Another day at the range

masraum · 02-21-2010, 06:26 PM

I had another good day at the range. My first two mags were crap (my shooting). I was getting frustrated so I told myself to relax and slow down so I could feel the trigger pull. That did the trick. I got back on the right track. I do almost all of my shooting at 7 yards. That seems far enough to show my errors but close enough to save my ego. Besides, if I ever had to use the gun, I suspect it would be at 7yds or less anyway. My groups are getting smaller and my shots are centered around the bullseye instead of low and left (well, maybe occasionally). I tried a few targets out at 15 yards. I could tell that my shots were improving out at that distance too. Previously, I was just happy to get all of the bullets onto an 8.5x11 sheet of paper at 15 yards. Now most of my shots at 15yds are in a 2.5-4" group.

Here's my best 10 shots at 7 yds.

Someone in my last thread mentioned that I wasn't reacquiring the sights after each shot. That's true, I always want to look at the target after each shot. That was causing a couple of problems. Today I tried to reacquire the sights after each shot (mostly successful) and that seemed to help.

This gun thing is fun. Sadly, I want several more now. I need to win the lottery. I have way too many interests.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

My SIG P239 in .40 is the most accurate gun I've ever owned and this photo is several years old. I'm far better with it now.

masraum · 02-22-2010, 02:23 AM

Nice shootin'. I'm sure my gun is more accurate and I'm the problem. I think I've got about 1200-1300 rounds down range with it now. I've probably only got about 1700 rounds out of any handgun ever.

m21sniper · 08:02 AM

Just load one round at a time in the mag. Your accuracy will improve dramatically that way over a fairly short period of time. People with only one shot are far more careful about where they put it when they squeeze the trigger.

Obligatory bullseye photo:

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

A guy at the NRA range once showed me a good trick to reduce flinch. Randomly load a dummy round or two in your magazine without looking. When it comes up, you'd be amazed how much you flinch when you squeeze the trigger, even when it doesn't go bang. Once you learn to treat each trigger pull like a dry fire, your accuracy will improve a lot. I find this much harder with rifles and think I have it down with handguns now.

m21sniper · 02-22-2010, 08:07 AM

Yep, that works great. Works even better when you load your buddies mags who you're teaching to shoot.

Pressure should be exerted on the trigger such that the exact moment of ignition is a surprise to you. Anticipation creates/causes flinch.

71T Targa · 02-22-2010, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

A guy at the NRA range once showed me a good trick to reduce flinch. Randomly load a dummy round or two in your magazine without looking. When it comes up, you'd be amazed how much you flinch when you squeeze the trigger, even when it doesn't go bang. Once you learn to treat each trigger pull like a dry fire, your accuracy will improve a lot. I find this much harder with rifles and think I have it down with handguns now.

Yep, my older brother did that for me when I was first learning to shoot.

masraum · 02-22-2010, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m21sniper

Pressure should be exerted on the trigger such that the exact moment of ignition is a surprise to you. Anticipation creates/causes flinch.

I'm getting much better about that. When I first started, it felt like the trigger pull was really short, almost like a SA gun. But now I'm able to pull the trigger slowly so that it almost feels like a DA. That's been the biggest improvement. I've considered getting a few snap-caps for the range.

m21sniper · 02-22-2010, 09:32 AM

Use the snap caps to dry fire at home too. (Safely, of course)

pitargue · pitargue's Garage

You're lifting your finger off the trigger as soon as the shot fires. That is why you have some flyers that are hitting high.

Try this:
1) concentrate on the front sight
2) gently press the trigger and continue to press the trigger till it hits the stop
3) somewhere along the way, the shot will go off.
4) reacquire the front sight
5) then and only then, release the trigger.

masraum · 02-22-2010, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pitargue

You're lifting your finger off the trigger as soon as the shot fires. That is why you have some flyers that are hitting high.

Try this:
1) concentrate on the front sight
2) gently press the trigger and continue to press the trigger till it hits the stop
3) somewhere along the way, the shot will go off.
4) reacquire the front sight
5) then and only then, release the trigger.

Will do, you're the guy that told me to reacquire the front site in my last thread. That helped too. You're just a fount of shootin' advice!

thx