My theory is that most people don't really learn the grip in isolation. They learn the ever faster draw that ends with an inconsistent grip. We then go about trying to fix that inconsistent grip. We go from spray and pray inconsistent from draw to draw, to drifting groups inconsistent from week to week and then month to month. By being psychotically focused on a consistent grip one can check the end of every dry fire/live fire draw to see where the key points are and if we missed them.
I've seen consistently shoot left with right handed people whose upper trigger finger is pressing the frame consistently at the end of the trigger press. I've also seen the shooting left theory become the shooting right theory when the shooter is left handed. I've also seen someone with the same upper finger placement but having too much trigger finger makes them hook the trigger and pull the gun thus shooting right (they had big hands and long fingers). I've also seen people who have learned to increase the pressure of their support hand thumb to try and stop the shoot laterally problem so the gun is literally squirming in their hand when a discretely placed dummy round is placed in the magazine. I've seen so many instructors drift sights only to have to change them back later when the group moves somewhere else.
Have a competent instructor diagnose for any problems with the grip. It would really suck if the upper trigger finger is consistently pressing the frame to the left or too little finger on the trigger is pressing it left but to fix it we just moved the sights. Have a good left and then right handed shooter shoot your gun. Most of the time I would hit the dot left and right handed and the student wouldn't. Should I drift those sights?
Then get very particular about one's grip. Learn to find one's key placement points of the grip and check them after every draw. Often that focus will find small changes occurring in step one of the draw causing a slightly rotated grip. Sometimes we get a slightly different grip with the support hand(different knuckle placement on the trigger guard, different wrist angle, different thumb placement, different inward pressure). So learning where the web of the had falls on the backstrap, where the knuckle falls on the trigger guard and where the thumb ends up and then working to make them fall in that "exact" same spot each time is the frustrating goal. Once that is done then one can go onto the pressure play between the hands. That is tough in it's own way. It must be the same each and every time. It also must be felt by the shooter. This is where words from an instructor don't usually help. Learning to feel it work is something we do have to chase a bit.
What you do right before you know you're going to be in a use of force incident, often determines the outcome of that use of force.
Last edited by ASH556; 01-01-2019 at 08:47 AM.
Food Court Apprentice
Semper Paratus certified AR15 armorer
This is likely your issue if your sight is centered. With your group sizes being as tight as they are, I would say with 99% confidence your sights need to be adjusted. If your sights aren’t centered, then the above is likely the cause. That said, different ammo has different windage points of impact, and zeroing for your specific ammo may require a slight shift off center for the rear sight.
At one point, we were issuing service/duty ammo that hit 3” right of our issues practice/fmj ammo at 25 yds. For those of us required to shoot bullseye targets, it would make a significant difference in score if you were zeroed for service ammo but used the fmj for the bullseye test.
Last edited by Gio; 01-01-2019 at 08:47 AM.
So this is my question — why is it that so many (right hand) shooters have a problem with a Glock hitting left for them, but do not have this same problem with say a 1911, Beretta 92 or VP9?
BTW, I don’t buy the inconsistent grip theory as a primary reason, since most zeroing and 25 yards shooting is done with a careful, slow grip and not initiated by a draw on the clock.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.