Low and left, what do you do?

[gun'sRgood]

My Wife seems to get just a little too much pleasure in teasing me about shooting low and left. Not all the time, I mean, I don't do it all the time. The more I look around the more prevalent shooting low and left seems to be. There also seems to be a considerable amount of info on why it's done and the how's of how to stop it. But there are a lot of why's and how's. If you've got a solution, I'd love to hear it.

 

[WheelGunMan]

Shooting left could be a result of your grip. To big or to small for your hands maybe. The low part of it could be from recoil anticipation. Happens a lot... even seasoned shooters. Learn to embrace recoil as your friend. A dry fire routine will help... even better if you incorporate a laser cartridge into it.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

If it's "not all the time", then it's you and not the gun or ammo.

Could be any number of things. Like being tired, you grip changing during shooting, whatever.

The cure for this is a prescription for more range time.

 

[LaneP]

For me the key is releasing the striker or hammer without disturbing sight picture all the way through the recoil cycle, using a firm grip (but not a death grip). You can confirm you are either pushing the muzzle or anticipating recoil by benching it up on a solid, supported surface and slowly and deliberately grouping it at the same distance. Managing recoil is very psychological but it's the issue I see most when people are not landing their bullets where they intend.

 

[Hartkopf]

I was a pretty lousy shot so I spent several range trips shooting only DA revolvers. Long slow trigger pulls and went slow. Then went back to my semi autos and got knee deep in brass for 3 months. I'm not great but WAY better than I was.

 

[1942bull]

Proper grip and proper alignment of pistol, wrist, arm. Then dry fire practice, As @LaneP wrote:

For me the key is releasing the striker or hammer without disturbing sight picture all the way through the recoil cycle, using a firm grip (but not a death grip)

 

[CDW4ME]

 

[Walkalong]

Dry fire practice, then bring that mindset to a loaded gun.

 

[Tallball]

I'm a bad trigger jerker and really have to work on it.

Yeah, shooting revolvers DA really helps.

When I shoot a revolver lately, I just put four shells in it randomly, spin and close the cylinder without looking, then start firing DA. When I'm having a bad day I will always jerk the empty cylinders down and to the left. Seeing it so obviously like that makes it much easier to correct.

I try very hard to keep looking at the target and sights all the way through the trigger squeeze and recoil.

Practicing that way helps with my semi-auto shooting, too.

I guess you could do the same thing with dummy rounds and live rounds, if you didn't have a revolver.

 

[murf]

call your shots by keeping an eye on the sights while the shot goes off. you will be able to see a "dive" to anticipate recoil, a downward jerk to anticipate recoil, a push forward of your palm to anticipate recoil, a loosen of your grip at the shot to assist recoil, etc.

the solution is to not do those things by letting the gun do it's thing (quit anticipating) which is a difficult thing to do especially with a hard recoiling gun.

luck,

murf

 

[.38 Special]

Dry fire, especially without any kind of target.

With an empty gun and a safe backstop, align the sights - they need to be seen perfectly, with the same amount of light on all sides. Don't focus on anything but keeping those sights aligned - don't look at what you are trying to hit, or anything else, which is why this is best done without any target. Something like a big blank wall is perfect.

Now, maintaining that hard focus on perfect sight alignment, begin pressing the trigger. The goal is to do it without any impact on sight alignment. Again, don't worry about keeping the gun pointed at any particular "target" - it's nothing but sight alignment and trigger pull. Practice until you can pull the trigger all the way through without losing focus on the sights, and without the sight becoming misaligned.

When you can do that on demand, head to the range with a supply of notebook paper or blank cardboard. Or even just use the back of regular targets, if it doesn't make it feel like you're "wasting" them. Start with the same dry fire drill at the blank page. When you've got it grooved in again, try it with a live round. If you've done it correctly, the last thing you saw before recoil was perfect sight alignment, because you were focused on nothing but the sights, and carefully pulled through the trigger without disturbing anything.

If that's how it went, keep firing the same way - one perfectly controlled round at a time - and you can keep shooting as long as that works. If that's not how it went - or if it works for a while but then you find yourself "peeking" at the target or otherwise not paying the sights your full attention - then do some more dry firing.

That, in a nutshell, is 90% of slowfire shooting. If you master it, you'll be a better handgun shot than the overwhelming majority of shooters.

 

[Zerodefect]

Bad grip.

Dry fire practice.

 

[DR505]

Try less trigger finger. Your finger can be pushing against the frame as you press the trigger. You could be flinching. Hard to tell without watching.

For dry firing lay a dime flat on top of your front sight and press the trigger. If the dime falls off, you need to change things up until it doesn't.

 

[RashQuestion]

Me too on dry fire & practice, practice, and more practice!

Don't let anyone get under your skin about your shooting results!!! That's why we all shoot trying to improve! I'm always working on getting better with some days doing better than others.

