm glad that I did it. I know that taking advice from others can be very helpful...but sometimes, people will tell you what to do based on what worked for them, and will tell you that what another person told you is wrong. This is where the confusion comes into play, and when you become even more frustrated.

You have to find what works for you...I did, and it really helped. Not that you shouldn't keep in mind what advice you've been given, but at the end of the day, it's what you determine to be the aiding factor that will help you improve on your shooting.

Good luck, brother.

Just my 2 cents...
 
If you want to make inexpensive snap caps punch out the primer from a empty casing use a spent .22 shell for a punch and some hd bike inertube punch a circle of rubber with the .22 and it will fit right in the primer hole of the 9mm presto free snap cap
 
lots of good advice here. The transition from rifle to pistol is much more difficult than people seem to realize.. I have seen great rifle shooters and struggle with pistols. The real problem is the short sight radius. As a firearms instructor I used to give the following classroom demonstration. I would place a laser pointer on a desk 2 yrds from the wall and mark the impact point on the wall with a marker .. I would then slide a post it note under the laser. the point of impact changed by 2 inches. I would then repeat the same thing at the black of the class ay maybe 10 yrds. The point of impact was about 6 inches. What this demonstrates is any mistake you make in sight picture is amplified the farther you move back. From my experience people who transition from rifle to pistol often get frustrated because they don't feel thay can shoot well. I believe the problem is they try to shoot from too far away. Start your targets at 5 yrds. Once you can put all rounds into a ragged hole move the target back to 7 yrds and so on.. You have to understand that a 3 inch group at 5 yards is a 5 inch group and 7 and 8 inches at 10 and shotgun pattern at 20.
 
BrockPython said:
lots of good advice here. The transition from rifle to pistol is much more difficult than people seem to realize.. I have seen great rifle shooters and struggle with pistols. The real problem is the short sight radius. As a firearms instructor I used to give the following classroom demonstration. I would place a laser pointer on a desk 2 yrds from the wall and mark the impact point on the wall with a marker .. I would then slide a post it note under the laser. the point of impact changed by 2 inches. I would then repeat the same thing at the black of the class ay maybe 10 yrds. The point of impact was about 6 inches. What this demonstrates is any mistake you make in sight picture is amplified the farther you move back. From my experience people who transition from rifle to pistol often get frustrated because they don't feel thay can shoot well. I believe the problem is they try to shoot from too far away. Start your targets at 5 yrds. Once you can put all rounds into a ragged hole move the target back to 7 yrds and so on.. You have to understand that a 3 inch group at 5 yards is a 5 inch group and 7 and 8 inches at 10 and shotgun pattern at 20.
Click to expand...

Exactly how I feel. I will definitely practise at a close distance and go from there.

Cheers!!
 
Still alive said:
Jerking the trigger comes from anxiety, anticipating recoil, anticipating a bad shot, anticipating the noise, anticipating pain etc. just plain old anxiety. Re-read what I posted above and keep practicing squeezing the trigger and your sight picture. It will come. Perfect practice makes perfect. You just have picked up some bad habits that need to be broken.
Click to expand...

Thanks will definitely give that a try. I know I cant get much worse at shooting a pistol so this will be fun!!
 
in my case jerking the trigger left and low comes on my first shot as im aggressive to pull the trigger but once i start resetting and squeezing the second,third to last shot, accuracy increases.
 
BrockPython said:
lots of good advice here. The transition from rifle to pistol is much more difficult than people seem to realize.. I have seen great rifle shooters and struggle with pistols. The real problem is the short sight radius. As a firearms instructor I used to give the following classroom demonstration. I would place a laser pointer on a desk 2 yrds from the wall and mark the impact point on the wall with a marker .. I would then slide a post it note under the laser. the point of impact changed by 2 inches. I would then repeat the same thing at the black of the class ay maybe 10 yrds. The point of impact was about 6 inches. What this demonstrates is any mistake you make in sight picture is amplified the farther you move back. From my experience people who transition from rifle to pistol often get frustrated because they don't feel thay can shoot well. I believe the problem is they try to shoot from too far away. Start your targets at 5 yrds. Once you can put all rounds into a ragged hole move the target back to 7 yrds and so on.. You have to understand that a 3 inch group at 5 yards is a 5 inch group and 7 and 8 inches at 10 and shotgun pattern at 20.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I tell people to do when I see them ''dumping a clip'' at 25yds not hitting ONCE a 12'' gong saying that their gun sucks. Hell I still do it everytime I hit de range, warm up at 5yrs then back up 7yds, 10yds and carry on with what I came for.
 
~ Use as small an aiming point as possible.
~ Hold the trigger to the rear until recoil subsides.
~ Pay attention to the sights.
~ Don't hurry the shot, but don't take too long either.
~ Dry fire with your eyes closed.
 
Agreed with all the tips above... and great pie chart. I'm going to print that out and use it as my target!

My advice is just to Shoot more.

And don't "practice" with .22's. Just have fun with them... Even in the same gun (with a different slide) they are completely different, and shooting a .22 well means just that. It does not really help with other calibers, and may actually cause you to develop bad habits if you are relying on it to improve your 'other caliber' skills.

I shoot my 9's reasonably well... and I am quite bad when I switch to .22's... but they are a lot more fun to mag-dump on the target knowing you are not spending $$

Just shoot more...
 
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