New to pistols and need some help.

[Meatcircus]

I went to the range with the wife and kids Sunday night. We had a good time, but a guy that runs the place was there when we arrived, and said I couldn't use the zombie themed targets to shoot at. They prohibit targets resembling humans. That thoroughly bummed me out, but I understand and complied.

I'm having a problem getting the hits on target. I took a huge 4'x6' cardboard target to shoot at, and all my shots are in the lower left corner. According to a correction chart, it's due to jerking, or tightening of the fingers. I'm not so sure about that though. I'm wondering if the sights might be off. I took a pic of my first 10 rounds down range. This was at 25 yards. I was holding the pistol "cup and saucer" style.

The pistol is a Glock 17, and I am shooting Winchester 115 gr purchased at Walmart. For reference, the circle drawn on the target is approx 5" dia.

I'm getting pointers from the fellow who sold me the gun, and others who have experience, but I'd like to get advice from the fine frequenters of this forum as well.

[mythaeus]

Bring the target closer, to 7 - 10 yards first. If you can't hit the target at 7 - 10, bring it even closer, no point of shooting beyond that until you can be accurate and consistent and closer range. Follow Todd Jarrett pistol shooting tips in the video and you shall be cured:



Al

[LittleRedToyota]

it's difficult to teach proper shooting over the internet. i would strongly suggest getting some formal training from a good instructor (not all instructors are good by any means...do some research into them first).

ultimately, though, the basics are:

1. focus on the front sight. the front sight should be crisp and in focus. the rear sight should be a bit blurry. the target will be quite blurry.

2. you have to align the sights on target properly...and keep them that way until the bullet leaves the barrel. this is accomplished by pressing the trigger straight back without moving the rest of the gun. it requires developing independent movement of your trigger finger.

normally, when you move one finger, they all want to move. that is called "sympathetic movement" and leads to "milking the grip" which moves the sights off target before the bullet leaves the barrel.

many people also "anticipate recoil" and, thus, "flinch". you have to train yourself out of that, also.

the best way, imho, to resolve the above two issues is with dry fire...lots of it.

with the gun unloaded, take a sight pic and press the trigger. the gun should not move. you should be able to balance a coin or empty shell case on the front sight and not have it fall off when you press the trigger.

i have heard some very good shooters opine that one should dry fire 5 times for every live round fired. in any case, though, it is extremely difficult to fix the above issues with live fire...live fire tends to ingrain flinching, etc. rather than correct it.

3. strive for a surprise break. you do not want to know exactly when the shot is going to go off. (this helps prevent flinching also.) take out the slack in the trigger. stop. then very slowly apply ever increasing pressure to the trigger until it suddenly breaks and the shot goes off. take a good second or more at first to do this. just very, very slowly and smoothly applying slightly increasing pressure until...BANG. once you get good at it, you can compress the time frame, but you still want a surprise break.

4. you also need a good grip. cup and saucer can work OK for single shots (any grip can work OK for single shots), but when you get into multiple shots, that grip will really slow you down. if you search for "thumbs forward grip" or something like that on google, you can find a lot of good explanations of a good grip. todd jarrett has a good video on youtube that describes a good grip well. if you google "todd jarrett shooting video" or something like that, you can find it. (ETA: mythaeus posted one of his videos while i was typing up this response. he has a couple others out there as well. good stuff.)

5. be careful not to practice too much until you understand proper technique (i.e., imho, until after you have gotten good training) as you will likely just end up ingraining bad habits and make learning to shoot properly later more difficult. practice does not make perfect. practice only makes permanent. if you practice bad things, you will make those bad things permanent.

oh yeah, as mythaeus mentioned...start closer. 25 yards with a pistol is not an easy shot by any means. start at 3 to 5 yards.

[nullzinski]

Wow, I watched the Youtube video, and have sponged up some of the knowledge posted on here. All you guys are awesome, thanks for the input. Now I need some snap caps and pennies.

[LittleRedToyota]

you don't actually need snap caps to dry fire a glock. they are useful for ball-and-dummy drills, practicing malfunction clearing, etc. but you can safely dry fire a glock without them (just an empty gun).

[Shawn.L]

3. strive for a surprise break. you do not want to know exactly when the shot is going to go off. (this helps prevent flinching also.) take out the slack in the trigger. stop. then very slowly apply ever increasing pressure to the trigger until it suddenly breaks and the shot goes off. take a good second or more at first to do this. just very, very slowly and smoothly applying slightly increasing pressure until...BANG. once you get good at it, you can compress the time frame, but you still want a surprise break.
.

look here:
http://www.firearmstrainingandtactic...ould-look-like.

great post LRT, seems you hit all the important points leaving me with nothing to add

[ProShooter]

. you should be able to balance a coin or empty shell case on the front sight and not have it fall off when you press the trigger.

SHHHH!!!!! You are giving away all the firearms instructor secrets!

[ByblosHex]

Thats good avice. Thanks.