Shooting Basics (I need Help!)

[1GunLover61]

Okay, putting my pride aside, I must admit that I am not a good shooter

I am just getting back into shooting after almost 40 years of not using a gun at all (Long or Handgun). I am doing so with personal defense as my primary goal but I also love to shoot targets, etc... I have taken the CC Class and am waiting for my permit to come which should be about any time now. I had thought about getting the CC permit off and on for a while but I recently had a person I know to get murdered in his back yard sitting in a chair drinking a glass of tea and that was my 'game changer' to take personal defense serious.

So, I have purchased a Shield 9 and think it's a great gun (so far as I know what to look for in a CC handgun). I have put about 500+ rounds through it and am not satisfied with my shooting ability. At 10 yards or less, I am fairly decent. Anything beyond that I would have to hope the sound of the gun going off would scare the potential threat away.

Here's what I have discovered about myself and my shooting just from Forums and Youtube, etc.... These are where I need instruction on.

My 'strong hand' is my right hand. I have always shot handguns with my right hand but shoot long guns left handed.

My 'dominant eye' is my left eye. I never have heard the term 'dominant eye' until the other week in a local gun store and I did the 'test' that determined I am 'left eye dominant'.

Can I train\shoot my handgun right handed with my dominant eye; or should I train to shoot using my right eye? Should I teach myself to shoot left handed with a handgun? *I actually did this with several clips and seemed to hit the targets a little better than with my right hand. The only problem was in chambering a round and changing the clip. Also, my gun is 'right handed' as well as my holster.

Any advice is appreciated!!!

 

[k22fan]

For handguns angle your head to shoot with both your dominant eye and hand. Keep both eyes open to retain your depth perception and better peripheral vision.

 

[Deadctr]

1gun,
I am blessed with a dominant left eye too. Right handed, but left eye dominant.

When I started shooting handguns, it just felt right to use my strong hand (right) to be my trigger finger. Couldn't hit anything. I was disappointed with my shooting, to say the least.

I then tried shooting left handed. Voila! While not a champion caliber shooter, I now respectably hit what I'm aiming for.

Did it seem awkward at first? yes. Did it take a few hundred rounds to feel natural? yes. Was the effort worth it? YES.

Also, remember, your focus is on the front sight. Rear sight and target will be a bit blurry. But keep the front sight in sharp focus.

I do hope this helps. Hitting what your aiming for makes shooting quite a bit more enjoyable.

 

[ATF]

You need to watch some Jerry Miculek and other videos on You Tube and find out what works for you but it's not that difficult to train your right eye if you want to shoot right handed. I can only shoot with both eyes open when I'm not using the sights. In a nutshell hold and steady the gun with your right hand and grip very firmly with your left and lock your wrists to reduce muzzle flip but there's a lot more to it than that. Welcome to the forum

 

[hobby-gunsmith]

shooting basics

well, for starters, the cc class you completed did not show you the basics. Dominant eye should have been covered in the class. Secondly, semi-auto magazines are called just that-magazines not clips. It sounds like the class was one of those gun show or local gun store classes that registers many students and skip the basics of pistol shooting. I would suggest taking the basic pistol class by an NRA certified instructor that will cover all the basics of shooting. That course is eight hours and it covers all you need to know for basic shooting. If you are a right hand shooter and the dominant eye is your left eye, the correction is move the gun over to the left eye if that is your dominent. Easy move and you do not have to transition to left hand shooting. However, in practicing, you should be able to shoot from either hand if the event your strong hand is out of commission and you need to use your weak hand. There are a number of Qualified NRA instructors in your area. You do not have to be a NRA member to take the course but if you own a firearm, you should be a member since they are the ones that are fighting for our second amendment rights plus great membership benefits. Start with the NRA home page and scroll down to firearms training and check out the instructors in your area and their background training. Learn the correct way with qualified instructors and start slow and work up to the level you want to achieve. The NRA has basic courses and advance courses for any level of student. Good Luck

Nick

 

[HCH]

You don't quantify your results, but I believe the Shield is more of a 10 foot shooter, not for anything over 10 yards. I wouldn't worry if you can't make one ragged hole at 10 yards.

 

[Indynick]

H-S thanks for the idea. I just signed up for the NRA Defensive Pistol Class.

 

[RobzGuns]

Since you've been out of shooting for a few decades, it may be well worth a few bucks spent on taking an 'Intro to Pistols' course. They can not only coach you through the left eye / right hand issue, but also get rid of any old 'Bad Habits' you may have picked up over the Years.

When my Wife decided she wanted to learn to shoot, I signed us BOTH up for the Intro class and found I had picked up quite a few bad habits since the 1960s. Now I try to take at least 1 type of class a year, so I can get some 'eval' time, as well as to build new skills.

Taking an Intro course could also be a great way to transition to shooting Lefty with your Left-Eye dominance. Of course... You really WANT to get proficient at shooting Lefty anyway, in case for some reason (sprain, fracture, whatever) you might not be able to use your right hand.

