Best ways to improve accuracy

[Shenaniguns]

ive found the best way to is to just practice. Me and my fellow officers go through a couple hundred rounds at the range every night, me using a Glock 23 and going for a standard two to the chest one in the head. If you do it enough you will eventually be able to make smaller than 1" groups at 25 yards as i have

If you don't know what to practice, how will you improve?

[jakuda]

My 2cents as a bullseye shooter, but it applies to any shooter wanting to get better.

+1000 on dry fire practice HOWEVER, what is equally important is to train (not practice) like you were at the range or at a match.
Don't dry fire sitting on the couch watching TV. Concentrate only on shooting. Setup a blank paper, or small target on a wall, and dry fire in your proper stance, grip/breathing/drawing routine. Don't take short cuts on your "shooting routine".

When you dry fire, and you notice your front sight move, objectively think why that front sight moved. What exactly did your trigger finger (or gripping fingers, or thumb, or wrist) do right before the shot broke? If you didn't know, then you aren't focusing enough on what you are doing.

10 minutes of slow, but mentally focused dry firing is better than one hour of random dry fire on the couch.

[9mmepiphany]

in my mind, the only way for me to know if i am doing tactical shooting correctly is to put me into a shoot out environment. since i cant do that, i will need a coach to to explain the missing pieces.

I used to believe that too, until the day I saw a trainee make excellent use of cover and movement while shooting relatively accurately...it was during an airsoft force-on-force drill. I asked her where she had received her prior training and she replied, "From watching movies and playing video games"

On the other hand, I have found that communicating the subtleties of trigger management, grip and sight alignment much more difficult. As demonstrated in this thread, the same words mean different things to different people. Also I have found that most people have a very hard time in self-diagnosing their faults/mistakes.

The most commonly overlooked, often attributed to jerking the trigger, is tightening the grip of the other fingers when pressing the trigger.

A common misunderstanding is that watching the front sight to shoot accurately is a goal rather than a path to the goal of seeing the aligned sights

[meaty-btz]

I will add my 2cents.

Shooting is a martial art.
Shooting is a VERY perishable skill. It is not like riding a bike. It is more like every other martial art. It takes training, practice, practice, and more practice.

Over the years I had training, and while still in highschool shot often, very often. After that I shot only rarely. Then years without shooting. Then I went shooting and I had every bad habit and little skill. I proceeded to practice my training but was only shooting once a month at best. I had ZERO overall skill improvement. I was floored, I had gone from being an expert marksman to n00b. I was very frustrated and was considering getting additional training. Then I moved to where I can shoot any time I feel like it in my own back yard.

Two weeks in I had already regained much of my previous lost skill.

Was I shooting more rounds down the pipe than before? No.
I was however shooting less rounds, more often, and regularly. That was the key, TIME BETWEEN SHOOTING. My skills diminished quickly without consistent regular practice.

Do you ever expect to become good at an eastern martial art form when you only go to the once a week class? No, you will remain a neophyte forever. No if you practice what you learned in class every night, you will become an expert at each trained skill. Shooting is no different.

If you want something that isn't a perishable skill play footie. I understand how difficult it is though with firearms vs eastern martial arts to get "practice time" in. Our whole culture is set to make it into a simple sport or hobby, which it is neither.

Snap-caps and manual of arms drills as well as laser-caps are a great tool for at home practice. Not as good as 20 rounds down the pipe but better than nothing and thats good. In the end you are seeking the same thing that you are in an eastern martial art: muscle memory.

[wu_dot_com]

My 2cents as a bullseye shooter, but it applies to any shooter wanting to get better.

+1000 on dry fire practice HOWEVER, what is equally important is to train (not practice) like you were at the range or at a match.
Don't dry fire sitting on the couch watching TV. Concentrate only on shooting. Setup a blank paper, or small target on a wall, and dry fire in your proper stance, grip/breathing/drawing routine. Don't take short cuts on your "shooting routine".

When you dry fire, and you notice your front sight move, objectively think why that front sight moved. What exactly did your trigger finger (or gripping fingers, or thumb, or wrist) do right before the shot broke? If you didn't know, then you aren't focusing enough on what you are doing.

