Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Handgun accuracy?

That sounds like a reasonable goal.

I won't even consider hunting until I'm confident I can hit my target.
And yea.....I know how big a Rabbit is but thanks.

Shot another IPSC match today and once the timer went off, I forgot most everything I read here...

I did notice my front sight setting left or right could still make A zone hits out to 15-20 yards or so and I noticed squared up sights could make C zone hits if the trigger press wasn't good.

Correctly pressing the trigger when sights were aligned and on target will produce hits where you want them, it's like it's a system or something.

I missed this thread at the start.

I wish Paladin were here to contribute.

Sounds like you are off to a good start Charlie.


Having shot pistols competitively and even professionally, one of the best pieces of advice I ever heard given about how to become a dead shot with a pistol:

"Buy two of them. By the time you get one worn out, you'll be as good as you want to be with the second one."

Like you, I had my old man eyes play a factor. A big one in my pistol shooting. After I started needing readers and lost my clear, up-close vision, I pretty much had to re teach myself how to shoot a pistol with bad eyes. I'm not as good as I was in my youth, but I wouldn't want me shooting at me...

I'm curious with the speed shooting guys how small of a group they can shoot offhand at 25 and 50 yds.

There's a world of difference between hitting a 4" target at 10 yds than at 50 yds, or 100 yds.

Wise man.....

And yea.....the old eyes definitely don't help.

True, I only read to the links RH and Sarge posted, checked those out, then it was way past bedtime.

I'm neither, but can say without fear of ridicule I can't draw and double action hit a damn 10" amazon cardboard shipping box at 20 yards, low left everytime, when I draw and grip hard, that's where the bullets go, having the luxury [time] of thumbing the hammer back and shooting SA will result in effective hits, guess that's why I can't let go of my 1911's.

Yes, they didn't get there by accident, I NEED to take more time for pistol shooting.

This right there.^^^

In my teens, I was told to aim small, shoot small. That was with pellet rifles and .22's. Shooting holes through dimes at 50 yards was the fun of the day. When I was a little older I got interested in handguns. I worked hard and saved up to buy good accurate handguns. I liked squirrel hunting. So the first handgun I bought was a K22 Mod 17 with 8 3/8" barrel. The second, a K22 Mod 48 with 8 3/8" barrel. The third was a S&W 41 with the 5 1/2" bull and a second barrel, the 7". The forth was a S&W Model 52. The fifth was a Colt National Match. See where I am going here. I shot a lot.

All these guns had exceptional triggers and good lock time. Even comparably the revolvers. All my emphasis was on grip and trigger control and both front and rear sights. That is what I was taught and mastered.

Then as I got older, I wanted to shoot faster and more combat style. I told myself to never compromise the grip and trigger control. That came first. The only way I was able to get faster was to loose the rear sight. It worked. But, I knew that the grip and trigger control was always there. If I got sloppy, I slowed down. I still practice both regularly.

I am happy with my results. Small groups where I want to hit in rapid fire. Very small groups in bulleye when I want. It is a different mindset and method all together as far as the sight picture goes.

As I got older, I went to a little more daylight in my rear sights. That helped. Finding the right Doc for the glasses helped. I am trying a new pair today actually. Keeping the grip and trigger control is the most important for me.

Auto's.Single action guns only. Single action guns only. Single action guns only. For me at least.

Double action on quality revolvers is a whole new set of mechanisms. Practice.

Grip ? When dry firing, pay attention to the meat of your hand from the base of the trigger finger to the web of your hand. Does it move the gun? If it does, try gripping the gun more or less to fix the problem.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What does that mean?



Dave

Front sight only. Like you said that work's.

Focus

....on the front sight only. Up close, quick and personal.

But it pays to have your muscles and nerves tuned to that particular gun for the smaller groups. At least in my case.
Especially after cataract surgery. Those man made lenses do not adjust as needed like the original ones do.

Ok.

But just so those that don't understand, understand.

The human eye is a camera. It can't focus on more than one thing at a time. And that one thing that should be in focus is the front sight.




Dave

Many humans can't seem to manage to focus on even one thing.

Exactly, that is the problem with man made lenses.

Normally that focal point is not a thin plane. It has some depth, but not much. My Doc said that at arms length (handgun sights) my focus was in the front of the far sighted specs of the replacement lenses of my cataract surgery. After surgery there was a dramatic difference in focusing on both near and far. The eye with its natural lens along with the brain can make sense out of the picture your seeing and make adjustments to the lens itself.

After the surgery I could focus on the front sight and a close target with a sharp picture. Not rear and front sights and close target. Even with lots of practice.

It bothers me a lot. Growing old is not fun, but that one thing was big for me.

I have always had perfect vision.

You can only focus on one. Not two. Not three. Just one.

There's no point in attempting a focus on anything but the front sight. This is true in rifles, and this is true in handguns.




Dave

My eye sight started to go down hill after 40. The further away it is the better.....

Mine's opposite. The further away from 40 I get, the worse it gets.....

The difference between young and old eyes is a decreased ability to rapidly shift between focal planes while keeping them all in perspective.

Yes.




Clark