Analysis: What do these targets say about my shooting?

[RJ]

The Sig Mosquito and Walther p22 are very low quality guns. I recommend a Ruger Mark 3 or Mark 4.

I'll say it (the P22) felt extremely inexpensive.

Ok I am familiar with Ruger, I have an LCR and a New Model Blackhawk. I'll look into a Mark 3 or Mark 4. Thanks for the tip!

ETA: Interesting: $295 at Buds:

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/...ducts_id/35395

Hmmm....

[Clusterfrack]

I'll say it (the P22) felt extremely inexpensive.

Ok I am familiar with Ruger, I have an LCR and a New Model Blackhawk. I'll look into a Mark 3 or Mark 4. Thanks for the tip!

It's one of the "tacticool" .22 pistols that have a zinc "pot metal" slide. Basically a toy airsoft gun that shoots real bullets. I've personally seen two of them fall apart on the range. A well-worn Mark 2 or 3 could be had for a similar price.

[Mystery]

Thanks for replies and suggestion.
Too many things to keep in mind and when I remember all the things like front sight focus, level the sights, gap between the sights, slow trigger squeeze etc..., I hit pretty good but I keep on forgetting few of those often and mess up.
One thing I noticed recently, when I try to level the front and rear sights, it looks like not only I have to raise/lower the muzzle but also tilt.
For some weird reason, looks like my left rear sight is slightly lower than right so I have to tilt little to the right and upwards.
It's not the sights, just the way I stand or stretch my hands or my left hand grip is weak or maybe my left leg is few mm shorter than right leg?
Do you guys ever have to tilt to level? When I say tilt, I mean I have to raise/adjust my left hand/grip so left sight goes up slightly.
That's another thing to get used to as I naturally, left side seems slightly lower and even it's little bit, at 7 yards, it's a lot.

My recommendation is to alternate loading the magazine with 1 live round, 1 dummy round, 1 live round, 1 dummy, etc and just focus on the front sight while keeping the gun still through the trigger press.

I don't use dummy round. I load one in the chamber and take magazine out.
The follow up empty squeeze, even though I know it's empty, often shows my flinch and closing eye.
I don't want to use dummy round at the range as I have to unload it and it may fall behind the red lines.

...so you MIGHT be looking at the target between shots, then breaking the next shot without having reestablished a good sight picture. You can get away with target focused shooting, but all your other fundamentals have to be rock solid before you do...

My advice, worth precisely what you're paying for it, is this:

1. Find an instructor who can give you some quality one-on-one and focus on the fundamentals - grip, trigger control, sight picture, sight alignment, follow thru/sight tracking, etc.

Yes, I do check my target after each shot, except at the end of my session where I unload a mag just for the fun.
I'm checking classes, just not sure what to sign up. I'll see if there's private lesson.

What Psalms said.

Random thoughts from someone who started shooting five years ago.

Moar Dry Practice
Grip Harder
See the Front Sight

Keep at it! I still say you are better than 90% of the people I see at the gun range. Good for you for trying to get better.

p-f is awesome in that regard and even though I basically suck at shooting, people are still very willing to help out.

Thanks for motivation.
I do feel like my hands are getting some used to the gun now.
I'm still trying to get a good grip where the web is right behind the gun.
Naturally, the back of gun stays little bit towards the thumb until I move my elbow little inside.

Dry fire is seriously lacking.
Last few sessions of once a week range time, I touched the gun only when going to range.
Too busy with work and family.
I'll find some time for dry fire. I bought ST Action pro dummy rounds.

It's too many things to remember.
My left hand grip is weak or let's say not used to gripping anything for extended time so that needs some time to develop.

One thing I haven't done is watching the gun after recoil.
I'll check that next time if it goes up and down or sideways.

Agree fully with what has been said so far about getting good one on one instruction and dry fire....

One issue I have been having lately leads me to mention:
Do you shoot with only one eye or both eyes open? Have you identified your dominant eye? When was the last time you had your eyes checked?
...

I shoot with one eye, my right eye.
I'm right eye/hand dominant and it was confirmed in my "Introduction to pistol class".
My eyesight is 20/20 when checked last year for license renewal.

The Sig Mosquito and Walther p22 are very low quality guns. I recommend a Ruger Mark 3 or Mark 4.

I'm thinking of this as well but I'm leaning towards Browning Buck Mark.
It's the same price as Ruger 22/45 ($300-$325) but I read a lot of threads where the feeling was Ruger needs at least few upgrades to make it training worthy and a lot of upgrades to make it great while Buck Mark is good to go out of the box for good enough training.
What say you?

