Advice to improve my pistol shooting?

**Rosco the Iroc** · August 12th, 2010, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by Brick

look around for the USAMU Pistol Marksmanship Manual.

Look no further-
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...Dpg1YAtyAeeV1A

Great reading.

**Pete D.** · August 12th, 2010, 10:12 AM

Dryfire - lots of it.
Try this at home. It'll work with a revolver or a semi-auto. Take a piece of paper and make a round dot on it that is wide as your front sight, maybe a tad wider. Tape it to a flat vertical surface at about shoulder height. Take your gun in hand. Make sure that it is unloaded. Stand facing the paper with the dot on it. Stand close enough so that the muzzle of the gun is about an inch away from the paper when your arms are extended into shooting position.
Now...take a sharpened pencil that has an eraser on the end. Put the pencil down the barrel of the gun eraser end first, from the muzzle, so that the eraser sits against the breech.
Extend the gun. Sight on the target. Pull the trigger. Repeat 5 or ten times.
The firing pin will pop the pencil forward and it will make a dot on the paper about an inch below the target dot. That bunch of dots is your group. If you do every shot exactly the same, you will have a single dot. Good luck with that.
Pete
ps - If you want the most accurate feedback from this, you should make sure that you reset the pencil after each shot so that it is in the same position for every shot.

**shiloh** · August 12th, 2010, 10:12 AM

Great manual - Here's another article with some good tips: http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob85.html

Lots of factors to shooting accurately -- in addition to getting your stance set, eliminating flinch and focusing on the front sight, you might need to change how you grip your pistol. When I first started shooting a 1911 my shots were all low -- partly due to flinching, but also due to too low of a grip. Getting the bore axis as close to your hand as possible greatly improves control and accuracy (as long as you avoid hammer bite, at least!). The good thing is, it's lots of fun practicing and improving your shooting - good luck!

**dick63532** · August 12th, 2010, 12:42 PM

Consistant low shooting, with various pistols, could mean you are pushing the gun when you fire. Have you tried bench shooting on a firm rest?

**FCRPhila** · August 13th, 2010, 12:17 AM

Originally Posted by crashland

Now that my oldest son has taken an interest in shooting, I have somebody to go to the range with for some informal competition. I really enjoy it and I'm looking forward to competing at my club but first I've got to lick my issue.

When I first started to shoot pistols, my shots were often low and left. I took a private lesson and I saw some immediate improvement, no more jerking the trigger

Now my shots are consistently in the center of the target but low, low, low, always low. Usually about 4 inches below the bullseye. My shots are low regardless of which pistol I use, be it the Sig P226, 1911 or my Beretta M9.

Any suggestions for things to try when I head to the range tomorrow? I know that I need to get a lot more rounds down range to really improve, which is why the 22 conversion kit is on the way for the 226, but I need to get my head around what i could be doing.

At what distance are you shooting? Gravity will pull bullets down with time/distance. If you are shooting at a good distance, you will need to aim higher to allow gravity to do its thing.