Aiming a Glock

J

Just4Fun

New member
In an attempt to improve my groupings I am asking for suggestions on how to aim my glock and line up the sights, squeeze the trigger, etc... It is a Glock 22 .40 cal. Fixed sights.

A buddy of mine told me that I should line up the dots so that they cover half of what I am aiming at. The rear sight should be blury, front site in focus, target in focus. Pull the trigger back with the very tip of my finger and hold my breath.. Is he pulling my leg?

Currently, I am using this techinque and at 15 yards doing pretty good. Considering I have only been to the range 3 times.

Overall, I tend to shoot a bit high and right.

Thanks,
Jerid
 
A lot to cover...

There is a lot of information to convey here. Let me just address the focus issue. Front sight. For aimed fire, just remember the front sight. It is physically impossible to actually focus on things at two (or three) different distances at the same time, so, it's blurry rear sight, sharp front sight, blurry target at the moment of truth. The only exception may be if you have the front sight at the same distance as the target, in which case, aiming is not all that important.
 
I'm also relatively new to handgunning, I'm sure you'll get better info from more experienced shooters. I'll give you my 2 cents worth though. I find I shoot best using the first joint of my finger on the trigger, rather than the tip. I find I tend to flinch more than I like to admit, or realize, usually from trying too hard. When you are tired or start to get frustrated, take a break. Are you're shots stringing lower-left to upper-right? May have a comparable problem. Focus on a smooth trigger pull, more than on trying to hold the gun completely still. If you don't see the muzzle flash, or see the slide move, you are probably blinking or anticipating the shot and pulling it. You might try a game, have someone else load the gun and hand it to you so you don't know if there is a round in the chamber. If you find you are pulling on a empty chamber, you probably are on a hot one too.

You've also got the issue of the Glock trigger to overcome, I'm shooting SA, no advice there.

In my experience, knowing what you are doing wrong is only half the battle, I still don't do nearly as well as I'd like. What size groups are you getting?

Lots of luck.

Bri
 
brianidaho,
thanks for the info. My groupings at 15 yards are about 5 inches. I see other guys shooting 1911 .45's with a 2" grouing. Makes me a bit jealous.
 
That boy has got better eyes than I do. I can not focus on the front sight and the target at the same time. In the old days I could change focus quickly without my eyes crossing, but now after aquiring the target focus, the eye focus switches to the front sight at the moment of truth. On my full size 1911 the reat sight is somewhat more in focus then with my commander and ultra elite. Old eyes will do that to you.
 
One tip I've picked up for precise pistol shooting is to use the top of the sights, rather than the dots.

The dots are great for low-light and combat-fast situations. For precise work, though, focus on the top of the front sight and align it with the top of the rear sight. Whatever this sight picture is centered on is where your bullet should go.

You'll notice a lot of non-combat target pistols use simple black-on-black iron sights.

Trigger control on the Glock is an issue all by itself. What works for me is to basically use a single-action style. This means using the pad of the first finger, rather than the joint. The joint is preferred for double-action shooting where you need the increased leverage.

Grip with 60% force from your off-hand, 40% from your shooting hand. If you concentrate on isolating the movement of your trigger finger from the rest of your hand, you'll find your groups improving immediately.

One mental technique I'm experimenting with is pretending that my off-hand is actually what holds and aims the pistol while my shooting hand is merely there to work the trigger. It's actually reminiscent of shotgun technique, where the off-hand provides most of the support and aiming while the shooting hand does *mostly* trigger work. So far, it looks promising. Of course, I tend to overgrip with my shooting hand anyway, so your mileage may vary.
 
If you can get consistant 5", 15 yard groups, don't beat yourself up too badly. Better groups will come with practice. I get frustrated when I get a couple 1 1/2-2" groups then spray over with a 8" one. I think lack of concentration/trying too hard is a factor.

Are we having fun yet?

