How do I get better at shooting my revolver? - UPDATE

[MikeAvery71]

Hello all. I finally got back to the range today and shot 50 rounds of 38 and 50 of 357. All I can say is that practicing dry firing paid off. I had 1" groups at 20', 4" groups at 60, and at 75' I produced approximately 8" groups. This was mostly the result of simply taking advice given here. Plus I upgraded the grips to the rubber Rugers with rosewood inserts, and I lightened the trigger and hammer springs. I have to step up to the 12 lb spring as I had one misfire with the 10 pounder.

Thanks all!

 

[daveg.inkc]

Good job Mike. Are you reloading yet?

 

[MikeAvery71]

Not reloading yet. I know that 8" groups at 25 yards is nothing to be proud about. I realize that certain individuals can produce less than 2" groups offhand at the same distance. I am not one of those individuals evidently.

 

[contender]

Excellent report on the update.

I just had a member visit me here from Tenn. He was having issues with his SA handguns rapping his knuckles. I had him load up a gun, and immediately saw a way to improve his shooting. He needed to change the way he was gripping the handgun. Immediate results.
So,,, now that you've worked on things a bit,,, find an instructor to help you and you may find you can do much better.

 

[2 dogs]

Hi Mr. Avery, I am glad to read you are having some success. There are a lot of really good pistol shots out there, but they don't particularly "know" why it is they are so. More, they cannot define or explain it. So let me take a stab here for you.

The first thing is to get the problem down to the most basic fundementals if we can. For all my years of teaching, I have figured out the student is either not looking at the sights right, or the student is not pulling the trigger right. So, how do we fix this? Well, first, let's define "What is looking at the sights right". Simply put, that means you should be focused on your front sight to the point that you can see the serrations on that front blade. You need to keep your focus on that point before, during, and as long after the gun goes off as possible. Done correctly, you should see the front sight "lift" in recoil in the rear notch. So, how do we accomplish this feat? Try it for yourself first with a small bore or a 22 LR. It is much easier to see. I also suggest you alternate your bigger bore with your small bore cylinder for cylinder to help you stay focused on these fundementals. Another way is to have an experienced shooter pull the trigger for you while you hold the gun otherwise normally. That way you have no idea when the trigger is going to break and all you are doing is looking at the sights. All of the above should be first done from a steady rest if possible. It will amaze you to actually see what has been going on right in front of your nose all this time. This level of focus requires a relaxed state of mind. Remember drive in movies? Remember that ice cold Coke that flashed on the screen? That was 1 frame out of 20 in 1 second. That means your eye can see objects clearly at least that fast. Think about race car drivers at some 200 mph! Now, the trigger squeeze. You ain't going to pet that dog if it's biting you every time you lay a finger on it. Back off that load. When you load your cylinder, load some empty cases with the live ones. Look away and spin the cylinder and shut the gate. Now you don't know if you are going to get a bang or a click. If you get a click and the front sight did not stay in focus and in that rear notch you aren't pulling the trigger right. Again, the small bore helps us here, I personally always have one along when I am shooting a "big" sixgun. You must repeat this until you conquer that level of ammunition with that sixgun.

Big Bore:

Small Bore:

 

[contender]

Well put 2 dogs!
Trying to explain fundamentals sometimes can be a little frustrating,,, as terminology can be mis-understood. Add in that many instructors THINK you have the basics down & move on to other things before you get the basics mastered.

 

[2 dogs]

Thanks Tyrone. The one thing I didn't say was that for DA work, in order to see what he needs to see, he will need to tighten his grip more than what he needs for shooting in SA mode. But that will adjust itself as he learns to focus on that front blade....

 

[daveg.inkc]

Very good information here! I found dry fire practice helped me greatly. It is all about controling front sight and muzzle. I am guilty of dropping hammer on a spent primer and seeing front sight move off target. Practice and shoot as often as possible.

