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 Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 10:40 am
We were at a shooting range a week ago, the targets were at a standardized distance, and we sometimes hit high, sometimes hit low, sometimes hit the sand, and what we were aiming at when we pulled the trigger didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever.
What are some good tips for learning to shoot pistols, in terms of grip, coping with recoil, and aiming? I did rifles and archery before, but pistols are totally different.
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 1:56 pm
First of all, the size of your group is more important than how close your group is to your target. So as you're shooting, if you can see that you're not hitting your target, don't adjust your aim, but rather try to hit the same spot again. Now if you're firing something you're not completely comfortable with, you might tend to flinch as you're pulling the trigger. Obviously, this will affect your aim. I suggest having a buddy load a random number of shots into the gun, accompanied by a dummy round (to prevent the slide from locking back on the last shot) and see if you flinch when the hammer strikes and the gun doesn't go off. If you do, you should be firing a less powerful round. Once you notice that your group is decent, you can adjust the sights accordingly until your group hits where you're aiming.
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Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:20 pm
you wanna go in the order of grip, sight picture, and trigger squeeze.
shooting a pistol can be tough for a first timer unless they have someone coaching them.
basically you wanna shoot from a good 2 handed grip, sort of fit your palms together and place your non firing hand's thumb straight along the underside of your firing hand's thumb. NEVER cross your thumb over your shooting hand behind the slide.
next is making sure you take your time and put your sights on the target. it sounds easy if all you ever shoot is rifles but it gets alot more complicated with a handgun, and involves alot more concentration and discipline.
control your breathing, if you catch yourself moving the pistol around too much or catch yourself leaning forward anticipating the recoil, stop for a moment and then start over. you want to be absolutely sure that your front sight will not move off target even in the slightest.
once you've established your sight picture calmly and very carefully squeeze the trigger. this can be the hardest part as many people can let themselves get clumsy at this point. you never want to quickly jerk the trigger under any circumstance.
I find that the easiest handguns to shoot are those with light triggers. if you're shooting a pistol with like a 20+ pound trigger such as an S&W sigma (the stigma) then you're going to have an extremely hard time hitting your target.
practice with thousands of rounds until you feel confident enough. you wanna work your way up to accurately put rounds down range almost as soon as you bring the pistol up from the draw.
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 10:29 pm
death angel712 First of all, the size of your group is more important than how close your group is to your target. So as you're shooting, if you can see that you're not hitting your target, don't adjust your aim, but rather try to hit the same spot again. Now if you're firing something you're not completely comfortable with, you might tend to flinch as you're pulling the trigger. Obviously, this will affect your aim. I suggest having a buddy load a random number of shots into the gun, accompanied by a dummy round (to prevent the slide from locking back on the last shot) and see if you flinch when the hammer strikes and the gun doesn't go off. If you do, you should be firing a less powerful round. Once you notice that your group is decent, you can adjust the sights accordingly until your group hits where you're aiming. recoil shouldn't matter at all in shooting performance but for some reason there's this natural tendency to be fearful of more recoil. the answer isn't going to a smaller round as the shooter will learn nothing from this. it's not THE way to solve it, it's just the easy way out, and for many people that may be perfectly ok...just as long as they dont shoot anything bigger the appropriate response is to keep shooting it until the fear is gone and the desired level of confidence is built up. this is the path you want to take if you want to be proficient with ANY handgun,rather than just handguns with lighter powered chamberings.
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Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:10 pm
i have to agree with death angel on this subject. when i first shot hand guns, i was 5 and my uncle handed me a 1911. since i was 5 i let the gun recoil back a hit me in the face. regardless, if i was coaching someone new to handguns, i wouldn't give them a .357 mag and say "have fun!" no, i would give them a .22 and correct their stance, grip, trigger pull and follow through. start out small!!!! Recon_Ninja_985 death angel712 First of all, the size of your group is more important than how close your group is to your target. So as you're shooting, if you can see that you're not hitting your target, don't adjust your aim, but rather try to hit the same spot again. Now if you're firing something you're not completely comfortable with, you might tend to flinch as you're pulling the trigger. Obviously, this will affect your aim. I suggest having a buddy load a random number of shots into the gun, accompanied by a dummy round (to prevent the slide from locking back on the last shot) and see if you flinch when the hammer strikes and the gun doesn't go off. If you do, you should be firing a less powerful round. Once you notice that your group is decent, you can adjust the sights accordingly until your group hits where you're aiming. recoil shouldn't matter at all in shooting performance but for some reason there's this natural tendency to be fearful of more recoil. the answer isn't going to a smaller round as the shooter will learn nothing from this. it's not THE way to solve it, it's just the easy way out, and for many people that may be perfectly ok...just as long as they dont shoot anything bigger the appropriate response is to keep shooting it until the fear is gone and the desired level of confidence is built up. this is the path you want to take if you want to be proficient with ANY handgun,rather than just handguns with lighter powered chamberings.
