Ryan, as I read your posts I can't avoid the conclusion that you have some fundamental misconceptions about shooting. I strongly suggest saving your money and getting some solid, professional instruction. There is really no good substitute for having a qualified instructor watch you and comment on what you're doing.
Let me mention where I'm coming from. I'm an NRA certified instructor in Basic Handgu, Personal Protection Inside the Home, Personal Protection Outside the Home and shotgun. I teach with a group of other instructors, and we have put on regular Basic Handgun class pretty much every other month. The class is ten hours or so. Very few of our students have handled, let alone shot, a gun prior to the class. At the end of the class every student (except for one I know of recently) is shooting 2 to 3 inch groups at seven yards with a variety of guns -- from a .22 to a .44 magnum.
I've also had a fair amount of training myself, including a couple of classes at Gunsite, a class with Louis Awerbuck and one with Massad Ayoob.
A handgun is the most difficult type of firearm to master. And there is no short cut to proficiency. And practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Practicing improper techniques will only ingrain bad habits further eroding your performance.
Shooting low is almost always a sign of poor trigger control. The first principle of accurate shooting is trigger control: a smooth, press straight back on the trigger with only the trigger finger moving. Maintain your focus on the front sight 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."
By keeping focus on the front sight 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. Of course the gun will wobble some on the target. 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.
Also, work on follow through. Be aware of where on the target the front sight is as the shot breaks and watch the front sight lift off that point as the gun recoils – all the time maintaining focus on the front sight.
And again, let me emphasize that while practice in very important, practice doesn’t make perfect. It’s “PERFECT practice makes perfect.” More frequent practice shooting fewer rounds, but concentrating hard on what you’re doing, will be more productive than less frequent, higher round count practice.
Practice deliberately, making every shot count, to program good habits and muscle memory.
Dry practice is very helpful. You just want to triple check that the gun is not loaded, and there should be no ammunition anywhere around. When engaging in dry practice, religiously follow Rule 2 - Never Let Your Muzzle Cover Anything You Are Not Willing To Destroy." As you dry fire, you want to reach the point where you can't see any movement of the sight as the sear releases and the hammer falls.
Finally, some instruction is always a good idea. I try to take classes from time to time; and I always learn something new.
Think: front sight, press, surprise.
not that gangster sideways crap. That is a 90 degree turn. I am talkin half of that or less