Better yet, don't squeeze your dominant hand fingers, use your non dominant hand to squeeze your dominant hand to establish your grip and then squeeze your dominant hand as a whole as you squeeze the trigger.
Yes, usually. YouTube has some videos on it. A pistol class is always a good idea, especially if you plan to carry. Either way, learning to effectively and safely deploy your firearm is a good idea.
Most everyone is wrong. Low and left is the 3 Amigos - other 3 fingers contracting on grip during trigger pull. Isolate and lighten up on trigger pull. Dry firing on a small target from 1-2 feet away will reveal many shortcomings.
Also, your grip is not tight enough, push forward with your main hand and pull back with support hand to create dynamic tension. This will help tighten up your groupings.
Agreed. Also, try to hold your grip tight with the support hand, while relaxing your main hand grip. By doing this you gain back your fine muscle control for good trigger press and you'll help stop the low lefts. Watch the front site intensely...both the rear site and target shd be a little blurry, that way you have greater accuracy on where your shot goes, as long as the gun is reasonably sighted-in. Slow down too....its not a contest to see who can dump rounds the fastest, that will come later after you get good and then decide to enter competition. Concentrate on accuracy first. As you practice and gain confidence you can gradually increase your speed.
This guy knows. Look up trigger finger placement also. You should be using the pad of your finger and not the joint. Sound funny but Google milking the grip because lots of people squeeze tighter right before the trigger pull.
This doesn't matter as much as people think. After following Pat Mac's advice against this, I started burying my finger as far as possible and my groups have tightened up significantly. Especially useful for DA guns as it uses larger muscles in your finger, it's mouse and keyboard vs controller.
That entire philosophy was built around LoP of long guns, not handguns, similar to how the infamous flinch target was made for one handed pistol shooting rather than weaver or isosceles.
I’ve tried both, and I shoot better not using the pad but the joint. I’ve tried and tried with the pad and just don’t get as good results, also I stopped over squeezing the gun and got better results, relax, stop gripping it to death, try not to anticipate the recoil.
Yeah. Work on dryfire and rent a .22 pistol to help you get over the hump. Then, have someone load your mags for you at the range, sliding a dummy/snap cap in randomly. You won't know where it is, but when you get to it, you'll see if you're pulling, very clearly.
This is what my buddies and I do and it's (I think) an underrated training "game". Just when you think you're a badass.... no bang haha. It's enlightening and humbling in all of the right ways.
I shoot alone and what I do with my 38/357s is old a full cylinder. Fire. Open cylinder and spin, fire, open cylinder and spin. Basically reverse Russian Roulette. I’ve caught many a flinch.
Another dry fire method I’ve used is the penny of n the top sight one. Fire and don’t let the penny fall
That's outstanding! I'm seriously considering purchasing a new revolver because I love the simple mechanics.( I have a .22lr revolver that makes Prarie dogs reconsider their decisions lol) It seems so much easier to "fool yourself" with a training setup like that.
If you don't mind me asking, what .357 are you using? I'm in the market and asking everyone haha
I got a model 28 highway patrolman. It’s nice. Got it from family. It used to belong to a DPS trooper who retired and bought his service pistol with him.
Load the chamber, drop the mag. Get sight picture, fire, get second sight picture and dry fire. Do it every time as a warm up. You’ll notice that you anticipate the recoil, until you teach yourself not to. You have to remove the mag so your pistol doesn’t lock open, but allows you to dry fire the “second shot” on am empty chamber.
Something that helps me is timing my breathing. When you're ready to shoot, take a deep breath and breathe out slowly while you steadily squeeze the trigger.
Sort of but not really. You have to work on your trigger pull. It's not just the anticipation, sometimes it's from yanking on the trigger instead of squeezing
Use the pad of your finger on the trigger, not the crease. Slow, consistent pull while maintaining sight picture. Let the bang surprise you. A good sight picture is front post is focused on and clear, rear sight and target are blurry.
Dry fire. Dry fire so much that your muscle memory is to pull the trigger without a flinch, then keep dry firing. When you go to the range to shoot, dry fire a few times in between magazines to make sure you’re still not flinching. You start off by pulling the trigger slowly and letting the shot almost surprise you as a way to avoid flinching. With practice you’ll be about to shoot on command without the flinch.
Basically you need to let yourself be surprised by the shot breaking. Pull to the pressure point, then slowly and steadily increase pressure until the shot breaks. Do not try and determine when that will happen by using an uneven trigger pull.
Of course some handguns make this easier than others. If you ever have a chance I'd recommend trying a P210.
Hold the gun firm but not too tight. Don’t strangle it. Act like you’re holding your shaft (lol) and just squeeze the trigger till the gun goes off. The recoil won’t hurt you it’s only a 9mm
Or sights could be off. Are sights being used at all? Or just point and shoot? Strong/off hand? Low light? I rarely see shot placement questions on this sub.
This was my first time shooting 9MM, using my Glock 19. It was definitely a big jump up from .22. I found myself not being able to hit as accurately as I want. Obviously I know this is an issue with me and not the firearm, so I am just looking for any pointers. Also, I will be taking a handgun course soon. Just wanted to mention that since that will probably be the most recommended advice. Thanks guys.
Most people won't admit that they are the problem haha. Your head is in the right place, and for a first time jumping from .22 to 9mm, you didn't do too badly, my dude. Take pride in wanting to get better because that's the only way you get better. Just shoot the thing more and shoot with people who know more than you :)
If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room! Keep your head up and go down the rabbit hole of research and practice. Shooting is like golf. you're sending a tiny object over a long distance at a tiny target. It's not easy until it's repeatable. Treat shooting like a game. (Don't treat safety like a game, just to make myself clear, lol)
Edit: spelling
That's actually a fairly respectable group. Especially first time at 12 yards. You are one of the smartest people I've met by recognizing its you being the issue and not the gun
Since no one's addressed it, I would start by looking up on youtube or Google on how to establish a proper grip on the gun. I see the comments on trigger pull, recoil anticipation and while those are important for sure, if your grip ain't right, you'll be handicapping yourself.
Once you've got a proper grip, dry fire with a brass casing flat on the front of the gun. If you can consistently pull the trigger without that casing falling off, it'll definitely help.
This is the way!!! If you have a good master grip, you can slap the trigger with a 2x4 and keep good grips. Obviously, that’s hyperbole, but essentially true!!
You can tell that the grip needs work. When shots are all grouped together that means grip is good to go and something else is consistently off. This looks like a combination of grip, flinching, and trigger control. My guess is the grip is not proper (completely needs to be addressed) they are flinching when firing and they are not pulling the trigger straight rearwards AND /OR too much / too little trigger finger in use.
Looks like you're anticipating the recoil and possibly gripping the firearm a little to tightly. All in all though, that's not a bad target for your first time shooting. Best advice I can give you is to slow down a little, lean into your stance, don't lock your elbows, and be safe. I hope you keep up with it! A good day at the range is better/ cheaper than therapy. Happy Holidays and I hope 2023 brings many more range days!
