Confused about shooting...

[Shadow_of_Deth24]

Ok... I bought a HK USP compact 9mm awhile ago. I haven't been able to shoot very accurate with it for some reason. I figured, of course, it was my fault not the guns fault. So I paid close attention to sight picture, grip, stance, etc. Still not much better. Unless I'm only a few yards away.

So I used my friends Beretta 92 and Taurus PT99 and didnt do much better. Now here is whats weird. I used a friends Taurus 1911 .45 and shot tight groupings and Ive never shot a .45 before. This doesnt make any sense to me. Does anyone else think thats weird? Im a noob pretty much with pistols but I dont know why I shot better with a .45 when I have never shot it before. Im really confused

 

[Rob377]

My guess: the 1911 had a better trigger than the USP or the other 2.

The single action 1911 is, for most people, an easy gun to shoot accurately because of it's usually very good trigger. The USP has a pretty cruddy trigger that takes plenty of practice to master, in my experience.

Easy drill to try: put a coin on the front sight and dry fire your EMPTY weapon. If the coin falls off, your trigger squeeze is bad and throwing off your shots. If it stay on, your squeeze is good. I'll bet dollars to donuts that if you try that with all of the above mentioned pistols, you'll have more success with the 1911, and it'll show up in your groups in live fire.

That's my SWAG at why you're seeing what you're seeing.

 

[malern28us]

What about grip sizes? Does on fit better or feel better than the others?

 

[mikerccie]

I would attribute the better shooting to the grip fitting your hand better, the trigger on the 1911 being much shorter and lighter than the other guns and the 1911 having larger and/or better sights.

My 1911's make me shoot better every time.

 

[Plinkuh]

My guess: the 1911 had a better trigger than the USP or the other 2.

The single action 1911 is, for most people, an easy gun to shoot accurately because of it's usually very good trigger. The USP has a pretty cruddy trigger that takes plenty of practice to master, in my experience.

Easy drill to try: put a coin on the front sight and dry fire your EMPTY weapon. If the coin falls off, your trigger squeeze is bad and throwing off your shots. If it stay on, your squeeze is good. I'll bet dollars to donuts that if you try that with all of the above mentioned pistols, you'll have more success with the 1911, and it'll show up in your groups in live fire.

That's my SWAG at why you're seeing what you're seeing.

Definitely this ^^^ I was completely HORRIBLE with my first experience of DAO pistols. I just couldn't understand why I was shooting so low. This was before acquiring a few SA/DA shooters, it was like day and night. Just better overall trigger control, which attributed to better overall shooting. Just my I totally agree with your statement. Good tip.

 

[MrSmitty]

Maybe because John Browning has a better design than those foreign designed guns!!......lol

 

[Shadow_of_Deth24]

Ok that does make sense about the 1911 trigger. As to the grip though, I personally think the USP feels best. One of the reasons why I bought it. Thanks for the help everyone. Im not as confused now lol. But even when I shot SA with the USP and Beretta I would have expected more ya know. But then again my lack of experience clouds my judgement.

 

[Rob377]

Ok that does make sense about the 1911 trigger. As to the grip though, I personally think the USP feels best. One of the reasons why I bought it. Thanks for the help everyone. Im not as confused now lol. But even when I shot SA with the USP and Beretta I would have expected more ya know. But then again my lack of experience clouds my judgement.

Again, in my experience, even the single action pull on the Beretta and USP (I have thousands of rounds through both) is nowhere near as good as on the 1911s I've owned or shot. (Kimbers, Springers and Colt Gold Cups) I dunno if the Taurus has a decent trigger or not, so take my posts with a grain or a shaker full of salt.

FWIW, I had a very similar experience as you did quite a few years ago. (damn that makes me feel old) Shot the Beretta ALOT in the Corps. Not quite a newb, but the Beretta was really all I knew. Got out, went through a series of various plastic guns and did OK. A buddy lent me his Colt Gold Cup that was old as I am, and I was immediately shooting better despite having never fired a 1911 before. It initially didn't "feel" as good in the hand as my old Steyr M9 or a few others, but the groups didn't lie: I could shoot better with John Moses Browning's design. Eventually, I learned the proper high thumbs grip and the 1911 started to "feel" better.

