Firearms Stack Exchange Archive
Rounds are going low and left. What am I doing wrong?
- posted by: Tom Cabanski on 2011-11-02
- tagged:
accuracy,technique - score: 8
I recently purchased a Glock 19 with XS Big Dot sights. First couple times at the range I was putting rounds where I expected. Lately, though, I am putting around 90% of my rounds low and left. The grouping is good but not where I expect them to be. Any thoughts on what I might be doing and how I can go about correcting it?
Answer 192
- posted by: kbyrd on 2011-11-02
- score: 10
In addition to what Chris Upchurch said, I usually fall back to the correction target to make this assessments. 
The image above is for right-handed shooters, for left-handed shooters, flip the image left to right so "Too Little Trigger Finger" moves from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock.
Some definitions to make the image more understandable:
Breaking wrist: Your wrist should be stiff while pulling the trigger, some people will move their wrist slightly up or down right before their shot, usually because they are anticipating the shot.
Too little or too much trigger finger. Your finger is inserted too far or not far enough into the trigger guard and when you pull the trigger back you're pulling back at an angle causing the pistol to move left or right.
Heeling, Pushing: People often anticipate the recoil of a shot by unconsciously pushing the gun slightly up or down.
- Thumbing: Applying inconsistent pressure with your thumb.
- Jerking or slapping the trigger: The trigger pull must be smooth, squeezing the trigger quickly will result in other parts of your hand moving right before the shot is fired which moves the gun slightly.
Answer 185
- posted by: Chris Upchurch on 2011-11-02
- score: 8
If you are a right-handed shooter, rounds going low and left is most commonly a sign that you are jerking the trigger.
In a way, this is totally natural. Human beings are not meant to have a small explosion go off in their hand. When we’re forced to do so, we tend to want to get it over with as quickly as possible, hence the jerk. Unfortunately, all that extra pull on the trigger throws off our point of aim (usually low and to the left for a right-handed shooter).
The way to avoid jerking the trigger is to use what is called the surprise break. In the surprise break we press the trigger slowly to the rear so that we don’t know the exact moment it’s going to go off. That way we don’t have a chance to jerk or flinch until the shot has already left the barrel.
There are several techniques to combat trigger jerk and help you achieve a surprise break. First, do lots of dry fire practice (working the gun’s trigger without any ammunition in the gun). Concentrate on pressing the trigger straight back, slowly increasing the pressure until it breaks and the gun goes off. Second is the ball and dummy drill. Get some dummy rounds in your caliber (also called snap caps) and load a magazine with a mixture of live ammunition and dummy rounds. It’s best if you get someone else to load the magazine, but if you’re at the range by yourself you can load several magazines and randomly select one. The idea is that you won’t know whether the round in the chamber is a live one or a dummy. If you jerk the trigger on a dummy round, it will be obvious because the barrel dips down when the striker falls. Keep racticing these drills and you can beat that trigger jerking problem.
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