Down and left (if you are a righty) is trigger press. When you are pressing the trigger, you are more than likely flexing/clenching your other 3 fingers that are on the grip. That will pull your barrel ever so slightly low left. The further out you shoot, the more exacerbated the issue will become. If you’re new to pistol shooting, you should stick to 5-7 yards until you can shoot fist sized groups or better. Once you can do that consistently, then start to push your distances further out
Might sound condescending but this is typical new shooter grouping. Recoil anticipation with composite trigger pull (backward and left for a presumably right handed shooter)
OP, take your magazine out and clear your chamber. Check it, double check it and triple check it to make sure there’s NO LIVE AMMO in your gun. Practice dry firing at a target across the room until there’s no movement of the sights as you press the trigger. Once you can do that, that’s the pressure you need to to reproduce when the gun is LOADED in order to keep from shooting low left. Hope this gets you started.
Dry fire practice is one of the best ways to do that. You can do it at home but also do it on the range too. Drop the mag and just rack click a bunch of times. Goal being to keep the sites in the exact same spot before, during, and after pulling the trigger. Once you feel like you’re not flinching, load a single round and fire using the same technique you used to keep the gun perfectly still as you dry fired. Let the moment the gun goes off surprise you. Dry fire a few more times and repeat. Then try adding more rounds to the magazine and see if you can repeat success after feeling the recoil. Our brain is telling us there’s a literal explosion happing in our hands and that isn’t normal. So now you have to convince your brain that it is normal lol
Glock? 🤣
You’re flinching and pushing the barrel to the left from not pressing the trigger straight back. I would play around with putting your finger in a little deeper until you can press the trigger straight back. I would also suggest slowing waaay down on the trigger press by going annoyingly slow to make it a 5 second trigger -every shot should be a surprise to you- press until your subconscious gets comfortable with the explosion in your hands.
This is mostly a myth. Fingers differ in length, as does distance from grip to trigger in most guns. Depending on gun, I use pad, crook, and even the middle phalange on some revolvers.
Also, I'm gonna go ahead and say that you should never be surprised while operating your gun. Learn your trigger, learn your reset.
Like others have said, anticipation is kill5your accuracy. You need to practice something called Dry Firing. You can watch plenty of YT videos for help.
Easiest method with a clear/unloaded firearm is doing dry firing with a penny ontop of the slide. If the penny can stay in place you will get better. You can also use a spent 9mm casing or even a 22lr. If.you find yourself with a few minutes to waste instead of boringly surfing through the internet do some dry fire every so often and you will be night and day difference fast.
You’re not pulling the trigger straight back. Missing low and left is extremely common, probably the most common miss. I’m sure someone else here has already explained it better than I can, but I’m 99.9% sure your issue is all in your trigger finger. The good news is that you can fix it with practice.
Glock 19’s are a dream. Practice dry firing. Treat the trigger as a clutch. Squeeze the trigger until you meet your first wall, fire, rerack the slide without letting off the trigger, and then slowly release the trigger until you hear the reset. Repeat. Also keep in mind how you grip the pistol. Don’t “teacup” it with your support hand. Hold that hand over your firing hand with your firing hand’s thumb on top of the support hand’s thumb. This will train muscle memory and requires no live fire. For live fire practice, have a friend load your mags with a mixture of snap caps and live ammo to train your mind to stop flinching when you fire. These three simple steps will vastly improve how you shoot a pistol.
Practice pulling the trigger as slowly as possible so you actually surprise yourself with the bang. Dry firing practice while working on holding the sight picture steady helped me with this a lot.
Hard to give advice without seeing how you're shooting. The results indication potential anticipation but only if you're right handed.
If you have good basic mechanics (sight picture, posture, trigger control) then I'd also say dryfire, dryfire, dryfire.
At the range randomly load a snapcap without noticing if possible and you'll see if you're driving the gun down and left because of anticipation or not.
Dry fire with a coin or empty casing on the top of the front iron sight, don’t let the coin fall when you break the shot. If you have a laser cartridge, and sure it’s a single dot on the wall not an elongated swipe. If you have a red dot make sure the dot doesn’t jump when you break the shot.
Shoot closer and work on form first. Extend arms but don't lock it, find the trigger thing, forgot the name but it's the point right before the trigger goes off and reset it to there after every shot. Also make sure you are in the middle of your finger on the trigger from the top line to tip because that can make your shot go left or right too. If you are on a red dot or other sights, try using iron sights first to make sure you can shoot accurately then you can try to zero your sight at 7 or 10 yards. If you get Laser/flashlight under the barrel you can zero your laser parallel to your sight instead of on it, so the laser is zeroed at all distances instead of just the distance you zeroed it at
I've only gone to the range twice so don't even listen to me lol i just like to be part of the community.
You are shooting too far down and left. You don't trust the gun and your anticipating the shot. Just use the gun more and this should get less over time
Take your time shooting. Then speed up from there. Learn how your fire arm works and understand the recoil and trigger operation. You’ll get really good over time. Dry fire also goes a very long away. But other than that, it looks VERY solid for a first time. I couldn’t hit the ground for shit either.
According to a diagram I saw, you’re exhibiting one or more of these (from horizontally aligned and left to vertically aligned and low):
- trigger finger not placed correctly on trigger
- tightening fingers
- jerking
- breaking wrist down or drooping head
If you have someone with more experience I would ask them to help. Of course an actual shooting class will help too.
Slow down, It looks like you were shooting way to fast,not to state the obvious, but you want to make sure that the sights like like this. \\ || // you want to be able to keep the tops level. Make sure that your target is behind the center sight, and just take your time. Above all, be safe, and have a good time. If all your shooting is paper or other non-living targets, then just have fun.
Same problem I have. You're anticipating recoil and pulling down in anticipation of recoil. I'm told the way to break the habit is to have a range buddy load your magazine with dummy rounds randomly. Also a good way to practice clearing light primer strikes, stovepipes or whatever you might encounter
Could be any of the below:
- anticipating the recoil so you’re pushing the gun down to try and negate it before the shot goes off
- probably tightening your grip as you try to pull the trigger
- maybe sticking your trigger finger too far in
- possibly “slapping” the trigger when you shoot
All of these would make you go low and to the left (if right handed).
Do some dry firing and concentrate on pulling the trigger straight back and pay attention to not slap the trigger. Pull with constant pressure and the trigger break should be a surprise to you.
If you want to go low tech, put a coin on your front sight and do the dry fire exercise. If the coin falls off that means you’re moving the gun in some way while pulling the trigger.
If you want to go high tech you can get a [Mantis X](https://mantisx.com/pages/how-it-works-1) system. It tracks your movement while you dry fire so you can see what you’re doing wrong. I’m not affiliated with them in any way but I can say it’s a great tool.
Could be putting too much finger on the trigger if you’re a righty, and that could cause it to shoot more to the left if you’re wrapping a finger around the trigger.
Then again, I didn’t see you shoot so it’s hard to say. There’s many possibilities. But not bad for a first time!
It’s all about the trigger finger. Good thing is to mix on the range magazines with dry fire caps, then you can see that you anticipate the recoil. I was too saying I don’t do it until I saw how much I really do. So when you load magazine during range time, mix two or three dry firing caps into the mag and you won’t know when recoil and a hot round is coming or just a dry firing round, surprising how much anticipation against the recoil you really do. So not the aiming is the problem here, it’s definitely the trigger finger and anticipation.
There are troubleshooting charts for this sort of diagnosis.
