Target Practice

[Luke]

He won't be back. Y'all done scared him.

[drew53813]

Hey guys thanks for all your input. For some reason I wasn't getting a notification email so I figured nobody was responding to my question. So this was shot yesterday. There were no drills involved with this target. I tried lining up the pistol on the X. Just casual slow timed shooting. I also shoot right handed. I figured it was poor shooting but i will work to improve my accuracy.

[Peally]

Everyone starts somewhere, as long as it slowly keeps getting better you're in the green.

[Failure2Stop]

There are no shortages of folks that can teach fundamental accuracy with a pistol.
I would highly recommend seeking quality basic marksmanship instruction.

[Cookie Monster]

You are putting yourself out there, asking questions, and looking to improve which is great and respectable. Follow all the standards to keep dry practice safe and work on slowly pressing the trigger without disturbing that front sight.

Continue on the path of learning and getting better. Welcome to PF!

[johnson]

When I first started shooting pistols I didn't know anyone with a gun (really) and learned from watching YouTube and reading online. One video in particular was from Todd Jarrett. I'd never even heard of IDPA or IPSC (or any shooting sport) but thought the information was good (great) and must have watched it at least 50-100 times and self diagnosing each time after a range trip.

If possible, take a good fundamentals class like F2S said so you can have personal instruction and direct feedback while you're shooting. If you don't know what you don't know then it's hard to improve really quickly. It all basically comes down to sight picture and trigger control. The bullet will go where the sights are pointed at the time when the hammer/striker drops.






And here are some articles that would really help too.

Drill of the Week: Accuracy
2-Dec-07 – 22:11 by ToddG

Drill of the Week: Accuracy (II)
9-Dec-07 – 03:20 by ToddG

Drill of the Week: Tracking Your Sights
16-Dec-07 – 15:48 by ToddG

Drill of the Week: Tracking Your Sights (II)
2-Jan-08 – 12:00 by ToddG


And some drills.

Fundamental Accuracy
15-Feb-11 – 12:45 by ToddG

I’ve always recommended a 3-part program for improving marksmanship fundamentals:

1. The Wall Drill. Developed by George Harris of the SIG-Sauer Academy, this seemingly simple dry fire exercise can benefit even the advanced shooter. It helps tremendously with learning to focus on the front sight and also how to read your sights to detect minor unwanted shifts as you press the trigger. You should work on the Wall Drill until you can press the trigger without upsetting the front sight’s alignment within the rear sight window.
2. The Ball & Dummy Drill. Historically, this has been used to correct anticipation and it is an excellent tool for that. But if you are paying close attention to your front sight as you press the trigger, the Ball & Dummy Drill becomes a very good transition after the Wall Drill. It will give you the same exact feedback regarding your front sight’s movement whether it dips down due to anticipation, pushes up because you’re heeling, etc. Just be aware that the Ball & Dummy drill is only useful at a slow pace. If you throw a few dummy rounds into your mags while practicing speed shooting, you should see the muzzle dip when you get to the dummy.
3. The 3×5 Card Drill. This drill, or really any consistent walkback drill, is a tool to push your marksmanship skills month after month. When you can hit the target on demand every time at a certain distance, add another yard or two. As soon as you reach your limit and start to have misses, mentally slow everything down and refocus on the basic: sight picture, trigger press, etc. Walkback drills constantly test & challenge you.

Pistol-Training DotW from the beginning.
http://pistol-training.com/archives/...ry/dotw/page/6

ETA:

My first gun was a SIG P229R DAK in 9mm and had similar groupings when I started out so don't be discouraged. It can only improve from here.