10 minutes of slow, but mentally focused dry firing is better than one hour of random dry fire on the couch.

you nailed it right there with the essence of effective dry firing.

when i dry fire, i get into my ready stance. then i walk though the steps mentally through out all the shot break processes. think of it like "head movies" from simple jack. in my mental recount, i distinctively define and differentiate the start and stop of each action. only after i can clearly recite the shooting sequence, then i am ready to raise the gun.

during the actual shot sequence, i will carry out the mental sequence step by step. if i happened to rush any steps, i will restart from ready position until i can perform a continues shot sequence from start to finish w/o any mental or physical interruptions.

[wu_dot_com]

I used to believe that too, until the day I saw a trainee make excellent use of cover and movement while shooting relatively accurately...it was during an airsoft force-on-force drill. I asked her where she had received her prior training and she replied, "From watching movies and playing video games"

i would have never thought of that. learned something new everyday.

On the other hand, I have found that communicating the subtleties of trigger management, grip and sight alignment much more difficult. As demonstrated in this thread, the same words mean different things to different people. Also I have found that most people have a very hard time in self-diagnosing their faults/mistakes.

The most commonly overlooked, often attributed to jerking the trigger, is tightening the grip of the other fingers when pressing the trigger.

A common misunderstanding is that watching the front sight to shoot accurately is a goal rather than a path to the goal of seeing the aligned sights

from what i've found, the secret to consistent shots revolves around 2 principles.

1. the shot sequence should be " Pull, No Breath, AIM". this is what i've found to be the best repeatable trigger management method. the trigger pull must follow this sequence to attain maximum results.

here is how it goes.

when the sights is in the approximate vicinity of the bullseye alignment. perform the following:

Pull, it meant the actual sear actuation movement disengagement. it's not just take up of the trigger slack. so in a trigger with lots of slack, this is where i experience major resistance. in a two stage trigger, this is the second stage.

No breath. like it says, it means absolutely no inhale or exhale. the goal here is no chest movement. closing the airway in the throat its a common method people use, myself included.

Aim, this is where to spent most of your concentration in to stabilizing your arms to minimize movements until the trigger is pulled all the way back. in this sequence, the pupils will dilate, your arm will literally stop following the natural arc of movements. some people call it subconscious shooting, while other call it visualizing, or seeing through the shots.

second, is sight picture.

to shoot accurate and predictable shots, there are two elements that goes into this sight picture.

first, is the commonly known item of front and back sight relationship. where the front/ back sight ration must be maintain during shots.

second, is the hidden piece of the puzzle that most people either dont know or cannot explain. and that is, the relative position between your front sight to the location its pointing on the target. the key for predictable shooting is to track this sight to bullseye relationship during shot break.

doing really well with the first criteria will let you shoot where you are pointing at. however, you dont really know what you are pointing at unless you mentally account for the second factor.

concentration for maintaining the sight picture is only require during the aim phase of the trigger pull. if you concentrate during any other phase of the trigger pull, you will not be able to maintain the mental focus needed to momentary immobilize your arm during the moment the shot breaks.

[fiddletown]

...the shot sequence should be " Pull, No Breath, AIM". this is what i've found to be the best repeatable trigger management method. the trigger pull must follow this sequence to attain maximum results.

here is how it goes.

when the sights is in the approximate vicinity of the bullseye alignment. perform the following:

Pull, it meant the actual sear actuation movement disengagement. it's not just take up of the trigger slack. so in a trigger with lots of slack, this is where i experience major resistance. in a two stage trigger, this is the second stage.

No breath. like it says, it means absolutely no inhale or exhale. the goal here is no chest movement. closing the airway in the throat its a common method people use, myself included.

Aim, this is where to spent most of your concentration in to stabilizing your arms to minimize movements until the trigger is pulled all the way back....momentary immobilize your arm during the moment the shot breaks.

This, as well as some of your other posts, highlights some of the significant differences between practical shooting and precision shooting.

[KandyRedCoi]

dry fire practice

[Ieyasu]

The most commonly overlooked, often attributed to jerking the trigger, is tightening the grip of the other fingers when pressing the trigger.

Interesting. I had the opposite problem.

I was shooting left with my USP 9mm. It was the only gun I was doing this with. I didn't have that problem with my USP 45F or GLOCK 21 (or any other gun I tried shooting).

The problem was driving me crazy. No amount of dry-firing helped. The sights didn't move.

I finally realized that I was relaxing my right-hand grip just a tad as I was pressing the trigger. (Obviously I need to learn not to blink as I'm pressing the trigger and thus would have noticed it.)

[9mmepiphany]

Obviously I need to learn not to blink as I'm pressing the trigger and thus would have noticed it.

It does make it a bit easier