This chart is helpful in regards to diagnosing pistol shooters, but you should identify the error by looking at the student as well:
Shooting good groups, but grouping low, is usually the case where a shooter is looking at the target, and not the sights, or if he is pulling the weapon down, by breaking the wrist.
If he identifies that he is indeed looking at the target, and not his sights, have him focus on sight alignment for a few strings until he gets it right. If you suspect that he is pulling the weapon down, ie breaking the wrist, there is a test you can do that I have had success with.
Have the shooter hand you his weapon, make sure he has cleared it, and then tell him to face the target. You state that you will load the gun, and then hand it to him. Instead of chambering a round, you just rack the gun with no magazine in it, then insert the magazine. You have handed him a weapon that will go "click" when he presses the trigger. If he is anticipating the recoil and trying to counter it by pulling the weapon down, you will see it instantly.
When grouping high it indicates that he is breaking his wrist up, ie pullng the pistol up. Look at the shooter, and try to see if it is taking place. You also need to make sure that he is not covering the target with the front sight post, but bisecting it.
For your zeroing issues, the issues stem from one of two things:
1. Change in position during the course of fire
2. Lack of concentration
Even a minor change in position, for example stock placement, cheek weld etc, can cause a shift in POI. Make sure that the shooters are in a good, comfortable position before shooting, so they don't have to change their body during the zeroing string.
Lack of concentration is just that, they lose focus either by being tired from having an uncomfortable position, from taking too long to aim, or that they just want to get the last shot off. To counter this, you need to stress the importance of a good, comfortable shooting position, conduct the zero process without time constraints telling them to take their time, and have them take breaks or start their aiming process over if they feel their eyes getting strained.
A couple of pointers. I would reccomend you shoot at least 4 rounds per string when zeroing. I don't know how you guys do it, but we work out the mean point of impact based off the group, and adjust that MPOI towards the center of the bullseye. In order to accomplish this, you need your shooters to group consistently, as well as shooting enough rounds to produce valid data. 3 rounds is just to few, IMO. Depending on ammo constraints, my view is that people focus too much on hitting the bullseye, rather than focusing on actual groups. Unless the group is off paper, or just about, I suggest not adjusting POI until the shooter has fired 5-6 consistent groups. That way you are not adjusting a shooter who is just shooting poorly, in which case the adjustments could be off du to him making mistakes.
Last, never tell people to shift their point of aim. They must always aim at the same spot for every string. If not, you will be stuck chasing shooter error instead of actually fixing the problem.
Last edited by Arctic1; 08-30-12 at 09:40.
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Originally Posted by J8127
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