Why does my pistol recoil up and to the right?

[Heyman2]

Hey guys, in my ongoing quest to become the best shooter I can become, I've really started trying to diagnose and fix my flaws. I'm stuck with a particular flaw that I need help figuring out.

I recorded some POV footage of me shooting a USPSA match. When I watched a stage in slo motion, I noticed my pistol would recoil up and to the right. (I'm a right handed shooter)

Is this because I don't have the proper grip alignment? My hands are on the smaller side, and I do try to get a good alignment, but I guess sometimes I don't get the perfect one during my draw.

Or is it because I'm putting too much pressure inward from my support hand's thumb? And b/c there is nothing on the right side of the slide, is this pushing the recoil right? I shoot very accurately like this, but would like to speed up my shooting and in order to do that, I need to eliminate the recoil going to the right among other things I need to work on.

Thanks in advance guys.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Heyman2

[IDescribe]

Two things are going to affect that: one being your grip, and the other being Newton's Third Law of Motion, most often characterized as "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." How it applies here is that as the rifling forces the bullet to twist one way, the barrel and pistol want to twist the other.


As to "fixing" it, I'm not sure it needs to be fixed. The goal should not be to have a gun that recoils straight up. The goal should be to have a grip, pistol, and load that returns the sight picture to zero at the end of the recoil cycle. If your sights are falling nicely back into place, I'm not sure it matters .

[TennJeep1618]

I recently noticed the same thing when watching my match footage in slow motion. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3rHl1_3x6k, select .25 speed)

I honestly don't worry about it. I believe I have a good grip and the gun comes back down on target very quickly.

[Heyman2]

I recently noticed the same thing when watching my match footage in slow motion. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3rHl1_3x6k, select .25 speed)

I honestly don't worry about it. I believe I have a good grip and the gun comes back down on target very quickly.

That's exactly what mine looks like. I guess I'm trying to fix something that isn't really an issue.

[Hi-Power Jack]

sometimes I don't get the perfect (grip) during my draw.

If you want to be The Best Shooter You Can Be, one thing to work

on is attaining a "perfect grip" during your draw.

More important than the direction of the recoil.

BTW, if you want to see the gun go up and right, dry some

weak hand shooting

[Heyman2]

I came across a couple of Ron Avery vids explaining pliable stick hands. The concept is, you grab the pistol with a sticky grip, instead of a death grip. But I just can't understand what he's explaining from these short vids and was wondering if others could chime in on what exactly is done to achieve this "sticky" grip.

[IDescribe]

That's a martial arts parlor trick and nothing you should be looking at for a pistol grip. If you want to work on grip, there was an excellent thread active until pretty recently, and you can start with a Google search for Bob Vogel Grip.

[tanks]

Not quite a parlor trick. The idea behind "pliable hands" is that if you tense your grip too much then the muscles get tense/hard and there is no friction to hang onto the gun. Easy to test per the first video.

[Heyman2]

That's a martial arts parlor trick and nothing you should be looking at for a pistol grip. If you want to work on grip, there was an excellent thread active until pretty recently, and you can start with a Google search for Bob Vogel Grip.

Vogel's grip is what I'm using from the draw. However, I have to break my grip to reach the mag release, and it's hard for me to get the same exact grip when I come back on target. It's just not as tight as when I initially get out of the holster.

Not quite a parlor trick. The idea behind "pliable hands" is that if you tense your grip too much then the muscles get tense/hard and there is no friction to hang onto the gun. Easy to test per the first video.

Any idea how to achieve this? The video's didn't really didn't show how to do it.

[GrumpyOne]

As long as the gun returns to the point it was before you pulled/pressed the trigger, it is nothing. It doesn't matter what happens after the shot, what matters is the next shot...if the sights are aligned, pull/press the trigger.

[dynamicalflinch]

I recently noticed the same thing when watching my match footage in slow motion. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3rHl1_3x6k, select .25 speed)

I honestly don't worry about it. I believe I have a good grip and the gun comes back down on target very quickly.

That match looks like a hoot! Lots of tight targets, no-shoot backers, etc. Wish we had more of that in my neck.

[tanks]

Any idea how to achieve this? The video's didn't really didn't show how to do it.

Think of the gun as a nut cracker. Grip pressure being front to back rather than being side to side. Yes, even with meaty hands one can still get a piece of the backstrap with the support hand. Come to a class at TPC ( https://www.tacticalperformancecenter.com/products/handgun-boot-camp ) they can show and articulate it better than I can.

[johnbu]

I recently noticed the same thing when watching my match footage in slow motion. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3rHl1_3x6k, select .25 speed)

I honestly don't worry about it. I believe I have a good grip and the gun comes back down on target very quickly.

Ok, I'm old, ugly and not very smart.... how do you adjust playback speed??? I don't see any button for that anywhere.

[TennJeep1618]

I recently noticed the same thing when watching my match footage in slow motion. (

, select .25 speed)

I honestly don't worry about it. I believe I have a good grip and the gun comes back down on target very quickly.

Ok, I'm old, ugly and not very smart.... how do you adjust playback speed??? I don't see any button for that anywhere.

At the bottom right of the video, there should be a gear icon. Click that, then you should be able to adjust the playback speed.

[P.E. Kelley]

As long as the gun returns to the point it was before you pulled/pressed the trigger, it is nothing. It doesn't matter what happens after the shot, what matters is the next shot...if the sights are aligned, pull/press the trigger.

This should be the focus.

[MemphisMechanic]

Playing with weak hand grip pressure Vs strong hand will "steer" the gun in recoil to some extent.

I found myself a strong fan of Vogel & Stoeger's method: squeeze literally as hard as you can with the weak hand (fingertips of the strong hand under your weak Palm turn white) and relax your strong hand a bit from what most shooters use.

This really brought the sights back better for me.

[Turtle]

As previously stated, it's a grip pressure issue. Awareness while shooting will allow you to correct this during a course of fire. The Bill Drill can help you to develop neutrality in your grip to get the sight tracking straighter up and down. The key is to develop awareness while shooting, seeing the sight lift and return, learning the timing and calling the shot. That way you can have immediate feed back, and not have to see it in the video tape (obviously video can also be helpful).

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