New Shooter
- Thread starter fatman73
- Start date
g.willikers
New member
This is a common problem and it gets asked so much, that the answer should be a sticky.
Since no one has jumped on your question yet, I'll give it a try.
The reason you are hitting low and left, if you are a righty, is due to your grip.
If the grip is too strong, the trigger finger is restricted in motion and the result is a jerking of the trigger with the above mentioned result.
It really doesn't matter if the gun recoils some, as long as it rises and falls straight up and down and the sights land back on the target.
Try lightening up some on the grip, making sure the trigger finger is nice and flexible and see what happens.
When shooting with both hands, the support hand is supposed to provide most of the strength of the grip.
If none of this is clear, check out all the videos on youtube and myoutdooors web sites on the subject.
Since no one has jumped on your question yet, I'll give it a try.
The reason you are hitting low and left, if you are a righty, is due to your grip.
If the grip is too strong, the trigger finger is restricted in motion and the result is a jerking of the trigger with the above mentioned result.
It really doesn't matter if the gun recoils some, as long as it rises and falls straight up and down and the sights land back on the target.
Try lightening up some on the grip, making sure the trigger finger is nice and flexible and see what happens.
When shooting with both hands, the support hand is supposed to provide most of the strength of the grip.
If none of this is clear, check out all the videos on youtube and myoutdooors web sites on the subject.
I'll try to help, brief at first. I've been shooting a Glock 17 or 34 in competition for about 8 years. They are one of the most accurate pistols I own. Every new shooter puts shots low with a Glock.
1. Slow down, focus on each shot.
2. Get a smaller target. Multiple 1-2" dots at 7 yards is a great place to start.
3. Learn the dime drill. Balance a dime on the front sight of your UNLOADED pistol. Present it, get a sight picture and dryfire without dropping the dime. Repeat.
4. Stage the trigger when firing. Pull the slack out of it, feel the tension increase and then slowly add pressure. Wait for the break. Do not think "FIRE!" in your head, think "Wait for it" "Squeeze" or anything that works. The commanding thoughts like "fire" or "now" make jerked shots.
5. Keep the trigger to the rear after your shot. Release until you feel the connector and triggerbar reset. Now re-apply pressure and shoot again. This is "Shooting from the reset", handy for many guns, essential for the Glock.
6. If at any time you slip in live fire, stop right there and dry fire. The fundamental I tell any new shooter is to pull the trigger without moving the sights. Somehow that often gets left out as the overarching goal of all this sight picture, sight alignment, trigger control talk.
7. See your sights when you fire. With time, you will see everything they do. If you didn't see a muzzle flash, you closed your eyes. Flinch happens, dryfire it out of you.
8. Glock stock sights suck, but I digress. Anyway they are registered so that POI is about where the front dot in the sight is if you align the dots. So on a 1-2" circle at 7 yards, a center hold will probably put you center target.
All this boils down to don't jerk the trigger you trigger jerking jerk you!
Well gee, that's simple, but we all find ourselves there at some point.
Perfect practice makes perfect, slow down and make them perfect. Good luck to you, there are simple mods that can make it a lot more shootable too, but box stock will do fine if you will.
Good luck!
1. Slow down, focus on each shot.
2. Get a smaller target. Multiple 1-2" dots at 7 yards is a great place to start.
3. Learn the dime drill. Balance a dime on the front sight of your UNLOADED pistol. Present it, get a sight picture and dryfire without dropping the dime. Repeat.
4. Stage the trigger when firing. Pull the slack out of it, feel the tension increase and then slowly add pressure. Wait for the break. Do not think "FIRE!" in your head, think "Wait for it" "Squeeze" or anything that works. The commanding thoughts like "fire" or "now" make jerked shots.
5. Keep the trigger to the rear after your shot. Release until you feel the connector and triggerbar reset. Now re-apply pressure and shoot again. This is "Shooting from the reset", handy for many guns, essential for the Glock.
6. If at any time you slip in live fire, stop right there and dry fire. The fundamental I tell any new shooter is to pull the trigger without moving the sights. Somehow that often gets left out as the overarching goal of all this sight picture, sight alignment, trigger control talk.
7. See your sights when you fire. With time, you will see everything they do. If you didn't see a muzzle flash, you closed your eyes. Flinch happens, dryfire it out of you.
8. Glock stock sights suck, but I digress. Anyway they are registered so that POI is about where the front dot in the sight is if you align the dots. So on a 1-2" circle at 7 yards, a center hold will probably put you center target.
All this boils down to don't jerk the trigger you trigger jerking jerk you!
Well gee, that's simple, but we all find ourselves there at some point. Perfect practice makes perfect, slow down and make them perfect. Good luck to you, there are simple mods that can make it a lot more shootable too, but box stock will do fine if you will.
Good luck!
Maybe this is just a byproduct of no money as in I think about shooting about 100 times more than I shoot. But anyway I find myself taking a much more mental approach to shooting. As the original at that said, good shooting is like good anything.
Good anything is way more mental than equipment or technique. That's why I didn't say anything about trigger mods. Technique yes, you need a few basics that you can work on until you get them right every time. Then at some point you will know the rules well enough to know when and how to break them to achieve better results.
The dryfire thought I am burned in on right now is a quote I got last week in a class not the least gun related.
"You can only achieve positive results through positive thoughts and actions."
Think about that one dryfiring. You want the bullseye, think you got it, not OMG I'm GONNA FLINCH, too wobbly, Breathe! Hold your Breath! There it is FIRE!
Whatever positive thought works, think it. I often have a momentary thought wander in a split second as the sear is breaking, I think it is because I subconsciously know when it will break. Often the shot is on, but the sight tracking and follow through goes.
That same quote i'm trying to apply to my difficult 3 year old too. Not quite as easy though.
Good anything is way more mental than equipment or technique. That's why I didn't say anything about trigger mods. Technique yes, you need a few basics that you can work on until you get them right every time. Then at some point you will know the rules well enough to know when and how to break them to achieve better results.
The dryfire thought I am burned in on right now is a quote I got last week in a class not the least gun related.
"You can only achieve positive results through positive thoughts and actions."
Think about that one dryfiring. You want the bullseye, think you got it, not OMG I'm GONNA FLINCH, too wobbly, Breathe! Hold your Breath! There it is FIRE!
Whatever positive thought works, think it. I often have a momentary thought wander in a split second as the sear is breaking, I think it is because I subconsciously know when it will break. Often the shot is on, but the sight tracking and follow through goes.
That same quote i'm trying to apply to my difficult 3 year old too. Not quite as easy though.