Stoeger doesn't shoot 50k per year. He does dry fire, but not hours per day.
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Shooting Low Left
- Thread starter jkon
- Start date
I find that dry firing at home makes little difference. I'll catch my flinch only after I am at the range and have shot some. I will load an empty mag right there and go through the motions. My anticipating the recoil is horrible, and I have to try to undo it only after I've gone through ammo.
If I dry fire at home, I am just fine. It doesn't help me because I don't get the feedback.
If I dry fire at home, I am just fine. It doesn't help me because I don't get the feedback.
Yes, but what direction was his foot pointing... once he got it right, he jumped up and down.Try this, spuare up to a "target" and move your right foot to the front and to the back. It translates to left and right on the target. Your arms can compensate but there is a neutral position where they don't have to...
I shoot goofy footed all the time. Does not make a difference at all. How the hell are you suppose to shoot on the move if you can only accurately shoot with your left foot forward
Flinch is all mental. Just stop doing it.
This is really the answer. For me, its when my post ignition push is poorly timed. Neither is a flinch since you know where the shot went when it broke
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Yup. If I don't see the front site rise and the brass come out of the gun, then I know I'm blinking and probably flinching.
This idea that some people have that they must be standing just so when they shoot is terribly self limiting.
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gerrycaruso
NES Member
Dry firing won't help you because you know the gun is empty and you won't flinch. If you use dummy rounds it's more difficult with a semi auto but you can do it. Either hold the magazine behind your back or close your eyes while you load it.It's easier to have someone else load the gun for you.
45collector
NES Member
A buddy of mine who is new to shooting bought a Shield 9mm and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it. It did have the horrible MA trigger of course, so that wasn't helping. He told me he was thinking of getting rid of it because it "just wasn't working for him." I took him to my range and watched him fire at 10 yards. I could see him anticipating each shot, and most rounds were going way low left. He could barely keep it on paper. I fired one mag through the gun at the same distance and all shots were within the 9 ring on an NRA slow-fire, proving it wasn't the gun. After briefly explaining to him the basics of pistol shooting (gripping the gun as tightly as you can without shaking, perfect sight alignment, and causing the gun to fire without disturbing the sight picture) his rounds started to find center. This all took less than an hour for him to gain a little confidence in the gun and more importantly himself. I told him he needs to work on eliminating the flinch, shooting with both eyes open, finding a comfortable stance, finding where the finger should contact the trigger that works best for him, getting a trigger job done and constant dry firing at a point on the wall so he can watch what the sight picture does.
Practice all that and you will get better with that gun.
Practice all that and you will get better with that gun.
Some of us are cross-eye dominant which makes shooting pistol with both eyes open extremely difficult. Add in Lasik and it is nearly impossible for me to focus on the front sight post with two eyes. I have enough trouble adjusting focus to the front sight post as it is: Lasik messes with intermediary focus.
I disagree. It will help. Daily dry firing will help a lot. But few people will do it.
I mostly close my left eye when shooting. So what?
I squint my left eye and focus on the target...oh the horror
dhuze
NES Member
I'm sorry, but I think that chart is crap. This is the only one that I think makes sense:
This is the one I like to use.
45collector
NES Member
Is that with iron sights or a red dot? The only pistol I have that isn't iron sights is a Ruger MKIII with a Bushnell red dot and I definitely focus on the target while shooting that gun. I don't remember if I squint the left eye though.
It was not my suggestion that we all shoot our pistols with both eyes open, merely my observation that many of us physically couldn't do it. I CAN shoot my AimPoint both eyes open though so YAY!!!
With irons, it also depends on the distance to the target. Close in, I keep both open 10-15y, I start squinting. With a red dot I keep both eyes open
I think it comes down to 2 things,
1. keep the sights on target until the shot breaks and
2. do what you need to make the shot.
Two eyes one eye, finger placement, breathing, stance really don't mean much if you do #1 correctly
1. keep the sights on target until the shot breaks and
2. do what you need to make the shot.
Two eyes one eye, finger placement, breathing, stance really don't mean much if you do #1 correctly
Yup.
Now things are a little different if you are competing in a bullseye match at the 50 yard line and you don't have time pressure. But that type of shooting is quite different from practical and defensive shooting.
Ditto to this.
It worked for me. My instructor randomly place snap caps in the mag. It is quite interesting to see how one pulls.
I'll be buying my one snap caps so I can practice. But I'll have to have my wife do the loading
I'll be buying my one snap caps so I can practice. But I'll have to have my wife do the loading
Load them randomly into three different mags. Close your eyes and shuffle the mags in your hands. Now you don't know where the snap caps are in each mag.
I had lasik back in '99, gave me outstanding distance vision at the cost of near vision as I get older (bought my first reading glasses the other day). I did not get the 'bifocal' if that is what you are talking about. I shoot both eyes open at 25 yards with a USP Compact .40. It's taken me literal years, but I can do it and my groups at 25 are no larger than faster firing at closer distances. My last qual was 358/360 Border Patrol qual course. Everyone is different, but work on it, it might just be something you have to train.
Do NOT take it personally, I just hate hearing 'XXX' is my excuse, it hurts my brain. But if it is a legitimate eyesight issue, I'll grant a pass, as if I matter to anyone but me.
My eyes are slow to change focus as a result of the Lasik and the focal plane is thinner. If I try to focus at objects within a certain distance I get the cross-eye effect. I can do it with a red dot bc I focus on the target. I can't do it with iron sights yet bc I need way more practice and the slightest shift of focus throws everything off so action shooting is like maintaining tunnel vision.
I'm not making excuses: It is a physical limitation that I need to overcome and I will. There are other factors at play as well that have stopped me from pistol shooting for the past six months and probably another month or two.
What did you do to train your eyes?
I corrected myself by making sure I place my finer on the trigger properly. I found my self wanting to pull the trigger with the first knuckle. Simply sliding the tip of my finger so it is in the middle of the trigger improved my shooting
I'm 55, so my near vision isn't what it used to be. I wear progressive contacts. But I still use a +1 reading glasses while shooting. That lets me see the front sight. Yes, the targets aren't quite as clear. For me, it is reading glasses or optics.
It's the same thing. When you get old, your near vision goes because you can't focus closely.
If you put on reading glasses, you will be able to focus on the front sight. A narrow front sight and wide rear notch also helps.
Standing in the woods, holding my gun with both eyes open, aimed in on a target at range (don't think it really matters as long as it's far enough away to cause a double image) until my brain figured out which image was the right one. It's doing it fast enough to use in a timed qual that took FOREVER. I f'ing HATE that my academy instructors insisted I shoot one eye closed. I went in shooting both eyes open, but get yelled at enough, you change. Today they don't push for change if it's working for you.
edit: Let me add, once I got the image right, I started working from the holster slowly with a dry fire. Once the hammer fell, I'd close my left eye and hammer home that I was seeing what I needed to see. I wish I'd realized this was a problem for others, I would have seriously paid more attention to what I was doing. Shooting is such an art, what works great for one guy may not work for the next.
I guess as I get even older, it may (ok, will) get worse. My distance vision is 20/10, I loved it, but now I can't read small print at all, books are comfortable at almost arm's length
. I'm 44.
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