What am I doing wrong? PLEASE HELP!

[cali shot doc]

I am starting to get frustrated and disappointed in myself because up to 15 yds I am some what accurate but anything past I can hit the target but no where near where I "thought" I was aiming. It's frustrating that I'm not hitting what I'm aiming for and makes me second guess if I should do practical shooting. I like to be the best i can be and when i struggle, like i have then it gets frustrating...... Today at 7-15yds i seemed to hit left of where i was aiming mostly and at 25yds i was all over.

What am I doing wrong? Am I just a horrible shot? Any tips out there for a rookie?

[The_Vigilante]

Sounds like you may be jerking the trigger which indicates lack of trigger control. Dryfire and more dryfire. Just do a search on dry fire on the forum and you will find enough to keep you busy for awhile.

[muahdib4]

We were all there and sometimes I struggle with accuracy too. It's all about trigger control. Practice pulling the trigger in dry-fire practice and making sure that when you do...the sites don't move. Do the same thing in live fire as well. Focus on the basics and take things slowly. Trigger control being the most important thing. As for the gun shooting left...put it on a bench and try it there or let someone else try it to make sure that it actually is shooting left and that it isn't something you're doing. Everything takes time and practice. I'll admit, I thought I would be farther along than I am at this point in my first season shooting USPSA but it's a lot harder than it looks and we all can't be GM's after a short time. Don't let it all get you down. There's a lot of good shooting knowledge to be had on these forums (and some bad)that you have to look for and find what works best for you.

[Sarge]

While it sounds like trigger control as the others have pointed out don't rule out two other possibilities, eyesight and ammo. Eyesight, only you know if it is as good as it can be. Ammo, have you shot groups from a rest with your gun and ammo? I was having some issues awhile back and thought the same thing as you. I knew I was a better shot than I was producing in matches. I found out my ammo was grouping about 10" at 25 yards.

Just some food for thought.

[G-ManBart]

Yes, it's a trigger control issue but, it's one that is causes by the gray matter between your ears

What happens with many of us is that we know we want to see a perfect sight picture, with the front sight dead in the middle of the A, but it can't stay perfectly still since we all move a little (wobble zone). Our brain wants things to be "just right" when the shot breaks, so we start pressing the trigger, then pause while we wait for the front sight to settle in the middle of the A, and when it does....wham, we accelerate through the trigger to make the shot break, but that pushes the front sight to the left (for a righty) and normally at least a little bit low. That's what most folks call "jerking the trigger", and they think it's what they're doing with their finger that causes the problem. It does, but indirectly. It's what our brain wants to see that causes us to accelerate the trigger at that "perfect" instant.

To fix this, I will make folks take a step back, slow down, and have them just roll through the trigger, never stopping, until the shot breaks...sort of like shooting a revolver double action. This only works to a point, but it gets them started in the right direction. After I've got them making a continuous press, with no pauses, I'll have them slow down as the resistance from the sear/spring increases. I describe it by comparing it to letting off the gas in your car when you get on a really tight corner. The tighter the corner (harder the shot) the more you have to let off the gas. You don't stop, but you ease off so that the trigger is just barely moving when the shot breaks on the hardest shots. Up close, it doesn't matter...align the sights and whack the trigger...won't make a difference. As the shots get longer and more difficult, you need to ease off the pressure as the trigger gets closer and closer to the shot breaking. The side benefit is that typically, the sights settle down the more you ease off the gas.

As a learning point for Mr. Gray Matter, I'll also have them intentionally misalign the sights so they think they're going to hit way off center, but have them smoothly press the trigger anyway, as described above. They then see that the shot is still pretty close to center, even with the sights off by a pretty large amount....so that wobble doesn't bother them as much.

Another handy thing I'll have them do is to shoot while moving the gun in a circular pattern....just loop it around (slow and smooth, but still moving quite a bit) while keeping the sights aligned roughly on the target....do that at something like 10-15yds. You'll find you still get pretty good hits (you can even keep it in the A if you keep the sights roughly parallel to the target (no angular input). That makes the visual wobble on normal shots seem incredibly small.

All of those things are really just teaching your brain that it doesn't need to see such a "perfect" sight picture to get center hits. Once Mr. Gray Matter (Mr. GM right?) knows there's no need to time the shot to the sights, you'll stop feeling the urge to make the gun go off NOW, and your hits will get much better. Make sense?

Edit to add: The huge side benefit to all of this for practical shooting is how it impacts shot calling. So many new folks struggle because they look at the target after each shot to see where the bullet went. Well, if you have a good trigger press, and you saw your wobble zone was what you've learned to expect for a successful shot at that general distance, you will KNOW where the shot went, without looking. Makes it a lot easier to blast off to the next position when that happens!