I'm too cheap for the "Knee Deep in Brass" as Hartkopf said so I dry fire with a laser set up and work toward consistency.

Keep up the good work!!!

Happy new Year and God Bless!!!

 

[sigarms228]

Try the drill in the video below at the range. It will help you identify if you have a flinching problem but it sound like you do.

When experiencing it at the range spend time dry firing on the target you were shooting at, maybe a dozen times being slow and deliberate about the trigger release. Do the drill gain and if still flinching repeat dry firing. It may help to say to yourself "press the trigger" while shooting at the target slow and deliberate as that can help take your mind off the expected blast and recoil.

Of course a good grip can help reduce or eliminate flinch due to allow you to manage recoil better if your current grip is less than optimal. Video below may help on that. Also important to isolate trigger finger from rest of your strong hand fingers moving when shooting.

 

[WC145]

Aim high and right.

 

[chicharrones]

Aim high and right.

Lol. That deserves a timeout.

 

[JR24]

Dry fire, as has been said. Consider a laser bullet system like ITarget pro to give yourself some feedback while you work on fundamentals.

As for specific causes for low and left, usually jerking the trigger or inadequate off hand grip strength. At least from my experience. If it’s more low than left it’s usually anticipating and breaking the wrists, which I often do if I haven’t been shooting a lot

 

[WrongHanded]

Shoot left handed. Then it'll be low and right.

 

[film495]

I miss the same way, not infrequently. To fix, I have to adjust my grip, I have big hands and anything stock or out of the box usually does not fit me. Trick for me was to not really squeeze with my right shooting hand, but to squeeze between left and right hands. almost no squeeze at all with first three fingers on shooting hand. I practice sometimes just picking up a target, and seeing if I can bring my trigger finger into and out of the trigger guard, several times, and then dry fire. I'm not great. but eventually can figure out if my grip needs adjusting. by itself this is only part, as you also want your grip, or I do anyway, to have the muzzle flip be as perfectly vertical as possible. can only do that one with live fire, far as I know.

 

[Bazoo]

Try to time your flinch and your trigger jerk together so they cancel each other out.

I have found, when shooting two handed, the support hand was pulling me low left. It's because of several things. A death grip, flinch I'm the supper hand, and lack of follow through. Least that's what I've been working on. I don't do it when shooting one handed or with a 22.

 

[Frank Ettin]

My Wife seems to get just a little too much pleasure in teasing me about shooting low and left. ...If you've got a solution, I'd love to hear it.

In my experience shooting low left is often connected with anticipating recoil and/or jerking the trigger. The trick is to learn to press the trigger to cause the gun to fire, without disturbing the index of the gun on the target.

My instructor group teaches regular NRA Basic Handgun classes, primarily to folks having no prior experience with guns. We have had a good deal of success helping our students learn to press the trigger to make the gun fire without disturbing the index of the gun on the target applying the following:

1. One essentially presses the trigger to make the gun fire without disturbing its index on the target by applying a smooth press straight back on the trigger with only the trigger finger moving. Maintain your focus on the front sight (or the reticle if using a scope) as you press the trigger, increasing pressure on the trigger until the shot breaks. Don't try to predict exactly when the gun will go off nor try to cause the shot to break at a particular moment. This is what Jeff Cooper called the "surprise break."
   
   
2. One wants to place his finger on the trigger in a manner that facilitates that. Usually, the best place for the finger to contact the trigger will be the middle of the portion of the finger between the first knuckle and the fingertip, and that part of the finger should be perpendicular to the direction in which the trigger moves.
   
   
   • With some triggers, e. g., heavy double action triggers with a long travel, that placement might not provide enough leverage to work the trigger smoothly. In such cases, the trigger may be placed at the first joint.
     
     
   • In either case, the trigger finger needs to be curved away from the gun sufficiently to allow it to press the trigger straight back without the trigger finger binding or applying lateral pressure to the gun. If one has to reach too far to get his finger properly on the trigger (or turn the gun to the point that the axis of the barrel is significantly misaligned with the forearm), the gun is too big. (For example, I have a short trigger reach and can't properly shoot some handguns, like N frame Smith & Wesson revolvers double action.)
   
   
3. By keeping focus on the front sight (or reticle) and increasing pressure on the trigger until the gun essentially shoots itself, you don’t anticipate the shot breaking. But if you try to make the shot break at that one instant in time when everything seem steady and aligned, you usually wind up jerking the trigger.
   
   
4. Of course the gun will wobble a bit on the target. It is just not possible to hold the gun absolutely steady. Because you are alive, there will always be a slight movement caused by all the tiny movement associated with being alive: your heart beating; tiny muscular movements necessary to maintain your balance, etc. Try not to worry about the wobble and don’t worry about trying to keep the sight aligned on a single point. Just let the front sight be somewhere in a small, imaginary box in the center of the target. And of course, properly using some form of rest will also help minimize wobble.
   
