How would you grade your handgun groups?

I guess the only time I use a letter in identifying a group size is when it’s in a USPSA target.

For everything else, I use inches diameter and distance from shooting position in yards.

Here's a group I shot Saturday. Took the picture for a different reason, but it seems germane to this thread. 15 rounds, fairly slow offhand fire, one a second or so, from 10 yards. I don't really give my groups scores, but I'm happy with this kind of accuracy, and get it consistently with my reloads. I can get much smaller groups if I really take my time, but I don't find that interesting anymore. Plated 115gr RN RMR 9mm's, Bullseye powder in this case.

On a mag dump at 7 yards, I can keep to about 6 inches. Lots of brass in the air at the same time. That's what interests me more these days. I shoot a little out to 20 yards offhand, and am happy with my accuracy there too.

But to the OP, yeah, jerking the trigger is not good for accuracy. There are things you can do to help with that. Insert snap caps in your mags are random places, or have someone else do it so you don't know where they are. Take some lessons. Shoot more. Upgrade the trigger.

That is some good shooting!^^^ Nicely done.

Pretty good…

This is typical for me when I’m not fatigued. This is rested @20y but I can do the same offhand @15y.

At my age I use a simple grading system, terribly crappy, crappy, and not quite so crappy. Don't laugh at me, time is gonna get you too.

I do inches also. I don't keep my targets much any more. I don't shoot like I use to.
This target is my last 41 magnum target when I was checking speed of 16.9 gr of AA9 and a Power Pistol load that I scrapped.
I had the magneto speed hanging on the barrel. Standing, off hand, unsupported at 7yds with full power loads.

I still shoot a lot of 9mm and .357mag. and I still measure them in inches.
If my target is bad then it is bad. I don't always shoot good when I go to the range.

This is .327 SP101 3" barrel at 25 yds.
Not particularly good but to me but it is acceptable for a 10" target, standing, off hand with a 3" barrel for me with 63 yr old eyes.

You should grade/practice the way you intend to shoot. That being said...if you are looking for utmost accuracy in your reloaded rounds, keep careful records and notate what works with each weapon platform. Shoot from the same setup (e.g: bench and bags, solid mount) each time and record weather conditions as well. If you are shooting for self or home defense, find an outdoor range that will allow you to set up scenarios to simulate the environment you most commonly are in and practice until they run you off. When alone in the house, take a cleared weapon and run your scenarios there (not outside - the neighbors may become alarmed...). If your looking for accuracy (on the move or stationary behind cover or concealment) pick a firearms instructor course and excel in it.

Where I worked, the firearms instructor pistol course was three stages:
1) The standard NRA bullseye at 25 yards (needed 240 points out of a possible 300 using open sights and unsupported in three rounds of two minutes each)
2) The standard FBI 'Q' target (bowling pin) at 50 yards (needed 52 out of 60 rounds in the 'pin' using open sights in 4 positions: prone, sitting, kneeling, and standing)
3) The standard POST course (60 rounds worth 2 points each- passing was a 114 out of 120 points on a standard P1 silhouette target from 25 yards on in towards target, including offhand and reloads).

I spent quite a bit of time assisting officers in learning how to solve accuracy problems. If you are troubled by a 'flinch' or 'jerk' when shooting, one trick I used with Glock pistols was to balance a dime on the front sight of a cleared, empty weapon. If you can press the trigger without dropping the dime....you're doing it right.
If you want to work on your off-hand accuracy, don't fight the weapon! When it discharges, allow the natural rise of the muzzle to fall slowly back into your sight picture and when achieved press the trigger.

I don't have all the answers...and I'm not the world's best shot. I've practiced for 22 years and still struggle to get my 15 yard 17 round group inside a silver dollar sized hole....

But....always remember that paper rarely shoots back.

If I had targets like some on the pages just before this one, I'd frame 'em and hang 'em in the living room.

At my age I use a simple grading system, terribly crappy, crappy, and not quite so crappy. Don't laugh at me, time is gonna get you too.

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I like your system, think I will start using it

Sights fuzzy targets fuzzy, possible brain is fuzzy as well.(I know brain gets fuzzy when timer goes off, fine until then then poof brain fuzz)

I can't really even visualize what the OP is saying.

My personal standard - purely for mechanical accuracy, taking the shooter entirely out of the picture - is 1" per ten yards for "service" guns and and 1" per 25 yards for "competition" guns.

I also tend to completely ignore targets and/or groups which are posted online. Not that any of the fine gentleman of THR would do it, but there is a great deal of pure B.S. thrown about on the topic, especially when it comes to what folks can do when shooting "from their hind legs". I regularly see groups that would handily beat those at the very highest level of elite free pistol competition, posted by folks who claimed to do it rapid fire with a stock snubbie.

.38 Special said:

I can't really even visualize what the OP is saying.

My personal standard - purely for mechanical accuracy, taking the shooter entirely out of the picture - is 1" per ten yards for "service" guns and and 1" per 25 yards for "competition" guns.

I also tend to completely ignore targets and/or groups which are posted online. Not that any of the fine gentleman of THR would do it, but there is a great deal of pure B.S. thrown about on the topic, especially when it comes to what folks can do when shooting "from their hind legs". I regularly see groups that would handily beat those at the very highest level of elite free pistol competition, posted by folks who claimed to do it rapid fire with a stock snubbie.