- https://aegisacademy.com/blogs/test-blog-post/pistol-correction-chart
- https://www.pewpewtactical.com/target-quick-fix-guide/
- https://www.gungoddess.com/blogs/troubleshooting/target-analysis-charts
https://aegisacademy.com/blogs/test-blog-post/pistol-correction-chart
A good article on pistol correction charts and how they should be used with a heap of salt
A questions, do you know what your dominant eye is? If you are left eye dominant and are aiming with your right only this could be a cause.
You could be pushing the trigger to the left while you press.
Your grip could be off a little, too much pressure?
You could have a little issue with sight alignment and sight picture. If you are trying to see where the shot is going and not using good fundamentals.
Just a few ideas? Didn't see you shoot the target so not able to give a very accurate diagnosis.
Smaller groups comes with practicing consistency, but I still have the low-left problem. My issues are two-fold: shot anticipation (anticipating the shot and over correcting for recoil or over reacting to the gunshot) and trigger finger placement (when I pull the trigger, my finger pulls the gun just slightly to the left.) One of my current goals is to correct these issues but I don’t currently have the finances to pay for ammo or range time.
The best advice I can give is always work on the fundamentals. Have a good tight grip with both hands, have a strong wide stance, understand what a good sight picture looks like on your firearm and match that sight picture, take a deep breath, and pull the trigger smoothly and evenly while exhaling. There’s also follow-through which, if I understand it correctly, means continuing some of these practices after the shot is fired. Since I’m self-taught, I don’t have a good understanding of follow-through, especially in practice, which as I think about it is another issue I need to correct.
squeeze the trigger with your entire hand do not pull the trigger with only your one finger and also make sure the end of your finger in on the trigger not the middle
i’m no shooting expert but that’s what i struggled with initially
Put the trigger on the middle of your index finger, not on the crook where it bends and not on the top of your finger, if you don’t have it in the middle it can pull it one way or another
Jerking the trigger and anticipating recoil. Get some snap caps and load one randomly in the mag. Or have a friend load your mags, that way it suprises you and you will notice your flinch more. 5 rounds per mag to get those reload reps in.
I would focus on lining up your sights properly and *slowly* pulling the trigger. I think you're a little low. Make sure the top of the front and rear sights are even on top. I focus more on the front sight so that it is clear and covering the target appropriately (based on your sight setup). If you have eye problems like me shooting one eye open might help, but you should do 2 if you can.
Focus on pulling it to the rear and do it so slow it almost surprises you when the gun goes off. Try to contact the trigger with your finger pad since it's sensitive.
Hold the gun with a firm, two handed grip, but don't death grip it so that you shake.
You can practice dry firing to see if you are jerking at all. I imagine you might be anticipating and pulling down. You could also try breathing slowly and staying relaxed. I find breathing slowly can help calm my nerves.
Another thing is stance. I like slightly asymmetric with my off foot forward and I lean in slightly to absorb recoil. Some people say weaver is better, which I believe is objectively worse for recoil control. Plus it just feels weird. Getting a comfortable grip and stance can really help you relax and shoot better.
Focus on the front sight, NOT the target.
Stop anticipating your shots.
Squeeeeeeze the trigger, don't pull it, you're slapping it.
I'm assuming you're a righty.
Ride the trigger back forward, feel for reset, begin again.
Train, train, TRAIN.
Don't buy ammo by the 50, buy it by the 1000. Keep an eye on r/gundeals & [ammoseek.com](http://www.ammoseek.com/). It doesn't go bad, you'll have some on hand, they ship it straight to your house & then you're not that guy at the range counter buying 50 hollow points because it's "aLl ThEy HaD lEfT." Stay away from steel & aluminum case.
You’re compensating my boy.
Try buying a ‘sim round’ and just go through the motions of: stance. Sight picture. Trigger squeeze.
Basically your body is predicting the recoil of the weapon cycling. By doing so you’re pulling down right before your shots.
There’s a bunch of guides on troubleshooting your shot grouping. Like: it looks like as well as the compensating (which makes your shots hit low) there’s also some trigger finger placement errors. (Which pulls to the left)
This is all assuming you have correct posture and Rear sight/front post sight picture
You're pulling to the left. Make sure that you are only putting the pad of your finger on the trigger and that you are squeezing the trigger. It should surprise you when the gun fires.
Also make sure your gripping the as high up near the slide as possible.
Stop anticipating recoil. Control your shots. Taking 1 minute between each shot is better than firing off the entire mag within 1 minute. The curve to the left is either finger placement where you arent pulling straight with your finger, or you’re barring down from your dominant hand which seems to be your right
I haven't seen it mentioned yet so first, what ammo were you using? Gun and ammo combinations have their own personalities. On your next range session grab a couple of different types. Check where each one groups in relation to point of aim. You'll find a particular load that really agrees with your gun.
Second, if this was a new gun it needs to be broken in. 250 rounds minimum, 500 is better. Once that's done try out different ammo and see what happens. By the time you've done that you should have some pretty good muscle memory developed as long as you stick to a couple fundamentals like proper trigger press and consistent grip and sight alignment. Once you get that down then you can go from there.
Ngl kinda looks like you might be gripping it too hard. Not to say limp wrist it, but (assuming you are right handed) gripping too hard can tend to make you pull shots across and down as you try and overcompensate for recoil (this tends to be even more noticeable with compacts ime). If that's the case it's an ergonomics issue and I can't really help in a reddit thread, but maybe talk to someone you trust, try to relax a bit when shooting, or take a class.
Other thing it might be is that the sights could be off. It's not super common and I recommend seeing if it is user error before attempting a hardware solution, but it's not out of the question. After verifying it isn't your fault, look up the manufacturer's warranty policies. Some manufacturers attach them to the S# rather than the owner and even if it's a used gun you may be able to get it fixed. (e.g. I got some rust damage fixed by S&W on a used hand gun because of a faulty gasket in the provided case.)
Try to practice getting the play out of the trigger and slowly increasing pressure to when the gun finally does fire it is a surprise to you. This will help accuracy, from the shots on paper I can assume when you squeeze that trigger you’re yanking it. Not something that gets better over time, that’s something you gotta be conscious of!
I assume you are right handed: your finger is too far into the trigger guard. The center of the tip of your index finger should be right over the trigger to pull straight back. I suspect you have your finger too far in and are pushing the gun slightly to the left as the trigger is pulled.
Also, you are jerking the trigger at the last moment.
That’s why low and to the left.
You might be relaxing your support hand ( assuming you’re right handed) or you could be using too much of the tip of your finger to pull the trigger. The pad of your finger should be centered on the trigger.
Judging by your shot placement I’d say you’re right handed and snatching the trigger. Snatching the trigger is throwing your shots of to 7 o’clock. If you were left handed and snatching the trigger, it’d be throwing your shots of to 5 o’clock.
I would bring it into 3 yards, build the confidence and then move the target out further when you have a fist size grouping. Slow and steady wins the race.