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Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:18 pm
bulletmaster36 i have to agree with death angel on this subject. when i first shot hand guns, i was 5 and my uncle handed me a 1911. since i was 5 i let the gun recoil back a hit me in the face. regardless, if i was coaching someone new to handguns, i wouldn't give them a .357 mag and say "have fun!" no, i would give them a .22 and correct their stance, grip, trigger pull and follow through. start out small!!!! Recon_Ninja_985 death angel712 First of all, the size of your group is more important than how close your group is to your target. So as you're shooting, if you can see that you're not hitting your target, don't adjust your aim, but rather try to hit the same spot again. Now if you're firing something you're not completely comfortable with, you might tend to flinch as you're pulling the trigger. Obviously, this will affect your aim. I suggest having a buddy load a random number of shots into the gun, accompanied by a dummy round (to prevent the slide from locking back on the last shot) and see if you flinch when the hammer strikes and the gun doesn't go off. If you do, you should be firing a less powerful round. Once you notice that your group is decent, you can adjust the sights accordingly until your group hits where you're aiming. recoil shouldn't matter at all in shooting performance but for some reason there's this natural tendency to be fearful of more recoil. the answer isn't going to a smaller round as the shooter will learn nothing from this. it's not THE way to solve it, it's just the easy way out, and for many people that may be perfectly ok...just as long as they dont shoot anything bigger the appropriate response is to keep shooting it until the fear is gone and the desired level of confidence is built up. this is the path you want to take if you want to be proficient with ANY handgun,rather than just handguns with lighter powered chamberings. that's not exactly what I meant. I agree that a good way to start off is by going with a smaller round. but that's not what I was addressing. I believe death angel was suggesting something along the lines of "if you flinch, this round isnt for you" with no real effort towards correcting it. I was suggesting a better way to overcome that in the long run. either way. I think you may find it hard to disagree that if an adult can learn to shoot something as powerful as a .357 effectively, then he can master anything below it. start off with .22 or 9mm first to get the basics down, and then make a leap to magnum. think of it as using training weights. practice over and over again with them, and the moment you go to something lighter everything becomes a lot easier. (....why would anyone hand a 1911 to a 5 year old anyways? gonk my little brother is 9 years old and he can't even grip a subcompact glock good enough.)
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:52 pm
I did some indoor range shooting back in the fall to see if I could make the grade for the cc course I was going to take, but ask my hours were hiring low left for the most part and not hitting were they needed to be I was given a info sheet and found out I was overgripping and pulling with the middle part of my onyx finger instead of the tip of my index finger. I have the paper around here somewhere for both left handed and right handed shooters when I find it i will copy it and post it. Also you need to find your dominant eye once you gave that you should shoot with the same hand as dominant eye.
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:18 pm
x Deadly Fairy x I did some indoor range shooting back in the fall to see if I could make the grade for the cc course I was going to take, but ask my hours were hiring low left for the most part and not hitting were they needed to be I was given a info sheet and found out I was overgripping and pulling with the middle part of my onyx finger instead of the tip of my index finger. I have the paper around here somewhere for both left handed and right handed shooters when I find it i will copy it and post it. Also you need to find your dominant eye once you gave that you should shoot with the same hand as dominant eye. That's pretty cool actually. I'm left eye/hand dominant - learned that in archery, while my fiance' is right/right. We are using a .38 special for practice but she eventually has to switch to a P229 or its closest equivalent because she wants to get a leg up in police academy training.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 6:17 pm
dude, you don't wanna know what happens at family reunions with my family, but yes, i also agere with you now that things are cleared up. i learned how to shoot pistols good with a 22 and became very good when i had my second run in with a .45. if you flinch with big rounds, work on it by shooting it more is my policy. if you don't learn and adapt, then how do you learn in the first place? Recon_Ninja_985 bulletmaster36 i have to agree with death angel on this subject. when i first shot hand guns, i was 5 and my uncle handed me a 1911. since i was 5 i let the gun recoil back a hit me in the face. regardless, if i was coaching someone new to handguns, i wouldn't give them a .357 mag and say "have fun!" no, i would give them a .22 and correct their stance, grip, trigger pull and follow through. start out small!!!! Recon_Ninja_985 death angel712 First of all, the size of your group is more important than how close your group is to your target. So as you're shooting, if you can see that you're not hitting your target, don't adjust your aim, but rather try to hit the same spot again. Now if you're firing something you're not completely comfortable with, you might tend to flinch as you're pulling the trigger. Obviously, this will affect your aim. I suggest having a buddy load a random number of shots into the gun, accompanied by a dummy round (to prevent the slide from locking back on the last shot) and see if you flinch when the hammer strikes and the gun doesn't go off. If you do, you should be firing a less powerful round. Once you notice that your group is decent, you can adjust the sights accordingly until your group hits where you're aiming. recoil shouldn't matter at all in shooting performance but for some reason there's this natural tendency to be fearful of more recoil. the answer isn't going to a smaller round as the shooter will learn nothing from this. it's not THE way to solve it, it's just the easy way out, and for many people that may be perfectly ok...just as long as they dont shoot anything bigger the appropriate response is to keep shooting it until the fear is gone and the desired level of confidence is built up. this is the path you want to take if you want to be proficient with ANY handgun,rather than just handguns with lighter powered chamberings. that's not exactly what I meant. I agree that a good way to start off is by going with a smaller round. but that's not what I was addressing. I believe death angel was suggesting something along the lines of "if you flinch, this round isnt for you" with no real effort towards correcting it. I was suggesting a better way to overcome that in the long run. either way. I think you may find it hard to disagree that if an adult can learn to shoot something as powerful as a .357 effectively, then he can master anything below it. start off with .22 or 9mm first to get the basics down, and then make a leap to magnum. think of it as using training weights. practice over and over again with them, and the moment you go to something lighter everything becomes a lot easier. (....why would anyone hand a 1911 to a 5 year old anyways? gonk my little brother is 9 years old and he can't even grip a subcompact glock good enough.)
