Pistol Accuracy Training

[newq]

Hey All,

I have been shooting for a number of years now and I have been considering seeking some training to improve my accuracy never having had any formal training. Are there any trainers or courses available that focus on pistol accuracy that could bring me beyond a pie plate at 14 yds?

I know my way around a pistol and don’t care for pistol function training but rather want to improve my aim as my eyesight deteriorates from age.

Any suggestions welcome.

Best regards,
NewQ

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

Focus on the front sight when you shoot and pull the trigger straight back. Your groups should immediately get smaller.

 

[John from MD]

If you are having eyesight issues, you may do well switching to a non traditional type of sight. As I grew older, I first switched to fiber optics and they made a big difference. Today, for my pocket pistols, I have XS Big Dot sights and for my belt pistols, I use a Holosun 407G optic.

Changing the sights have made it possible to enjoy shooting again.

 

[Blaster229]

It's not so much your eye sight.

You could probably shooting too fast. People load mags to the max and try and shoot the whole thing while pressed out. And to mitigate their arms being tired, they start shooting fast.
When they shoot fast, they start shooting crappy. When you shoot crappy, you start not giving a damn and lose confidence, then frustration sets in. Then you give up because you " don't know what you're doing wrong".
When all the while you may not have been doing anything wrong with the basics.
At farther distance, margin of error is greater.

One thing I get people to do is just load 1 round at a time. By default, this forces you to go through the aiming rituals slowly and deliberately. Keeping you from just slamming the trigger to get it over with.
It's better to shoot 15 rounds one at a time than it is shooting 15 rounds once.
You get to practice grip, presentation, sighting, and trigger control many times over.

At distance is where our brain tries to over ride our good mechanics of shooting. The target is farther, so we must have to do something different, right? Wrong.
Let's say you had 2 targets, one at 10 and another at 25, perfectly in line with each other. If you shoot a perfect bullseye on the 10, (aside from what a very minimal drop in trajectory would be at 25), you'll hit the bullseye at 25.

But what happens, our brain tells us we must have to do something different since it's a little blurry and farther away, so we try to compensate and aim higher usually.
Or "shoot the sway". As the sight moves like a pendulum, we watch it in order to press the trigger when it appears it may be over the bullseye, then we throw the shot. Ignore the sway.
If our mechanics stay sound by having a good grip, the gun level, and not deviating side to side, the bullet will travel straight.

So, slow it down, and try trusting good mechanics for those longer shots and see how that works.

 

[jlowe23]

Check out my partners at Tactical Shepherd (www.tacticalshepherd.com). They offer a variety of classes of all skill levels and have 500+ 5 star google reviews.

 

[4g64loser]

Hey All,

I have been shooting for a number of years now and I have been considering seeking some training to improve my accuracy never having had any formal training. Are there any trainers or courses available that focus on pistol accuracy that could bring me beyond a pie plate at 14 yds?

I know my way around a pistol and don’t care for pistol function training but rather want to improve my aim as my eyesight deteriorates from age.

Any suggestions welcome.

Best regards,
NewQ

NewQ, blaster229 works with guncommander, one of our IPs here. Both instructors there are well reviewed by several members I know well.

It's not so much your eye sight.

You could probably shooting too fast. People load mags to the max and try and shoot the whole thing while pressed out. And to mitigate their arms being tired, they start shooting fast.
When they shoot fast, they start shooting crappy. When you shoot crappy, you start not giving a damn and lose confidence, then frustration sets in. Then you give up because you " don't know what you're doing wrong".
When all the while you may not have been doing anything wrong with the basics.
At farther distance, margin of error is greater.

One thing I get people to do is just load 1 round at a time. By default, this forces you to go through the aiming rituals slowly and deliberately. Keeping you from just slamming the trigger to get it over with.
It's better to shoot 15 rounds one at a time than it is shooting 15 rounds once.
You get to practice grip, presentation, sighting, and trigger control many times over.

At distance is where our brain tries to over ride our good mechanics of shooting. The target is farther, so we must have to do something different, right? Wrong.
Let's say you had 2 targets, one at 10 and another at 25, perfectly in line with each other. If you shoot a perfect bullseye on the 10, (aside from what a very minimal drop in trajectory would be at 25), you'll hit the bullseye at 25.

