So I've been shooting for the greater part of 20 years. I've always shot better with rifles than pistols but I've always scored high either way during qual. I have always had trouble shooting slightly left of my POA. Groups are tight, but still left. I've adjusted my trigger squeeze grip and stance. Still left....  I am right handed but left eye dominate I shoot rifles with my right eye. Could this be the reason I shoot slightly left with pistols?  My buddy is a firearms instructor and he watched me shoot.  I'm not jerking the trigger, he did say I might be using to much finger so I adjusted that, and yet still....shooting left. At this point I'm not sure wtf is going on. Even happens when I shoot my 1911 RO. So it's not set to one pistol.


Any ideas?

So did your firearms instructor buddy not diagnose your problem or what?

Trigger control is usually the low-hanging fruit.  Try getting even more finger in the trigger and see what happens.


You mentioned trigger "squeeze".  It's probably better to conceptualize it as trigger "press".  Because you press it straight back.  "Squeezing" brings to mind the tightening of the whole hand during the trigger press, which is not good.

No he didn't. I think I did. I think I'm milking the trigger. I noticed I was also squeezing the grip as I am pulling the trigger. Gonna head back out soon and verify.

 
Let us know what happens.

Try this

Hmm watched video still confused lol. Have not had time to shoot :(. Working a lot.  Soon as I can get out there I will.

If you have been shooting for twenty years it will be VERY hard to undo habits you have instilled ( if this is even the case!)
If you truly are shooting consistent tight groups ( one ragged sub one inch hole inside ten yards and under four inches at 25) adjust your sights. No reason at all to fight this- if your groups are small you have developed a consistent way of shooting. Contrary to popular belief guns are not sighted in at factories a machine or human bangs a sight into a dovetail within a certain amount of tolerance and it is boxed and shipped.
We all look at sights differently which is why people zero rifles and not everyone will have the same zero- pistols are no different.
For me I actually have to hit a bit of left wind on most pistols even glocks to shoot center -
I have placed in the top ten in national competitions so there is nothing wrong with my technique
When I shoot a pistol for group testing ( my typical 25 yard glock group freehand runs under three inches)
I usually end up needing to make a small windage adjustment

One of the all time great IPSC and steel shooters was Brian Enos.( now retired)

He shoots righthanded/left eye dominant.

The key to keeping pistol rounds on target, and not going left, is isolating the trigger pull from the grip.

if you combine grip and trigger, as you press the trigger, you are also squeezing the gun left.

make them separate

try gripping with your weak( left) hand about 60% and relax your right to about 40%

hard to explain on a forum.  . . . .  come out to a USPSA match, and find an A-class or above shooter to teach you

OP, I had a similar experience recently. When my department switched over to M&Ps from Glocks, my POI was about 3" up and to the left from POA at 7 yards. After a sight adjustment, problem solved.

Popping left happens because there is too little finger on the trigger, stick your finger in further like suggested and see if it helps. There used to be a bullseye diagram that was sectioned off showing hits out of center and what caused them by yheir location on the target.

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a little more support hand helps with this

I used to have an issue with consistently shooting left from 15yds and out, anything inside of that was dead center especially during faster rates of fire. After working with an instructor, we found that there was nothing wrong with my trigger work, it was all in my grip. At longer distances and slower shooting I would subconsciously relax my left hand just enough to create a push to the left,  as my right hand was still gripping with the same strength as any other shot. I did not have this issue at close ranges or rapid fire because I would grip 100% with both hands to stay in control of the gun. I found the cure by simply gripping at 100% or just short of it to avoid allowing myself to relax one hand more than the other. It was a simple fix once I found my issue but getting there drove me crazy.

I don't remember which big name instructor said it, may have been Haley; but their take on it was that it is harder to judge what 40,50, or 60% grip strength is than it is to judge 100% so just play it safe with 100%... Hopefully that helps.

I agree with those who are pointing to grip as the culprit. I disagree strongly with the idea that a certain amount of finger has to be in contact with the trigger in order to press it correctly.

The targets with the circle in the middle and the "pie slices" that go around it which show what error you're committing are next to useless. I've almost never seen somebody use one of those targets to successfully diagnose a problem and then fix it (the only exception being jerking the trigger).


Here is what I recommend you try: grip the crap out of your gun with both hands. This 60%/40% stuff goes right out the window under stress (assuming you are training to fight with your guns). In reality, a stress grip will be more like 100%/100%, so just grip the gun hard. How hard is too hard? If you're shaking to the point that you can't keep the sights aligned, then back off. Otherwise, you're not gripping too hard.


Next, shoot this drill: at a distance of 10 feet, sight in on a 1" bullseye - a simple hand-drawn dot will do just fine, but you can print it up or use a 1" target sticker if you want. Take your time. Treat each shot as an individual shot where you pull the gun down from the target between each shot. Slow fire. Really focus on gripping that gun hard and doing everything you can to keep the front sight centered on the target.


There are a lot of people that deride the "white knuckle" shooting grip that I promote, but it works like magic. If I notice my groups getting a little loose, then I retighten my grip. If students can't quite get their rounds tight enough, I reiterate the same thing. It solve a LOT of problems.

OP,
Here's is a little anecdotal evidence from my experience. Shot consistently left
Only with my glock 26, other pistols were fine, on the advice of another shooter
I went ahead and violated every marksmanship instructor I've ever had and mashed
My trigger finger in there as far as I could get it (almost up to second knuckle)
Son-of-a-bitch it worked, I was astounded. Groups lined up dead center.
From now on my glock gets finger mashed :)

I think everyone here is spot on. you arent isolating your trigger finger from the grip.  Your support hand might not be doing its job also. Placing your finger further into the trigger guard may remedy the issue because it will pull the gun to the right and counteract the bad grip technique. However its just a band aid to the real problem. There are tons of videos on youtube to help correct your issue, they helped me a lot. maybe also try these targets.https://www.homesteadnotes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/465/2017/01/Pistol-shooting-chart-1.jpg

Do you close your left eye when you shoot? If not you might be compensating by pulling the front sight to the left.

The first thing you should do as a cross-dominate shooter is to block out the center of your dominant eye with a piece of tape the size of a dime so that only the shooting side eye sees the front sight.

Then you can progress into trigger control and grip confidently.

I find that grip makes a bigger difference than the trigger finger for shooters with some experience.  As said before, you could be squeezing the grip a certain way at the same time you're pressing the trigger.  Could be the natural tendancy to move your other fingers when moving your trigger finger, or tensing up prior to the trigger breaking.

Dryfire practice helps, but more importantly mixing dummy and live rounds in your handgun highlights it better.  Also having a firm grip (not too firm) helps.