I have 3 guns that I take to the range on a regular basis. One is a 380 and two are 9mm. For some reason they all want to shoot to the left. I always aim dead center but they insist on going a little left. Can anyone help me teach them to shoot straight. I can really use some good advise here since I don't know what I am doing wrong. Thanks to all in advance.

Are you shooting low and to the left or just dead center and to the left?

Start with moving the position the trigger touches your finger closer to your finger joint.

quote:

Originally posted by Factor8:
Are you shooting low and to the left or just dead center and to the left?

Center and to the left.

Trigger finger placement.

I have small hands and struggle with shooting left too. I can't always get my finger properly placed on the trigger.

If you consistently shoot to the left, move your rear sight. It's that simple.

It might be finger placement on the trigger. It helped a friend who had the same problem because I started out that way also.
But, this could be of value too. You don't mention right or left handed or gun but give this a view at least.
From our own member jljones

quote:

Originally posted by GaryBF:
If you consistently shoot to the left, move your rear sight. It's that simple.

That is what I do.

quote:

Originally posted by GaryBF:
If you consistently shoot to the left, move your rear sight to right. It's that simple.

And, if you consistently shoot to the right, move your rear sight to left.

and if you have fixed sights

Is this from a decent rest?

Bob

Make sure you are indexed correctly, meaning you have the gun centered in your firing hand. Try to pull the trigger very slowly, if you are hitting a 6lb trigger with 20lbs of force you can have alignment issues.

Everyone says trigger placement but I fixed my forever left problem with a firmer grip and dry fire practice.

Trigger finger position on the trigger may help but you might also be tightening the other fingers in your strong hand when pressing the trigger. One needs to work on isolating the rest of the strong hand fingers from the trigger finger. Dry firing may help with that. A full 360 grip also can help and concentrating grip pressure front to back on the pistol grip pinching the pistol grip into your strong hand.

These videos may help.

Some good advice regarding grip and finger placement. In addition, I've found that concentrating/practicing on pulling the trigger straight back helps a lot. Visualize pulling straight back to your aiming eye and then hold the trigger back for a little bit after the shot breaks. (follow through) After you get some muscle memory built up, you can lose the hold back to facilitate quick follow up shooting.

If it was only one of multiple guns shooting left I would consider moving sights but if it is all of them there is something flawed in your technique. The simplistic answer to pistol marksmanship is to align the sights on target and activate the trigger without disturbing the sights. Often easy to say but hard to do. While there are some fundamental principles noted in other posts I fully agree with, there are many variations in technique. No one answer is universal. It is often said with striker fired guns "use more finger" on the trigger but I use the very tip like with a bulleye gun and my sights are actually adjusted a hair( very minimal) left on my glocks. Two basic steps:
1) shoot a very slow controlled group off a rest speed is your enemy here
2) give a skilled shooter the gun and let the. Fire a group.
It is unlikely all three guns are "off" sighting wise

Thanks for the advise and the videos. Now I have several things to try and concentrate on the next time I shoot. Hopefully I get this resolved on the next trip. Thanks again.

quote:

Originally posted by grumpy1:
Trigger finger position on the trigger may help but you might also be tightening the other fingers in your strong hand when pressing the trigger. One needs to work on isolating the rest of the strong hand fingers from the trigger finger. Dry firing may help with that. A full 360 grip also can help and concentrating grip pressure front to back on the pistol grip pinching the pistol grip into your strong hand.

These videos may help.



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I second that. I do it myself.

Have you tried Kentucky windage to the right of your expected POI?

Just an FYI from personal experience, small changes usually can show big results. If you try to do too much at once you wind up with a whole new set of problems.