In the shooting club I belong to, we always have at least Two stages that require shooting with our Non-Dominant hand. It's good practice.

 

[redwood0_7]

It's nice to be able to shoot 50 feet or so but not really needed for sd shooting. If you need to defend your life it will probably be much closer. More like arms length or a little further. If you are 10 yards away from your assailant you may have other options than to shoot. Just my opinion. I do most of my practicing at a few feet (frangible ammo) on steel targets out to 5 yards.

 

[1GunLover61]

Thanks, this all helps a lot!

 

[JWH321]

40 some years ago when I first started out on a range with an instructor, he one day suggested to me that my best bet was to wait till the bad guy got close enough that I could throw the gun at him. Neither of us thought I would ever qualify.

Two of things he taught me was to control my breathing -- relax, take a deep breath -- don't hold your breath, and to wait till I knew I had the target in my sights. He preached target acquisition when I couldn't spell it. He would never let us fire more than a hundred rounds at a session because he told us our muscles would never learn anything when we were tired.

It takes lots of practice and lots of ammo. Keep at it, it'll come.

 

[2hawk]

Great advice given, and I just add my.02- you have a golden opportunity to take advantage of instruction now, BEFORE you develop any bad habits that you will have try to unlearn later. Take an intro course, and put in some range time. It will be a solid investment, well worth it imho.

And, since I didn't see it yet- if you can swing a .22 for training it can help quite a bit. Of course, you still have to find ammo, but that is getting somewhat better.

Good Luck!

 

[Big Stick]

Great advice above. Only thing I can add, is that being able to shoot abidextorously is something everybody who plans on defending themselves with a gun should have a basic handle on, if not complete proficiency. You never know when your strong side may be compromised, and you have to go weak side with your weapon/stance/grip, etc....

 

[poolie]

At the range I rarely practice beyond 10 yards. As others have mentioned, any farther away and self defense becomes a grey area. Besides, my eyes aren't that great anymore. Do know that your Shield is capable of 3" groupings at 10yrds... probably better just not by me. It's a great gun.

The one thing that made huge improvements in my accuracy was to start shooting with both eyes open.

That and practice, practice, practice....

 

[Beretta Dawg]

Eveyone has given you great advice, so I will just give you a little concerning the cross dominant eye. I'm also a right hand shooter with a dominant left eye. I started out just moving the gun over to be in front of my left eye. Then I started to get into rifle shooting and needed to use the right eye but wanted to keep both eyes open. An instructor tsught me that if you close your left eye as you are bringing the gun up, your right eye will keep the dominant role when opening the left back up. If things do stsrt to get a little fuzzy and your left starts to try and take over again, just squint the left for a second and the right will take over again.Over time that right eye will become the natural focus. It worked for me.

 

[Rastoff]

...angle your head...

Don't do this. When you lean your head over it throws off your sense of the horizon. This will make it difficult to keep your aim when moving left or right. The best way to do it is to keep your head as level as possible.

The beauty of a handgun is that you can just move it under your dominant eye. So, all you have to do is move your hands over to the left a little.

Here's another thread that might help as well: http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-...-coach-why-am-i-shooting-low-right-lefty.html

 

[bobknn]

New here with similar issue. Left handed with right eye dominant. I typically shoot low and right and I believe my problem is that when I move the gun to the right I also tilt my head imperceptibly to the right . I usually shoot with my wife and she has noticed me doing that. She tells me I also touch the trigger at the first knuckle. When I make a very conscious effort to correct these issues, and take my time I start hitting dead center.
Shooting a rifle is a whole different can of worms.

 

[pushpullpete]

1gunlover61, there is a lot of great information here & some not. More than 5 decades ago my father taught me to shoot, he was then as I am now an NRA member. That said, as in grade school being left handed really wasn't an option and I have spent my life shooting right handed. Fast forward to one day my wife & I joined a new range & due to an injury to my arm I could not shoot. After watching her 20-25 min I said screw it and picked up the FS40 left handed and proceeded to shock myself with the best 20 yd target ever. 2 days later I bought my first left side holster & have not looked back. Take some classes and experiment a little. Make some friends to shoot and learn with, be SAFE & enjoy. Being a southpaw is not wrong or a bad thing, it's an individual thing. :-D

 

[BongoBoy]

...putting my pride aside...

So, if you've actually done that, then you're already 95% of the way home. Without a doubt in my mind, the No 1 block (for guys) to learning to shoot.

You're well on your way to good shooting already!!

 

[smitret]

Left eye, right hand

Don't do this. When you lean your head over it throws off your sense of the horizon. This will make it difficult to keep your aim when moving left or right. The best way to do it is to keep your head as level as possible.

The beauty of a handgun is that you can just move it under your dominant eye. So, all you have to do is move your hands over to the left a little.

Here's another thread that might help as well: http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-...-coach-why-am-i-shooting-low-right-lefty.html

I agree with "don't angle your head".

It doesn't take much movement to rotate the gun to see the sights with your left eye.

Good Luck