Pistol shooting fundamentals question...

[RCS]

I've owned a Glock 17 for over 15 years. A few months ago I decided to get my Conceal Carry permit for CT. Did that, got the permit, purchased a Walther PPS, and have been to the range to practice 6 times so far. I also took a 5 hour Shooting Fundamentals Course Last week and have completed several days, and at least 6 hours, of dry fire practice. My plan is to improve my accuracy and then take several more advanced firearms courses.

My problem is small but important to me. When I slowly squeeze the trigger the gun ever so slightly moves when the trigger clicks to release the firing pin. My groupings are fairly tight and consistent at 7 yards but I would like to make them even tighter, if I can.

Short of putting the gun in a vise, how can I keep the firearm from making that very slight movement when the trigger clicks to release the firing pin?

[GrumpyBear]

Dry firing practice is a good way to improve your trigger techniques.

[350CI]

Make sure you aren't wrapping you finger around the trigger. You should be using the tip of your finger when squeezing the trigger.

[QuackXP]

I also found I could get more trigger finger dexterity by using my support hand more to grip the firearm rather than my primary hand. My fingers on my primary hand where less tense.

Could also be the trigger. On my M&P there is some play between the break and when the trigger stops going rearward. There is an aftermarket kit to fix this and generally smooth out the trigger.

[tacticalreload]

Depends on what exactly you are experiencing. Does it happen when you dry fire?

If you're truly talking about something that might be remedied by an over-travel stop, you can replace the connector with a fitted Ghost connector... but it's going to have to be installed by someone with the appropriate tool.

Other than that, quite frequently, the slight jerk that is caused when you pull the trigger after it breaks (especially when you're doing it very slowly and methodically) doesn't really affect the accuracy that much. You'd be surprise how quickly that bullet gets out of that barrel. Your accuracy issues might be caused more by any number of other factors including sight picture, ammo, trigger control, or inherent accuracy of the pistol. (Glocks are acceptably accurate but are not by any means a target pistol... at 7 yards, however, most any quality gun will group within a couple of inches.)

[Shawn.L]

Shoot some 25 yard slow fire groups on NRA B-8 bullseyes and let us know how those look/score

try this
http://www.firearmstrainingandtactic...read.php?t=267

without knowing what this movement looks like the best your going to get on the internet is generic advice, and the worst will be specific advice thats handed down like a mantra like finger placement.

Finger placement will depend on hand size, finger length, and gun ergonomics. My buddy Jim has ape hands, his trigger finger wraps all the way through the trigger guard on a G19 and touches the frame on the other side. Hes also a phenominal shooter (which I can quantify) and can drop 10/10 into the 10 ring at 25. Tell him hes doing it wrong

Beyond that, I have no idea what your grip looks like, what sort of technique you use, or any inkling over what this movement your seeing actually means down range . "pretty tight at 7 yards" isnt exactly a measurement.

The best generic advice I can hand out is dry fire, and ball and dummy.

[Roland of Gilead]

Make sure you aren't wrapping you finger around the trigger. You should be using the tip of your finger when squeezing the trigger.

I also found I could get more trigger finger dexterity by using my support hand . . . to grip the firearm rather than my primary hand. My fingers on my primary hand where less tense.

This and this.

The "thumbs forward" idea did wonders for me when I started to shoot more regularly. This vid has a ton of info packed into 4 minutes, but he really knows what he's talking about.

[FNG19]

The "thumbs forward" idea did wonders for me when I started to shoot more regularly.

+1. I refer to it as the "Jarrett Grip". It noticeably improved my accuracy when I started using it.

[ditch]

2 things I learned about shooting the Glock that helped me get it under control are that you don't place your finger on the trigger like you do for a 1911.

I read that to avoid shooting left, you need to not use the pad of the fingertip, but contact further down your finger.

The 2nd thing is to only release the trigger until it engages again to get the minimum trigger travel possible.

Once I used these techniques, I shot much better.

Hope it can help.

[tacticalreload]

Shoot some 25 yard slow fire groups on NRA B-8 bullseyes and let us know how those look/score

try this
http://www.firearmstrainingandtactic...read.php?t=267

without knowing what this movement looks like the best your going to get on the internet is generic advice, and the worst will be specific advice thats handed down like a mantra like finger placement.

Finger placement will depend on hand size, finger length, and gun ergonomics. My buddy Jim has ape hands, his trigger finger wraps all the way through the trigger guard on a G19 and touches the frame on the other side. Hes also a phenominal shooter (which I can quantify) and can drop 10/10 into the 10 ring at 25. Tell him hes doing it wrong

Beyond that, I have no idea what your grip looks like, what sort of technique you use, or any inkling over what this movement your seeing actually means down range . "pretty tight at 7 yards" isnt exactly a measurement.

The best generic advice I can hand out is dry fire, and ball and dummy.

Looks like from that video that Todd Jarrett would tell your friend that he's doing it wrong.

In all seriousness, so many people have so many different ways to shoot a pistol and a lot of them work for a lot of the people. Just look at the way Eric Grauffel holds his pistol... he keeps the weak hand pointer finger on the front of the trigger guard. This is an amazingly huge no-no with so many instructors, yet Grauffel is only one of the best IPSC shooters there ever was.

As far as thumbs forward, since I am most likely shooting a revolver, this doesn't matter to me much. However, when I switch over to shooting pistols, I find that the best way for me to shoot is a modified version of thumbs forward where I kinda do a thumb-over-thumb like with the revolver but sort of point them forward a bit. I'm sure the only reason why I do this is because of my time with wheel-guns. I would never recommend someone else try to do it this way, because it doesn't seem like it would work too well; but it seems to make sense for me so I haven't bothered changing it.

I once was taking a class with a super high-speed-low-drag type special forces guy as the instructor (legit instructor at a very legit school). It wasn't a pistol class so it wasn't like he was doling out shooting advice, but very early on in the class he tried to get me to change up my grip because he felt that I didn't get enough of the palm of my support hand actually in contact with the grip of the pistol (instead of just over my strong hand). I figured I would give it a try, and it sucked and didn't feel comfortable in the slightest. He backed off when he saw that I was able to shoot accurately and quickly with my regular grip.

I suppose there is some merit in trying to shoot with different grips or to copy someone else's style. But I think that after a while, you'll start to settle into what is right for you. I'm not talking about just shooting with some egregious error so often that it begins to work... I'm talking about finding the right style for your brain, body, and hands. After all, I have a buddy who will fight me all day long about how his hunt-and-peck method of typing is "fast enough"... and he's right... he's pretty darn fast and manages not to even look at the keys. I suppose if he wants to spend the next 3 years trying to learn how to type the "correct way", he *might* end up ultimately being faster. But seeing him cook along with his dumb two-finger typing method is kinda like what you said about your buddy who can shoot out the 10 ring at 25 yards... try to tell him he's too slow. Sometimes the ends justify the means.