I saw this within the last a couple weeks. Could help isolate trigger pull vs. anticipation

We all try to cut the corner (my description) and force the shot.
Slow down.
Fire one shot at a time, very slow and smooth pull on the trigger. Concentrate on keeping your sight on the target.
Pull so slowly that when the shot finally goes off, it should surprise you. If it wasn’t a surprise, slow down even more.
Repeat X a bajillion. Then increase your speed a little.

So many right answers that i’ll try to provide a different one…

SHOOT WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED!
Remove everything but your trigger work from your mind. Dry fire first if you feel more comfortable.

Muscle memory should put you back on target after each round so forget about aiming or correcting after firing.
Had amazing results teaching this to total strangers.

Just realized the video above my post, haven’t checked it but looks just like what i say. Ayoob beat me to it

Let me add a true story to make it more interesting and funny.
Twenty or so years ago i was invited to shoot at a neighboring province by some online friends.
One asked me if i was willing to provide a “helping hand” to another guy and he led me to another firing lane. The shooter was one armed. I was in shock, was this a sick joke? The first thing that came out of my very embarrased mouth was “Hey, i’m a southpaw too!” I felt so stupid…
The one armed guy had a buddy. A one armed buddy! Couldn’t decide if i should get angry, laugh or get busy.
I watched the guy shoot and reload with admiration. His rounds were spead but nothing terrible.
Then i retrieved the target and replaced it for a new one, this one displayed on the back, blank side. I declared there was NO TARGET! and to focus only on trigger work. Some arguing from the buddy followed but i left. A while later the shooter joined me and showed me a very tight group and a very large smile. Last i heard, years later, was that both one armed guys taught others the NO TARGET! technique.
Same day, same friend, introduced me to a cop friend asking for tips. She first blamed the gun, saying she was unfamiliar with her issued Hi-Power. Told her the unfamiliar gun was not to blame and it was a lame excuse and made her try my P7M13. A most unusual gun. She did fine with it. Then i asked her to shoot with her eyes closed and “feel” the gun. She argued for a while and i told her some activities are more enjoyable with eyes closed…. Her smile told me she caught my drift. She then proceeded to make impressive shots with her eyes closed and a completely strange pistol.

These are probably my best shooting anecdotes, hope you enjoy them and put them to good use.
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I just hang my target a little more to the left and down.....

I actually used to work with a guy like that... He refused to work on improving his fundamentals, so when it came time to qualify, he would just aim at the target's shoulder to get some/most of his shots in the center mass scoring ring as he repeatedly shanked his shots low and left. And then boast about doing it like that was something to be proud of.

Thankfully I never had to actually work directly alongside him or rely on him in a dangerous situation.

quote:

dry fire, dry fire and dry fire some more.
But again, you got to be 100% honest with yourself on where that front sight is during and after the trigger break.

Hard to believe it took almost to the bottom of the first page to get the answer.

This is one great thing about red dot sights - when the dot goes skittering away as you oress the trigger it makes it pretty easy to see what’s going on.

Edit to fix typo on phone. QUOYE != QUOTE

This message has been edited. Last edited by: slosig,

Dry fire! Practice daily.

My first marksmanship training was with Grayguns -- primarily pistol, but some carbine work. Down the road as I transitioned to clays competition, I trained with some of the best shooters in my region. After that it was on to precision rifle, training with some of the best shooters out there, and with Rifles Only. Each instructor added to my skillsets. Dry firing, live-round practice, and competition enhanced the base skills. But I must state that precision rifle training is really what put it all together.

Let me try to start with the fundamentals.
- Align gun to the target, align body to the gun. Body must be in position to support & stabilize the gun all the way through the recoil cycle.
- Breathe as normally as possible, given the shooting position & conditions. If possible, break the shot at the bottom of the respiratory shot.
- Press the trigger straight back, so you don't disturb the sight picture. Maintain the sight picture as best as possible all the way through the recoil cycle.

As stated earlier in this thread, many right-hand pistol shooters pull shots low and left. The primary factors are:
- Not pressing the trigger straight back. There's pressure to the left during the rearward motion. If one curls the trigger finger around the trigger, then it's harder to control the force straight to the rear.
- Anticipating recoil. IMO this is generally a more accurate term than flinching. Since pistols (as with most guns) tend to recoil up and back, the shooter tries to compensate for the anticipated recoil as the trigger is being pressed. This tends to be a downward push on the pistol.
- Voila, a downward and left bias for POI.

Dry fire. Dry fire a lot. Concentrate on your front sight. The front sight must remain absolutely still and on target while dry firing. Absolutely still and on target, the whole time.

Fire live rounds with a purpose, and complete attention to the process. Start from a somewhat stable position. Maybe with your hands on a sandbag. Maybe with your forearms on bags or bench. Practice until your POI is POA.

Transition to off-hand. Maintain the fundamentals learned in dry fire and supported fire.

Well I did an experiment to see if I could stop shooting left and low if I shoot from a rest with the front of the pistol resting, very lightly, in a v-shaped rest, to prevent me from shooting low and left. And behold, they virtually all went to the right, which is what I would expect since I had moved the rear blade so far to the right as a result of shooting left/low for so long.

So this proved I was ME shooting low and left (duh), and not the gun. I had to do this as the first step to prove it was me, even though I thought it was, but now it's 100% sure.

Next I shot normally again without the pistol rest, but this time, I just PTFT (pulled the effing trigger) and told myself to JSTFG (just shoot the effing gun). Low and behold my shot landed to the right about 60%. Again proving that it was ME that was shooting low and left, and not the gun, prob reacting negatively to the recoil by pushing the gun low and left.

Next time, I'm going to try the method posted above, about taking aim and closing your eye the second you pull the trigger (the Blind Swordsman video above with Ayoob and Hackathorn), then note where the front sight lands after you open your eyes.

And after that, I'm gonna put some dummmys in my mag, combined with one or more other techniques, and some stuff fritz discussed above.

So I have made some progress. I won't be moving the sights for now, since I have to stop shooting low and left, so it would be foolish to start messing with the sights back to the middle before I make more progress.

I'm thinking slow and logical steps with lots of repetition for whatever starts working, maybe I could slay this shitty dragon.

Yep.

Slow, steady, relaxed.

Then start working up on speed over time.

You will prevail.

Pistol shooting can be summed up in one sentence

Align sights such that bullet will impact desired target location and activate trigger without affecting the sight alignment.

For some people that can mean a careful almost delicate grip and extreme attention to trigger control ( akin to classic bullseye shooting techniques)

For others it is having such a death grip on the gun that regardless of how horribly they yank the trigger the gun doesn’t move. ( a lot of high level USPSA shooters do this)

I think also this era of 15+ round capacity guns exacerbates the problems. You start out with rounds 1-5 effectively using your technique of choice, but as more are fired, fatigue ( grip, vision/ sights, mental focus) sets in and things get sloppy at the end of the string. Your brain recalls what you did on round 15 easier that what you did on round one, so the technique bleeds over into the next string of fire.

Many good suggestions have been given ( even being an old bullseye shooter I agree the classic chart doesn’t do much for modern 2 handed techniques)
My 2 cents:
Load magazines with no more than 6-8 rounds minimizing the fatigue issues mentioned

I say this to a lot of struggling shooters and it definitely helps:
A lot of people with limited time in our schedules will go and shoot 2-3 hundred rounds at practice - same fatigue issues mentioned above-
4 or 5 one hour 50 round practices will get you much further than one 200 round session.