Critique my shooting

[STIPARTOUT]

I picked up my P30 V3 9mm. Let me just say that I love this gun. I took it to the range, field striped it, cleaned out all the packing grease, lubes it up and started throwing lead. The first time out I began with 250 rounds of Winchester NATO 124 grain. I followed that with 50 Rounds of Sellier and Beloit 115g grain. Not a single malfunction of any kind.

I mistakenly grabbed my chisel instead of punch, so I had to run medium grips all around the first day out which made the grips feel small in my hand. I have since swapped to the large backstrap and kept the medium side grips (I have long, skinny fingers).

After my last range trip, when I established I was shooting to the left, the first 20 rounds sailed ~ 6" left at 15 yards. Shit! at first thought, I figured my problem had gotten worse. I followed with another 20 rounds, same issue. I loaded up a mag for a friend who has been very accurate to that point, nice grouping, but all left. I shot the next 20 from rest. Same issue.

I picked up my P2000SK .40 S&W, shot two mags, they weren't great groupings, but they weren't left. So I brought it to my local shop and had the sights adjusted. They immediately commented that they were off. So at least I'm not crazy, or at least not a terrible shot - still left, but had a decent grouping.

This represents before and after the adjustment



I went home and read a bunch about trigger press and realized I was jerking/slapping the trigger and poor follow-through.

After my last post, I contacted a local instructor and lined up a full day of instruction. My goal was to line it up prior to my CCW class/qualification on Friday so after some back and forth with the instructor, I scheduled it for today, but because of the weather here in CA, I postponed. I instead hopped over to the indoor range to get some practice in all the same.

I focusing on trigger press and follow through, I low and behold I wasn't pushing my shots left.

Here is 50 rounds with my P30 at 7 yards with ~ 1 shot/2 seconds. Loaded 5 round mags, first shot in DA the following 4 in SA. I know it's not great, but the best results I've had with a pistol thus far. Also, I now have 570 rounds through my P30 without any sort of stoppage or malfunction. I say again. I love this gun.



I followed that up with 50 rounds with my P2000SK at 7 yards. Also 5 round mags, first shot in DA and follow ups in SA. I got a little sloppy with some of my SA follow-ups to my first DA shot (the five shots to the left).



I'm still planning on having my full day of private instruction, and I know it's not all that impressive, but I was pleased with myself. I'm feeling confident about my CCW qualification on Friday. There's obviously still work to be done on my sight picture (have a set of Hiene's QWIK straight 8's on the way) and trigger press (precision) before I even begin to work on speed, but I hope to get there. Any tips on honing ones precision?

If I haven't doted enough on the P30 already, It fits perfectly in my crossbreed supertuck designed for my P2000SK and truth be told actually seems to conceal better than the SK at ~ 4:00 as well (I don't have the cahones to AWIB for fear that I may shoot my cahones off). I'm now thinking I may sell my SK and pick up a P30S in LEM while I still can.

[MDS]

Any tips on honing ones precision?

At the risk of engaging in a little bit of blind-leading-the-blind, here are my thoughts.

I'm going through a similar time as you right now, in terms of working on accuracy first, accuracy second, and only then allowing myself to worry about making my shooting more accurate. For pure accuracy, I find that nothing works so well as doing The Wall Drill for about 10 minutes every day, and doing lots of Ball-and-Dummy and Dummy-and-Ball drills. I got a SW 617 a few weeks ago, which is a 22lr DA revolver, and it's awesome for practicing pure accuracy. That long, heavy DA trigger pull really challenges you. As ToddG put it, once you can pull that trigger well, everything else is easy mode.

Also, I'm finding there's a tight relationship between accuracy and speed. You can focus on one or the other during a particular drill. But some aspects of it can't be tested except at speed. That's why I've decided to use The Test in 15 or 20 seconds as my main measure of marksmanship. At those speeds, it really tests how well you've ingrained the trigger press and sight picture, more than recoil control or anything else. I also like that you can "pass" it by getting all your hits in the black, but you can measure your progress by getting a better score.

[Frank D.]

Diagnosing from targets on the internet is terrible.

Having said that, great improvement.

I think everyone (myself included) wants to get 'there' as quickly as possible when they start out, but you (we all, not just you) need to remember, there are no shortcuts*. There is no magic gun, holster, belt or shoelace. Take your time, get that training, focus on your fundamentals and shoot alot.

You won't be the same shooter you are today in 10k rounds.


*Except for getting good, solid instruction, that is.

[section8usmc]

Something else you may want to consider at least trying. Marksmanship naturally runs in my family. Darts, bow and arrow, pitching a baseball, and obviously firearms. I am a retired Marine. I have shot pool since I was a kid, as that was my love and hobby above all the others. One day, I noticed that, the guy that taught me how to shoot pool, always turned his head slightly to one side naturally. Only a few others that shot did this. After taking note, I got in my stance, and realized I did the same, whereas most people kept their head straight. We were unstoppable wherever we went. So, next time I went to the range, I took note I did this when shooting a pistol too.

I am right eye dominant, and turn my head naturally, slightly toward the right by say, 10,15 or 20 degrees. I always have. What I found was, this was an integral part of the natural ability I was so blessed with. I have 20 / 5 vision in one eye, and about 20 / 7 in the other, which obviously can only help, no corrections, no surgeries. Just born like that. Doing further research into this on my own, it seems that this actually balances (not completely mind you) out your eyes from one being dominant, to being closer to equal. It seemed strange to me until I tried with my head completely straight. I was off. Bow, rifle, pistol, doesn't matter. I do it with all of them. To someone that does not do it naturally, it may seem strange, but can't hurt to try. Just a small head turn TOWARD you DOMINANT eye. May not work for you, or it may be that missing link. Next time you are at a bar, or the range, watch the shooters at the table or the line. Every once in a while, you'll see it. Hope this helps !