Friday, March 4, 2011

Shooting Practice - Correcting Shooting Errors

The most important thing about practice with your firearms is learning what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. While not everyone has the time or the money (ammo is expensive) to become an expert marksman, you can learn to make your first shot count.

RW, Jr. and I did some plinking the other day and we both have some problems that we need to work on some more. We both suffer different kinds of shooting errors and practice is the only way to help correct them.




We were shooting at 8x12 printed paper targets from a distance of slightly more than 20 feet from a standing position. We were using .40 S&W Hi-Point JCP automatic pistols with a ten round magazine and 100 rounds of Winchester .40 S&W 165 grain FMJ for our practice. Our results were fair as far as our first few shots were concerned but subsequent follow-up shots showed us our main shooting problems.

My main problem is tightening my grip when pulling the trigger which causes my follow up shots to trail down and to the right. Although my first shot was on the money and my second shot was fairly close to the bullseye, my subsequent shots trailed off badly. RW, Jr.’s first shot was a little high and to the right but his second shot was dead-on and almost in the exact place as mine. His subsequent shots trailed down and to the left indicating that he has a tendency to jerk the trigger a bit. We both have a tendency to push forward a bit as well.

Practicing with your firearms will help you learn what your problems are and what you need to do to correct them. Knowing your own abilities and the handling characteristics of your firearm are important in order to be able to use them safely and properly when needed.

Here is a link to a free shooter's correction target for you to download:

Free Shooter's Correction Target Download

Remember to practice safety at all times when using your firearm.

Got shooting practice?

Riverwalker

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I found a printable target once that had marks telling you what you were doing wrong if a bullet hit in that area. I've uploaded it to my dropbox at:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/146411/correctionchartjn9.jpg

kottonm said...

Yes check out the link Theodore put up, You can also find it in my free library, along with tons of other great free literature.
http://www.scribd.com/collections/2670034/Survival-info-and-manuals
This shooting correction chart is great, I have used it a couple of times and it is pretty right on. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

What you are doing wrong is flinching.

Accurate pistol shooting is easy and maybe that is why not many can do it well. Dry fire your pistol such that the sight alignment doesn't move when the hammer falls. Next put in one or two rounds in the cylinder such that you don't know if the next shot is live. Pick a target, any distance. If the cylinder is empty the sight alignment won't change when the hammer falls, or you flinched. If the live round comes up and you flinched the bullet will be very, very low. Forget the right and left stuff, it's a flinch.

The bullet goes exactly where the sights are pointed.

Don't flinch unless you want to be like most.

Mountain Rifleman

Shy Wolf said...

http://virginiariflepistol.blogspot.com/2009/10/shooting-problems.html

Here are a couple of shooting error charts that can be downloaded and printed, used as targets and show you imediately what you're doing wrong.
Thanks for the post, RW- keep it up.
Shy III

riverwalker said...

To: Theodore

I have one of those correction charts that I referenced. It's a good tool to help you correct shooting problems. My main problem is I need to practice a lot more.

Now if I can find someone to subsidize the cost of the ammo...

Thanks Theodore.

RW

riverwalker said...

To: kottonm

Thanks for the link. Still need to practice some more but the cost of target rounds can sure put a dent in your budget...especially nowadays with the cost of everything going up.

Thanks kottonm.

RW

riverwalker said...

To: Mountain Riflemen

Sounds simple enough...going to have to give this a try!

My first 2 or 3 shots are usually pretty accurate if I stay focused and concentrate on the sight picture.

It may very well be that I'm flinching on the subsequent follow-up shots.

Thanks for the great advice!

RW

riverwalker said...

To: Shy Wolf

While I don't plan on being a competitive pistol shooter...I would like to become as accurate as possible in my shooting efforts.

Suffice it to say, a lot more practice is still needed.

Thanks Shy.

RW

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