Should I be working harder to curb this bad habit?

[insulinboy]

I'm a right hander, and on just about any factory sights I shoot a little low, and a little left and I do it with great consistancy.. In that I generally shoot a controlled slow fire group of about a half dollar at 15 yards. So I know I'm pulling the gun a little when I pull the trigger, but obviously I do it consistently. All my pistols get adjustable rears for this reason so that I can make the needed adjustments.

My question is should I be working harder to figure out why and how to fix my pulling of the shot, or since I group tightly and consistently should I just not worry so much about it?

Or am I just thinking too much into it and maybe the guns that I've bought the sights are just off from the factory?

 

[1gunsnotenough]

Actually I think you would be pushing the trigger instead of pulling the gun. I broke the habit by just putting the pad of my trigger finger on the trigger and concentrated on pulling my finger forward a bit as the trigger broke. Also added a long flat trigger to my 1911 and that helped a lot.

 

[protective measures]

I've literally seen hundreds of shooters do that. You're flinching.
Buy some dummy rounds to self-diagnose/ expose your trigger control or find a professional to help correct it.
There's nothing natural about holding an explosion in your hands 2' from your face so many people flinch... especially men. Women not so much for some reason.

 

[protective measures]

And yes, it needs to be corrected...as does any error in trigger control.
Left-handers who are flinching ( or as many refer to it as anticipating recoil) pull their shots low & right.
Its a very common shooting error. Usually takes a good Instructor 30-45 minutes to correct using ball & dummy drills in most cases.

 

[Indirect Fire]

Monty is 100% correct, it needs to be corrected. Next time you are at a range that allows the freedom of movement simulate some stress; sprint 25 yards, do 25 jumping jacks and 10 push-ups just before shooting and watch how much that "error" increases your inability to correct this problem. Any serious stress, such as a real world shooting aka adrenaline dump will magnify the problem massively unless you are a seriously cool headed person (most of us are not).

 

[kuduman]

You must fix the problem-- not compensate for it. As your flinch will not be consistent, you'll never be a consistent shot by compensation. You must work to break the habit.

Some drills or instruction will help. Or... Go shoot some bowling pins-- when you see all of your shots missing low, as the pins sit there and mock you-- you'll figure it out pretty fast. IMO, anyway.

 

[insulinboy]

But i am a consistant shot, thats why its strange to me. I shoot idpa, steel challage, and bowling pins and im always one of the better shots

 

[coach482]

Make sure you are on the pad of finger and try doing some dime drills.

 

[JamesG]

Because you can still clip and knock them down even with your pull. But like "Forlorn Hope" said, at range and under stress it will magnify into clean misses.

A few hundred Dime Drills will fix it.

 

[protective measures]

Dime or "spent" casing drills can help smooth out your trigger press but many shooters flinch or anticipate recoil only when they know to expect the bang from firing live rounds.
That is why every good school/ Instructor uses "ball & dummy" drills... to expose the shooters' trigger control.

I refer to those dummy rounds as an , "Instructor in a bag".
They allow a shooter to self-critique themself... plus you get practice clearing the first 3 most common malfunctions w/ a semi-auto by "tap, roll, racking" the slide.

The key is to focus intently on the front sight during the press & watch what happens when it goes click instead of bang.
Either load those dummies in several mags. randomly mixing up the order they are in or have someone else load them so you don't know what to expect.

All the best shooters I know or have worked with keep some in their range bag for when they start having trigger control problems.