But what happens, our brain tells us we must have to do something different since it's a little blurry and farther away, so we try to compensate and aim higher usually.
Or "shoot the sway". As the sight moves like a pendulum, we watch it in order to press the trigger when it appears it may be over the bullseye, then we throw the shot. Ignore the sway.
If our mechanics stay sound by having a good grip, the gun level, and not deviating side to side, the bullet will travel straight.

So, slow it down, and try trusting good mechanics for those longer shots and see how that works.

 

[GenoBluzGtr]

The biggest improvement I have made recently is to pay closer attention to how I'm triggering and concentrating to avoid "recoil anticipation". I was chronically "low & left", because I was pushing a bit with my trigger finger and the scatter in my pattern was due to anticipating recoil. Once I focused on those items, it helped immensely. I, too, have slightly degrading eyesight, so I may shift to a Red Dot soon, as well.

 

[newq]

The biggest improvement I have made recently is to pay closer attention to how I'm triggering and concentrating to avoid "recoil anticipation". I was chronically "low & left", because I was pushing a bit with my trigger finger and the scatter in my pattern was due to anticipating recoil. Once I focused on those items, it helped immensely. I, too, have slightly degrading eyesight, so I may shift to a Red Dot soon, as well.

That is helpful. I was just hoping a shooting coach of some sort my help improve my shooting long term.

 

[hogarth]

If you can't cloverleaf your hits at 5-7 yards, you aren't going to be punching the X at 15 or further. Can you clean Dot Torture at 3 yards? If not, start there.

Plenty of people here can probably provide 1:1 coaching.

If you want more of a class atmosphere, then let me know how soon you'd want a course, your budget, how far you're willing to travel, and 1 or 2 day course, and I can research who/what is out there

 

[miles71]

Good thoughts here.

Are you looking for bulls eye, one jagged hole accuracy or for defensive, all rounds in a certain ring at a certain speed accuracy.

TD

 

[Park ranger]

My accuracy doubled at 50 yards from using a dot sight. Accept your wobble, just don’t be proud of it.

 

[Blaster229]

My accuracy doubled at 50 yards from using a dot sight. Accept your wobble, just don’t be proud of it.

Once people start accepting that 6-8 inch center mass self defense groups are good shots, they relax much more.

It's stressful when they watch these videos using pac timers and making shots under certain times, blah blah blah. People try to rush the progression to do that stuff and it doesn't work that way. You can't rush your progression.

 

[outrider58]

I am a huge proponent of Blaster's expertise. I have taken classes with him as well as 1:1 training.

The only thing I can add to this discussion is, If you have a pistol that you can mount a red dot sight onto, dry firing with a red dot will definitely help you develop a stronger grip and a cleaner trigger press. Even if you don't use the red dot on you everyday gun and only use it for dry fire, by watching the dot and controlling its movement through the trigger press, you will gain accuracy.

 

[Park ranger]

Using a 22 to build marksmanship skills is a good way if you are actually going practice often

 

[babalou]

It's not so much your eye sight.

You could probably shooting too fast. People load mags to the max and try and shoot the whole thing while pressed out. And to mitigate their arms being tired, they start shooting fast.
When they shoot fast, they start shooting crappy. When you shoot crappy, you start not giving a damn and lose confidence, then frustration sets in. Then you give up because you " don't know what you're doing wrong".
When all the while you may not have been doing anything wrong with the basics.
At farther distance, margin of error is greater.

One thing I get people to do is just load 1 round at a time. By default, this forces you to go through the aiming rituals slowly and deliberately. Keeping you from just slamming the trigger to get it over with.
It's better to shoot 15 rounds one at a time than it is shooting 15 rounds once.
You get to practice grip, presentation, sighting, and trigger control many times over.

At distance is where our brain tries to over ride our good mechanics of shooting. The target is farther, so we must have to do something different, right? Wrong.
Let's say you had 2 targets, one at 10 and another at 25, perfectly in line with each other. If you shoot a perfect bullseye on the 10, (aside from what a very minimal drop in trajectory would be at 25), you'll hit the bullseye at 25.