 

[GunnyGene]

Why is it you can shoot your revolver for no good reason, but you can't shoot a person for no good reason? :wink:

Reminds me of George Carlin. :lol:

 

[RoninPA]

Why is it you can shoot your revolver for no good reason, but you can't shoot a person for no good reason? :wink:

Reminds me of George Carlin. :lol:

I thought down in the south a legal defense was "Well, he just needed killin"

 

[GunnyGene]

Why is it you can shoot your revolver for no good reason, but you can't shoot a person for no good reason? :wink:

Reminds me of George Carlin. :lol:

I thought down in the south a legal defense was "Well, he just needed killin"

It is. A good reason, I mean. :wink:

 

[MikeAvery71]

Thank you 2 dogs for your outstanding explanations and recommendations. I particularly like the idea of having at least one empty case loaded. I am almost certain my grip is tight, but it may in fact be too tight and tense. I asked the range office for advice on grip and my shooting skills, but he said he thought I was doing pretty good and didn't have anything to offer for improvement. I do focus only on the front sight, but sometimes wonder if I close my eyes for a split second as the round is fired. Most of the time though I am trying to manage hand wobble. I am not shooting from a bag rest. So just when I think I am aligned with the target I will then be low or high or left or right. Any arm or hand movement puts me off the target and I don't know how people control that.

 

[Skoopski]

As a reloader, I'm inclined to ask if it is just this gun. If not, then it may be grip, trigger control. If it is just on this gun, then I would look at checking the barrel and cylinder throat diameters. Sometimes those are off and you won't get great accuracy.

 

[2 dogs]

Thank you 2 dogs for your outstanding explanations and recommendations. I particularly like the idea of having at least one empty case loaded. I am almost certain my grip is tight, but it may in fact be too tight and tense. I asked the range office for advice on grip and my shooting skills, but he said he thought I was doing pretty good and didn't have anything to offer for improvement. I do focus only on the front sight, but sometimes wonder if I close my eyes for a split second as the round is fired. Most of the time though I am trying to manage hand wobble. I am not shooting from a bag rest. So just when I think I am aligned with the target I will then be low or high or left or right. Any arm or hand movement puts me off the target and I don't know how people control that.

Mike, first, thank you for having the courage to come onto a public forum and ask for help. A lot of guys won't do it simply because they just get beat up on. Posters who do that sort of thing should get a pox on their.....well...

Let's not over think this. The problem is still the same. You can tie your shoes, yes? What if I turn out the lights? I'm sure you could still tie your shoes, but what if your clothes were on fire? How is the problem different? The only thing that is impacted is WHAT YOU HAVE GOING ON IN YOUR HEAD. The whole difficulty with shooting well is accepting the simplicity. THAT is the complexity.

Take a curve on the highway with your sportscar. Now consider a stock car making a curve at 180 MPH. The one is going to require a good deal more intense focus. But the management of a curve in a vehicle however is still management of a curve in a vehicle. To answer your question specifically let's take a look at the problem from an extreme angle: How about if you are a fighter pilot in a bi-plane and you are trying to shoot down an enemy fighter plane so EVERYTHING is moving? You still have to find your sights and stay on them until you delivered your bullet(s). The same would be true if a really bad guy knew you were fixing to ventilate his really bad guy suit with him in it. He might not stand still for any such. Thus movement is just another variable.

So my advice is this. You can't control everything. The time of day, the available light, if you have blood or glass or both in your eyes, if you slipped and fell on your behind or if you only have one hand on the gun because the other is busy doing the 911 thing so when you have to shoot, shoot. That means you find that place in your mind where there is no hot or cold no rain or pain only clear calm focus. And you stay there until you solve your problem.

You have a PM.

 

[Tioga County]

I once bought a GP100 that shot terrible groups. Just awful. Then I got a Single Six and started at 20 feet and backed up a bit as groups got better. After several thousand .22's, my GP started to turn in respectable groups. When I got an LCR, I had to learn all over again what I thought I already knew. Then my eyes betrayed me, and I'm working on dealing with that (those one ragged hole rear peeps didn't shrink my groups when I had good eyes, but they help keep my on the steels now). New challenges are what keep the sport fun. If you're smart enough to follow good advice, the more you shoot, the better you'll get.