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So you’re at the range. You’ve got your sights perfectly aligned with the center of the target. You pull the trigger and BLAM!
That felt right.
I’m certain I got that bulls-eye.
You check the target and…nowhere near where you were aiming for. Ok, so you send reset the target and empty a magazine. You check again and every shot is hitting above and left. “Must be my sights” you say to yourself. You check it out with a bore sight and your sights are spot on.
What am I doing wrong?!
Worry no longer. We’ve put together this quick reference on the 3 most common problems, how to spot them and how to fix them.
Shooting Diagnostic Chart
Take a look at the chart below. Assume you’re aiming for the middle and then pick the bullet hole that’s closest to where you tend to be missing (if you’re left-handed, swap the directions, btw). Then check out the corresponding section below the picture.
Shooting Diagnostic
Flinching or Anticipating the Recoil
If your shots are favoring the upper left, believe it or not, you’re flinching.
I don’t care how many horror movies you watch or how often you skydive, the gun is making you jump when you get the trigger to the breakpoint.
It’s nothing to be ashamed about. Even long-time shooters run into this problem on occasion. The trick is knowing how to recognize it and fix it.
Was That a Flinch
There’s an easy way to verify this problem.
Have a friend load your magazine and tell him/her to randomly load a couple of snap caps or dummy rounds in with the normal ammo. What this does is creates a scenario where you don’t know if the next bullet is actually going to fire or not.
Most times, flinching will be masked by the recoil of the gun itself. In this case, you’re going to eventually pull the trigger and nothing will happen when you’re actually expecting it to. See the gun jump just then? That’s the flinch.
This is an easy problem to fix.
Slow down a bit. Concentrate on a slow (and I mean slooooooooow) and smooth trigger pull. That will work out the kinks and you can eventually start speeding up your shots again.
Also, it might help to swap to another gun, if you have a spare. When I find myself flinching consistently, I like to swap down to a fun little .22LR for a bit. The reduced recoil and sound, combined with super cheap ammo, works that flinch out fast.
Check Your Trigger Finger
Chances are that if you’re consistently shooting directly to the left of the target, you might want to double check the placement of your trigger finger.
Easy fix…put the pad of your finger on the trigger and keep it there.
If you have a bit of trouble with finger strength, get yourself one of those hand exercisers. I personally like the 5-pound Gripmaster because the average trigger pull is about 3-5 pounds. If you can get to where the exercise isn’t a problem for you then it’ll be worlds easier to keep your pad on the trigger.
If you’re finding your shots consistently to the lower left, you’re most likely yanking that trigger back. The sudden and violent action causes the muscles in your hand and wrist to act accordingly and it’ll pull the gun downward.
Easy Fix:…just like in flinching, you need to slow your trigger pull down.
I know that if you’re practicing double taps and such the tendency is to jerk the trigger as quickly as possible but a smooth trigger pull is far more important that a fast one. Once you’ve committed the motion to muscle memory you can work on speeding it up. In the mean time, this isn’t a race.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve gotten the three most common problems out of the way, you can continue with our Ultimate Guide on Shooting More Accurately which will go over everything else from the grip, stance, and dry-firing to electronic aids to build up that nice trigger pull.
Handgun Grip Wrist Check, Shannon Smith