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.38 Special, I am not a competition shooter, simply a desert plinker type. If conditions are good, this is what i can USUALLY do. Us keyboard folk generally talk about our best "groups", rarely our not so good ones, so, we need to put up with that. Some shooting outings are dandy, while others, well........ I certainly get your drift.

One hand -- somewhere down range at the target into the berm -- not yardage dependent. Two hands, maybe a B on a good day but the holes appear more a pattern rather than a group.

No matter what, a bad day at the range is far better than a day of good TV (does "good TV" even exist?) .

I seen on tv once Doug Koenig shooting competition. A moving target at I think 25 or 30 yards, it showed the target and it was I’d guess a 2” group. He did it effortlessly too.

In sixguns, Don Martin I think it was, said paraphrase, Elmer is a fine shot and many people find it unbelievable what he can do with a handgun, the same way Elmer finds it unbelievable that there are people that can’t hit a washtub at 20 yards with a handgun.

not as good as anyone who trains a lot. my standard is can I hit a basketball sized target, down to a 6" or 8" gong at 25 feet, is about as far away as I'll ever practice with a handgun. this basic proficiency, if you can call it that, says I can hit COM at pistol distances, good for me - Yay! and then I practice something else or plink cans with a .22 LR just cause it is fun, and I've got the serious part of the trip out of the way.

I guess one could call that OK, or Good Enough ... lol

BJung said:

That's the kind of target you put on the front of your door with a sign that says no trespassers

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I prefer one of these.

Totally depends on the gun and situation. This is my group at 10 yards with an air pistol target shooting my S&W Victory one handed. This is an A for me, among my best ever.



With my Shield, both hands, at 25 yards, all the shots are in the green of a full size B27 silhouette. With that gun at that distance, that’s also an A for me. I’ll usually pull a couple in the white or off paper. For those that don’t know, these targets are 90% green and 25”x45” or so. I’d take a picture but only one shot will fit in my camera view at a time.

DMW1116 said:

Totally depends on the gun and situation. This is my group at 10 yards with an air pistol target shooting my S&W Victory one handed. This is an A for me, among my best ever.

View attachment 1072050

With my Shield, both hands, at 25 yards, all the shots are in the green of a full size B27 silhouette. With that gun at that distance, that’s also an A for me. I’ll usually pull a couple in the white or off paper. For those that don’t know, these targets are 90% green and 25”x45” or so. I’d take a picture but only one shot will fit in my camera view at a time.

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10m air pistol is a tough game - all my pistol shooting in now slow fire precision, strictly one hand, open sights, I'm too old to run around now. . Many years ago I was competing in UIT/ISSF (Olympic style) shooting, When I started in the early 80's I was using a S&W Mod. 14 .38 (Target version, single action only), one or two were using the S&W 52's, a few were using Korth or Manurhin revolvers but the vast majority were using the new breed of purpose built target pistols, Walther, Pardini, FAS, DES 69, Hammerli etc. these pistols were almost all in .32 S&W Long. The pistols could only shoot the full wadcutter, usually a 98gn HB with a low charge of something like 1.4 gn Bullseye.

At the range we had good facilities (for the time) with a Ransom rest and chronograph, and, as I made the inserts for the various pistols to fit the Ransom rest, I had the opportunity to test a good few of these pistols with a variety of loads. Although these pistols only had an effective barrel length of 4-5 inches they were nearly all capable of keeping them in the UIT 10 ring (1") at 25 yards.

I soon switched to a .32 Pardini to remain competitive, but the Mod 14 was just as accurate from the rest.
This is my 10m home range - 35 years ago I would have been disappointed with a 95, now with my 70+ eyes and shakes anything over 90 is a bonus. (Pistol is a Marini 162ei with electronic trigger)

And this ones a Walther CM2 (with homemade shooting specs)

I’m pretty sure my Victory will hold a 1” group at 25 yards with good ammo choice and my Blackhawk shoots just over that, 1.03 to 1.15 inches, but needs full magnum 357 loads to do it. The wadcutter loads actually shoot bigger groups. In comparison they’re so slow I nearly have time to run down range and move the target where I want before the bullet gets there. My 9mms have never shot that tight. About 3” at 25 is as good as I’ve been able to do with them even with hand loads. I know they’re not intended to, but I can hope can’t I?

Not to be evasive but I'm going to say someplace between A and D. Not up to winning at Bullseye but probably above average.

lightman said:

Not to be evasive but I'm going to say someplace between A and D. Not up to winning at Bullseye but probably above average.

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On my wife's spa days in the "big city" of Gatorville (where The Swamp is) I drop her off then go to the indoor range 20 miles south. The "average" shooter I'm seeing there is thrilled if 80% of their shots hit the paper at 15 feet.

My buddy and I shoot together sometimes. So we shoot 10-15 yards most often. If I have a 2” group but above center, nd he scatters holes all over the target, some even missing a paper plate (our most common target), but one lands in the dot we draw for a bullseye, he “got it”, while I missed. He figures he’s shooting as good or better than me at that point.

I consider missing the paper entirely as horrible (at close range) even if you get some of them on paper and or “got it”.