I’ve been checking my shooting performance from the precision point of view for some time, shooting one handed. An old friend contacted me on social media, checking to see if I was afflicted and couldn’t shoot two-handed.
I assured him I was fine (as I can be), but I was working one-handed shooting to firm up the fundamentals. That’s a noble aim.
One thing I have the most problem with, in my view, is a lack of consistent grip. Changing guns all the time to do feature content doesn’t help, but that’s an excuse. I knew I needed to work through that. I ‘ve taken to shooting slow fire (on the timed- and rapid-fire targets) from 25 yards one-handed. The aim is to be accountable for each round fired.
Shooting a five round string right-handed, marking the target and making notes and following with the same procedure left-handed gives me a chance to (1) assess my ability and (2) to find variance in grip leading to pulling the rounds off center.
That was my aim when using the ace training gun, a rimfire analog to a commonly used pistol, the GLOCK 44. Loading it with Federal Auto Match meant that, regardless of how well I could shoot, the gun and ammo definitely played a role in results. It also meant I couldn’t use either as an excuse for poor performance.
First, the gun worked with the ammo. With 22 rimfire in semi-autos, that’s always a relevant issue. Second, I found a considerable tendency to “GLOCK” the shots left when shooting right-handed. That’s been an issue for me forever. It seems that, as soon as I find “the solution®” it happens again shortly after – causing me to reinvent the wheel.
Transferring hands to see if you trend pushing the opposite direction with the other hand gives you a clue.
It happened.
Right-handed, there was a miss off the left side of the repair center, a serious “jab” that ruined the effort. There was a left “8” followed by a cluster of three 9-ring hits left and a bit high.
I marked those hits, scoring the target as marked with 35/50, a miserable performance.
With the left-hand, all hits went to the right – except an outlier, high left. All hits were on the repair center. Before you comment on the lousy shooting – it was – note the windage error: to the left when shooting right-handed, to the right (with an exception) when shooting left-handed. The result was 46/50, still not good for slow-fire on a timed-rapid fire target.
Hits marked in black are from the right-hand, in green from the left. Each hand pushing opposite directions gives a starting place for correction – and shows it’s not the sights.
That’s a grip issue. It could be that my grip fails to put my trigger finger in place for a perfectly flat, straight-back trigger press, pushing the gun away from the shooting side. It could be that all fingers are pressing when the trigger is pressed.
Perhaps sideway pressure is exerted on the gun by the gun-hand finger tips.
I don’t know, but I know where to start looking.
As you can see, adjusting the sights is a no-go. It’s a hand gun, not a hands-gun and it can be shot with either hand.
The good news is that the gun worked, the ammo fired and all hits stayed inside the backstop. And that I have a place to start looking for solutions, that’s important too.
The journey is worth more than the destination. I learn more with each round.
— Rich Grassi
