- And two other points to emphasize. I read elsewhere in this thread that you should be surprised when the pistol fires; well, that works a lot better with a rifle, where you can fix your sights dead-accurately on the X-ring and they'll stay there. It does not work on a pistol, because it's wobbling-around on the end of your arms and you only want it to go-off in the (rare) moment the sights are lined-up. You PULL the trigger on a pistol, you do it deliberately when you're happy with your sight picture. Therefore get a fairly pricy .22 with a 'better' trigger and a long barrel (i.e., a long sight picture) so you can clearly see your sights and clearly see when they're nicely lined-up, and shoot a lot of practise ammo. Get some snap-caps for your favourite centerfire pistol and practise your trigger squeeze with lots of dry fire. DO NOT dry fire a .22 without snap caps - .22 is rimfire, so you'll break the firing pin if you repeatedly slam it into the edge of the chamber without a round (or snap-cap) to cushion it. And remember, if you PULL the trigger and the shot goes-off to one side (usually the side away from your shooting hand), or downwards, you're pulling the gun as well as the trigger; do some more dry fire, and concentrate on the pistol not moving at all when you pull the trigger.
Another big trick when learning to shoot pistol is to remember at first, not to stress-out over where the bullets go. STRESS OUT over them all going the same place - in other words, try to shoot a smaller group, wherever it happens to be, because having a nice little cluster somewhere is so much more instructive of your technique than having them all over the target with one shot in the ten-ring. Line your sights up on the bullseye (if you're shooting a standard round target, try the 6-o'clock hold because then you can see your sights against the white of the paper, vice the black of the bullseye), and shoot - okay, it's up at two o'clock in the 5-ring, but so what? Try it again - line the sights up just like you did last time, and shoot again - if that bullet hits at two o'clock in the 5-ring, right next to the last bullet, you're DOING IT RIGHT. I sing the praises of adjustable sights; if you put all your shots in a 2" circle at two o'clock in the 5 ring, adjust the sight a little down and a lot left and you're home.
Another big trick when learning to shoot pistol is to remember at first, not to stress-out over where the bullets go. STRESS OUT over them all going the same place - in other words, try to shoot a smaller group, wherever it happens to be, because having a nice little cluster somewhere is so much more instructive of your technique than having them all over the target with one shot in the ten-ring. Line your sights up on the bullseye (if you're shooting a standard round target, try the 6-o'clock hold because then you can see your sights against the white of the paper, vice the black of the bullseye), and shoot - okay, it's up at two o'clock in the 5-ring, but so what? Try it again - line the sights up just like you did last time, and shoot again - if that bullet hits at two o'clock in the 5-ring, right next to the last bullet, you're DOING IT RIGHT. I sing the praises of adjustable sights; if you put all your shots in a 2" circle at two o'clock in the 5 ring, adjust the sight a little down and a lot left and you're home.
