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Old 04-10-2016, 01:50 PM
walleyeb1 walleyeb1 is offline
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I'm sure it's me not the gun, but been trying to fix my low left shot for awhile now. Improved a bit but nowhere near where I want to be.

I'm right handed and left eye dominate. I also have very small hands. I'm using a standard thumb over thumb grip, somewhere around 70/30 grip hold and been doing a lot of dry fire practice. Gotten to where 9 times out of ten during dry fire practice with a dime on the front site it doesn't fall.

But when I go out to the range I inevitably end up low left.

Any help would be great!!!
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Old 04-10-2016, 02:04 PM
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Shield .40 shooting left

Check out this thread. It is one of many on the subject. I posted a couple of pictures of a change in my grip that helped me with the problem.

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Old 04-10-2016, 02:50 PM
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Sometimes the low and left can be caused due to anticipation if the recoil. During dry fire practice your brain knows there will be no bang when the trigger is pulled so the flinch doesn't happen. Try letting a buddy load a couple mags with a snap cap somewhere in there. When you hit the snap cap there will be no bang and you can pretty well tell if you flinched of not.
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Old 04-10-2016, 04:02 PM
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Try using less of your trigger finger. Try centering the trigger between the finger's joint and tip. Take your hand and make a fist with the trigger finger pointing at an object on the wall. then mimic pulling the trigger and watch the hand's movement. It naturally will go low left if right handed and low right if a lefty.
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Old 04-10-2016, 04:06 PM
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Originally Posted by patrickd View Post
Try using less of your trigger finger. Try centering the trigger between the finger's joint and tip. Take your hand and make a fist with the trigger finger pointing at an object on the wall. then mimic pulling the trigger and watch the hand's movement. It naturally will go low left if right handed and low right if a lefty.
That didn't work for me. I had to reposition my hand to get a deeper grip on the gun. That way I could hold a more solid grip. The thread I linked above has pictures of what I changed and a short video of the change in stability.

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Old 04-10-2016, 08:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by walleyeb1 View Post
I'm sure it's me not the gun, but been trying to fix my low left shot for awhile now. Improved a bit but nowhere near where I want to be.

I'm right handed and left eye dominate. I also have very small hands. I'm using a standard thumb over thumb grip, somewhere around 70/30 grip hold and been doing a lot of dry fire practice. Gotten to where 9 times out of ten during dry fire practice with a dime on the front site it doesn't fall.

But when I go out to the range I inevitably end up low left.

Any help would be great!!!
I had a similar (I am left handed) low and to the right issue. I got an apex sear, put it in myself, and problem gone. IMHO, This is a fix anyone with a little patience and the ability to follow video instructions can do. It helped me a bunch. Good luck and good shooting.
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Old 04-10-2016, 08:29 PM
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I don't know exactly why you hit low left. Usually that is the symptom of having the trigger finger in too deep because the shooter needs the extra force to break the trigger and it pulls the whole hand and gun down and over. My son has a Shield and complained of the trigger being ****** as is. He too went with an Apex trigger. He tells me it is a whole different gun and shooting experience with that trigger setup. A great aid is one of those lasers that look like a cartridge. Dry firing with one will let you see the dot move on the wall when you pull the trigger. Anyways, let us know what you come up with as a solution.
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Old 04-11-2016, 12:13 AM
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As mentioned, the 'Low' is usually anticipation, while the 'Left' is usually twisting the pistol during the last fraction of a second at trigger break, due to trigger finger placement... But usually that might cause the dime to drop during dry fire (which you say isn't happening during Dry Fire).

Everyone's hands are different and the trigger finger placement that achieves a straight rearward trigger press for one person MIGHT not be the same trigger finger placement for another. For me... I needed to change from Mid-Pad, to the 1st joint crease, while others needed to do just the opposite.

To see if you're twisting, focus on a fixed spot on a wall and see if the front dot twists left when the trigger breaks.

Of course... Like anticipation, this may only be happening during Live Fire practice.

Last edited by RobzGuns; 04-11-2016 at 12:14 AM.
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Old 04-11-2016, 09:31 AM
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if you can do the dime on the front sight trick, then it seems you are more than half way there regarding a good smooth straight trigger press. It could still be the anticipation of the "bang". you might need to shoot from a bench rest to help eliminate the jerking or anticipation. then you need to find the "sweet spot" where your finger should go on the trigger.
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Old 04-11-2016, 11:49 AM
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I've come to the conclusion that the gun shoots differently when shot slowly and deliberately, than when shot quickly without carefully squeezing the trigger. When I shoot carefully, letting the trigger release surprise me, I can keep 10 out of 10 rounds in a 4 in circle at 10 yards, right on POA. When I shoot it like a target pistol, its right on. But, I didn't buy the Shield to be a target gun. Its a small, easy to conceal, SD gun. Put two in center mass of the BG... quickly! Shooting like that, the gun shoots left. Its a result of the size and weight of the gun. Shooting quickly, I don't expect the gun to shoot the same as when I shoot slow and deliberate. Shooting quickly, the trigger pull is less controlled. More jerk than squeeze. The trick is to learn how to hit the target when you know you've gonna be jerking it left.

