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Handgun training for a beginner?

kalash

kalash

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Here's something I've been thinking about a lot recently. I've had my (restricted) LTC for about a year and a half now and I go to the range nearly every weekend. I feel like I have a decent grasp of basic techniques and, of course, safety. That said, however, I am only accurate with a Ruger Mk3 and my 6" GP100, and fast and accurate only with the former. I've gotten better with my 1911 but I'm still not that good with it. With my LCR, I can't hit any side of the barn from inside, unless I shoot really slowly at a close distance and really pay attention to the trigger and the fundamentals.

What's next?

The beginner classes that I've looked into seem geared towards someone who's shot a gun once or twice, so I feel like I'm well past that. The more advanced courses seem to only be useful if you are at least somewhat accurate - no reason to start doing fancy drills or IDPA if I can barely hit the target in the first place.

The goal is to become more accurate, as well as faster, with a handgun. I don't seem to have a problem shooting long guns.

-Should I just keep practicing more with what I have?
-Get a full-size 9mm pistol because it would be an intermediate step between my .22 and my .45?
-Take a class/course? If so, which one(s)?
-Earlier today I thought of maybe getting an SR22 and a holster and practicing drawing and acquiring targets quickly.
-Any other suggestions?

Thoughts?
 
Take a private with a good instructor. Not a tactical instructor. A guy that will work on fundamentals with you and help you diagnose your issues. Most good instructors will send you home with drills that you can then practice on your own. You will be surprised at how good you can get quickly.
 
Training from a good instructor and bullseye competition will absolutely help. Dry firing is also important. The Olympic shooters dry fire hundreds of times for each round fired, and they fire lots of rounds. If you're sure your fundamentals are sound, dry fire now. But you don't want to practice doing it wrong. So if you're unsure of your fundamentals, get some tutoring first.
 
One thing I did was to use one of those laser boresighting bullets and lots of dry firing. You can see what you're doing wrong when you pull the trigger by the way the laser dot jumps around.
 
Forget about joining, or spending anything! They're not going to help. Practice, like with anything else. Focus on fundamentals, Squeeze trigger, focus front sight on target. Remember what you're practicing for. Self defense, distances should be close, targets should be torso-sized cardboard with NO bullseye rings or circles. If it's getting too expensive to shoot, think about reloading. Trigger time with what you have is the only way to get better.
 
If you are inconsistent from one weapon to another, especially if you feel confident in your fundamentals, then it may be the equipment. Have someone else who knows what they are doing put a few rounds through the gun you have issues with. If they can do it no problem, you may need a grip or sight mod on that particular firearm.

But if you have trouble with all your guns, some instruction would help. If you don't know why you consistently miss left, or right, or all over, then how can you correct it?
 
Take a couple intermediate classes in defensive pistol. I recommend NEShooters, but there are several other good options (Sig Academy comes to mind).
 
Thanks for all the responses.

Earlier this month I made progress with the 1911 when I figured out that I should have both thumbs forward. Last weekend I realized that I was focusing on the target instead of on the front sight - that helped too. The other night I filmed myself dry firing my snubnose and only then realized that it jerked to the side right as the hammer was released. Adjusted my trigger finger position and it seems to be much more stable now. Will know for sure this weekend.

I've been making progress. I'm just impatient and want to be Jerry Miculek right away. I'll look into instruction options too.
 
gearwhore14 said:
If you are inconsistent from one weapon to another, especially if you feel confident in your fundamentals, then it may be the equipment. Have someone else who knows what they are doing put a few rounds through the gun you have issues with. If they can do it no problem, you may need a grip or sight mod on that particular firearm.
Click to expand...

I want to put a fine point on this, based on personal experiences. Note: I have relatively small hands.

Some examples:

- I shoot my 1911s most accurately of all my guns. Yet when Qmmo was chronographing some of his .45 reloads at the club he asked me to try his double-stack Para. I was having a helluva time with the fat grips and couldn't shoot it well at all. I commented and Alan confirmed what he saw.
- I recall handling a SigPro and again couldn't properly grip the gun, grips are too big for my hand.
- I tried shooting one of my M&Ps (Greg Derr trigger jobs) with the Medium grip, I shot it pretty well and it felt comfortable in my hand. Then as an experiment I tried the Small grip . . . I shot it more accurately so that is what stays on my M&Ps.
- I had a student with an LCR. He has HUGE hands. His trigger finger wrapped around to hit the palm of his hand preventing the gun from firing. He had to modify his grip as it appears that nobody makes a larger sized grip (I checked some mfrs including Ruger) for that particular gun. His accuracy with that gun is much less than what he personally is capable of doing.

So if it doesn't feel well in your hand, or you have to hold it improperly, you may well need different grips or a different gun. Someone else who is an experienced instructor should be able to spot this problem and help resolve it, if that is the issue.
 
kalash said:
The other night I filmed myself dry firing my snubnose and only then realized that it jerked to the side right as the hammer was released. Adjusted my trigger finger position and it seems to be much more stable now. Will know for sure this weekend.
Click to expand...
Success! I was more accurate with the LCR today at 15 yards than I was before at 5. No fantastic groups but certainly torso-sized when shooting quickly. Dry-firing and live practice are paying off; got a long way to go before I'm satisfied.
 
Last edited:
From my experience, I was doing some training at the SIG Academy and in one course we had a wide variety of experience. I think the instructors up there were on point with bring some of the less skilled shooters on target and really refining their fundamentals while building speed and learning drills...Something to look into. The name Dave Hinkle (Sp?) comes to mind up there. Great Instructor.
 
Figured I might as well update this. I did end up with a new handgun, a G19, but for many reasons other than the less recoil crap I suggested in the OP. After very little practice with it, I went to a 3 gun match and proceeded to fail miserably at the handgun portion. This prompted me to do this:


Mike-Mike said:
Take a private with a good instructor. Not a tactical instructor. A guy that will work on fundamentals with you and help you diagnose your issues. Most good instructors will send you home with drills that you can then practice on your own. You will be surprised at how good you can get quickly.
Click to expand...
I met up with Stu from Cloverleaf for a couple of hours a few months ago. Since that day I strongly disagree with anyone that says you shouldn't bother getting instruction and you should just practice the fundamentals on your own. It turned out that what I thought was a decent understanding of the fundamentals... well, wasn't. Stu changed my stance, helped me tremendously with my trigger pull, and sent me home with a lot of training and practice tips. I'm planning on reaching out to him again in the future but for now...


JGreen said:
I can fix your issue in 3 shots and It will take you a thousand shots to "refine" it :)
Click to expand...
... THIS!! I went through very little ammo when instructed by Stu and now its taking boxes and boxes to refine what he taught me. I've gotten considerably better over the last couple of months.


JGreen said:
Utilize the ball & dummy. Listen to what the front sight is telling you. Use precision sight alignment when you need to...Only when you need to. Be efficient.
Click to expand...
Honestly, ball & dummy is probably the most useful thing I do.


JGreen said:
You will always press the trigger well when you know the gun isn't going to fire.
Click to expand...
This is also true. Honestly, anyone reading this should pay attention to JGreen - his posts in this thread have proven to be right on the money, at least in my case.
 
I can't wait to see what you've accomplished Kalash! I might actually be at Saturday IDPA @ WPRC this weekend. I had a chance to shoot with Jon Green at a MLEFIA conference a couple years ago. He's a great shooter. Advice is well taken coming from him.
 

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