Shakiest gun in the south...

When I shoot anything 9mm or larger for a long time my groups will open up. Even the 9mm has recoil. In order to re-center myself I will pickup the 22 and fire a mag or 2. This used to happen to me at 50 or so rounds. Now its more like 200 or more rounds depending on the caliber. For example 25 rnds is about my max with the 460s&w.
 
Do some jumping jacks. Adrenaline makes people shake and you can burn off a bit with physical exertion. Might or might not be your issue. Athletes "warm up" as much to crush nerves and adrenaline as anything else.

If that is not your issue, you get some free exercise. :)
 
What loads are you using?
I made some +P loads, and by the time I ran through 150 of them my hand hurt, and I couldn't pull the trigger.
I'm now using the lightest load that will cycle my G26 reliably, and can run through 400 rounds with no issues.

For the record:
Accurate #5
5.5 gns (Lee .37 disc)
Berry's 124 gn plated RN 9mm
OAL 1.165"
 
g.willikers said:
...Grip the pistol with the usual isosceles grip, both thumbs pointed at the target and the support hand supplying most of the grip strength (check all the youtube videos on how if you're not familiar with it).
The elbows can either point straight out or slightly down toward the ground, which ever is more comfortable.
Click to expand...

g.willikers makes an important point:

If you're using a two-handed grip, you can greatly improve your effectiveness if you use your offhand to (primarily) control the gun, and your strong hand to (primarily) control the trigger. That's an oversimplification, but variations of it -- as it suits you -- works better than you'd think.
 
Before you go off thinking you have some kind of neurological problem it could be something simple:

1. Make sure you eat before you go out shooting. Fatigue sets in when your blood sugar gets low and will cause you to get the shakes. This has happened to me before while shooting.

2. Try shooting something with less recoil - .22 or even a pellet pistol and see if the shakes could possibly be related to the recoil of a 9mm.

You need to isolate the cause before you can work on the cure. I'd try and at least eliminate the above possibilities first.
 
The other thing to pay attention to is your use of caffeine: it can cause some of the things you're describing, and as you tire, it can get worse.

Pay attention to whether you've been drinking soft drinks, tea, or coffee before your range sessions. You may have changed your habits in recent months. I've learned to just avoid caffeine on the days I KNOW I'm going to the range. It makes a noticeable difference for me.

This is one of the things I first learned some years back, reading through the US Army Marksmanship Unit Training manual... it's a big deal for those guys when practicing or competing. It's available online.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies,
The two of you who mentioned using the support hand for gun control and primary hand for trigger control were dead right! My shooting had become more accurate for longer, I don't shake nearly as bad. Ordered 1100 rounds of reman 9mm 115g so I could isolate the issue, and turns out that changing the grip was the winner. In a side note, the reman 9mm ammo came from Freedom Munitions and have ran flawlessly through all of my 9mm handguns. No failures of any kind, this is some good stuff. Got it for about 18 cents per round.
Thank again to all who replied
 
You are probably not strong enough for sustained shooting. Get grip exercisers, some weights, etc, and build your hands and arms up. soon, you will find that you can crush the grip tightly without a tremor, and that you can hold that crush forever. You just need strength and endurance.
 
Back to a point made earlier: a crushing grip isn't really needed for the best accuracy. That's because it's hard to tighten up the strong hand grip without also tightening up the muscles in the trigger finger -- and that can be counter-productive.

That's not meant to suggest that good hand strength isn't valuable or useful.
 
No, it's not good. That's the reason we want strong hands a good strong grip is easily achieved by a stronger arm without sacrificing control.

I always tore people to hold the pistol like an angry animal. You aren't trying to kill it, just control it.
 
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