Is it really possible to make the gun recoil straight up and down?

[RangerTrace]

Somebody probably already mentioned this, but I seem to recall Enos said as long as the sights return to the same spot, it doesn't matter which direction the pistol recoils.

[flyinverted]

I found for me, when shooting the plate rack, I like to cant the pistol about 20-30 degrees to the right and shoot left to right. On non-comped gun, the rest after recoil is usually right on the next plate. If I miss I get it at the end. 

[dsmarty386]

ok im no Enos and i realize that....but i think i disagree on some levels.

 

if the gun can be kept straight up and down during recoil, it makes for a more predictable spread during doubles/predictive pairs.

 

during doubles, i notice that i can "calibrate" my return to zero at a decent speed, say 0.18 splits. if i pull the trigger even faster, i may have one a tad high. if my gun didnt recoil mostly up and down, the follow up shot is more likely to be a charlie because there is less room horizontally on a USPSA/IPSC target.

 

maybe splitting hairs here but i do think it matters a little. i also found that for some guns, i just cant seem to make them track up and down. for others, i can relatively easily. i think it depends on grip mechanics and how you interface with a specific grip/firearm

[maur]

Sometimes it depends on the gun and how it fits into your hand too... I could never get my SVs perfectly straight up and down (tbh its something you get used to and as long as the dot returns to zero its fine) but on my MPAs the dot is straight up and down and I can track it better for quicker followup shots.

Try playing with your individual finger pressure on your support hand (assuming your dot is going up and to the right, do the opposite if opposite). When I started applying a little more pressure with my left pink and ring fingers, the dot started going straighter. I believe this is because the dot/gun is pulling to the right, so applying more pressure to the left, from the right of the grip, helped straighten it out.