Larger pistols are more accurate than smaller ones. Larger pistols will fit more peoples’ hands than smaller ones. Longer barrels mean higher muzzle velocities which mean flatter bullet trajectories. Lighter, high-velocity bullets are more accurate at common pistol ranges (out to 50+ yards). Heavy bullets are more accurate at longer ranges (100+ yards). Smaller calibers are cheaper to shoot, which means you can practice more. Smaller calibers mean less recoil, which in turn mean faster follow-up shots, or more people can comfortably shoot it. For semi-automatic pistols, double-action only (DAO) (AKA Quick Action) pistols are less accurate than double/single-action (DA/SA) or single-action (SA). Expensive guns aren’t necessarily accurate or shoot well often due to limits of the user. Your gun is more accurate than you are.
Always try every firearm you intend on buying before you buy it. Try to go to a range that carries that firearm type and test it. Make sure you’re comfortable with gripping, aiming and handling it.
Treat every visit to the range as an opportunity to learn.
Prone: You need to practice lying on the ground. Your stance on the ground should be such: lay on your belly. Then roll slightly to the firing side. Place your support knee and elbow down on the ground. You will be a bit sideways, but your firing arm will be completely flush with the ground with your head resting on it looking down the sights. This allows burden-free breathing and a very stable platform. Crouching: This can give you a very stable platform for shooting accurately. Put your firing leg behind you and essentially sit down on the heel of your foot. Your firing knee will be on the ground and your toe. Rest your support elbow on your support knee. You are in a tripod position (support foot, firing toe and firing knee), and you are in an arrangement where you can move quickly (practice moving periodically to and from the crouching position).
When a shot lands left of the target for a right-handed person, it means they are squeezing the whole gun instead of just the trigger when they are firing. When a shot lands right of the target for a right-handed person, it means they either have too much finger on the trigger or they are pushing in with their grip-fingers on the firing hand. Shots very seldom land high, but when they do, it sometimes means the shooter is anticipating the recoil and pull up before a shot. If a shot lands low, it is often because the shooter is either mashing the trigger (gripping the trigger and the gun, and pulling too quickly) or more likely because they are anticipating the recoil and thus pushing down on the gun before it actually fires. Anticipating the recoil is one of the most common reasons a person cannot shoot a gun accurately. The person will expect the gun to recoil, so before the round has fired, they will move their wrist, pointing the gun down or up, depending on the shooter. A very easy way to identify this is by handing the person a gun they are very familiar with. Make sure it is unloaded, but tell them it is loaded. When they line up their shot, and pull the trigger, they will move the gun themselves. To break this habit, here are a few techniques. The simplest is to concentrate on your trigger pull. Point in to the target and slowly pull the trigger. Just keep building pressure as slowly and evenly as you can. It could take up to 10 seconds for the gun to fire. The purpose is to get a “surprise break” meaning that you don’t know when the gun is going to fire, thus you can’t compensate for it. A gun with a smooth trigger and a crisp break are more likely to prevent this situation as you are less likely to feel when the gun is going to fire as your pull the trigger. The second technique is essentially the same, except it removes all possibility of the user anticipating the recoil. Point in to the target and keep your front sight on the target as best you can. Have a friend put their finger in the trigger guard and pull the trigger for you (either your finger on the index point, or on the trigger under their finger). Make sure the person actually doing the pulling does it very slowly and keeps their hand (mainly their thumb) away from the back of the gun (where the slide will clip them). This method is very awkward, but it will prove that trigger pull is one of the most important elements in firing a gun. Many shooters, even experienced ones, flinch without realizing it. Anticipating the recoil can manifest itself as subtle movements that are masked by the actual recoil of the gun, and therefore go unnoticed by the shooter or observers. You can easily test this using a snap cap http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Snap_cap. As stated in the link, “A snap cap is a device which appears similar to a standard firearm cartridge but contains no primer or projectile and is used to dry fire the weapon. Snap caps usually contain a spring-dampened false primer which absorbs the force from the firing pin allowing you to safely test-fire the gun without damaging the components. ” Have a friend load your gun for you, but replacing one loaded round with a snap cap of the same caliber, positioned in the magazine (for a pistol) or cylinder (for a revolver) at random. As you proceed to fire all rounds, you’ll eventually find the snap cap, but you won’t know it until after you’ve pulled the trigger. At that moment, it will be obvious to you – If your site picture is rock steady, you’ve mastered the weapon’s recoil. If the gun jumps in your hand like a live round just went off, you need more practice. This is a simple, inexpensive test, but the results may surprise you.
After you move the target back a time or two more, you will find that you are able to practice and eventually be able to consistently hit that chest-sized target at further and further distances. At some point, go back to the close target, and impress yourself at how well you are able to make tight groupings. This way you give yourself more confidence as you are able to see marked improvement.
At 100 yards (91. 4 m) there is significant bullet drop (about 10-15 inches for a standard . 45), and wind becomes a bit of a factor. While standing you may find you can go further than 100 yards (91. 4 m). Push yourself and find your limit. While prone our crouching with a support, you will find you can land consistent shots out to 200 yards (182. 9 m). Terminal ballistic abilities at 200 or more yards for the most common pistol are questionable. At very long distances heavier bullets hold a greater percentage of their energy due to aerodynamic coefficients.
