Target feedback - Winds blowing to the southwest

Hi, I’m working my way through the protector academy and ran the level 01 shooting qualification today. This is the one where you put 10 rounds down range at each of 5 distances (3, 5,7,10, and 15 yards). I’m using an M&P .380 EZ with Winchester FMJ target ammo. I was doing ok until I got out to 10 and 15 yards which you can see on the attached target. Thoughts? Note I’ll be seeing the instructor I work with in the near future but thought I would see what the community thinks. Thanks!

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Are you right handed? If yes, here’s a few tips.

  1. Trigger control, you are pulling the trigger to hard
  2. Left hand needs to prevent the pistol from going to the left and down.
  3. No deep breathing
  4. Left hand 55% power right 45% power

Exercise more, Its easy if you focus.

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Thanks Jesse! Great tips. And yes, right handed.

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Based on this, where on your finger do you press the trigger?

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Me

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Looks like mine.

They have me working on my grip. :slight_smile:

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I tend to shoot low and left when I get lazy with my grip.

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Like others said - grip and trigger.
If you see more holes on left shooting from longer distance - work on your trigger press and grip.
You should be good within few boxes of ammo :wink:

And - no rush. Aim, sight alignment, sight picture, inhale, trigger press - find the wall, exhale, sight picture, bum.

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The first thing I saw and had to look at your text was that you do not have a ragged hole in the middle into which most of your rounds from 3 & 5 yards went into. That leads me to two conclusions straight out of the gate, you don’t have a consistent aiming point or sight picture and or you don’t have a consistent grip/stance. In this case I would lean towards the grip/stance since there are only 4 (roughly) rounds ANYWHERE to the right half of the target. The farther out we get the more we subconsciously “hold tighter” in an effort to make things more accurate, this unfortunately means for some folks that the front hand (left) squeezes harder and pulls the rounds low and left. That you stated your rounds drifted off later in the string would lead me to believe that your stance or foot placement is off and the longer you hang the gun out there the the more your body is getting tired and relaxing to "center"which is actually to your left.

There was a USCCA video where they talked about closing your eyes and swinging the gun around and then opening your eyes to see if you are still on target to find your Natural Point of Aim (NPA). In this case I would recommend you close your eyes and just hold the gun out there for a count of 50 and then swing it around a bit before opening your eyes. You may find that by moving your right foot back 1 - 2" will net big gains for consistency. Not having been there to watch the rounds as they impacted the target it is all guess work on my part but no hits on half the target and a whole lot of vertical leads me to that thought as well as holding your breath.

Cheers,

Craig6

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I think near the first crease in my finger but I’ll be sure to pay more attention to that next time to make sure.

Thanks! Great suggestions here for me to try.

The various training videos talk about the critical 7 yard distance and criminal closing in within 2 seconds. Outside of that range the decision has to be made to flea versus shoot, and other alternate options. I could see why shooting from 10 yards makes sense too, but why is the certification from 15 yards if we potentially should not shoot from that range for self defense. I know the TX church shooting is an example of shooting from further distance, but is the 15 yards accuracy just a verification of solid close range accuracy or why certify from that distance?
Thank you,

What certification are you talking about?

JoeBarFly talked about protector academy level 01 shooting qualification. Sorry, not certification, but qualification.
Thank you.

Their qualifications, their rules.
Most of self defense classes, exams, certifications use max 30 feet distance.

Best example is CCW exam in IL:
10-20-30 feet ( or 5-7-10 yards) shooting (distance depends on the Instructor)