Definitely concur with others' thoughts on getting closer and resting the pistol to find out where it is shooting. After that, one has to look at what one is doing right and wrong to shoot the pistol.
Now, I do not pretend to be a great pistol shot, but have learned some things over the years you may find useful. I served a number of years with some of the finest Pistol Shooters in the Corps and worked on some of their guns. (One might think I would have picked up some things by osmosis, if nothing else. :wink: :grin: )
I had fired "Expert" for a number of years on annual qualification, but I never considered myself a good pistol shot until I went through the NRA's Law Enforcement Instructor's Course. For whatever reason, "the lights finally came on" during that course, though they did not teach anything I had not been taught before. I guess I finally opened up my thick head and allowed good info to come in. My pistol scores went up dramatically from the low end of Expert Qualification to the high end and it was much easier to shoot the better scores than it had been to shoot the lower scores.
I took that knowledge and gave instruction to my Junior Marine Armorers, most of whom never fired the full Qualification Course with a pistol. They enjoyed almost a 100 percent qualification rate and a surprising large percentage shot Expert, even for their first time out. Here are the basic things I taught them.
1. You HAVE to establish a natural point of aim with a pistol and especially the newer you are to pistol shooting. This means you close your eyes and then raise and hold the pistol where it feels "good." Then open your eyes. If you are NOT in the center of your target, you have to move your feet and upper body. Then close your eyes and try again. It may take four or five body/feet adjustments (or more) to get to the point where when you open your eyes, your sights will be right on target.
2. You need to "dry fire" your pistol in practice. This means with an unloaded pistol: BUT you MUST **** and use the percussion hammer or flintlock ****/hammer and allow it to fall so you are also practicing follow through. You have to have a nipple protector on a percussion pistol and use a piece of wood shaped like a flint in the ****/hammer of a flintlock pistol. It is a good idea to do this at least 10 times per night as you learn to pull the trigger and keep good follow through.
3. Now this MAY be the most difficult thing to learn/accept. It probably kept me from shooting much better scores for a long time, because I was too thick headed. You MUST always strive for perfect sight alignment, NO MATTER how much you naturally wobble around the center of the target as you hold the pistol and pull the trigger. You want a smooth trigger pull while maintaining perfect sight alignment and the gun should "go off" as a surprise. DO NOT attempt to quickly pull the trigger when the sights are in the center of the target as you WILL throw the shot off center that way. Let the gun "go off" when it will while you maintain perfect sight alignment and hold the pistol steady for as long as a time as the bullet would go through the target.
Do these three things and I can absolutely guarantee you will see your scores raise.
Now, if you decide to shoot the pistol a whole lot, you will develop a better grip, stance and your "wobble area" will get smaller and you will shoot even better scores. You THEN may try more advanced techniques, BUT you MUST have the basics down pat before going there.
Wish you all the best.
Gus
