Where to start for a beginner...

I've been shooting a Glock for several years, but I've really spent most of my time with rifles and never had any formal pistol training beyond function and safety.

Now I've got two teenagers getting into the mix and they need something beyond my inexperience to start with. What books/videos are recommended for beginners?

Primarily shooting a Glock 21.

Here's the latest example of my ineptitude at 25 yards!

IMHO, find a reputable basic handgun course (something local will be fine, I'm not talking about a top-class/top-price course at Thunder Ranch, etc. to start off, necessarily) and all three of you take the course together. Just a basic course on fundamentals... then, if you want to take a defensive handgun course, you (or all of you, if there's interest) can do that next.

That basic hands-on course, followed by practicing the principles learned, should serve you better than any book or DVD will, IMO.

Whatever else you do get closer. For most shooting situations 21 yards is long distance for a handgun, especially for someone new. You'll build your confidence if you start out at something like 7 yards and practice at that distance until your control improves. I'd work on trigger discipline.

The Glock trigger is challenging to master, particularly when combined with flinch (which the .45ACP is prone to induce). I would suggest you invest a couple of hundred bucks in an Advantage Arms .22LR conversion kit. The ammo will be cheaper, and the recoil will be very mild... trigger time with .22LR ammo will greatly improve your trigger control and thus your accuracy.

Ammo cost isn't so much of a concern, I reload my own cast bullets for .45ACP (using a LWD barrel for Glock 21). It's under 7 cents a round for me, so no big deal there.

That said, reduced recoil for volume practice isn't such a bad idea, especially for me (carpal tunnel...)

Go to InSights Training in Bellevue WA. They are a world-class training company and get the thumbs up from experienced instructors I know that have trained there.


Videos and books can only help so much. I DO really like Shooting Missology. It's $40 and worth every penny

I like to start new shooters standing four feet away from the target. The student fires one round at a red dot on the target, he then shoots a second round through the first bullet hole. Since you are close to the target you correct the student by evaluating the shot placement on the target. Throw in dummy rounds for the Ball and Dummy Drill which helps a lot. We have to see what we're doing wrong before we can correct out problems. You must work on the trigger reset. The trigger must be reset each shot and a smooth trigger press, no jerking. I believe in the push/pull technique to control the weapon in your hand. Sometimes it's better to have the student shoot at the berm first so they have one element to concentrate on.

Check out www.weaponcrafttraining.com

You may build your confidence shooting at 7 yds. but you may not necessarily build your shooting skills. Hell, Tigerswan has students shoot a substantial amount at 25 yds., as they feel it really shows any flaws in your technique, and these flaws may be masked when shooting at shorter ranges.

Jay

NRA basic pistol course is a good place to start and is inexpensive.

not trying to come off as a smart ass but have you had your vision checked lately? I "knew" that I needed glasses as I got older but it was always too much trouble, time, money... then I finally did it... I'm honestly not sure I ever saw the front sight that clearly before.

The idea is shoot close until you have a very good group and then move it back 5 yards. The group should open up. Practice at that distance until the group gets tight and then move it back. Practice until the group tightens up again. When you are shooting great groups at 50 yards move the target back to seven and increase your speed. The group will open up. Practice faster until the group tightens, then start backing it up again. First accuracy, then speed.

Having a .22 to shoot in between centerfire will quicken the process, have an instructor point out what your doing wrong will cut the time again, but nothing is "necessary" except time and dedication.

From the looks of your target I would guess you have some anticipation/trigger jerking going on, but mostly your shot placement is spread out with little pattern, suggesting a lack of focus on the sights. Remember, you will get a slight spread at further distances so your focus must be practiced and sharp for each shot. That said, I wholeheartedly agree that basic training for all of you would be the best option. It really helps to have a trained professional standing behind you watching every move you make. A good instructor will notice patterns in shot placement, stance, grip, flinching, eye dominance, etc., right off the bat - saving you lots of time, frustration, and money! It's worth the investment and makes for one heck of a fun family outing. Remember, the family that shoots together stays together.