Bri
 
Another tip:

Don't hold your breath; you might pass out before you've finished the magazine. :)

Most of the time, your breathing should be able to take care of itself, just as it does when you're not shooting. Breath control doesn't become important until you're trying to shoot very precisely under stress, and then you'd want to use slow, deep breaths to relax yourself and keep your brain well oxygenated.
 
They best advice is .. dry fire you glock a lot.. All you have to do is make sure it's empty, rack the slide enough to cock the striker and practice shooting at a spot on the wall. Use different trigger finger methods and concentrate on making the trigger pull smoooth. A smooth trigger is much more important than holding the gun perfectly in alignment, really it is. When your dry firing the gun sights should stay lined up the entire time you pull the trigger and you should see them still lined up as you hear the "sproing" sound of the empty gun "firing" If your sights are still lined up when you hear that "sproing" you would have hit the target.

It's very easy to see trigger errors dryfiring. I notice I still tend to push the sights down and off to the left if I am not concentrating or am tired, and that means a miss.

try this it helps a lot.

PS I shoot a glock best using the pad of my finger (the part with the finger print on it)

shiro
 
Just4fun,there is a good posting covering this subject in the Tactics & Training forum @ Glock Talk.I occssionally re-read this to keep me thinking about the right things.
 
I've just started shooting and own Glocks as well, a 23 and 27. I have found that my tendency is too grip to tightly with my right hand (strong hand). When my grip gets too tight I have lousy trigger control. I loosened my grip and my trigger control was a lot better but then the gun was recoiling more wildly and I my support hand was coming off. This was a clue for me to keep my strong hand grip soft but increase the grip of my support hand.
I use the pad of my index finger to pull the trigger and set my target on top of the front sight. Good luck.

P.S. After you fire, keep the trigger pulled all the way to the rear. After you reaquire your sight picture only release the trigger a small amount until you feel/hear it reset. This tip has helped me alot.

P.P.S. Here's another tip that has helped me. Don't try to make the gun go off at any precise instant. The tendency is to align your sights and then when the sight picture is perfect make the gun go off. The only way to make the gun go off at that instant is to jerk the trigger. Instead, get a good sight picture then gradually squeeze till it fires and don't worry if the sights drift around some during the squeeze. When the shot fires it should suprise you ie you didn't pick the point at which the shot would go off.
 
Sights, don't look at the white dots or bars on the sights. look at the tops of the front and rear sights and line them up. you should be concentrating most on the front sight.

Breath, you shouldn't be breathing in or out while your shooting each round. you should let the air out of your lungs before you fire and then hold your breath just a little bit and fire. don't hold your breath longer than is comforatable.

Trigger, put the center of your first pad on your trigger finger on the trigger. also you should learn and practice proper glock trigger reset. this means after the first shot hold the trigger back while the gun is cycling. when your ready to fire again release the trigger only enough till you hear a click (around 1/8") and then you can fire again. you don't have to fully release the trigger after each shot. this will allow you to be more accurate and shoot faster.

my glocks shoot to point of aim at basically any distance i shoot at (25 yards and under). so i just put the top of the front sight wherever i want the bullet to go.
 
In general I agree with Russell92.

To repeat from a post on another forum, I can and do go through a hundred rounds of 22LR with nice, tight groups; but what I'm really doing is practicing good habits -- no flinching, good follow through, etc. Then I go to the .45 and do the same thing with full power loads.

There's a book out titled "Freedom From Trigger Jerk, How to Stay Calm at the Center", written by Vishnu Karmakar and Thomas Whitney. It deals with shooting relaxed. Although it sounds like one of those Zen meditation books its actually pretty good and the techniques cross-over to other disciplines.
 
Dry firing, like shiroikuma said, is very important in learning proper trigger control and sight alignment. One very nice thing about dry firing with a Glock is that the gun cannot be damaged by dry firing. You also do not need any type of "dummy round" to dry fire.

One of the things that new recruits were taught to do when on the firing range was
B - breathe
R - relax
A - aim
S - sight (obtain the proper sight picture)
S - squeeze (squeeze the trigger, don't pull)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top