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 1:45 pm
From your original post it kind of sounds like your pistol isn't that accurate. You may want to get it sighted first. And it's just iron sights right? Cause they can be adjusted on pretty much every gun.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 3:02 pm
Best thing to do is find some snap caps that will feed in your gun and have a friend load them in a random order. Having the gun not go bang and noticing what you are doing that time will teach you a lot about what to work on. Most likely you are jerking the gun down and/or to the side anticipating recoil just as you are pulling the trigger. The recoil hides this and most people will never know.
hickok45 on youtube has a great 3 part series on this.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 3:43 pm
Aakosir From your original post it kind of sounds like your pistol isn't that accurate. You may want to get it sighted first. And it's just iron sights right? Cause they can be adjusted on pretty much every gun. well, most pistols can be a little difficult to adjust sights. I know on some pistols like the 1911A1 among other older handguns you cannot adjust sights at all. most pistols in a 3 dot config are adjusted best with a specialized windage tool if you can find one. if not then a rubberized tap hammer will have to do.. as for elevation, there's really not a whole lot that can be done.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 5:40 pm
Recon_Ninja_985 Aakosir From your original post it kind of sounds like your pistol isn't that accurate. You may want to get it sighted first. And it's just iron sights right? Cause they can be adjusted on pretty much every gun. well, most pistols can be a little difficult to adjust sights. I know on some pistols like the 1911A1 among other older handguns you cannot adjust sights at all. most pistols in a 3 dot config are adjusted best with a specialized windage tool if you can find one. if not then a rubberized tap hammer will have to do.. as for elevation, there's really not a whole lot that can be done.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:59 pm
Aakosir Recon_Ninja_985 Aakosir From your original post it kind of sounds like your pistol isn't that accurate. You may want to get it sighted first. And it's just iron sights right? Cause they can be adjusted on pretty much every gun. well, most pistols can be a little difficult to adjust sights. I know on some pistols like the 1911A1 among other older handguns you cannot adjust sights at all. most pistols in a 3 dot config are adjusted best with a specialized windage tool if you can find one. if not then a rubberized tap hammer will have to do.. as for elevation, there's really not a whole lot that can be done. rifles like AK's and SKS's and some others need sight tools. most modern western guns have sights that are adjustable with no tools. pistols on the other hand are short range guns, and their sights usually are set to be accurate from the factory. target pistols come with easy adjustable sights, which are something that's too delicate to ever be used in any carry/duty/combat pistol. 95 percent of the time when a pistol misses, it's the shooter's fault. put a handgun in a shooting vice and you'll find that it should hit targets at 100 and even beyond
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:06 am
Recon_Ninja_985 Aakosir Recon_Ninja_985 Aakosir From your original post it kind of sounds like your pistol isn't that accurate. You may want to get it sighted first. And it's just iron sights right? Cause they can be adjusted on pretty much every gun. well, most pistols can be a little difficult to adjust sights. I know on some pistols like the 1911A1 among other older handguns you cannot adjust sights at all. most pistols in a 3 dot config are adjusted best with a specialized windage tool if you can find one. if not then a rubberized tap hammer will have to do.. as for elevation, there's really not a whole lot that can be done. rifles like AK's and SKS's and some others need sight tools. most modern western guns have sights that are adjustable with no tools. pistols on the other hand are short range guns, and their sights usually are set to be accurate from the factory. target pistols come with easy adjustable sights, which are something that's too delicate to ever be used in any carry/duty/combat pistol. 95 percent of the time when a pistol misses, it's the shooter's fault. put a handgun in a shooting vice and you'll find that it should hit targets at 100 and even beyond
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