Once you have all received the initial proper training - in person is ALWAYS preferable to books and videos - then I would suggest regular dry fire practice. You want to ingrain that training, the right training, right from the start.

Once you have done all of that I would happily recommend checking out Gabe Suarez "Tactical Pistol", etc., for fun.

My wife said to rotate the firearm 90 degrees so that the sights are aligned on the top of the slide! That is HORRIBLE!!!!

+1 for the live instructor over books and DVD's. They can see what you're doing and correct it right then and there. In my opinion, books and DVD's are more useful down the road after you already have the basic concepts down. Looking at you target, I also agree that you need to work a little on trigger control and the anticipation. For someone that's had no formal training beyond the basic function and safety drills, I would say your target is not bad at all. Good instruction and practice will clean it up a little for you. Take your kids, go sign up for a class and enjoy the time together with them! Good luck!

+1 Find a local instructor, maybe someone who carries a Glock himself. Aside from a revolver, the Glock is the easiest gun in the world to run.

Forget about shooting at 25 yds. Thats for LE. Anyone 25 yds away is worth running from, not shooting at.

Forget using a bullseye target. Get a Q target where you can easily observe white vs black (hits vs. misses). Shoot from 3 yds to 15 yds then score the target. 2 points for the hits on white, 1 pt. for the hits in the black.....then reverse it, 15 yds to 3 yds. Work on improving your white hits (body hits). Aim small, miss small.

Insights is the shizzle. Highly recommended. I have trained with several nationally known instructors and no one comes even close to Greg Hamilton.

Since you are new at this, work on trigger control first.

The Glock has a really two stage feel to it. Take an [SIZE="4"]UNLOADED[/SIZE] Glock (and you're sure it's unloaded, right? Triple check.) and press the trigger using only enough pressure to move the trigger. At some point, usually about halfway through the trigger, you'll notice that the trigger stops moving unless you add more pressure.

The section of the trigger pull that you could accomplish with the lighter pressure is called the "takeup". The point where the pressure required to keep the trigger moving is the actual trigger pull. The "takeup" on the Glock is mainly there to allow the trigger bar to deactivate the striker block. The point where you hit the heavier resistance is the actual trigger pull...the point where the trigger's movement is actually cocking (and subsequently releasing) the striker to fire the pistol.

Often with Glock triggers I see that new shooters try and pull entirely through the trigger in one motion. Generally their results improve by teaching them to treat the Glock trigger almost like a 2 stage trigger where they quickly press through the "takeup" (also called "slack in the trigger") and then once they hit the increased resistance of the "actual" trigger pull, to pause briefly. Then to apply deliberate and ever increasing pressure on the trigger. To understand what I mean by "deliberate and ever increasing pressure" use a mental exercise.

Imagine that your trigger finger is a lever and that on the other end of the lever there is a platform where you place weight to make the lever eventually pull the trigger. Imagine placing 1/4 of a pound of weight on the platform and then adding another 1/4 of a pound steadily until the weapon goes boom.

That's the proverbial "perfect" trigger pull. If the sights are anywhere on target with a trigger pull like that, you will hit...because that trigger pull does not disrupt the aim of the firearm. Probably the best method of practicing the perfect trigger pull at home is to use the case/penny on the front sight drill. The drill involves using taking an unloaded firearm and balancing either an empty cartridge case or a dime on the front sight.



The goal is to pull the trigger in such a way that the casing/dime doesn't fall off the front sight.



Work on developing that perfect trigger pull with dryfire and practice by shooting the smallest groups you can at the range at relatively close distances, say 3-7 yards. Start at 3 with the goal of putting all the bullets through a single hole. (Yes, it can be done even with a Glock). With the perfect trigger pull and a perfect sight picture you should be able to shoot insanely tiny groups at those distances. The key to good accuracy is not mucking with the trigger chasing particular trigger characteristics, it's learning to properly control the trigger. Wait to fool with modding the weapon until after you've established good trigger control fundamentals.