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Old 04-11-2016, 01:22 PM
walleyeb1 walleyeb1 is offline
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Thanks for all the various tips/ideas. During a dry practice session I did notice one thing that I did after several reps. As I said I have very small hands and I caught myself sliding my right hand up towards the front of the grip ever so slightly. So instead of having the the rear of the gun firmly high in the u of my hand it ended up more at the base of my thumb with my hand too far forward on the grip.

So that's a starting point, I'll go on from there as needed after I've got that corrected. I'll post updates on progress, thanks all.
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Old 04-11-2016, 01:45 PM
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Just one other suggestion....make sure your finger is coming straight back during the pull sequence. My finger position on the trigger is at the first joint, but I have a tendency to try to move the tip of my index finger toward my thumb (left side of the gun) during the cycle.....which causes me to occasionally "push" to the left....especially during rapid/combat firing vs slower target type practice.
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Old 04-14-2016, 11:41 AM
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A short update, some improvement. On the attached target, the lower left group in the red circle was just normal shooting, the upper top right of the red circle I was making sure I was gripping the gun firmly in the U of my hand, a little better.

Now the orange circle: received some additional advice from a friend. "Try loosening grip with left hand, take index and middle finger off grip and just use ring and little finger. You might have too strong a grip with left hand, try this and see what happens after a few shots. If this helps add the fingers back to your grip with less pressure."

Yep, it helped!
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Old 04-14-2016, 12:24 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickd View Post
Try using less of your trigger finger. Try centering the trigger between the finger's joint and tip. Take your hand and make a fist with the trigger finger pointing at an object on the wall. then mimic pulling the trigger and watch the hand's movement. It naturally will go low left if right handed and low right if a lefty.
This is wrong. If he's a right handed shooter and he's shooting left, he should use more trigger finger. OP, try using as much trigger finger as possible without drastically altering your grip. If you use too little trigger finger as a right handed shooter, you will push your shots to the left. You can remedy this by using more trigger finger. If you're still shooting left, especially low and left, you're either slapping the trigger or anticipating the recoil.
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Old 04-14-2016, 12:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickd View Post
Try using less of your trigger finger. Try centering the trigger between the finger's joint and tip. Take your hand and make a fist with the trigger finger pointing at an object on the wall. then mimic pulling the trigger and watch the hand's movement. It naturally will go low left if right handed and low right if a lefty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by walleyeb1 View Post
A short update, some improvement. On the attached target, the lower left group in the red circle was just normal shooting, the upper top right of the red circle I was making sure I was gripping the gun firmly in the U of my hand, a little better.

Now the orange circle: received some additional advice from a friend. "Try loosening grip with left hand, take index and middle finger off grip and just use ring and little finger. You might have too strong a grip with left hand, try this and see what happens after a few shots. If this helps add the fingers back to your grip with less pressure."

Yep, it helped!
Don't loosen your grip with the left hand. Make sure the wrist on your left (support) hand is locked. I even put some pressure on the slide with my support thumb and pad of the hand below the thumb.
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Old 04-14-2016, 12:38 PM
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Watch these vids.



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Old 04-14-2016, 01:36 PM
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Don't loosen your grip with the left hand. Make sure the wrist on your left (support) hand is locked. I even put some pressure on the slide with my support thumb and pad of the hand below the thumb.
I actually had too strong of a grip with my left hand, almost like a death grip. I was crushing the fingers of my right hand with my left hand grip. My trigger finger is between the middle of the pad close to the knuckle. If I try to get any more finger than that my right hand slides down on the grip, my hands just too small.

That last video about nailed for me, getting that left index finger up on the front of the trigger guard allows me to get a firm left hand wrist lock, and prevents the death grip.
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Old 04-14-2016, 01:58 PM
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slow is smooth. . .smooth is fast.

trigger press should be the same motion at any speed.
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Old 04-15-2016, 12:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by walleyeb1 View Post
I actually had too strong of a grip with my left hand, almost like a death grip. I was crushing the fingers of my right hand with my left hand grip. My trigger finger is between the middle of the pad close to the knuckle. If I try to get any more finger than that my right hand slides down on the grip, my hands just too small.

That last video about nailed for me, getting that left index finger up on the front of the trigger guard allows me to get a firm left hand wrist lock, and prevents the death grip.
I see what you're saying. You're right, you don't want to crush your right hand with your left hand. However, the part of your left hand that is in contact with the slide and frame should have pressure on it, and the wrist should be locked as well.
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