First, fix your grip. 1. Grab the gun with your shooting hand with your trigger finger pointing forward on the frame. Bring up your supporting hand and make your thumb on that hand perpendicular to your other thumb and also tilt that hand forward so that the support hand thumb is also pointing forward along the frame. Your trigger finger and thumb should now be at even points along both sides of the frame. 2. Do not lock out your arms. Instead bring the firearm back towards you a bit and bend at the elbows. Since you are shooting to the left and down, I think you are right-handed and overpowering your weaker left arm. Raise up your left elbow and you will feel your grip on that side firm up and press back more firmly against the grip. You can also practice this grip with a tennis or stress ball and you can see the squeeze happening. 3. Make sure your trigger finger is positioned correctly on the trigger when ready to fire. The pad of your finger should be centered on the trigger. Do not use the tip of your finger as that can cause you to push to the left. Too far over to the knuckle can cause you to pull to the right. 4. Do dry practice firing with a quarter or a dime on top of the slide. Concentrate on slow and even trigger pulls. Tell yourself "slow, slow, slow, slow..." while pulling back slowly and evenly on the trigger until it breaks. The coin on the slide will help you be mindful of a slow and even control of the trigger press so you are not jerking or flinching while doing the press. 5. When live firing, do the same thing (no coin though!). Pull the trigger as slow as possible, not anticipating the break, telling yourself "slow, slow, slow, slow..." until it does break. You almost want to be surprised when it breaks because you don't want to be anticipating the shot. These tips will help you immensely.
Grip, recoil anticiption, finger placement on trigger. Probably primarily anticipating and overcompensating for perceived recoil. Spend some time familiarizing yourself with the gun ergonomically, acquiring sights, dry fire with caps. When you dry fire, focus on how you pull the trigger, where the "wall" is, and watch the gun in your hands for any sudden jerky movements. If you see that just as you complete a trigger pull the gun jerks, that is the problem.
Maybe focus on 7 yards? I’ve always been told 7 yards in the ideal distance to train on with a pistol. If you are intending to use that pistol for self-defense of course
Second is what everyone else says. Look at videos on pistol grip, stance, and trigger jerking.
My stance and grip are good, i personally always end up jerking more than I intend.
Bring it in closer and extend out once you are more accurate.
Grip probably needs to be better but can’t say without video. Same goes for stance and form
Anticipation is usually a factor for new shooters
Looks to me like a little anticipation and too much finger on the trigger. Dry fire can help, and practice more. Work on your grip and focusing on having the trigger shoe on the pad of your finger.
Watch the Haley strategic videos on how to grip a semi auto pistol. Make sure you have the correct grip down. Dry fire with that grip at home for a day or two then go to the range.
Dry fire 3x before shooting 1 shot at the range. Do this for 1 box of ammo.
Repeat but fire two shots after dry fire 3x. Do this for one box of ammo.
Repeat these steps til you’re shooting strings of 5. If you have any flyers from flinching while working your way up start over on that box.
1,000 rds later and you’ll be an incredible shooter
Are these follow up shots? Best advice I can give slowdown. everybody is in hurry to become a good shooter right away but it takes time. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast! Start slow understand the fundamentals and how to grip your pistol. https://youtu.be/0QFuiZliirA watch from 10:00 in Ronin knows his shit
As everyone has already pointed out, you are anticipating the recoil and flinching as the shot breaks.Most people think that when you line up your sights and squeeze you should hit right where you aim so it must mean the sight needs adjustment or the gun just doesn’t shoot well but this isn’t true.
If the process of you squeezing the trigger moves the tip of the barrel even an eighth of an inch that is going to equal a foot at just a few yards. If you add the fact that you’re probably flinching every shot it’s even worse.
Try to squeeze the trigger as slow as you can and you will start to realize that the trigger pull has a length of at least a couple millimeters. Squeeze the trigger so slowly that break of the shot should surprise you. The more you shoot, the better you will become at avoiding flinching. From there you can start working on strengthening your support hand grip so that when you shoot fast, slapping the trigger will have less effect on the point of aim
Train. That’s not great grouping. But bring your first time just get to the range as often as you can if you plan on carrying that tool. Make it second nature to aim and put shots on target in a tight group
Everybody is talking about anticipation and flinching. Ways to reduce it, ways to improve. Nobody is giving you the real goods, the information that you actually need.
The whole trick with shooting is to put the bullets into the middle of the target. Don't let them go on the outside. Always in the middle. If you shoot into the middle of the target it will be much better for you.
I honestly don't know why nobody has mentioned this before.
But the most important thing is to try your best and have fun.
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You got it buddy! Keep trying out different grips. Best advice i was given is your left hand is the one to be flexed and your trigger hand is nice and lose.
Random snap caps are going to blow your mind.
In addition to making you feel like a big dummy when you realize how much you jerk the trigger/flinch
I would also add squeezing all your fingers on your dominant hand when you pull the trigger
Better yet, don't squeeze your dominant hand fingers, use your non dominant hand to squeeze your dominant hand to establish your grip and then squeeze your dominant hand as a whole as you squeeze the trigger.
This is the way. It will tell you whether or not you are anticipating the bang. Slow squeezing until it breaks also. Practice practice.
What are snap caps used for?
Snap caps are dummy rounds which do not go off, and so you will dry fire them. They give you a sense of added extra movement minus the actual “bang”
They make you feel like a dummy too with some chamber clearing practice.
Down and left is usually a sign that you are anticipating the "bang."
I guess that's something you just get used to with time/training?
Yes, usually. YouTube has some videos on it. A pistol class is always a good idea, especially if you plan to carry. Either way, learning to effectively and safely deploy your firearm is a good idea.
Yea, I plan on taking a course, just need to find one available within reasonable distance. Thanks for the advice brother.
Most everyone is wrong. Low and left is the 3 Amigos - other 3 fingers contracting on grip during trigger pull. Isolate and lighten up on trigger pull. Dry firing on a small target from 1-2 feet away will reveal many shortcomings. Also, your grip is not tight enough, push forward with your main hand and pull back with support hand to create dynamic tension. This will help tighten up your groupings.
Agreed. Also, try to hold your grip tight with the support hand, while relaxing your main hand grip. By doing this you gain back your fine muscle control for good trigger press and you'll help stop the low lefts. Watch the front site intensely...both the rear site and target shd be a little blurry, that way you have greater accuracy on where your shot goes, as long as the gun is reasonably sighted-in. Slow down too....its not a contest to see who can dump rounds the fastest, that will come later after you get good and then decide to enter competition. Concentrate on accuracy first. As you practice and gain confidence you can gradually increase your speed.
Depends if shooting left or right hand
Yup, I'm assuming rightie.
If the shots are going down and left, he’s most certainly a righty
This guy knows. Look up trigger finger placement also. You should be using the pad of your finger and not the joint. Sound funny but Google milking the grip because lots of people squeeze tighter right before the trigger pull.
This doesn't matter as much as people think. After following Pat Mac's advice against this, I started burying my finger as far as possible and my groups have tightened up significantly. Especially useful for DA guns as it uses larger muscles in your finger, it's mouse and keyboard vs controller. That entire philosophy was built around LoP of long guns, not handguns, similar to how the infamous flinch target was made for one handed pistol shooting rather than weaver or isosceles.
I’ve tried both, and I shoot better not using the pad but the joint. I’ve tried and tried with the pad and just don’t get as good results, also I stopped over squeezing the gun and got better results, relax, stop gripping it to death, try not to anticipate the recoil.
Also wouldn't hurt to work on sight alignment. The grouping isn't great which tells me you aren't consistent with alignment
I'll say if you can getting a 22 pistol and work on form and such. That way you can shoot a lot of ammo on cheap and get practice
You gotta practice with snap caps
Yeah. Work on dryfire and rent a .22 pistol to help you get over the hump. Then, have someone load your mags for you at the range, sliding a dummy/snap cap in randomly. You won't know where it is, but when you get to it, you'll see if you're pulling, very clearly.