[0ddl0t]

slow trigger squeeze

From my personal experience, do not concentrate on performing a slow squeeze - it will only make it harder for you to add speed later. Concentrate on a smooth squeeze that does not disrupt the sights. Smooth - and as fast as you can while still being smooth. That will be slow at first, but with practice it will go faster.

[That Guy]

Yes, I do check my target after each shot

Don't do that, it leads to bad habits. Shoot the entire string keeping your focus on the sights. The bullet holes will be there when you finish shooting.

I'm thinking of this as well but I'm leaning towards Browning Buck Mark.
It's the same price as Ruger 22/45 ($300-$325) but I read a lot of threads where the feeling was Ruger needs at least few upgrades to make it training worthy and a lot of upgrades to make it great while Buck Mark is good to go out of the box for good enough training.
What say you?

I used to own a Buckmark. Good pistol, probably should not have sold it. That said, I now own a stock Ruger MkIII 22/45 and it works just fine in stock form. The grip is too thin, would love to modify it to accept 1911 grip panels, but I'm a little worried I'd mess up the frame. Can't get replacement frames over here. I do also admit having thought about eliminating the magazine safety, and perhaps if I tweaked the trigger pull with some aftermarket parts, I might get just a tiiiiny bit tighter groups squeezed out of the gun... But I don't actually need any of those modifications in order to go to the range and work on my basic marksmanship technique.

There are a whole bunch of aftermarket parts for Ruger .22's. Hell, you guys over in the USA could probably build an entire Ruger .22 without using a single Ruger made part! But just because those aftermarket parts exist, that doesn't mean they are necessary... A stock Ruger works, and will keep on working for a long time. I know some people make disassembling a Ruger .22 seem like an impossible task, but none of the ones (MkII's and MkIII's) I've seen have seemed particularly difficult.

On the other hand, a Buckmark works just fine too. Its two main downsides were, for me a) that fake gold plated trigger was just too dorky and b) I did not like how you had to remove the rear sight to field strip the gun. (Well, I didn't like the fiddly nature of the disassembly in general, but it's a sporting gun, not a military service weapon, so who really cares.) Not that I could ever prove that it affected accuracy in any negative way, I just always felt that in theory it might, and it bugged me. My point being, either gun should work well for you. Hell, my girlfriends first .22 pistol, bought for just about the same reasons as we're talking here, was a really old Colt Woodsman she got for about $50. The purchase permit cost her about twice what the gun cost! And that cheap, old pistol still did its job just fine.

[Clusterfrack]

I haven’t seen any Buckmarks at Steel Challenge matches. Everyone shoots Rugers. It’s not a perfect gun, but there are a ton of aftermarket parts, and plenty of YouTube info on every detail.

[joshs]

There is already a bunch of good advice in this thread, but I'd add that building grip strength is a great way to make most aspects of pistol shooting easier. And, it's something you can do with time that wouldn't otherwise be able to be used for live or dry fire. I keep a couple of Captains of Crush grippers and bands in my office at work.

The Sig Mosquito and Walther p22 are very low quality guns. I recommend a Ruger Mark 3 or Mark 4.

Unless you get a very good deal on a Mark 3, the easier takedown of the Mark 4 is worth substantially more than the relatively small price difference.

[psalms144.1]

Mystery - looking at the target between shots is probably the number one cause of "shotgun" patterns like some of your shooting. Shoot the group, THEN check the target. You're over-complicating things worrying about too much at once. Grip the gun firmly with your shooting hand, hard with your support hand. Focus on the front sight and press the trigger. Watch the front sight the whole time. Wash, rinse, repeat x5, THEN check the target.

[Mystery]

From my personal experience, do not concentrate on performing a slow squeeze - it will only make it harder for you to add speed later. Concentrate on a smooth squeeze that does not disrupt the sights. Smooth - and as fast as you can while still being smooth. That will be slow at first, but with practice it will go faster.

I think what I'm doing is bad then.
I squeeze until I hit the wall, sometimes pause, then squeeze making sure front sight/muzzle doesn't move.
Is the proper way to squeeze the trigger all at one move without any pause at the wall?

[Mystery]

Mystery - looking at the target between shots is probably the number one cause of "shotgun" patterns like some of your shooting. Shoot the group, THEN check the target. You're over-complicating things worrying about too much at once. Grip the gun firmly with your shooting hand, hard with your support hand. Focus on the front sight and press the trigger. Watch the front sight the whole time. Wash, rinse, repeat x5, THEN check the target.

Will try that next time.
thanks