My personal feeling is that I don't care if the grip is custom molded perfectly to my hand: if it has a crappy trigger, I'm not going to be able to shoot it well.

 

[rhino]

The 1911 is more forgiving of almost every shooter error than any other type of handgun. That's good in some ways, but I think it's obvious you're having trouble with the fundamentals. Ideally you should be able to shoot accurately with any handgun, if not as efficiently with some than others.

Regardless of the weapon, the key to putting bullets where you want them is to consistently press the trigger directly to the rear without disturbing the alignment of the gun until after the bullet has exited the barrel. Now, that's simple, but not always easy.

Without seeing you shoot, it's almost impossible to guess what your problem(s) is(are). Your best bet is to find someone how knows how to help someone learn how to shoot accurately. I know a few people who can do that. Heh.

Ok... I bought a HK USP compact 9mm awhile ago. I haven't been able to shoot very accurate with it for some reason. I figured, of course, it was my fault not the guns fault. So I paid close attention to sight picture, grip, stance, etc. Still not much better. Unless I'm only a few yards away.

So I used my friends Beretta 92 and Taurus PT99 and didnt do much better. Now here is whats weird. I used a friends Taurus 1911 .45 and shot tight groupings and Ive never shot a .45 before. This doesnt make any sense to me. Does anyone else think thats weird? Im a noob pretty much with pistols but I dont know why I shot better with a .45 when I have never shot it before. Im really confused

 

[bobzilla]

It's a lot easier to do this with a revolver, but growing up Dad would load up a revolver for me to shoot leaving one chamber empty. He watched me when I would shoot through and watch what I would do when I hit that empty chamber. It took a long time to stop anticipating the recoil and reflexivly pushing into the shot.

Did this with a friend who's a relatively new shooter. He was shooting 3-4" low on EVERY gun. Handed him my Rossi with 4 shots and waited for that empty chamber and sure enough, he pushed into and down as he pulled the trigger. After showing him what he was doing he started finding the center of the targets pretty quick.

 

[Shadow_of_Deth24]

Ok I guess maybe I was too tense and anticipating the recoil. I was expecting to do horrible with the 45 so maybe that just made me not care as much, which then didnt put any pressure on myself. I plan on buying a hundred rounds in a couple days and I will try to just relax. Also I have only one snap cap which I will probably put in the mag and see if I flinch or what not.

Ill let you guys know how I do. Thank for all the input so far.

 

[Shadow_of_Deth24]

Ok so I went and shot up some rounds. Started at 3 yards and took 3 shots. Pretty good group. So I moved back to 5 yards and fired 4 shots. 3 of the shots were tight but one was higher than the others. Probably flinched or something. But it was still good.

Moved back to 9 yards. Groups werent as good but so much better than the last time I was shooting. Still need to work on it but I was happy. 12 yards wasnt the best but again it was better than last time. I stopped at 12 yards.

I think just using a different arm position greatly improved my accuracy along with being more relaxed and not flinching so much. Im gonna shoot some more this week. Thanks for the help everyone

 

[IndyBeerman]

Ok so I went and shot up some rounds. Started at 3 yards and took 3 shots. Pretty good group. So I moved back to 5 yards and fired 4 shots. 3 of the shots were tight but one was higher than the others. Probably flinched or something. But it was still good.

Moved back to 9 yards. Groups werent as good but so much better than the last time I was shooting. Still need to work on it but I was happy. 12 yards wasnt the best but again it was better than last time. I stopped at 12 yards.

I think just using a different arm position greatly improved my accuracy along with being more relaxed and not flinching so much. Im gonna shoot some more this week. Thanks for the help everyone

Did you practice with putting a dime on the front site at all as previously mentioned above?

This alone will greatly help you decrease your flinching.

Also buy some snap caps and have some else load you magazine for you, placing it in different positions each time.

This is an excellent way to determine if you are flinching because you will see it when the snap cap loads and you pull the trigger.