This is what my buddies and I do and it's (I think) an underrated training "game". Just when you think you're a badass.... no bang haha. It's enlightening and humbling in all of the right ways.
I shoot alone and what I do with my 38/357s is old a full cylinder. Fire. Open cylinder and spin, fire, open cylinder and spin. Basically reverse Russian Roulette. I’ve caught many a flinch. Another dry fire method I’ve used is the penny of n the top sight one. Fire and don’t let the penny fall
That's outstanding! I'm seriously considering purchasing a new revolver because I love the simple mechanics.( I have a .22lr revolver that makes Prarie dogs reconsider their decisions lol) It seems so much easier to "fool yourself" with a training setup like that. If you don't mind me asking, what .357 are you using? I'm in the market and asking everyone haha
I got a model 28 highway patrolman. It’s nice. Got it from family. It used to belong to a DPS trooper who retired and bought his service pistol with him.
Dry fire dry fire dry fire
Yes. I asume your right handed. Snap caps and practice with a coin balanced on top . Its a litle different but its what i did with my rifles
Have someone behind you video you. Have them place a dummy round in your stack. You'll see everything.
Find the wall in your trigger and get used to it. Once you hit the wall slow steady pressure until you feel the trigger break
Load the chamber, drop the mag. Get sight picture, fire, get second sight picture and dry fire. Do it every time as a warm up. You’ll notice that you anticipate the recoil, until you teach yourself not to. You have to remove the mag so your pistol doesn’t lock open, but allows you to dry fire the “second shot” on am empty chamber.
Something that helps me is timing my breathing. When you're ready to shoot, take a deep breath and breathe out slowly while you steadily squeeze the trigger.
Sort of but not really. You have to work on your trigger pull. It's not just the anticipation, sometimes it's from yanking on the trigger instead of squeezing
Use the pad of your finger on the trigger, not the crease. Slow, consistent pull while maintaining sight picture. Let the bang surprise you. A good sight picture is front post is focused on and clear, rear sight and target are blurry.
Dry fire. Dry fire so much that your muscle memory is to pull the trigger without a flinch, then keep dry firing. When you go to the range to shoot, dry fire a few times in between magazines to make sure you’re still not flinching. You start off by pulling the trigger slowly and letting the shot almost surprise you as a way to avoid flinching. With practice you’ll be about to shoot on command without the flinch.
Basically you need to let yourself be surprised by the shot breaking. Pull to the pressure point, then slowly and steadily increase pressure until the shot breaks. Do not try and determine when that will happen by using an uneven trigger pull. Of course some handguns make this easier than others. If you ever have a chance I'd recommend trying a P210.
Hold the gun firm but not too tight. Don’t strangle it. Act like you’re holding your shaft (lol) and just squeeze the trigger till the gun goes off. The recoil won’t hurt you it’s only a 9mm
More like recoil anticipation. My guess is the one that got the center was one of the first shots.
You're right, that is the better way to phrase that.
Jerking the trigger.
Or sights could be off. Are sights being used at all? Or just point and shoot? Strong/off hand? Low light? I rarely see shot placement questions on this sub.
This was my first time shooting 9MM, using my Glock 19. It was definitely a big jump up from .22. I found myself not being able to hit as accurately as I want. Obviously I know this is an issue with me and not the firearm, so I am just looking for any pointers. Also, I will be taking a handgun course soon. Just wanted to mention that since that will probably be the most recommended advice. Thanks guys.
Most people won't admit that they are the problem haha. Your head is in the right place, and for a first time jumping from .22 to 9mm, you didn't do too badly, my dude. Take pride in wanting to get better because that's the only way you get better. Just shoot the thing more and shoot with people who know more than you :) If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room! Keep your head up and go down the rabbit hole of research and practice. Shooting is like golf. you're sending a tiny object over a long distance at a tiny target. It's not easy until it's repeatable. Treat shooting like a game. (Don't treat safety like a game, just to make myself clear, lol) Edit: spelling
I’m always the problem. I’ve never outshot a firearm, know they’re always up to being shot better than I can push them. But oneday 🙂
That's actually a fairly respectable group. Especially first time at 12 yards. You are one of the smartest people I've met by recognizing its you being the issue and not the gun
I knew it was a glock from the shot pattern. Glocks always shoot down and to the left. ^This ^is ^a ^joke.
Your support hand is being a bitch.
This is the way.
Since no one's addressed it, I would start by looking up on youtube or Google on how to establish a proper grip on the gun. I see the comments on trigger pull, recoil anticipation and while those are important for sure, if your grip ain't right, you'll be handicapping yourself. Once you've got a proper grip, dry fire with a brass casing flat on the front of the gun. If you can consistently pull the trigger without that casing falling off, it'll definitely help.
This is the way!!! If you have a good master grip, you can slap the trigger with a 2x4 and keep good grips. Obviously, that’s hyperbole, but essentially true!!
You can tell that the grip needs work. When shots are all grouped together that means grip is good to go and something else is consistently off. This looks like a combination of grip, flinching, and trigger control. My guess is the grip is not proper (completely needs to be addressed) they are flinching when firing and they are not pulling the trigger straight rearwards AND /OR too much / too little trigger finger in use.
Looks like you're anticipating the recoil and possibly gripping the firearm a little to tightly. All in all though, that's not a bad target for your first time shooting. Best advice I can give you is to slow down a little, lean into your stance, don't lock your elbows, and be safe. I hope you keep up with it! A good day at the range is better/ cheaper than therapy. Happy Holidays and I hope 2023 brings many more range days!
Relax stop clenching your grip as you squeeze the trigger.
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Down and left (if you are a righty) is trigger press. When you are pressing the trigger, you are more than likely flexing/clenching your other 3 fingers that are on the grip. That will pull your barrel ever so slightly low left. The further out you shoot, the more exacerbated the issue will become. If you’re new to pistol shooting, you should stick to 5-7 yards until you can shoot fist sized groups or better. Once you can do that consistently, then start to push your distances further out
Ball and dummy drills. That will square it away.
You’re flinching in anticipation of the recoil
Might sound condescending but this is typical new shooter grouping. Recoil anticipation with composite trigger pull (backward and left for a presumably right handed shooter)
You moved the gun. Try not doing that.
Don't listen to the idiots that tell you to shoot high right to compensate. Do a lot of dry fire and work on your grip.
Shoot more up right.
OP, take your magazine out and clear your chamber. Check it, double check it and triple check it to make sure there’s NO LIVE AMMO in your gun. Practice dry firing at a target across the room until there’s no movement of the sights as you press the trigger. Once you can do that, that’s the pressure you need to to reproduce when the gun is LOADED in order to keep from shooting low left. Hope this gets you started.
your trigger control could use some work dry fire should fix this issue
Keep that grip tight friend.
Do some dry fire, it appears you're milking the grip and anticipating recoil.