But what happens, our brain tells us we must have to do something different since it's a little blurry and farther away, so we try to compensate and aim higher usually.
Or "shoot the sway". As the sight moves like a pendulum, we watch it in order to press the trigger when it appears it may be over the bullseye, then we throw the shot. Ignore the sway.
If our mechanics stay sound by having a good grip, the gun level, and not deviating side to side, the bullet will travel straight.

So, slow it down, and try trusting good mechanics for those longer shots and see how that works.

OP, read all of this. Blaster knows his stuff. The Clown told me about his excursion with Blaster in PA and learned a ton.

 

[Blaster229]

OP, read all of this. Blaster knows his stuff. The Clown told me about his excursion with Blaster in PA and learned a ton.

Thanks for the kind words. I just try to get people to slow down a bit. Sometimes it isn't always about technique, but just taking our time so we can assess ourselves and see what we are actually doing.

 

[linkstate]

My static shooting improved greatly after one of the live fire Gun Commander classes. Wish I felt up to making the last ones.

Anyway, what helped me a ton I think was not just getting some pointers which was great but being in a group where your mind is focusing on the instructions on whatever the course of fire will be. Then waiting for someone to say the command to start. If you have even decent fundamentals, it’s like you kind of let go of all the try hard aiming we tend to do when you are by yourself on a static range because you are focused on the task at hand. Otherwise you may tend to try to be all perfect and shoot like crap.

I don’t know but something clicked for me. I’m no great pistolero but I noticed a difference and try to recreate that environment in my mind when I’m by myself.

Also to what Blaster said, at least what I understood him say a about one shot at a time even if taking multiple shots, to the point you can at your range, start from low ready or pull your arms in and press out and take a shot. Reset each time. At least do a couple magazine worth of that each time.

 

[Gun Commander]

It's not so much your eye sight.

You could probably shooting too fast. People load mags to the max and try and shoot the whole thing while pressed out. And to mitigate their arms being tired, they start shooting fast.
When they shoot fast, they start shooting crappy. When you shoot crappy, you start not giving a damn and lose confidence, then frustration sets in. Then you give up because you " don't know what you're doing wrong".
When all the while you may not have been doing anything wrong with the basics.
At farther distance, margin of error is greater.

One thing I get people to do is just load 1 round at a time. By default, this forces you to go through the aiming rituals slowly and deliberately. Keeping you from just slamming the trigger to get it over with.
It's better to shoot 15 rounds one at a time than it is shooting 15 rounds once.
You get to practice grip, presentation, sighting, and trigger control many times over.

At distance is where our brain tries to over ride our good mechanics of shooting. The target is farther, so we must have to do something different, right? Wrong.
Let's say you had 2 targets, one at 10 and another at 25, perfectly in line with each other. If you shoot a perfect bullseye on the 10, (aside from what a very minimal drop in trajectory would be at 25), you'll hit the bullseye at 25.

But what happens, our brain tells us we must have to do something different since it's a little blurry and farther away, so we try to compensate and aim higher usually.
Or "shoot the sway". As the sight moves like a pendulum, we watch it in order to press the trigger when it appears it may be over the bullseye, then we throw the shot. Ignore the sway.
If our mechanics stay sound by having a good grip, the gun level, and not deviating side to side, the bullet will travel straight.

So, slow it down, and try trusting good mechanics for those longer shots and see how that works.

I agree completely. Shoot one round at a time, no more than 3-5 rounds per group, then go check your work and mark each round. You also need to know what sight hold you need to employ: 6 o’ clock, center mass, or cover up hold. Also, if you notice that your rounds drift off to the opposite side of your gun hand, i.e., right handed shooter shoots to the left, try increasing your support hand grip pressure by 50%. Most people don’t use nearly enough support hand pressure.

I’d be happy to work with you privately at the range if you’d like.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[miles71]

Just about any instructor offers private 1on1 lessons. Hit one up!

TD

 

[Blacksmith101]

Read these references:

USAMU Pistol Guide

Encyclopedia of Bullseye Pistol

Dr. Norman Wong Articles as posted to the Bullseye List (Vision and pistol shooting)

Dr. Norman Wong Articles as posted to the Bullseye List