Edited August 9, 2010 by G-ManBart

[Flexmoney]

Fundamentals.

Learn how to shoot a great hit. Then repeat for each shot.

[FN fan]

I think the best thing to do would be to do what I have learned to do with rifle firing awhile back, have someone else load your mags with some live and some dummy ammo, then try shooting and you will see if you are jerking on the dummies.

[313eddy]

Poor trigger control is the #1 culprit for poor accuracy. I agree with that posted here. Try SLOWLY pressing the trigger - so the shot surprises you. SLOW trigger press will let you know if - at least - that's the problem.

Hang in there - never quit, never quit, never quit!!

[Hi-Power Jack]

I am starting to get frustrated and disappointed in myself because up to 15 yds I am some what accurate but anything past I can hit the target but no where near where I "thought" I was aiming. Today at 7-15yds i seemed to hit left of where i was aiming

What kind of gun are you shooting? What type of sights? What type of ammo?

Are you shooting freestyle, one-handed or from a rest? How large are your

groups - fire 10 - 15 shots at 15 yards, and where is the group, and how

large is it? It might be your gun, your ammo or your sights may not be

adjusted properly.

[Pat Miles]

I would say the very first place to start would be to make SURE the gun is zeroed or sighted in. You can work on your fundamentals til the cows come home but if the gun isn't shooting to point of aim your spinning your wheels. Take the gun to the range and shoot it off of a bench on a sandbag. Just for the hell of it start with the target out at 5 yards. Put a black X, not a +, in several spots on the target. Black hardcover tape will do the trick. Take you time and shoot 5 rounds. Where does the gun print. Make any necessary sight adjustments. Make sure all the hits are centered on the X. Move the target back to 10 yards and run the same drill. Make adjustment again if necessary. Move the target to 15 yards and shoot again off the sandbag. Are the hits still centered? At this distance adjust the sights for elevation. Everything good? Back the target to 20 yards and check for centering and see where the hits are at in regards to elevation. Move the target back to 5 yards and shoot again. By now everything should be well centered. Elevation might change because you zeroed the gun for 15 yards but should be close.

Now you know that the gun shoots to point of aim. Start working on your sight picture and trigger press as the folks above explained.

Pat

[jamautry]

You could be flinching in anticipation of the sound and recoil of the shot. You mention at 25 yards the shots are all over, that would be a symptom of flinching. Matt Burkett has a drill in his videos for curing a flinch. First make sure you have proper hearing protection, possible plug and use muffs especially with an open gun. The blast of the gun going off can induce a flinch. If you think you are flinching you can bag the gun on your bench and setup once the gun is on target you can close your eyes and squeeze the trigger and this will train you subconscious that you will not be harmed and the flinch will go away. You can also take a full magazine and shoot it into the berm with no target as fast as you can and this will train your body as well (this is good to fight blinking also)

[rgkeller]

Start by checking your grip with someone who knows what they are doing.

There are videos on the web that demonstrate the proper grip.

Without a proper grip you will not have good trigger control or effective recoil management

[Biloxi23]

I'm new to USPSA, but not new to be an NRA Firearms Instructor and like a lot of the members here are saying, this sounds like a trigger control issue. The low-left hit by a right handed shooter is what is known as a Pre-Ignition Push, or a PIP. There is an interesting target made by the same people that make Lee reloading equipment. It is a circle surrounded by what looks like pie shaped wedges. You aim for the center and each wedge is labled wiaht most probably caused the round to strike that particular wedge. I think they are availbel at freetargets.com, or a similar site.

[Paul Burtchell]

Patrick,

Just curious. What type of pistol are you shooting? What type of ammo? Factory or reloads. Just looking for a little more info. that may be helpful to know.

[cletus9mm]

+1 on loading a dummy round every once in a while in the magazines. when my buddies and i first started shooting more than just recreationally we found that we all flinched off shots. it's something you have to be honest with yourself with though. snap caps work great because you can practice for malfunctions at the same time. i always knew when i jerked the trigger on a shot because my buddies were there to point and laugh when i messed up.

point is when we started doing this it forced us to slow down and focus on the fundamentals of the trigger. next time your out, have a friend load your mags. it's good practice and good fun!

[cali shot doc]

Patrick,

Just curious. What type of pistol are you shooting? What type of ammo? Factory or reloads. Just looking for a little more info. that may be helpful to know.

I'm shooting a xd9 tactical. I'm mainly shooting 115g fmj reloads from miwallcorp that i get at the local gun show (1000 rounds for about $180, best deal for a college student) and/or pmc bronze.

[Powder Finger]

find out if the gun shoots very well @ 25 where you say it's all over (bag it,someone else shoot it ETC....)

i've had to weld & fit some of those barrels due to lots of vertical stringing