My wife has her first ever firearm, kel-tec PF9. At first, she would hit the target 1-3 times out of 7 shots. She kept shooting & shooting but little improvement. I helped her with breathing, sight picturing, & trigger control as well as gripping. She got better but it was really back & forth. I soon noticed she flinches forward causing the muzzle to drop. I then bought snap caps & loaded her mag myself so she would not know which rounds were hot, so she sees why she is shooting low & missing the target all together. Another thing I noticed is that when I watch her hammer, it goes back steady but when she reaches point of fire she kind of jerks the trigger. She's better about jerking but still could use some tips. We shot today & she shot better on her last 2 groupings. 11-12 out of 14,, shooting a 7rd mag twice. The bottom grouping is hers, the top are mine. Same gun. Does anyone have any shooting tips for my wifes flinch & jerk? Open to all info
This might help, or it might not (and I am assuming right-handed shooter here): Assuming you have her grip and stance all proper, tell her to push OUT (or forward) with her shooting hand, towards the target. Imagine punching the target in the chest: locked knuckles, locked wrist, locked elbow, push out from the shoulder. Then, with her support hand (properly wrapped around the grip), pull BACK (or rearward) toward herself. This accomplishes several things: 1. It stabilizes the shooting arm (since it is locked from shoulder to muzzle). 2. It changes (and standardizes) the aiming process: the shooting hand and arm push out and take the weight of the gun, the support hand and arm take care of swing and changing points of aim. 3. The fingers of the support hand press the fingers of the shooting hand into the grip, ensuring better and firmer contact, without "strangling" the grip (which will very soon cause the muscles in the shooting hand to tire out and shake). 4. The push-pull forces at the apex (the gun) help cancel out extraneous muscle movement. 5. If used with the Modified Weaver Stance, rapid sight capture is possible because the shooter can then lay sight down the arm and naturally "look" to see the sights and the target beyond. Another exercise is to stand a spent casing (best to use a long case like a .38SPL or .357Mag casing) on top of the slide, and with no magazine and chamber empty, have her dry-fire it (do this right after firing a few rounds, so it does not feel "contrived")....if the case teeters or falls off the slide, she is either jerking or yanking the trigger (would be eliminated with practice) or jerking the gun (anticipating the recoil) which can again be eliminated thru practice. Try that, hope it helps, and let us know! Cheers!
Dry fire practice. Then do it some more. My trick I picked up some where is cock the gun, UNLOADED, then put a piece of spent brass on the tip of the barrel. Then dry fire. If the brass moves you're doing it wrong. Repeat till the brass doesn't move at all. Start with a .45 then move to a .22. Dry fire practicing will be the best anti anticipating technique she can practice, and its free!
Thanks & will do. I heard a dime on the slide would help also. Not sure how, so ill stick with the casing. No 38 specials buy I do have .45 long colt. I will post results after trying these tips out. Thanks again for ur time & tips.
Oh, and another thing: make sure it is the pad of the trigger finger that is on the trigger, not at the first joint. You're welcome, and cheers!
Haha, didn't read that Happy already beat me to the brass trick. The group isn't bad at all for a new shooter, a bit more practice and getting anticipation under control and you'll have to remember not to piss her off
Sorry, Web, didn't mean to do that. The brass trick is something I use in my FA classes (extremely effective with revolvers, too!). Like you said, that grouping is not bad for a beginner, depending on the distance. Anything over 10 feet and I would consider it a good starting point (LOL), and the further out, the better it speaks of the shooter. At what distance were you shooting?
That's actually not bad for a first-timer, at 5 yards (grouping-wise). Try the suggestions above, let us know if there is any marked improvement. You can do the brass-on-the slide trick dry-firing at home (just make absolutely sure there is no magazine and the chamber is empty...visually inspect it). Don't mean to come across as a safety nazi, but we all need to be that way.
5 yards, be proud of her. She can improve for sure, but she's starting out a heck of a lot better than a lot of first timers I've seen
Yeah she was waaay worse at first. This is her best ever grouping. I told her not to pull trigger so hard and quick & that's the group she got. I just hate she was ready to go like right after those shots. Hope its not a flook lol......but she thinks I'm trying to make her feel better cause I told her it was a decent grouping. So ill show her this thread so she will know & hopefully boost her confidence... I guys have been great.
i seem to pull my shots up and to the right, i am a right handed shooter. i did notice that when i focus on the front sight and not the target i greately pull my shots in.
Read this article about "recoil flinch". It's got some excellent information about the body's subconscious fear of being off balance and how we flinch without knowing it just to keep from falling down. Great article. After I read it, and did the corrective balance measures, my rounds have been spot on. http://www.policeone.com/police-pro...coming-the-flinch-response-Let-recoil-happen/ Hope this helps along with all the other good advice given so far.
I have heard it's not good to dry fire guns..... Damage to fire pin..... But some you can? How do you know which gun it's okay and when it's not.... I use the back of a screwdriver handle to release the firing pin on my Browning BT99 but dryfire my glock to take tension off pin. Correct or mistake?
