Some Shooting Advice

[Gomphe]

Hi everyone,

Some shooting advice, please? I noticed that I have a tendency to point my wrist and the muzzle of my gun down (in anticipation of the recoil) just as I pull the trigger. As a result, my shots are impacting low (by at least 5 inches).

Can any veteran shooter in this forum correct this bad habit and help me improve my shooting techniques? I've tried using both stances (Weaver and Isosceles) and I can't seem to correct the problem. Is there a old teaching aid that would help keep my wrist straight or do I just need to think about my wrist position and work it out? Thanksmin advance.

-Gomphe.

[uhlan1]

What are you shooting? You could drill with a .22 to start. Load in some snap caps. Dry fire a lot. Take some lessons. Go shoot with some experienced people who are willing. Lot of things you could do. Where are you located?

[hambam105]

In the olden days we called this a flinch.
If you are positive in your mind that you can handle the recoil and the cycling of the pistol won't hurt you, then I'd try some visualization techniques, that is 1 way how the Olympic shooters, .22LR & Air Gun included, deal with flinch.
Don't over look more practice.

[Jimmybacon43]

Yeah I have a flinching problem too. One way that I found helped was to load a single round into your handgun, and just focus on trigger pull and the front sight. Do that like 5 or 6 times and you should have a nice group the size of your fist. Slowly add rounds into the magazine until you reach a full mag of 10 rounds and you should be able to pop them off with accuracy.

You can also buy snap caps and load a few snap caps (dummy rounds) into your magazine alongside the live rounds. When you reach the snap caps it will allow you to observe and correct your flinch. Just make sure you don't count the rounds as you load your mag.

[EatsEverything]

I had this problem when I forst started.

Pretty much fixed it by doing a lot of dry firing to work out the flinching.

Squeeze the trigger slowly. Try to get it so that you're surprised when it finally breaks. One coach even said I should squeeze so slowly that I get bored.

Also, check your grip.

[furrly]

Have someone put an empty shell casing on top of your front sight as you take your shooting stance, like when you're getting ready to shoot off a round. Pull the trigger without knocking off the shell casing 5 times in a row, if you knock off the casing start all over again until you have done it 5 times with out kicking off the casing.. Good luck!!

[furrly]

While dry firing of course!!

[enzo357]

Agree with all of the above. Get your strong hand more behind the gun. Really strive for that thumb forward grip. Keep those wrists locked. Soft trigger pull.
Dry fire.
Focus on good habits.

[russ69]

...You could drill with a .22 to start...

...22LR & Air Gun included,...

I always start and finish with a 22LR.

[fiddletown]

...Some shooting advice, please? I noticed that I have a tendency to point my wrist and the muzzle of my gun down (in anticipation of the recoil) just as I pull the trigger. As a result, my shots are impacting low (by at least 5 inches)....

Let's have a short review of first principles.

1. The first principle of accurate shooting is trigger control: a smooth press straight back on the trigger with only the trigger finger moving. Maintain your focus on the front sight as you press the trigger, increasing pressure on the trigger until the shot breaks. Don't try to predict exactly when the gun will go off nor try to cause the shot to break at a particular moment. This is what Jeff Cooper called the "surprise break."
   
   
2. 1. Remember that practice doesn't make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.
      
      
   2. Practice also makes permanent. If you keep practicing doing something poorly, you will become an expert at doing it poorly.
   
   
   
3. It may help to understand the way humans learn a physical skill.
   
   
   1. In learning a physical skill, we all go through a four step process:
      
      
      1. unconscious incompetence, we can't do something and we don't even know how to do it;
         
         
      2. conscious incompetence, we can't physically do something even though we know in our mind how to do it;
         
         
      3. conscious competence, we know how to do something but can only do it right if we concentrate on doing it properly; and
         
         
      4. unconscious competence, at this final stage we know how to do something and can do it reflexively (as second nature) on demand without having to think about it.
      
      
      
   2. To get to the third stage, you need to think through the physical task consciously in order to do it perfectly. You need to start slow; one must walk before he can run. The key here is going slow so that you can perform each repetition properly and smoothly. Don't try to be fast. Try to be smooth. Now here's the kicker: slow is smooth and smooth is fast. You are trying to program your body to perform each of the components of the task properly and efficiently. As the programing takes, you get smoother; and as you get smoother you get more efficient and more sure, and therefore, faster.
      
      
   3. I have in fact seen this over and over, both in the classes I've been in and with students that I've helped train. Start slow, consciously doing the physical act smoothly. You start to get smooth, and as you get smooth your pace will start to pick up. And about now, you will have reached the stage of conscious competence. You can do something properly and well as long as you think about it.
      
      
   4. To go from conscious competence to the final stage, unconscious competence, is usually thought to take around 5,000 good repetitions. The good news is that dry practice will count. The bad news is that poor repetitions don't count and can set you back. You need to work at this to get good.
      
      
   5. If one has reached the stage of unconscious competence as far as trigger control is concerned, he will be able to consistently execute a proper, controlled trigger press quickly and without conscious thought. Of course one needs to practice regularly and properly to maintain proficiency, but it's easier to maintain it once achieved than it was to first achieve it.
   
   
   
4. Think: front sight; press; surprise.
   
   
5. If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, come take our class.

[003]

As noted above, get a good quality .22 pistol and work on the basics

[9mmepiphany]

Everything fiddletown has posted is spot on

The short version is that it isn't your wrist, it is your trigger press and target/sight anticipation

The easiest cure is to get proper in-person instruction. What can likely be cured in a hour in person will drag on for weeks over a forum

[Gomphe]

[*]If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, come take our class.[/list]

Thanks Fiddletown, I'll be sure to look you up the next time I'm in the bay area. I could use a good trainer. However, I am surprised that San Francisco allowed you to open up anything gun related. How did you managed to pull that off?

What are you shooting? Load in some snap caps. Dry fire a lot. Take some lessons. Go shoot with some experienced people who are willing. Lot of things you could do. Where are you located?

I've been shooting my carry guns (an XD9 subcompact and my Sig P239) and my newly acquired M&P Shield (Non CA Version). I live in the Elk Grove area so I will usually head to the Gun Room since it's the closest range in my area. However, I really prefer the Gun Range in North Highlands.

Overall, I think I've narrow my problem some, but I wouldn't mind like a second pair of eyes. I do dry fire with my snap caps and I notice that I do perfectly fine in terms of keeping my muzzle on target. In fact, I do okay if I really slow it down as Omnomagon suggested. This flinch habit is really sporadic. Sometimes I do really well with nice tight 3 shot groupings while other times my target board looked like a newbie gunner shot at it.

Second think I've noticed about my flinch issue is that it always occur on the follow up shots when I need to reacquire my target. I've tried slowing down my follow up shots, but it is very challenging during the heat of the moment; even though I notice that it does help some.

Thanks for the great tips and advice. Please keep them coming as I am open to any suggestion that you may have.

- Gomphe