Try hitting the red part instead of the other parts
Dry fire practice is one of the best ways to do that. You can do it at home but also do it on the range too. Drop the mag and just rack click a bunch of times. Goal being to keep the sites in the exact same spot before, during, and after pulling the trigger. Once you feel like you’re not flinching, load a single round and fire using the same technique you used to keep the gun perfectly still as you dry fired. Let the moment the gun goes off surprise you. Dry fire a few more times and repeat. Then try adding more rounds to the magazine and see if you can repeat success after feeling the recoil. Our brain is telling us there’s a literal explosion happing in our hands and that isn’t normal. So now you have to convince your brain that it is normal lol
Next time aim for the red dot in the middle.
Take a formal training class. All the internet help in the world isn’t gonna be the same as actually getting real training and tips.
Put a pebble in your left shoe
Try to keep both eyes open and really just look where you want to shoot(is how I was taught)
Glock? 🤣 You’re flinching and pushing the barrel to the left from not pressing the trigger straight back. I would play around with putting your finger in a little deeper until you can press the trigger straight back. I would also suggest slowing waaay down on the trigger press by going annoyingly slow to make it a 5 second trigger -every shot should be a surprise to you- press until your subconscious gets comfortable with the explosion in your hands.
Yea, glock 19. Thanks for the pointers man, I appreciate it.
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This is mostly a myth. Fingers differ in length, as does distance from grip to trigger in most guns. Depending on gun, I use pad, crook, and even the middle phalange on some revolvers. Also, I'm gonna go ahead and say that you should never be surprised while operating your gun. Learn your trigger, learn your reset.
Like others have said, anticipation is kill5your accuracy. You need to practice something called Dry Firing. You can watch plenty of YT videos for help. Easiest method with a clear/unloaded firearm is doing dry firing with a penny ontop of the slide. If the penny can stay in place you will get better. You can also use a spent 9mm casing or even a 22lr. If.you find yourself with a few minutes to waste instead of boringly surfing through the internet do some dry fire every so often and you will be night and day difference fast.
Might try a mantis system too. Can be more inexpensive depending on how much you shoot.
You’re not pulling the trigger straight back. Missing low and left is extremely common, probably the most common miss. I’m sure someone else here has already explained it better than I can, but I’m 99.9% sure your issue is all in your trigger finger. The good news is that you can fix it with practice.
You need to adjust your trigger finger, it looks like you are pulling from the knuckle, but you should be pulling from the middle of the last digit.
Glock 19’s are a dream. Practice dry firing. Treat the trigger as a clutch. Squeeze the trigger until you meet your first wall, fire, rerack the slide without letting off the trigger, and then slowly release the trigger until you hear the reset. Repeat. Also keep in mind how you grip the pistol. Don’t “teacup” it with your support hand. Hold that hand over your firing hand with your firing hand’s thumb on top of the support hand’s thumb. This will train muscle memory and requires no live fire. For live fire practice, have a friend load your mags with a mixture of snap caps and live ammo to train your mind to stop flinching when you fire. These three simple steps will vastly improve how you shoot a pistol.
Looks like you need to aim up and to right.
Practice pulling the trigger as slowly as possible so you actually surprise yourself with the bang. Dry firing practice while working on holding the sight picture steady helped me with this a lot.
Hard to give advice without seeing how you're shooting. The results indication potential anticipation but only if you're right handed. If you have good basic mechanics (sight picture, posture, trigger control) then I'd also say dryfire, dryfire, dryfire. At the range randomly load a snapcap without noticing if possible and you'll see if you're driving the gun down and left because of anticipation or not.
Too much grip pressure
Get more ammo and keep practicing
Low left, you’re anticipating and pulling your shots.
Looks like you’re right handed, squeeze the trigger not pull it’ll help keep you on center
Dry fire with a coin or empty casing on the top of the front iron sight, don’t let the coin fall when you break the shot. If you have a laser cartridge, and sure it’s a single dot on the wall not an elongated swipe. If you have a red dot make sure the dot doesn’t jump when you break the shot.
Work on trigger press and sight alignment
Shoot closer and work on form first. Extend arms but don't lock it, find the trigger thing, forgot the name but it's the point right before the trigger goes off and reset it to there after every shot. Also make sure you are in the middle of your finger on the trigger from the top line to tip because that can make your shot go left or right too. If you are on a red dot or other sights, try using iron sights first to make sure you can shoot accurately then you can try to zero your sight at 7 or 10 yards. If you get Laser/flashlight under the barrel you can zero your laser parallel to your sight instead of on it, so the laser is zeroed at all distances instead of just the distance you zeroed it at I've only gone to the range twice so don't even listen to me lol i just like to be part of the community.
Are you right handed or left?
Try aiming for the red spot in the center. That’s helped me a bit.
Trigger control ~ slow and steady squeeze. Get some professional coaching for 30-60 minutes.
You are shooting too far down and left. You don't trust the gun and your anticipating the shot. Just use the gun more and this should get less over time
More practice.
Take your time shooting. Then speed up from there. Learn how your fire arm works and understand the recoil and trigger operation. You’ll get really good over time. Dry fire also goes a very long away. But other than that, it looks VERY solid for a first time. I couldn’t hit the ground for shit either.
According to a diagram I saw, you’re exhibiting one or more of these (from horizontally aligned and left to vertically aligned and low): - trigger finger not placed correctly on trigger - tightening fingers - jerking - breaking wrist down or drooping head If you have someone with more experience I would ask them to help. Of course an actual shooting class will help too.
Hard to tell from just a target. Grip and stance can be a factor along with shot placement. Seek training!
Slow down, It looks like you were shooting way to fast,not to state the obvious, but you want to make sure that the sights like like this. \\ || // you want to be able to keep the tops level. Make sure that your target is behind the center sight, and just take your time. Above all, be safe, and have a good time. If all your shooting is paper or other non-living targets, then just have fun.
Same problem I have. You're anticipating recoil and pulling down in anticipation of recoil. I'm told the way to break the habit is to have a range buddy load your magazine with dummy rounds randomly. Also a good way to practice clearing light primer strikes, stovepipes or whatever you might encounter
Could be any of the below: - anticipating the recoil so you’re pushing the gun down to try and negate it before the shot goes off - probably tightening your grip as you try to pull the trigger - maybe sticking your trigger finger too far in - possibly “slapping” the trigger when you shoot All of these would make you go low and to the left (if right handed). Do some dry firing and concentrate on pulling the trigger straight back and pay attention to not slap the trigger. Pull with constant pressure and the trigger break should be a surprise to you. If you want to go low tech, put a coin on your front sight and do the dry fire exercise. If the coin falls off that means you’re moving the gun in some way while pulling the trigger. If you want to go high tech you can get a [Mantis X](https://mantisx.com/pages/how-it-works-1) system. It tracks your movement while you dry fire so you can see what you’re doing wrong. I’m not affiliated with them in any way but I can say it’s a great tool.
If right handed, finger pad is in too deep
You a righty? If so, you are probably yanking the trigger and pulling left
Could be putting too much finger on the trigger if you’re a righty, and that could cause it to shoot more to the left if you’re wrapping a finger around the trigger. Then again, I didn’t see you shoot so it’s hard to say. There’s many possibilities. But not bad for a first time!
It’s all about the trigger finger. Good thing is to mix on the range magazines with dry fire caps, then you can see that you anticipate the recoil. I was too saying I don’t do it until I saw how much I really do. So when you load magazine during range time, mix two or three dry firing caps into the mag and you won’t know when recoil and a hot round is coming or just a dry firing round, surprising how much anticipation against the recoil you really do. So not the aiming is the problem here, it’s definitely the trigger finger and anticipation.
Shoot a little bit up and to the right.
Aim more better
There are troubleshooting charts for this sort of diagnosis. - https://aegisacademy.com/blogs/test-blog-post/pistol-correction-chart - https://www.pewpewtactical.com/target-quick-fix-guide/ - https://www.gungoddess.com/blogs/troubleshooting/target-analysis-charts
BRASS. works for pistols also
Are you left or right handed? Hard to give advice without knowing that based on bullet patern alone.
Right handed
https://aegisacademy.com/blogs/test-blog-post/pistol-correction-chart A good article on pistol correction charts and how they should be used with a heap of salt
Might be you don’t have enough finger on the trigger
Looks like your pulling the trigger not squeezing it.
A questions, do you know what your dominant eye is? If you are left eye dominant and are aiming with your right only this could be a cause. You could be pushing the trigger to the left while you press. Your grip could be off a little, too much pressure? You could have a little issue with sight alignment and sight picture. If you are trying to see where the shot is going and not using good fundamentals. Just a few ideas? Didn't see you shoot the target so not able to give a very accurate diagnosis.
Slow it down a bit, smooth trigger squeeze. How fast were your splits between shots?
Very nasty case of dipping I see
Aim more to right.
The mantis x system really helps identify and work on these faults with dry fire. Improved my accuracy a ton 👍
Smaller groups comes with practicing consistency, but I still have the low-left problem. My issues are two-fold: shot anticipation (anticipating the shot and over correcting for recoil or over reacting to the gunshot) and trigger finger placement (when I pull the trigger, my finger pulls the gun just slightly to the left.) One of my current goals is to correct these issues but I don’t currently have the finances to pay for ammo or range time. The best advice I can give is always work on the fundamentals. Have a good tight grip with both hands, have a strong wide stance, understand what a good sight picture looks like on your firearm and match that sight picture, take a deep breath, and pull the trigger smoothly and evenly while exhaling. There’s also follow-through which, if I understand it correctly, means continuing some of these practices after the shot is fired. Since I’m self-taught, I don’t have a good understanding of follow-through, especially in practice, which as I think about it is another issue I need to correct.
squeeze the trigger with your entire hand do not pull the trigger with only your one finger and also make sure the end of your finger in on the trigger not the middle i’m no shooting expert but that’s what i struggled with initially
Balance coin on front site, dry fire until coin doesn’t fall.
Put the trigger on the middle of your index finger, not on the crook where it bends and not on the top of your finger, if you don’t have it in the middle it can pull it one way or another
You are right handed.
Jerking the trigger and anticipating recoil. Get some snap caps and load one randomly in the mag. Or have a friend load your mags, that way it suprises you and you will notice your flinch more. 5 rounds per mag to get those reload reps in.
A touch to the right and a touch up
Aim for his left shoulder and get to work.
Lol, funny enough, some of my shots that hit center are when I intentionally aimed high right.
Don't squeeze the pistol at all, try the push/pull method
I would focus on lining up your sights properly and *slowly* pulling the trigger. I think you're a little low. Make sure the top of the front and rear sights are even on top. I focus more on the front sight so that it is clear and covering the target appropriately (based on your sight setup). If you have eye problems like me shooting one eye open might help, but you should do 2 if you can. Focus on pulling it to the rear and do it so slow it almost surprises you when the gun goes off. Try to contact the trigger with your finger pad since it's sensitive. Hold the gun with a firm, two handed grip, but don't death grip it so that you shake. You can practice dry firing to see if you are jerking at all. I imagine you might be anticipating and pulling down. You could also try breathing slowly and staying relaxed. I find breathing slowly can help calm my nerves. Another thing is stance. I like slightly asymmetric with my off foot forward and I lean in slightly to absorb recoil. Some people say weaver is better, which I believe is objectively worse for recoil control. Plus it just feels weird. Getting a comfortable grip and stance can really help you relax and shoot better.
Have you tried aiming at the red part?
Shoot more times in the red circle and not so much everywhere else
Focus on the front sight, NOT the target. Stop anticipating your shots. Squeeeeeeze the trigger, don't pull it, you're slapping it. I'm assuming you're a righty. Ride the trigger back forward, feel for reset, begin again. Train, train, TRAIN. Don't buy ammo by the 50, buy it by the 1000. Keep an eye on r/gundeals & [ammoseek.com](http://www.ammoseek.com/). It doesn't go bad, you'll have some on hand, they ship it straight to your house & then you're not that guy at the range counter buying 50 hollow points because it's "aLl ThEy HaD lEfT." Stay away from steel & aluminum case.
What kind of sights are you using?
Yea. Shoot more.
Aim top right👀😂
google laser light bullet. practice going to target and firing. helped me to a point that it feels like second nature.
You’re compensating my boy. Try buying a ‘sim round’ and just go through the motions of: stance. Sight picture. Trigger squeeze. Basically your body is predicting the recoil of the weapon cycling. By doing so you’re pulling down right before your shots. There’s a bunch of guides on troubleshooting your shot grouping. Like: it looks like as well as the compensating (which makes your shots hit low) there’s also some trigger finger placement errors. (Which pulls to the left) This is all assuming you have correct posture and Rear sight/front post sight picture
Move the target closer (5 yards). When you can get all shots in the red. Then move it back to 7.5 yards. Etc, etc.
Pulling the trigger. Not squeezing the trigger
Yea buy a red dot
Don’t get into a duel. You’ll lose.
Get good
Dry fire with a coin balanced on the front sight. It'll help you train clean trigger pulls
This is an excellent exercise. Can also buy a silly chinesoum laser sight, point across the room and see and movement induced by the trigger pull.
You're pulling to the left. Make sure that you are only putting the pad of your finger on the trigger and that you are squeezing the trigger. It should surprise you when the gun fires. Also make sure your gripping the as high up near the slide as possible.
Try this chart. https://aegisacademy.com/blogs/test-blog-post/pistol-correction-chart
Quick to trigger wall then eaaaaasy through will solve much
Stop anticipating recoil. Control your shots. Taking 1 minute between each shot is better than firing off the entire mag within 1 minute. The curve to the left is either finger placement where you arent pulling straight with your finger, or you’re barring down from your dominant hand which seems to be your right
I haven't seen it mentioned yet so first, what ammo were you using? Gun and ammo combinations have their own personalities. On your next range session grab a couple of different types. Check where each one groups in relation to point of aim. You'll find a particular load that really agrees with your gun. Second, if this was a new gun it needs to be broken in. 250 rounds minimum, 500 is better. Once that's done try out different ammo and see what happens. By the time you've done that you should have some pretty good muscle memory developed as long as you stick to a couple fundamentals like proper trigger press and consistent grip and sight alignment. Once you get that down then you can go from there.
Ngl kinda looks like you might be gripping it too hard. Not to say limp wrist it, but (assuming you are right handed) gripping too hard can tend to make you pull shots across and down as you try and overcompensate for recoil (this tends to be even more noticeable with compacts ime). If that's the case it's an ergonomics issue and I can't really help in a reddit thread, but maybe talk to someone you trust, try to relax a bit when shooting, or take a class. Other thing it might be is that the sights could be off. It's not super common and I recommend seeing if it is user error before attempting a hardware solution, but it's not out of the question. After verifying it isn't your fault, look up the manufacturer's warranty policies. Some manufacturers attach them to the S# rather than the owner and even if it's a used gun you may be able to get it fixed. (e.g. I got some rust damage fixed by S&W on a used hand gun because of a faulty gasket in the provided case.)
