Issues with rapid sight picture acquisition following lateral transition

[rdtompki]

I shoot steel challenge which, obviously, is all about fast transitions to a good sight picture and good trigger management. I recognize "rapid" is relative, I'm new to SC and at my age I'm mostly in the sport for fun, but I want to improve.

Here are the specifics: I shoot a 9mm 1911 in competition equipped with target sights and a narrow front blade. I have a 9mm H&K P2000 for SD/HD. At the range today I was doing a couple of two steel target drills with both guns, either hold on one target/transition/shoot or press out to one target and alternate targets.

I have 15K rounds with the 1911 and ~500 with the H&K with light LEM trigger. The targets were easy shots (8" and 12" at 8 yards). There is no doubt I was acquiring targets faster with the H&K. It could be the weight of the gun, the sights or the grip. I think this problem is most pronounced going left to right as I'm loosing lateral sight alignment probably because I'm dragging the gun with my strong hand.

I'm open to any suggestions on drills. I should dry fire more, but I haven't found dry firing transitions to be that good a simulation of the real thing. My wife and I get to the range 2x/week and our only limitation is the 15 yard depth of the range.

Detailed Thoughts:
Grip - I like the 1911, have lots of rounds downrange. The H&K feels as though it was made for my hands.
Weight - I don't think the weight of the 1911 is an issue although I'm not a spring chicken. I do need to be mindful of support hand grip since this seems to contribute the most to sight alignment.
Sights - I'm very suspicious of the 1911 sights as a contributor. Even with the 0,100" front post there isn't a lot of white around the front sight and the rear target sight notch is shallow. I am very tempted to change out the sights to combat sights. The H&K sights just stand out having nothing to do with the white dots.

Last thought - A thread on another forum linked back to a thread on this forum: https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....by-LEM-trigger. This should be mandatory reading for anyone with an H&K LEM. My trigger management improved immediately when I started to inorporate the approach discussed. Thanks to all who contributed to that earlier thread and to all who respond to this post

[GJM]

Over and over, on easier targets, I find a lighter gun transitions faster. Shoot two shots on each steel or push the targets back and I bet the heavier gun with the lighter trigger will perform better.

[Leroy]

You need a shot timer so that you can quantify your transitions in numbers not feel. I always felt that short light guns with big sights always lined up fast but then you start shooting and notice that greater focus on sight alignment and trigger control is needed vs a longer heavier gun. You may also find that on the 1911 you are capable of making better or just as good of hits with more sight misalignment and so forth. Then start putting targets out farther and things may start to swing to one gun.

You may shoot the HK better but 1 drill at 8 yards with no #s is not something I would prefer to make decisions on.