[nickc50310]

Hello, I'm Nick Carter. You may remember me from posts such as, "My shooting= poop" and "who wants my business". Sorry, had to put a simpsons spin on it.

Anyway, I went to the range on saturday and my shooting is still poop for the most part. It has improved slightly but not much. I am most definately anticipating recoil. When I first got my XD this was not a problem. Also, even when I know the gun is empty (slide is back) I still find myself pushing the gun forward when pulling the trigger. I try to tell myself that the gun wont shoot so I dont do this but I still miss. How can I correct this? When taking my time Im lucky to put 2 out of 12 on an 8 inch target at 25 yards. When I shoot fast I usually put 7 of 12 on it. WTF is going on? My mind is boggled (which isnt sayin much, LOL)

 

[orc4hire]

Have you been doing your dry-fire drills?

 

[Nickle1]

Move the target closer. Why are you shooting at 25 yards anyway? If you've never shot a pistol before, put the target right in front of you and practice proper grip, stance, and trigger pull. Then move the target back. Try 10 yards to start with and just practice, then upgrade yourself to sniper! :wink:

 

[orc4hire]

Oh yeah, you are shooting too far. WAY too far. Fairbairn and Sykes started their shooters with a 8'x8' target at TWO yards. (http://www.gutterfighting.org/files/shooting_to_live.pdf)


Practice your dry firing till you've got your grip and trigger work down, and shoot at THREE yards (Not 25. Good lord.) until that's so easy that it's boring. Then move to four yards. Repeat.

 

[invssgt]

Hi Nick...

I'm an a old FTO, and i have seen this before. It is called "heeling" and comes from anticipating recoil. And you will, in fact, shoot all over the place until you correct it.

A couple of things have proven effective. First, slow down. Go one shot at a time until you get over this; load one round at at time if that's what it takes. Pick the gun up and acquire a a firm firing grip. Lock your gun hand elbow enough that you eliminate motion from that joint. Get a good sight picture and continue to concentrate on the sights, as you steadily increase pressure on the trigger. Be gentle but firm as you increase pressure; let the gun suprise you when it fires. If your sights are properly aligned when this occurs- you cannot miss.

Now put the gun down or holster it safely, and repeat the process. You will get better if you hold to the above instructions.

Second- start close, and stay close until your groups get small.

Another good tool is an air pistol that roughly approximates the grip angle and trigger reach of your regular sidearm. I don't know exactly which one I'd recommend at this point, but if you look you will find something that is close enough.

 

[MoJo]

Along with what invssgt told you, try some "ball and dummy" drills. You need a partner, preferably an experienced shooter, to do this. Get some snap caps or some "safety" bullets (the bright plastic training rounds) Have your partner load your mags with some live ammo and some dummies mixed throughout the mag is best. At a short range (3yds) fire slowly while your partner observes you. The error of your ways will become evident in short order and you can then take steps to correct them.

 

[therooster]

When taking my time Im lucky to put 2 out of 12 on an 8 inch target at 25 yards.

ROFL... sory, i'm not flaming you, we were all new at one time.

just as everyone else has said....

1. you are shooting way to far. start close (i started at 7 yrds) and "aim small, miss small". just work on your grip, trigger pull, and FOCUS ON YOUR FRONT SITE!

2. dryfire, dryfire, then dryfire again, dryfire, dryfire, dryfire some more, and dryfire, and dryfire.... get the patter? :wink:


:TIP: - as a new shooter the most important thing you want to focus on is...

1. SAFTEY
2. grip
3. trigger pull/trigger control
4. FOCUS ON YOUR FRONT SITE!

forget makeing your hits, concentrate on those 4 things next time you shoot and the hits will follow.

 

[mullanman]

Dry fire 15 minutes per day.

Focus on grip, sight focus, the target. Front site in sharp focus, target fuzzy in front of you. pull trigger slowly... focus on follow through.

Repeat. Don't bother racking the slide keep your grip and sight focus and repeat . With regards to your left hand (if right handed shooter) grip should be firm with your 2-5 fingers wrapped around your 3-5 fingers. Apply a sqeezing pressure with the palms of both hands.

After 10 minutes of doing this. Rack the slide after each trigger pull to get to know your trigger. Feel the pretravel, striker release...hold the trigger down and rack the slide. Readjust your grip. let the trigger go forward, FEEL the reset and repeat.. Keep your finger on the trigger, do not take it off, you do not want to slap the trigger.

Trigger finger placement: use the most forward part of your finger. Where the whorles of your finger print is located to press the trigger. Too much finger in the trigger causes you to push the gun left and your shots go left and down.

