The biggest technical problem shooters have?

[Clusterfrack]

(This is a bit of a clickbait title because people are different.)

What is the main reason shooters keep missing what they're shooting at? How can we help them overcome the issue?

1. Trigger mechanics: trigger pull moves sights off target
2a. Recoil control: arms move sights off target in an attempt to control recoil
2b. Recoil timing: you attempt to time the recoil cycle of the gun, but press the trigger at the wrong time.
3a. Transition timing: you pull off the target before the gun is finished shooting it, or shoot before the gun has arrived on target
3b. Transition damping: your transition wasn't 'critically damped', and you overshoot the target.
4a. Sight alignment: sights misaligned
4b. Sight placement: sights aligned but aimed wrong (usually looking at the wrong place on the target)
5. Vision: focus or eye dominance. Looking at the sights through the wrong eye.

Other things?

There are many reasons for a miss, and only one of them is trigger mechanics:

...

[Clusterfrack]

I started this thread because yesterday I coached two people who had never shot a gun before. It was a husband and wife--progressive Portlanders who decided they were interested in buying a handgun. I used a Glock 17.4 with iron sights.

The wife shot slowly and deliberately, and hit everything she shot at.

The husband shot left and low, with only a few good shots. It was the classic "bad Glock trigger press". But was it really?

Trigger mechanics had little to do with his issue. It turned out to be a subtle but strong pre-ignition push. He was pushing the gun down as it fired, making initial diagnosis difficult. This did not happen during dryfire. I mostly cured him of it using the "measurement drill" where the goal is to fire the gun and let it stay up after recoil.

[Magsz]

Trigger mechanics can cause repeatable issues, ie, a small handed, right hand shooter shooting a Glock to the left of their intended point of aim.

For the most part, handgun issues can be broken down to the simple concept of timing.

Most people can't grasp the idea of holding an explosion in their hands steady through the trigger press process.

[Leroy Suggs]

My observations over the years.

New shooters it's a combination of poor trigger control and sight alignment. That's #1 & #4a .

More experienced shooters it's recoil control. #2a .

[UNM1136]

SGM Chuck Pressburg's "flinchies"?

I happen to know someone...I mean, a couple....I mean a bunch of people that thusly suffer...

https://youtube.com/watch?v=eETQjJQT68w

pat

[cheby]

(This is a bit of a clickbait title because people are different.)

What is the main reason shooters keep missing what they're shooting at? How can we help them overcome the issue?

1. Trigger mechanics: trigger pull moves sights off target
2a. Recoil control: arms move sights off target in an attempt to control recoil
2b. Recoil timing: you attempt to time the recoil cycle of the gun, but press the trigger at the wrong time.
3a. Transition timing: you pull off the target before the gun is finished shooting it, or shoot before the gun has arrived on target
3b. Transition damping: your transition wasn't 'critically damped', and you overshoot the target.
4a. Sight alignment: sights misaligned
4b. Sight placement: sights aligned but aimed wrong (usually looking at the wrong place on the target)
5. Vision: focus or eye dominance. Looking at the sights through the wrong eye.

Other things?

Separating #2 between 2a and 2b is incorrect in my opinion. In general, #2 on your list is 80% of the score and is the most difficult aspect of shooting to master. Also it is the most perishable skill. Everything else is not even in the second place at all. Some people just do not understand it or refuse to accept it (For various reasons, such as "tactical" for example)

[Clusterfrack]

Separating #2 between 2a and 2b is incorrect in my opinion. In general, #2 on your list is 80% of the score and is the most difficult aspect of shooting to master. Also it is the most perishable skill. Everything else is not even in the second place at all. Some people just do not understand it or refuse to accept it (For various reasons, such as "tactical" for example)

The reason I separated 2a and 2b is that 2a can be a problem for single shots where returning the gun is not important. (Basic preignition push).

[GJM]

I think the "biggest" problem is a moving target. As a shooter progresses, fixing things along the way, new things continue to break. This darn shooting thing is like squeezing a paper bag!

[Clay]

I spent around 6 yrs working weekends at a local range. The biggest problem I saw was probably grip. Way too weak, goofy placement, no consistency, etc..

Fixing the grip issue took care of a lot of accuracy and reliability problems that people were having. I was shocked at the number of big tough guys that struggled with this.

[Mark D]

I spend a fair bit of time on public ranges and the biggest problem for pistol shooters, by far, is pre-ignition push. AKA flinching, a timing issue, recoil anticipation, etc. It's rare that I see a target that doesn't have evidence of this.

I'm not immune to this myself, and spend a fair amount of of my range time working to manage it.

I think most of the other issues on the list are "first world problems" encountered by intermediate and advanced shooters. The vast majority of pistol shooters are simply struggling to hit the target and understand why their rounds are low left.