Sights:

What it takes on the sights to make a precise shot at 7 yards is very different than what it takes to make a precise shot at 25. At 7 yards the natural movement of your sights doesn't seem like much on a reasonable target, like this UPC code:



Shot at under 10 yards it wasn't hard to produce that group.

When you move the target to 25 yards, however, suddenly you're looking at this:



With the natural movement of the sights it now looks like your sights are all over the bloody target.

That trips people up. Here's the reality:

That natural movement is there at 7 yards and at 25 yards...and it's the same amount of movement. If you move the gun in a 2" circle around the target at 2 yards and then do the same thing with the target at 25 yards, it's the same 2" circle...but because of the distance it LOOKS like a 3 foot circle at 25 yards. What you have to learn is that the sights can be on the edge of the target and still hit center at those longer distances.



Now my front sight was not sitting right under the orange dot when I fired that 5 shot string. I couldn't SEE the dot at 25 yards. I just tried to keep the sights perfectly aligned and somewhere around the center area of the black, (sometimes the sights were on the left side of the black, sometimes on the right side of the black, sometimes in the top 1/3, sometimes in the lower 1/3 but the sights were in perfect relationship to each other) took the slack out of the trigger, and then executed a proper trigger press. The flyer seen (which is still in the black, you'll notice) came from a failure to properly align my sights. I didn't have that bullseye perfect sight orientation but it still landed in the 8 ring at 25 yards.

What a lot of people do is see their sights moving around and then when they get the sight picture somewhere close to where they want it, they think "NOW!" and then gank the shot, slapping the trigger and anticipating recoil. Learning to get over the psychological fakeout of the ever-moving sights is a huge issue for lots of folks. Learning to understand how to manage the sights is a big hurdle for many. If you can get to the point where you can shoot 1 hole groups at 7 yards your trigger control is where it needs to be. If you don't know how to manage your sight picture at longer ranges, however, even perfect trigger manipulation won't be visible on target.

Note about shooting bullseye: The longer you hang a gun out there the more you screw yourself. One of the most revealing things I've ever seen was watching LAV shoot walkback drills. On more than one occasion I saw him press out, hang for a second, and then bring the gun back into his chest, look down, and then press out again. He was doing a mental reset. Generally after doing that he scored a hit, usually a damn good one. The longer you hang the gun out there the more the sights move, the more the sights move the more pressure you feel to try and pull the trigger at the exact moment that the sight picture looks ideal, which leads to poor trigger manipulation and often anticipation of the shot.

Great post.

Back to something already said, start short, build confidence. The more confident one is, the easier it is for them to make good hits.

Perfect advice. Bullseye targets are awesome for bullseye shooting. Not so much for what you are trying to do. Don't worry about making little cloverleaf groups.
Improved accuracy will come with time and experience.

This.

Some good advice.

Skip the 25 yard stuff for now. Start 5 to 7 feet out with a small dot on a target, say something three inches or so. Work on good trigger skills and slowly move back from there. Shoot slowly and with purpose. Remember fundamentals are all we want starting out, the speed will come later.

Or, better yet take a class with a well known instructor or school. It will save you money in the long run more than you think.

tag

I acutally went and got a lesson. Served me quite well, even if it was 30 mins. Gave me lots of exercises to work on and id'd some key items that I was doing incorrectly. There's no need to go all out at this point, find a local instructor and schedule an hour. It will at least get you in the right direction and will be much more pocketbook friendly than a 400-500 dollar course. You can then take all that saved money and buy ammo for practice! That way when you get ready for the Gunsite/Thunder Ranch etc...you can focus on tactics and honing your skills rather than spending it on the basics.

BTW your original pic isn't ineptitude. Its better than 95% of the public and police at 25 yards. Don't feel bad.

Well said by all in this post. Least you had the sac to post your target and ask for direction.

MAST has a one day fundamentals (level I one day) class on the 20th March 2011 at the Arms Room.

200.00 for all day class.

Best,

MB
MAST Solutions
www.mastsolutions.com

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