 

[NExd]

Hello, I'm Nick Carter. You may remember me from posts such as, "My shooting= poop" and "who wants my business". Sorry, had to put a simpsons spin on it.

Anyway, I went to the range on saturday and my shooting is still poop for the most part. It has improved slightly but not much. I am most definately anticipating recoil. When I first got my XD this was not a problem. Also, even when I know the gun is empty (slide is back) I still find myself pushing the gun forward when pulling the trigger. I try to tell myself that the gun wont shoot so I dont do this but I still miss. How can I correct this? When taking my time Im lucky to put 2 out of 12 on an 8 inch target at 25 yards. When I shoot fast I usually put 7 of 12 on it. WTF is going on? My mind is boggled (which isnt sayin much, LOL)

Move the target close, 10-20 feet, get good at that range and move out.

This is like trying to sight a rifle in at 200 yards without trying closer distances. It is a needle in a haystack..

BTW< 75 feet pistol shooting is not easy. Most people here dont freehand shoot and hit targets at that distance and use a rest. Most seem to leave that important part out at the end and act all cool by shooting 25yards

 

[mullanman]

But,

I am cool..... 8)

 

[MisFire]

And once you've followed all this great advice and are shooting alot , send your XD to Rich at Canyon Creek for his #4 trigger job.

The turn around time is very quick (VERY QUICK).

This will help a great deal as you start shooting farther out.

 

[Jorge]

And once you've followed all this great advice and are shooting alot , send your XD to Rich at Canyon Creek for his #4 trigger job.

The turn around time is very quick (VERY QUICK).

This will help a great deal as you start shooting farther out.

Absolutely!! I just had my XD 40 serviced by Rich..the full trigger job and TFO site installation...it improved my accuracy 100%

 

[Captain Ray]

Somebody posted this link a few weeks ago.. http://www.kuci.uci.edu/~dany/firearms/all_drills.html


It is chuck full of drills that you can work on, and seemed to be pretty roundly approved by all the old geezers around here who can actually shoot at 25 yards effectively. Last weekend I worked on the drill that let me feel for the triggers reset. I found out during this drill, that I have been "slapping" the trigger. It had been my habit to remove my finger from the trigger after each shot, which meant that each time I moved my finger back onto the trigger I was putting it in a slightly different place than I had before.. Which gave me two pretty good exercises in one! A.) I now will try and place my finger on the trigger more precisely, and B.) Feeling for the trigger reset increases my focus, and speeds up my shots.

Now this particular exercise may or may not help you/me to be a more accurate shot from 25 yards.. but I found it to be a great exercise! Plus, it was more fun for me to actually work on something, rather than just point and aim, and hope my shooting gets better.

I hope these exercises help.. and of course, have fun; but above all else.. be safe.

Raymond

 

[Houndawg75]

Everybody here is giving you great advice but I few things I would like to add. First, put down the XD and get yourself a Ruger MKII or one of the new Beretta Neo's in .22 caliber. This will help with felt and perceived recoil until you feel more comfortable shooting. Another benefit is confidence. These guns are great confidence builders as even your least experienced shooters can shoot well in a short period of time. You wouldn't teach a kid to drive in a Corvette and expect him to drive like Earnhardt the first day, so why start out with a larger caliber pistol. Next, as been said before, slow down. Don't get in a hurry to be an expert marksman. Some of the best shooters I know are old men. You aren't going to wake up one day and be a great shot it is learned behavior. Get yourself a shooting buddy. I have found that I shoot better when I am shooting with somebody than I do alone. My dad and I shoot together and I found that little bit of competition whether intended or not makes me spend more time on lining my sites up. Forget about rapid fire drills for a while. They are a lot of fun, but nothing is more embarassing than emptying a gun in 3 secs only to find you had no hits and this only leads to more frustration and less concentration. Once you get really comfortable with shooting, you will find that your gun becomes a part of you. I know that sounds corny but its true. Unfortunatly I haven't been able to buy my XD yet due to some other financial obligations but I have shot one a few times and it is truly the best feeling gun I have ever picked up. There is no reason that with a little practice you shouldn't be able to get good groups from your XD. A lot folks will probably flame me for recommending the .22, but I personally don't know of anyone that started out with anything else and was much of a shot. I do know several retired competion shooters that still regularly practice with .22's to "keep their feet on the ground"

 

[nickc50310]

Thanks for all the great help guys! I do have a shooting buddy and he brings his Ruger MKII every time. This is my first pistol- thats true but it is not the first ive shot. Anyway thanks for all the great tips! ill let you know as i improve.

 

[BeardXXXd]

learn from leatham

http://americanshooter.com/Features/features.html

helped me out when i first started