First time pistol owner and shooter

[Thrillz]

Hello there people, like the title says i just recently bought my first handgun, which is a S&W Sigma 40VE (i see these getting hate from all sides, but it was in my price range and had the best hand feel out of the ones i handled in store) and i went to the range the first time on saturday.

Not quite sure how far away my target was, id guess 10 yards but im a horrible judge of distance (the range was the public range right off of Rt74 far north of Dover in York county, so if your familiar with it, maybe you know the actual yardage of the closest target). Anyways though i could barely hit shit lol, i took my sister with me as she was eager to try it as well and we split around 40 rounds. Out of the 20 rounds i shot, only about 7 of them actually made it onto a 12" diameter target.

Ive watched videos and read websites a ton in preparation, while i know thats not substitute for an instructor, its the best i can do with my limited funds.

I tend to ramble, basically im looking for stance tips, breathing and trigger squeeze exercises i can do at home (no rounds loaded obviously) or just any overall tips you more experienced guys can give someone just starting out. Hell if anyone in the area would be down to give me some in person help thatd be awesome, but absolutely not expected.

Not sure if this is my first post or not, ive been a member for a while. But im happy to be here and look forward to get started in this sport


Edit:
Wanted to add that this firearm was purchased mostly for target shooting and having fun at the range, but also for self defense. My current living situation is not ideal, i live in an apartment complex, and the next door neighbor seems pretty shady. Ive caught him in lies repeatedly, he has said he owns firearms and has them in his apartment, and he also uses drugs. He claims to have been in the Marines and served in Iraq and has a 6-10 month old son so i dont know if he would ever do anything, but i live in this apartment with my 2 year old niece and through personal experiences know drug users can never be trusted. Its an upstairs apartment and we share a balcony with him, and the balcony doors do not properly lock despite being worked on twice by the maintenance people. So in a worst case scenario i would want to be able to protect my family if this man jumps over to our balcony side and comes through the door.

[cakeshooter]

Welcome! My husband has a Sigma 9mm that was given to him...its not his favorite gun in the world but there's nothing wrong with it...it never gets hung up or anything, it shoots fine. He carries it sometimes.

Make sure you are lining up your sights right, holding your grip right, and that you are pulling the trigger back slowly and steadily without jerking the trigger in anticipation of the recoil. There's youtube videos about a proper grip and then diagrams online on lining up the sights.

Then practice, practice, practice!!!! You will need a lot more than just 20 rounds for that. :-) Save those pennies for ammo! Until then, get you a snap cap or even a laserlyte trainer (if you have the money) to practice at home, preferably when you are alone AND when the ammo is completely packed up in a separate room, and definitely no kids around. But it will help you with trigger control and making sure you are lining your sights up and keeping everything steady and getting used to your gun.

More people will have better advice, as I just started shooting this year, but just getting the basics down will help a lot.

[Thrillz]

Thanks for the fast reply!

The firearm i purchased actually came with a small rail mounted laser and i got it lined up so the dot projects just above the front sight when lined up with the rear sights. Also just picked up 100 round box of ammo so ill be going to the range tomorrow to put some more time in.

[rmagill]

Thrillz, it is pretty hard to know how to help you without more information. If you can tell us where the rounds are hitting the paper, we might be able to help you some more. If you can post a picture of the target, even better.

Also, if you can, I suggest starting closer to the target (or with a larger target). This will allow you to more easily see where your shots are landing. Once you know where your shots are landing, we will have some idea of where you can use some improvement.

Don't get discouraged! I know it has taken a lot of us a while to reach even a minimum level of accuracy. Stick with it and if you follow the advise from this site and any good instructors you go to, you will get better!

[Thrillz]

Alright, i wanted to wait til i was able to get back to the range to shoot some more before i posted some pics, just to see what i could change myself.

Heres the target from the first time out (about 25 shots at the same target, 6 hits):

You can see the shots just kinda went everywhere

Now heres the 2 from today (about 60 shots between both targets, 27 hits)


A couple high flyers but for the most part they went low and to the left.

I changed my grip and stance today from the first time out and did, i think, a lot better than the first time out. I did notice that my sister and myself were both shooting low. A couple of her shots actually hit the ground. Im sure its probably us being inexperienced, but im wondering if maybe the firearm is shooting low naturally?

[6SPEED]

Are you right handed or left handed? also at this range you go to is there a fee? is it only pistol?

[.45Kimber1911]

Big question here....

Are you relying on the laser sight to line up your shot or the steel sights on the gun?

Lasers have to be set to a distance you plan on shooting on a regular basis. Just because you put the dot somewhere on the target, doesn't mean that's where the bullet is going to hit. It has to deal with the laser not being on the same x or y axis as the barrel.

[Thrillz]

Im right handed, the range i go is a public state range which costs $30 a year, or free with furtaker/hunting license. They have both pistol and rifle ranges there.

I dont use the laser at all when shooting, i use the sights.

[6SPEED]

I'm left handed and for a long time I shot low and to the right. I actually thought my sights were off since I could get a nice group but they were all low right, and with my Desert Eagle I would hit the ground too sometimes. After putting about another 300 rounds over the course of the last 2 months now my group is dead center. What I was doing was anticipating recoil, I really noticed how much I was doing it when one time my slide didn't lock back and I thought I still had another round in and when I pulled the trigger I pushed the barrel down and to the right. What I did to fix it was actually kinda weird to some people, but if you line up your sights on target then pull the slack out of the trigger, then completely forget about the trigger and just look at your target, count to 5 while slowly pulling the trigger. The gun will go off some where between 1-5 while your counting and probably scare the crap out of you, if it doesn't scare you then you were still anticipating, but when it does I bet it will be on target. The first time I tried it I put the shot right in the 10 hole.

You can also quickly tell what your problem is if you buy a snap cap and have someone load it in your magazine somewhere so you don't know where it is. When you reach the snap cap and pull the trigger you will quickly see where your pushing your barrel at.

I was going to say that I would come shoot once with you since I haven't shot my AK in a while, but I don't have a hunting license and I'm guessing your not allowed to bring a guest.

[Thrillz]

Thanks for the tips man, ill definitely try that next time im out. I definitely know i anticipate the recoil, i catch myself doing it even when i have it in the back of my head to relax.

I just checked out the game commissions regulations for the range and it looks like id be allowed a guest. Wish i would have known that before, it would have saved my sister $30 lol. They do have a rule stating you cant load more than 3 rounds into a rifle or 6 in a handgun at a time, so people can have time to go down range without having to wait for someone to finish a 30 round magazine or something.