Had an interesting moment at the range the other day.
I don't shoot bullseye at long range very often but I pushed out to 25yards with my work gun while on a lunch break. First 5 shots, I shot with a fairly relaxed grip, just worrying about a smooth trigger press and holding still. Not exactly limp-writing it but not a super solid grip either. I called each shot fairly close to center but the resulting group was between 2 and 5in high, and 5-6in wide.
I usually shoot alright at longer ranges so I loaded another 5, bore down harder and shot a nice 3.5ish group right in the middle, calling the shots about the same as before, the only difference being grip pressure. I've always assumed that the bullet would be long gone by the time recoil would shift the POI by any noticeable amount but that seems to not be the case. I usually shoot at little dots up close or USPSA targets and always with some time pressure so I'm usually gripping as hard as possible but I didn't think that was helpful shooting untimed groups freestyle. Is this a known thing that I was just not aware of??
I'll try to replicate the results when I shoot again later this week with some different guns as well, maybe it was a fluke and I just suck. Always possible!
Apologies for the lack of photos, I thought of taking one only after throwing out the target.
Gun is a G23 gen 3 with a NY trigger spring (mandated by work) with Ameriglo .125 pro-glo yellow with the .180 operator rear. Success with these sights also surprised me as I usually like a tighter sight picture for longer shots but they seem to work out ok in practice.