pistols, recoil, techniqueI’ve noticed that I seem to be less accurate with Glock-made pistols (with a plastic frame) than, say, a Sig model (with a metal frame and considerably more heft). In my mind, the weight seems to make a difference offering more resistance to the recoil especially at a larger caliber. Is this in my head? If not, I imagine it’s my stance/grip that is flawed and are there specific techniques for dealing with lighter-weight handguns outside of just fixing my grip/stance all together?
Edit To address @Chris’s answer, I realize that a gun with less heft (mass) will result in greater acceleration. The thrust of my question (and my fault for not making this clear) is what can I do to compensate for this?
The weight of the weapon will not have an appreciable affect accuracy, per se. What it does affect is felt recoil, which can have effects on your accuracy through things like anticipation of recoil.
I know from personal experience how bad anticipation can be. When I first started shooting handguns, my cousin gave me a 1911 in .45 ACP. I didn’t know anything about anything at the time, and for years I had to fight the natural urge to dip the barrel down in order to compensate for the muzzle flip post-firing.
Compensation of this kind will lead to heartache. You can not, and must not try to, compensate for the recoil of a handgun.
The tricks that I have used to get over this are three-fold.
You can also have a friend put their finger into the trigger guard from beside you and, with your finger on the trigger, have him press your finger rearward while you focus on all the previously mentioned fundamentals. This will truly give you no idea about when the round will fire and let you focus on keeping everything else in line.
The previously mentioned fundamentals you should be focusing on:
No, it’s not in your head. Recoil is governed by the formula F=ma (force equals mass times acceleration). If a handgun has a higher mass, the acceleration to the rear due to recoil is going to be less. If it has less mass, the acceleration will be greater.
Edited to add: If the greater perceived recoil is affecting your accuracy, the primary way to compensate for it is to acquire more solid grip on the gun. Since I haven’t seen you shoot I can’t really express an opinion on your grip, but as an instructor I have to say that sometimes it seems like a proper two-handed grip is the best kept secret in the shooting world.
If this remains a problem even with a solid grip, one potential solution is to go to a heavier handgun, a smaller, lighter-recoiling caliber, or both. Most folks can shoot the common calibers (9mm, .40, .45) with practice, however.
On a Glock you have five main options that you can experiment with that will affect the felt recoil.
In addition you can replace the connector bar, trigger spring and/or firing pin spring. These will affect the weight and smoothness of the trigger pull which can also help the overall accuracy.
In a properly sighted pistol, nothing affects accuracy other than a proper sight picture and trigger discipline.
Everything else, weight, grip, materials, whizbang upgrades, are for you to manage recoil, get sights back on target quicker or reduce damage to your hands by reducing recoil. Weight doesn’t factor in accuracy directly, apart from making it easier for you to hold the gun and align the sights.
So in slow fire / range / bullseye type shooting, work on your sight picture and trigger pull/press. For fast fire matches like rapidfire/IDPA/USPSA then you move into the realm of weight, grip, springs etc.
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