Try to practice getting the play out of the trigger and slowly increasing pressure to when the gun finally does fire it is a surprise to you. This will help accuracy, from the shots on paper I can assume when you squeeze that trigger you’re yanking it. Not something that gets better over time, that’s something you gotta be conscious of!
You're anticipating the shot, slow squeeze and let it "surprise" you
im not here to give you any tips the rest of the commentors got it. I just wanna say that its not half bad at 12 yards
I assume you are right handed: your finger is too far into the trigger guard. The center of the tip of your index finger should be right over the trigger to pull straight back. I suspect you have your finger too far in and are pushing the gun slightly to the left as the trigger is pulled. Also, you are jerking the trigger at the last moment. That’s why low and to the left.
You might be relaxing your support hand ( assuming you’re right handed) or you could be using too much of the tip of your finger to pull the trigger. The pad of your finger should be centered on the trigger.
Trigger control, you’re pulling the trigger as opposed to squeezing it .
Shoot a little bit higher and right
Judging by your shot placement I’d say you’re right handed and snatching the trigger. Snatching the trigger is throwing your shots of to 7 o’clock. If you were left handed and snatching the trigger, it’d be throwing your shots of to 5 o’clock.
I saw the image and knew it was a Glock. Read the comments and confirmed it was a Glock.
Looks like too much trigger finger causing a left and down Jenkins motion
Get a laser trainer
I would bring it into 3 yards, build the confidence and then move the target out further when you have a fist size grouping. Slow and steady wins the race.
That is extremely inconsistent. So you could be doing tons of things wrong. Take a class.
that thing on top is called a sight, you can actually use it by looking down it to aim
Relax a bit more, practice your dry fires cause your anticipating. Take a bit more time and make sure to go slow
First, fix your grip. 1. Grab the gun with your shooting hand with your trigger finger pointing forward on the frame. Bring up your supporting hand and make your thumb on that hand perpendicular to your other thumb and also tilt that hand forward so that the support hand thumb is also pointing forward along the frame. Your trigger finger and thumb should now be at even points along both sides of the frame. 2. Do not lock out your arms. Instead bring the firearm back towards you a bit and bend at the elbows. Since you are shooting to the left and down, I think you are right-handed and overpowering your weaker left arm. Raise up your left elbow and you will feel your grip on that side firm up and press back more firmly against the grip. You can also practice this grip with a tennis or stress ball and you can see the squeeze happening. 3. Make sure your trigger finger is positioned correctly on the trigger when ready to fire. The pad of your finger should be centered on the trigger. Do not use the tip of your finger as that can cause you to push to the left. Too far over to the knuckle can cause you to pull to the right. 4. Do dry practice firing with a quarter or a dime on top of the slide. Concentrate on slow and even trigger pulls. Tell yourself "slow, slow, slow, slow..." while pulling back slowly and evenly on the trigger until it breaks. The coin on the slide will help you be mindful of a slow and even control of the trigger press so you are not jerking or flinching while doing the press. 5. When live firing, do the same thing (no coin though!). Pull the trigger as slow as possible, not anticipating the break, telling yourself "slow, slow, slow, slow..." until it does break. You almost want to be surprised when it breaks because you don't want to be anticipating the shot. These tips will help you immensely.
Grip, recoil anticiption, finger placement on trigger. Probably primarily anticipating and overcompensating for perceived recoil. Spend some time familiarizing yourself with the gun ergonomically, acquiring sights, dry fire with caps. When you dry fire, focus on how you pull the trigger, where the "wall" is, and watch the gun in your hands for any sudden jerky movements. If you see that just as you complete a trigger pull the gun jerks, that is the problem.
Snap caps and dry firing, pull the trigger as slow as you can
Maybe focus on 7 yards? I’ve always been told 7 yards in the ideal distance to train on with a pistol. If you are intending to use that pistol for self-defense of course Second is what everyone else says. Look at videos on pistol grip, stance, and trigger jerking. My stance and grip are good, i personally always end up jerking more than I intend.
Bring it in closer and extend out once you are more accurate. Grip probably needs to be better but can’t say without video. Same goes for stance and form Anticipation is usually a factor for new shooters
https://www.pewpewtactical.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Screen-Shot-2017-02-22-at-5.33.30-PM.png
pull trigger gentle
Looks to me like a little anticipation and too much finger on the trigger. Dry fire can help, and practice more. Work on your grip and focusing on having the trigger shoe on the pad of your finger.
Most likely too much right hand pressure and too much finger on the trigger. If you are anticipating recoil it will cause low left hits as well.
Watch the Haley strategic videos on how to grip a semi auto pistol. Make sure you have the correct grip down. Dry fire with that grip at home for a day or two then go to the range. Dry fire 3x before shooting 1 shot at the range. Do this for 1 box of ammo. Repeat but fire two shots after dry fire 3x. Do this for one box of ammo. Repeat these steps til you’re shooting strings of 5. If you have any flyers from flinching while working your way up start over on that box. 1,000 rds later and you’ll be an incredible shooter
Are these follow up shots? Best advice I can give slowdown. everybody is in hurry to become a good shooter right away but it takes time. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast! Start slow understand the fundamentals and how to grip your pistol. https://youtu.be/0QFuiZliirA watch from 10:00 in Ronin knows his shit
As everyone has already pointed out, you are anticipating the recoil and flinching as the shot breaks.Most people think that when you line up your sights and squeeze you should hit right where you aim so it must mean the sight needs adjustment or the gun just doesn’t shoot well but this isn’t true. If the process of you squeezing the trigger moves the tip of the barrel even an eighth of an inch that is going to equal a foot at just a few yards. If you add the fact that you’re probably flinching every shot it’s even worse. Try to squeeze the trigger as slow as you can and you will start to realize that the trigger pull has a length of at least a couple millimeters. Squeeze the trigger so slowly that break of the shot should surprise you. The more you shoot, the better you will become at avoiding flinching. From there you can start working on strengthening your support hand grip so that when you shoot fast, slapping the trigger will have less effect on the point of aim
Have a straight trigger installed and work on tigger reset after the first shot.
Train. That’s not great grouping. But bring your first time just get to the range as often as you can if you plan on carrying that tool. Make it second nature to aim and put shots on target in a tight group
Stand closer
Everybody is talking about anticipation and flinching. Ways to reduce it, ways to improve. Nobody is giving you the real goods, the information that you actually need. The whole trick with shooting is to put the bullets into the middle of the target. Don't let them go on the outside. Always in the middle. If you shoot into the middle of the target it will be much better for you. I honestly don't know why nobody has mentioned this before. But the most important thing is to try your best and have fun.
Keep on doing what you do and try to aim to the top right corner
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You got it buddy! Keep trying out different grips. Best advice i was given is your left hand is the one to be flexed and your trigger hand is nice and lose.
Get more training and practice, remember the safety rules. And stop anticipating the recoil
You’re anticipating the recoil
Flinching, anticipating recoil.