jblomenberg16
Grandmaster
Several weeks ago I went shooting with a guy who has some pretty nice 1911's (couple tricked out Kimbers, and Wilson Combat).
I had my comparitively lowly Taurus PT111 with me. We shot at a few 7 yd targets, and he was putting all of his rounds through more or less the same ragged hole. On the other hand, I was hitting the target consistently, but was all over the place, mostly low and left of point of aim. This was kind of concerning, since the Taurus is my self defense gun, and if I was all over the place when taking carefully aimed shots, who knows what would happen if used in a defense situation.
I figured it was probably just the differences in the gun and ammo. My $300 Taurus with WWB 9mm, and his who knows what it costs Wilson Combat .45 with hand loads.
So we swapped guns, and I shot what I thought to be a very respectable softball sized group with his gun, all centered nicely around the point of aim, and he then did the same with mine. That pretty much proved that while the gun was important, the shooter was the most important factor.
My previous grip was the right hand on the grip, with left hand cupped underneath. He was using the two handed grip with the thumbs parallel to the slide. This is similar to the grip that was debated and discussed in another thread.
I tried that grip, and it felt awkward as can be, and the first several magazines that I fired with it were not much better than my old grip. But yesterday I got out and practiced some more, and began to shoot much better, consistently being able to bust stationary clay targets from 5 to 15 yds way.
What I realized is that with my old grip, I was actually pushing the barrel down and left, as well as jerking the trigger (which is why rounds were usually hitting at between 6 and 9 oclock relative to my point of aim). This surprised me a bit, since I though that with a heavy, long trigger pull like my taurus, I would actually pull the muzzle up and right.
Adding my left hand to the grip with thumbs parallel helps me keep the muzzle on target, and resists the pushing / jerking I was doing before. I feel a lot more confident in my shooting now with a two handed grip, but still need to work on technique a bit for single handed shots, or shots from my wifes revolver.
I had my comparitively lowly Taurus PT111 with me. We shot at a few 7 yd targets, and he was putting all of his rounds through more or less the same ragged hole. On the other hand, I was hitting the target consistently, but was all over the place, mostly low and left of point of aim. This was kind of concerning, since the Taurus is my self defense gun, and if I was all over the place when taking carefully aimed shots, who knows what would happen if used in a defense situation.
I figured it was probably just the differences in the gun and ammo. My $300 Taurus with WWB 9mm, and his who knows what it costs Wilson Combat .45 with hand loads.
So we swapped guns, and I shot what I thought to be a very respectable softball sized group with his gun, all centered nicely around the point of aim, and he then did the same with mine. That pretty much proved that while the gun was important, the shooter was the most important factor.
My previous grip was the right hand on the grip, with left hand cupped underneath. He was using the two handed grip with the thumbs parallel to the slide. This is similar to the grip that was debated and discussed in another thread.
I tried that grip, and it felt awkward as can be, and the first several magazines that I fired with it were not much better than my old grip. But yesterday I got out and practiced some more, and began to shoot much better, consistently being able to bust stationary clay targets from 5 to 15 yds way.
What I realized is that with my old grip, I was actually pushing the barrel down and left, as well as jerking the trigger (which is why rounds were usually hitting at between 6 and 9 oclock relative to my point of aim). This surprised me a bit, since I though that with a heavy, long trigger pull like my taurus, I would actually pull the muzzle up and right.
Adding my left hand to the grip with thumbs parallel helps me keep the muzzle on target, and resists the pushing / jerking I was doing before. I feel a lot more confident in my shooting now with a two handed grip, but still need to work on technique a bit for single handed shots, or shots from my wifes revolver.
