How to become a better shooter

I too struggle with getting any sort of respectable group. Unfortunately at my range there are usually other people around and the closest targets are at 25 yards, not the best distance for learning to shoot a pistol. If i do manage to get there alone, i'll go stand 10 yards from the targets. Sometimes I can get 10 rounds from my M&P40 on a 8.5x11 piece of paper, but mostly not. I typically shoot left and low. However i watched one of Jerry Miculek's video's and tried it myself on my last range trip and did vastly superior to any previous attempts. Here's the vid. Give it a watch and try to do what he says. I need to get some more ammo and head out again but I was actually putting rounds within a couple inches of where I had my sights at 25 yards!

 
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...

I find it de stressing, when I walk out of a range I feel relief, but I also don't flinch :)
 
This really helped me



f330b2017cb8e6a5f2382a00099715c3_zpsee004eff.jpg
 
That vid really helped me on my last trip. I'm going to try and get out again this weekend after watching the vid again to brush up on it and re-verify, but last weekends results were fantastic. Especially since i have the mitts to put my left index finger on the front of the trigger guard. gonna have to stop at a skate shop for some grip tape though.

It was one thing to be satisfied with hitting the 8.5x11 sheet of paper, but being able to pick a quadrant of it and hit it is better!
 
you need someone to train you. rounds down range helps but without having proper training on top of that you will hit your limit pretty easily and not progress further simply because you cant tell what you are doing wrong. These days video and the like help because you can video yourself and have good shooters online give you pointers and help you out, but its not a substitute for real instruction
 
scott_r said:
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!!
Click to expand...

There are many different approaches, just as there are many different types of pistol shooting. You mentioned improving your group size which indicates a desire for accuracy. I've taught quite a few PPC shooters as well as others over the years and have a few suggestions for you... Suggestions that have worked well for others and may work for you.

The mistake that most people make is to try to hold the front sight on the target and as it sways back and forth they try to pull the trigger as fast as they can to catch that instant when the front sight is in the middle of the target. It won't work.

The faster you pull your trigger finger the more you get what's called sympathetic muscle movement... This causes other muscles in your hand and arm to move and that results in flinching and pulling the sights off target. You can't pull fast enough to beat this. The faster you pull the more you misalign your sights and sight alignment is more important than the position of the front sight in relation to the target... As crazy as that may sound. Hard to explain in a posting but easy to demonstrate in a classroom first hand.

Biggest secret I used to use to get shooters started on accuracy improvement was to get them to pull the trigger slow... Really slow... As slow as you possibly can... Trying to SQUEEZE the trigger a little bit and a little bit more BUT DON'T let the gun fire. Eventually it will go off but if you're trying as hard as you can NOT to fire then when it goes off it will be a surprise and the muscle movement will be minimal... No flinch... No sympathetic muscle movement. You will learn to FOCUS on your trigger control and on what's called your "arc of motion"... The swing movement of your arms back and forth across the target. New shooters usually have a wider/larger arc of motion than a master but that's just a matter of practice and experience.

So... Focus on keeping the front and rear sights aligned... Don't worry about the swaying around the target too much... Keep the sights aligned as best you can and while doing that slowly squeeze the trigger but don't fire the gun... Just squeeze a little more and a little more. Eventually it will go off. Now do it again. Do it 5 or 10 times (PPC used to be six shots). Whatever the number that's your group.

As you practice these two skills you'll get better. You'll be able to eventually increase speed without loosing muscle control. You'll also be able to apply this process to any caliber.

These methods were taught to me by several Grand Master PPC shooters... It worked for them... Worked for me (I eventually was classified Distinguished Master)... It may work for you :)

Mark
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom