Do Glock pistols shoot left, and if so, why

[dgg9]

FWIW: local instructor Jeff Bloovman (whom I recommend if in the area) worked with me a bit on the shooting-left pathology. The "more finger on the trigger" was one diagnosis. Another, for a cross eye-dominant shooter like me, is to bring the gun substantially further left to get it under my dom eye, and/or turn the head more. That too helped.

[helothar]

Anyone think the stepped trigger of the g19 size and smaller guns can cause some shooting to the left? I noticed to the left shooting with my g19 but when I went out with g17 that I recently purchased it kinda went away.

[HCM]

Human interface, largely trigger-finger making contact with the frame in my case. I have big hands and a high natural grip which puts my trigger finger at perhaps a more severe angle than most. If I adopt the usual ideal trigger finger placement on a Glock, the top of my trigger finger makes contact with the frame. When working the trigger at speed I get a little bit of leftward push. Working against a dead trigger as instructed by Bob Vogel at his class a couple of years ago showed me that I was indeed pushing the gun left right at the last bit of trigger movement. I thought my sights were off and was about to break out my sight pusher when that drill came up.

To get around that I actually have to place the very tip of my trigger finger right on the Glock's trigger button instead of using the usual placement. I also have to make contact with the trigger as low down on it as possible so that the bottom edge of my trigger finger actually drags along the trigger guard as I pull through the trigger's movement.

The combination of doing all that prevents any lateral push during the trigger pull...but I don't always achieve all of that if I'm doing something at speed.

It's not something I really noticed prior to working against a dead trigger. I had plenty of training and experience prior to that and it was invisible to me until that specific drill, which caused me to do a deep dive on exactly why it was happening in my hands. I'm not the smartest guy in the room but I'm not the dumbest either...I'm betting that if I could miss such a detail for such a long time that others can as well.

I do not experience this phenomenon with any other semi-auto I have ever owned or used.

Tim,

Your experience mirrors mine and what I've observed among our Glock shooters at work. I have XXL hands and use middle of the pad trigger finger placement with everything except the Glock and double action revolver's. I don't experience a left push with any other platform. I've experienced the same thing you have, I get the best results using the very tip of my finger, using Surf's "hook and curl" method but I find it inconsistent at speed so I've defaulted to running Glocks with the first joint like a DA revolver.

From what I've seen with other shooters at work, it seems the Glock is truly designed for "average" sized hands and those at either end of the bell curve with larger or smaller hands seem to have the most issues with left push.

That said, I'm also an armorer and frequently install night sights on our guys personally owned 17's and 26's. We always start out with the sights centered and normally won't move sights until we have at least two firearms instructors shoot the gun, including shooting left-handed. In the case of my duty 17, I was driving myself nuts, I had four other instructors from my agency and our local sheriffs office, which issues Glocks, shoot the gun and all shot it to the left, including a left-handed instructor. In my experience about 10-20 % of the Glocks will shoot slightly left with the sights centered.

[TiroFijo]

"A Little left for a right handed shooter" is a normal occurrence, due to grip and specially trigger interface.

In MY case, if I'm shooting other SA pistols/revolvers and then pick a glock, I'm suddenly about 2" left at 25 yds. Magically it goes away with a little more practice, and I'm back at POA=POI.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Lefty - and consistently shot to the right when unschooled. Givens picked up the trigger finger contact and I was corrected.

Under stress - I still have that tendency. On the move, with a six shot mandated on a target - a nice tight group a few inches to the right.

Lost the correct contact with the quick firing on the move.

[Chuck Haggard]

For me the grooved trigger on the smaller guns makes this worse when I am not paying attention or get in a big hurry and haven';t been doing my dry practice

[CCT125US]

I have owned several Glocks, fired dozens owned by students and never recall any perceptable favor to hitting left. I was not data logging or shooting at fifty yards, but for the intended drill they have always been good enough. Student has POA / POI issues, blames gun, I watch the press, re demo grip etc. However, for a basic pistol class most folks aren't shooting the 10-10-10, most brand new shooters would be happy with 10rds, 7yds, 20 seconds all in the black B8. I don't believe I have ever shot a Glock past 25yds to precisely check alignment. They have always been "good enough". Now my P30 is checked for alignmemt at 50yds because that is what I chose to carry. IMO Glocks do not mechanically shoot left, but something about them causes certain folks to impact left. Also being a mass produced product, certainly some samples are machined improperly and make there way into the hands of really experienced shooters who are able to say definitively that thier sample shoots left.

[TiroFijo]

To notice this, I have to shoot slow fire at small targets or bullseyes at 15+ yds. Shooting fast, at larger targets and closer ranges the other factors mask it.

[fiona]

I am lefty. Glocks tend not to take remaining personally. Utilizing mixture some other pistols such as a CZ P07 as well as HK VP9 in order to evaluate these to, they do not take for the right both.

[GJM]

Interesting experience today. My wife and I were shooting out at our remote cabin here in Alaska, with our steel and paper targets out. New to us this year person stops by, carrying his Glock 27 in an OWB holster. Former military, Ranger I believe, nice guy. I ask him whether he would like to shoot his Glock. He wants to.

First magazine, I ask whether he wants to shoot a two inch dot to check zero, as the pistol is relatively new to him, bought used (N prefix, Gen 3 27). Wants to shoot our array which he doesn't do well. Says the pistol is inaccurate. I pull out some .40 ammo, and say the "price" is he needs to check zero, and he is to shoot a 3x5, slow fire, at 7 yards. Shots are ugly, but to the extent there is a group, it is low, left (he is shooting right hand). I then hand my wife five cartridges, and ask her to check his pistol. She shoots a one inch group at 7 yards, but hitting one to two inches right of the dot. I look at the pistol, and the rear OEM sight is drifted to the far size of the dovetail. So, we can assume the previous owner was hitting left, as was our friend today. The amount left was surely related to technique and not solely the pistol. I told him to bring his pistol by tonight, and I replaced his stock connector with a dot, and installed a .215 Warren tritium front with a Warren rear. Made a slight right deflection for him to start. Will shoot some more. He swears he has no problem hitting left with his 1911.

OK, back to my sights. I often need a very slight right deflection to the right with a variety of handguns -- SA revolver, DA revolver, 1911, CZ, etc. I use 25 3x5 cards as a prelim zero and try to use 50 yards as a final zero. Last summer, I started shooting to 100 frequently, most often with a Gen 3 Glock 17. Looking at some nearby Glock pistols, my 43 is absolutely in the center with HD sights, and I shot it out to 100 yards in the last month. My Gen 3 and Gen 4 17's have a very slight right deflection. My Gen 4 22's have a significant right deflection on three separate Gen 4 22's. Why do Glock 22 pistols require more right deflection for me than 17 pistols, given they are dimensionally the same, and both have minus connectors, 5.0 striker springs, and are the same except caliber?