Diagnose shooting problem

jonk

I have a coworker who wants to get her CCW permit. Divorcee whose ex sort of taught her to shoot, but was impatient and never really coached her on HOW to shoot.

I've been taking her to the range every week or two. She has a Bersa Thunder .380. Ok gun, I can shoot it well enough that I could easily pass the CCW course of fire.

She keeps having the issue though, that the gun is shooting low and left. I know the sights are 'on' as I'm hitting close to dead center with it. Oddly enough, she shoots my big .45 Colt really well, and my Ruger Mk 2 also, so it's something she's doing with this gun in particular.

My gut says that she's not giving the trigger enough finger regarding the pulling left, but I'm open to suggestion on that... and what would cause going low?

Cheechako

Low and Left (LL) is a term us old NRA pistol shooters used to describe flinching. The opposite, High and Right (HR), described pushing.

Use the old coaching technique to spot what she's doing wrong. That is, you load the pistol for her so she doesn't know if there's a round in the chamber or not. It will only take a "shot" or two for both of you to see what is going on.

Ray

tsr1965

Not sure how she is built in stature, but it could be this Bersa, is just not comfortable to her, like th Colt, and the Ruger. Also, something to be aware of, is that just because the sight is on for you, it might not be right on for someone else. Although, you seem to have disprooved that with the Ruger, and the Colt.

One more thing, is that smaller guns(and I know the Bersa Thunder 380, is not that small), tend to be harder to shoot, for the more experienced, let alone the lesser experienced ones. Those DA/SA auto's take some doing for a well experienced handgunner to get used to. Perhaps she just needs more coaching, and time, which she was not afforded by her EX?

Best

rufe-snow

Depending on the CCW regs, in your State of residence? Let her shoot one of your guns to get her CCW. After she has it. She can use the Bersa she has now, for a carry gun.

Long as you teach her about firing multiple shots into the COM of the bad guy. At the close defensive range, that personal protection handguns are normally employed at. Her flinching isn't going to make any difference.

I understand some States require their CCW applicants to qualify with the handgun(s) they intend to carry. If that is the case in your State she has to continue practicing with the Bersa.

charliemeyer007

I have found that with fixed sight handguns how I hold them influences where they shoot. It doesn't take all that long for the feed back loop to adjust point of aim to point of impact.

More time shooting the larger and heavier 45 Colt will help.

andrewsw16

Try having her put more trigger finger in. That should pull it back to the right. [:)] Have her concentrate on the front sight, not the target. That should bring the impacts up. She is probably looking OVER the front sight, at the target, and that pushes the muzzle down. [:)]

perry shooter

Buy her some snap caps /dummy rounds for the 380 then as the other post stated You load the magazine with some live and some dummy rounds .Mix in odd order tell her you are doing this to teach her how to clear a dud round . Then let her shoot the live ones and eject the dummy ones you just watch Dont say anything . see if she sees her mistake. and then & only then talk to her about the cause. The smaller Lighter the pistol the more perceived recoil . She is Flinching. Let her dry fire and then make sure she is not flinching on even this then start the dummy and live round drill again.

Txs

You don't say whether she's shooting right or left handed, but if she's right handed...

First look for the easiest to identify - Is she jerking the trigger?

Is she coming too far off the trigger between shots, causing her to slap it? To identify this as an issue have her hold the trigger completely to the rear after the round discharges, slowly release until she feels sear reset, then reverse and begin slow pressure to the rear for the next round.

Another possibility is that she may be experiencing sympathetic squeezing of the other fingers due to the feel of that Bersa's much smaller frame in her hand. The smaller the frame the tougher a pistol is to shoot accurately. Fixing this is a matter of her focusing on isolating trigger finger movement from the rest of her hand.

kimi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CxKebNf38A

Pretty good instructions. This man uses the term "press" and I use the term "mash". What you don't want her to do is anticipate the shot like she is most likely doing which results is flinching/slapping/jerking the trigger. To avoid this she needs to have total concentration on sight alignment, while the process of firing a shot like the fellow in the video shows, comes strictly as second nature. What perryshooter says will speed up her progress.