   
5. In our teaching we avoid using the words "squeeze" or "pull" to describe the actuation of the trigger. We prefer to refer to "pressing" the trigger. The word "press" seems to better describe the process of smoothly pressing the trigger straight back, with only the trigger finger moving, to a surprise break.
   
   
6. You'll want to be able to perform the fundamentals reflexively, on demand without conscious thought. You do that by practicing them slowly to develop smoothness. Then smooth becomes fast.
   
   
   • Again, remember that practice doesn't make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.
     
     
   • Practice also makes permanent. If you keep practicing doing something poorly, you will become an expert at doing it poorly.
   
   
7. Many people are uncomfortable with the idea of the gun firing "by surprise." They feel that when using the gun for practical applications, e. g., hunting or self defense, they need to be able to make the gun fire right now. But if you try to make the gun fire right now, you will almost certainly jerk the trigger thus jerking the gun off target and missing your shot. That's where the "compressed surprise break" comes in.
   
   
   • As you practice (perfectly) and develop the facility to reflexively (without conscious thought) apply a smooth, continuously increasing pressure to the trigger the time interval between beginning to press and the shot breaking gets progressively shorter until it become indistinguishable from being instantaneous. In other words, that period of uncertainty during which the shot might break, but you don't know exactly when, becomes vanishingly short. And that is the compressed surprise break.
     
     
   • Jeff Cooper explains the compressed surprise break in this video beginning at 36:04. This article by Jeff Campbell and this article by Jim Wilson might also be helpful.
     
     
   • It may help to understand the way humans learn a physical skill.
     
     
     • In learning a physical skill, we all go through a four step process:
       
       
       • unconscious incompetence, we can't do something and we don't even know how to do it;
         
         
       • conscious incompetence, we can't physically do something even though we know in our mind how to do it;
         
         
       • conscious competence, we know how to do something but can only do it right if we concentrate on doing it properly; and
         
         
       • unconscious competence, at this final stage we know how to do something and can do it reflexively (as second nature) on demand without having to think about it.
       
       
     • To get to the third stage, you need to think through the physical task consciously in order to do it perfectly. You need to start slow; one must walk before he can run. The key here is going slow so that you can perform each repetition properly and smoothly. Don't try to be fast. Try to be smooth. Now here's the kicker: slow is smooth and smooth is fast. You are trying to program your body to perform each of the components of the task properly and efficiently. As the programing takes, you get smoother; and as you get smoother you get more efficient and more sure, and therefore, faster.
       
       
     • I have in fact seen this over and over, both in the classes I've been in and with students that I've helped train. Start slow, consciously doing the physical act smoothly. You start to get smooth, and as you get smooth your pace will start to pick up. And about now, you will have reached the stage of conscious competence. You can do something properly and well as long as you think about it.
       
       
     • To go from conscious competence to the final stage, unconscious competence, is usually thought to take around 5,000 good repetitions. The good news is that dry practice will count. The bad news is that poor repetitions don't count and can set you back. You need to work at this to get good.
       
       
     • If one has reached the stage of unconscious competence as far as trigger control is concerned, he will be able to consistently execute a proper, controlled trigger press quickly and without conscious thought. Of course one needs to practice regularly and properly to maintain proficiency, but it's easier to maintain it once achieved than it was to first achieve it.

 

[Riomouse911]

Try less trigger finger. Your finger can be pushing against the frame as you press the trigger. You could be flinching. Hard to tell without watching.

For dry firing lay a dime flat on top of your front sight and press the trigger. If the dime falls off, you need to change things up until it doesn't.

I’ll use a fired cartridge case as well (sight must be flat on top), works the same way.

OP, if you can get some snap caps have a friend load your magazines and sprinkle some randomly through your magazines. This will rat out a flinch every time.

Stay safe.

 

[SimonRL]

As you can see, there are endless explanations for low and left, but ultimately it’s all about putting in the time and practicing.

One suggestion: 4 inch splatterburst targets. https://www.amazon.com/Big-Dawg-Tar...qid=1641273061&sprefix=big+dawg,aps,95&sr=8-4They help you focus on a smaller, tight zone.
They work. That and lots of practice.

 

[Hartkopf]

If the OP has a true flinch and pushes down in anticipation of recoil and sound, it's all between his ears. Grip and finger placement and dry fire won't help anything when the small explosion slaps him in the face. Shooting is unnatural to most people because they don't like to be slapped in the face. It can be overcome with a different mindset and practice.

Someone posted a long boring video on this topic a year or two ago. It was mind numbing but very helpful. The point to all of it was to say a word to yourself as you slowly pull the trigger. A word in your mind to focus on to help overcome the thought of the slap in the face you know is coming. He used the word "press," which I did not like. I ended up using the word "wait." Tell yourself to "WAIT," don't push down, as you pull the trigger. Say it loud to yourself. Yell if you have to. I like doing this with a DA revolver and leave a cylinder or two empty so you get feedback regularly.