BassCliff
Professional
Greetings and salutations,
Earlier in the week I had paid a handsome sum to a highly regarded instructor for a private 2 hour lesson on pure fundamentals and accuracy. We worked with different targets at different distances, presenting from a holster and from low ready, as close as 5 yards and out to 20 yards. John noticed several things I need to practice in order to improve, mostly my grip, in particular my support hand. John says I'm gripping way too hard with my strong hand and not using my support hand enough to create a "stable platform". It seems when I pull the trigger with such a clenched strong hand grip I tend to pull the muzzle down and left just a little. My other fingers are moving when my trigger finger moves. He said he noticed no "flinch" as in recoil anticipation, just a lack of steadiness during the trigger pull because of the tension in my strong hand. John also told me to relax my thumbs, they are not to be a big part of my grip. Today I took my Garrison and XD9 to practice a little, just 50 rounds each. I will also practice this new grip technique in my basement laser range until it gets to be second nature. When I do everything right, it works. I need to build consistency. Here's how I did today.
I was assigned lane #4, my favorite, of course.
I brought only my Garrison .45 and XD9, plus 50 rounds for each.
I brought B-8 targets and a couple of silhouette splatter targets for fun. The first four strings on the B-8 and the last mag on the 12x18 silhouette, all at ten yards. I shot the .45 first and this first magazine was lousy.
I guess there's eight hits inside the 8 ring and two in the six ring. Hopefully things will get better as I get warmed up and get my support hand working properly. Here's target #2.
OK, I'm trying a little harder. It's a fist-sized group all in the 8 ring. Target #3 got a little wild. The first two shots were really low left.
And target #4 just falls apart. This support hand stuff is going to take some getting used to.
For the last magazine (10 rounds) I used a splatter target just for fun. It started low left and I made corrections in my grip throughout the string.
That's 50 rounds of .45ACP. Let's move on to my XD9. I put up a fresh B-8 and let'em fly. One of them really flew.
Yes, that is ten rounds on that target. Seems a few of those holes are double hits. I wonder how many hits in the X ring on that string? My eyes aren't good enough to see the hits at distance. OK, here's target #2.
OK, it looks like I got dangerously close to nine in the 10 ring with my customary flyer in the 8 ring. Drat. Let's see if I can do better with target #3.
Well, yes and no. If you give me the line breaks I believe I do have nine hits in the 10 ring but the flyer is in the 7 ring. Double drat. OK, here's the last B-8 of the day.
Still smaller than a fist-sized group, just too many low. Let's have one more bit of fun with a splatter silhouette.
Before we move on, just for grins and giggles, here is the original B-8 target with 40 rounds through it. I did manage to put a relatively large ragged hole close to the middle. My targets look much less impressive when I divvy them up to ten hits each. I don't know, maybe I should just put 50 rounds on the same target and try to hit the same hole.
Here's the last target of the day. Hey! Look! It's pretty average!
Again, starting off low left, I gradually improved my support hand grip and managed to put the last five hits in the bullseye. I thought about shooting some more to reinforce my good habit but decided to practice my dry fire grip extensively before taking it back out for live fire. I'm going to try to make my private lesson worth it, @KillerFord1977. It cost as much as I pay for 500 rounds of 9mm.
But, all in all, this was a productive practice session. I can tell when I'm doing everything right because it feels right and it impacts the right spot. Now I need to develop some muscle memory in my support hand and relax my strong hand just a little so that my other fingers don't move when I pull the trigger. Thanks for coming along and letting me re-hash this stuff. I'm sure it's old hat to most of you. This old noob is still learning. And I still love my 10-10-10 drills!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Earlier in the week I had paid a handsome sum to a highly regarded instructor for a private 2 hour lesson on pure fundamentals and accuracy. We worked with different targets at different distances, presenting from a holster and from low ready, as close as 5 yards and out to 20 yards. John noticed several things I need to practice in order to improve, mostly my grip, in particular my support hand. John says I'm gripping way too hard with my strong hand and not using my support hand enough to create a "stable platform". It seems when I pull the trigger with such a clenched strong hand grip I tend to pull the muzzle down and left just a little. My other fingers are moving when my trigger finger moves. He said he noticed no "flinch" as in recoil anticipation, just a lack of steadiness during the trigger pull because of the tension in my strong hand. John also told me to relax my thumbs, they are not to be a big part of my grip. Today I took my Garrison and XD9 to practice a little, just 50 rounds each. I will also practice this new grip technique in my basement laser range until it gets to be second nature. When I do everything right, it works. I need to build consistency. Here's how I did today.
I was assigned lane #4, my favorite, of course.
I brought only my Garrison .45 and XD9, plus 50 rounds for each.
I brought B-8 targets and a couple of silhouette splatter targets for fun. The first four strings on the B-8 and the last mag on the 12x18 silhouette, all at ten yards. I shot the .45 first and this first magazine was lousy.
I guess there's eight hits inside the 8 ring and two in the six ring. Hopefully things will get better as I get warmed up and get my support hand working properly. Here's target #2.
OK, I'm trying a little harder. It's a fist-sized group all in the 8 ring. Target #3 got a little wild. The first two shots were really low left.
And target #4 just falls apart. This support hand stuff is going to take some getting used to.
For the last magazine (10 rounds) I used a splatter target just for fun. It started low left and I made corrections in my grip throughout the string.
That's 50 rounds of .45ACP. Let's move on to my XD9. I put up a fresh B-8 and let'em fly. One of them really flew.
Yes, that is ten rounds on that target. Seems a few of those holes are double hits. I wonder how many hits in the X ring on that string? My eyes aren't good enough to see the hits at distance.
OK, here's target #2.
OK, it looks like I got dangerously close to nine in the 10 ring with my customary flyer in the 8 ring. Drat. Let's see if I can do better with target #3.
Well, yes and no. If you give me the line breaks I believe I do have nine hits in the 10 ring but the flyer is in the 7 ring. Double drat.
OK, here's the last B-8 of the day.
Still smaller than a fist-sized group, just too many low. Let's have one more bit of fun with a splatter silhouette.
Before we move on, just for grins and giggles, here is the original B-8 target with 40 rounds through it. I did manage to put a relatively large ragged hole close to the middle. My targets look much less impressive when I divvy them up to ten hits each. I don't know, maybe I should just put 50 rounds on the same target and try to hit the same hole.
Here's the last target of the day. Hey! Look! It's pretty average!
Again, starting off low left, I gradually improved my support hand grip and managed to put the last five hits in the bullseye. I thought about shooting some more to reinforce my good habit but decided to practice my dry fire grip extensively before taking it back out for live fire. I'm going to try to make my private lesson worth it, @KillerFord1977. It cost as much as I pay for 500 rounds of 9mm.
But, all in all, this was a productive practice session. I can tell when I'm doing everything right because it feels right and it impacts the right spot. Now I need to develop some muscle memory in my support hand and relax my strong hand just a little so that my other fingers don't move when I pull the trigger. Thanks for coming along and letting me re-hash this stuff. I'm sure it's old hat to most of you. This old noob is still learning. And I still love my 10-10-10 drills!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
