Pistol Accuracy

[L84CABO]

Go find a quality instructor and take a class. This can be invaluable to a new shooter. Rather than learning bad habits and practicing them, you will learn the correct way and learn how you should be practicing. It's well worth the money as new shooter.

Also note that your Shield is a bit on the small side for a new shooter. I'm assuming you got it because you ultimately want to carry it and it's a nice size carry piece. But it's not the best gun to learn on. I usually suggest a full size gun for new shooters or nothing smaller than Glock 19 size. On a positive note this is a great excuse to buy your second gun.

[subscriber]

John,

If you are unsure about the source of your inaccuracy and don't have access to (or want to buy) a .22 pistol, here is the next best thing:

Buy a Beeman P17 .177 single stroke pneumatic air pistol for about $30.

It is recoil-less with a good trigger. Almost everyone that shoots these, marvel at their trigger and accuracy. Especially at that price point.

https://www.amazon.com/Beeman-Sportsman-Deluxe-Air-Pistol/dp/B000W30UAA/

https://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Beeman_P17/614

Get some decent pellets for it, and you should be shooting 1" groups offhand at 10 yards with a little practice. That is, unless you are screwing up. In that case, the lack of recoil and report should help you figure out and correct what you are doing wrong.

https://www.amazon.com/Umarex-USA-2315034-Caliber-Meisterkugeln/dp/B076PS18MC

https://www.pyramydair.com/s/p/RWS_Meisterkugeln_Pistol_177_Cal_7_0_Grains_Wadcutter_500ct/219

Depending on your location and situation, you might be able to shoot the P17 indoors as a slightly damp dry fire exercise. The only negative about this pistol is that cocking it can be hard until you figure the best technique. Of course, you could spend more money on an air pistol without that problem:

https://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Alfa_Proj_Competition_PCP_Pistol/1564

https://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Hammerli_AP20_PRO_Competition_Air_Pistol/4072

I also have a very easy to cock single stroke pneumatic pistol, purchased directly from Europe recently:

https://www.krale.shop/en/baikal-mp-46m.html

It is expensive, but it is darn good. I even managed to talk calguns user Mac Attack into buying one from Krale, and he loves it. If you want to ask him about the pistol and the purchase experience, here is his profile page: http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/member.php?u=17530

The Krale site shows them as sold out, but email them about it before accepting that. Both Mac and I bought one each, despite being sold out.

I can point you to my writeup about my 46M on a dedicated airgun forum.

[subscriber]

All else being equal, short sight-radius handguns are much harder to shoot with precision than full size pistols. As you have a short range defense pistol, John; start shooting it at 5 yards.

Until you can land most of your shots in less than 2" at 5 yards, don't even dream of placing the target at 25 yards. You will just frustrate yourself; and in trying too hard, you will shoot worse.

[bigmike82]

Thanks! This technique should provide 5 seconds of steady aiming. I exhaled too quickly to bottom of breathing cycle, but the pause only lasts 2 seconds before I start losing consciousness


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly! The nice thing about exhaling is that you have a predictable pattern of how your body behaves right? Your arms and shoulders are going down maybe half an inch or so over a few seconds followed by a second or two of stationaryness. That's totally a word.

Practice shooting like this for a few hundred rounds. Nice and slow. The more you practice this, and the more comfortable you get, the easier all this will be. And the more confident you get with putting the lead where you want it, the easier it'll be to start incorporating some of the other tips into your shooting.

My favorite thing right now is to ring steel at 100 yards with my pistols. I'm not a great marksman by any means, and by any hard-core shooter's standard 12 MOA at 100 yards isn't great, but for us weekend plinkers it's pretty damn respectable.

Do the breathing, be calm, have a firm grip (but not the shaky kind) and a good sight picture, and that lead piece will go exactly where you want it.

[General]

Lots of great advice!

I just want to put in my 2 cents.

[subscriber]

CO2 pistols for practice: https://www.pyramydair.com/a/Air_gun...et_Pistols/169

[johnpatrick]

take a look at the Target Diagnosic chart, where are your shots landing ?


https://www.pewpewtactical.com/target-quick-fix-guide/

Thanks for that. I'm between tightening the fingers and jerking or slapping the trigger.

All else being equal, short sight-radius handguns are much harder to shoot with precision than full size pistols. As you have a short range defense pistol, John; start shooting it at 5 yards.

Until you can land most of your shots in less than 2" at 5 yards, don't even dream of placing the target at 25 yards. You will just frustrate yourself; and in trying too hard, you will shoot worse.

My range has a minimum of 7 yards. That's what I'm working from.

Thanks for all the other tips. You guys/gals are great!

[norcalAF]

I say just aim high right! Just kidding of course, there had been a wealth of information already posted. All I got is double up on your hearing protection when at the range, to preserve your hearing and help lessen the flinch from sound.

[IVC]

I find that for target shooting, a light grip, when there is zero attempt to counter recoil works better.
...
Pay no attention to the gun, or the recoil.

Just a quick warning - light grip is only for bullseye/target shooting. Anything other than trying to get the most precision in very, very, very slow fire requires different grip since recoil control becomes an integral part of the overall shooting.

Regardless of grip, you have to get to the point where you pay no attention to the gun or recoil and you let your body passively handle it instead of trying to compensate for it.

[Jimi Jah]

Put a small bottle on top of the frame and dry fire until you stop making it fall off or move. Use a bag at the range to set your sites.

[IVC]

It helped me when I got into bullseye in 1984. I no longer compete, but remember how useful the book was to me.

Some very good advice from subscriber (username) in this thread, just keep in mind that he is talking about bullseye and that he is optimizing accuracy over everything else.

Depending on what type of shooting you're interested in, this might or might not be the priority. Sure, shooting bullseye will transfer (and is required) for any shooting discipline, but it might not be the optimal path to devote all your time to it initially.

Compare to, for example, trying to learn to play football. You will need to be able to run fast, but you don't have to start with a track coach and train for sprinting before you have learned the basics of the game, even if it is a required skill at a later time. The extent to which you will have to be competitive on the track field to be successful in football is something that will depend on how far you intend to go...

[ACfixer]

Shoot more, suck less.

Have someone watch what you are doing or get an instructor possibly.

I can't stress this enough. Pretty much every new handgun I get I shoot low/left OP, I don't put too much thought into it because I just keep shooting it and the problem takes care of itself within 100-200 rounds. If I pull anything out of my safe today and go to the range I'll be on point and not low/left, I have no professional advice or scientific answer for it... I'm not a professional shooter or an expert of any sort, I just learn how to shoot my guns because I do exactly that, I shoot them.

I would agree having someone that knows grips and stances to make sure your fundamentals are sound. You can't shoot free throws without a clean follow-through and backspin on the ball, but after that you'll never get good at it unless you spend hours upon hours at the free throw line.

[subscriber]

Some very good advice from subscriber (username) in this thread, just keep in mind that he is talking about bullseye and that he is optimizing accuracy over everything else.

Yes. That was based on the title of the thread. Now that we know this is a carry pistol, speed with OK accuracy is actually more important. Hence the video I posted stating "aiming is useless". At least until you have learned to trip the trigger without disturbing the gun. And Latham does that fast.

Here it is again: