So the first thing I do when I’m having an accuracy problem is give the gun to my hubby to shoot - he’s a hard-core competitor and can shoot almost anything accurately. If he has the same offset problem I do, it’s the gun and it goes in for a sight alignment or whatever else it needs to get it right.
If it’s not the gun, then it’s gotta be me.
FWIW, it’s almost never the gun. hmmm…
Do you have a high-accuracy shooter who can cross-check your gun function by shooting it?
Sometimes it’s just gun-fit - can’t get enough finger on the trigger (large or deep front-to-back grip), or getting too much finger on the trigger (small or shallow front-to-back grip) or bad geometry for your hand (have to keep adjusting grip to get purchase on it, or to find the sight alignment). Lots of practice overcomes these things (my hubby is accurate with everything) but I find that it’s a big disadvantage to start with a gun that doesn’t fit.
Ok, you experienced shooters - I’m going to take a shot at explaining what might be going on here - please feel free to check my work and correct me if I get anything wrong @Sheepdog556@Shepherd@45IPAC@James ? Anyone else?
@Snowflake1911 Are you right handed? Low left in a right-hander is usually trigger jerking or squeezing fingertips while pulling the trigger.
Do you dry-fire practice? for Jerking you might want to practice slow squeeze slow release while dry firing. You can work on full release or release to reset and then squeeze again. steady slow steady slow steady slow. Watch for any deflection of the muzzle during your squeeze and release. If you’ve got a SIRT or laser that will stay on during practice (not just during the “shot”) you can watch for the red-dot on your target to dive to the left.
For squeezing with the fingertips during trigger pull, you’re kind of pulling the trigger with your gripping fingers as well as your trigger finger, causing the grip to roll a little to your left, and lowering the muzzle a little. Sympathetic squeezing is a normal reflex - when you curl one finger, the other fingers on the same hand want to curl with it. one way to check is to position your strong hand as if you are holding the gun but with no gun and with your thumb sticking straight up - trigger finger extended as if along the slide, middle-through-pinkie curled as if they were around the grip. Now take your index through the same motion you use for pulling the trigger and releasing - carefully watch to see if you are also curling the middle-through-pinkie fingers in sympathy with the trigger pull. You want to make sure your trigger finger where it contacts the trigger is coming straight back as well. If you’re getting some sympathetic curl, you can work on that exercise with no gun until you get steady grip fingers while squeezing the trigger finger back.
You may also want to check your grip position - too little/too much finger on the trigger can cause this so you may need to adjust your grip to get more/less finger on the trigger. Improving the fit and stability of your weak hand and how it meets the strong hand along the heel-to-thumb junction between the hands can help stabilize the gun as well and prevent that left/down roll.
@Zee WOW Zee, thanks for all the input!! Yes I am right handed. Never thought about squeezing other fingers with trigger finger causing an issue. I’ll have to watch that and see. I do have a laser target system I can use at home but haven’t had it out in a while. I’ll try that again and see if I can narrow it down more.
“one way to check is to position your strong hand as if you are holding the gun but with no gun and with your thumb sticking straight up - trigger finger extended as if along the slide, middle-through-pinkie curled as if they were around the grip. Now take your index through the same motion you use for pulling the trigger and releasing - carefully watch to see if you are also curling the middle-through-pinkie fingers in sympathy with the trigger pull. You want to make sure your trigger finger where it contacts the trigger is coming straight back as well. If you’re getting some sympathetic curl, you can work on that exercise with no gun until you get steady grip fingers while squeezing the trigger finger back.”
Just tried that, I can do that easy with no movement of middle thru pinky fingers and I have tried adjusting grip. Also thought maybe my nails were interfering with getting a good grip so I shortened them before I went to the range this last time.
Absolutely could be the difference. The Kimber will have a better trigger(single action vs striker), probably weighs more, and is thicker. Small, thinner, lighter guns are harder to shoot for most people than larger, heavier guns. The bigger gun absorbs the recoil better, is easier to get a better grip on, and the long barrel adds sight radius. Add in the better trigger of a 1911 type pistol. One final thought, most people will agree .45 recoil is a stout push, where 9mm is more of a snappy flip up, which could be affecting your aim. I shot a friend of mines Kimber. My accuracy with it, made it look like I couldn’t shoot my carry gun to save my life, no pun intended. It has made me really contemplate a 1911 commander for edc.
Cool! It’ll be interesting to see what that tells you. Can you use it with the offending firearm directly? Since you do better with one gun than you do with the other it would be interesting to see if you get different results with each of them.
My husband said something similar… I would love to be able to carry my Kimber as my EDC but I just haven’t found a way to carry on body easily. I’m seriously considering buying another Micro 9 or looking at the new EVO. I bought a Micro 9 almost immediately when they first came out and had nothing but problems with it but I think that could have been because it was so new and they hadn’t worked the kinks out yet.
Yeah Zee, I have a laser for all of my guns so I can practice at home with them. I use the LaserHit system. It’s not the best out there but it works for my needs since I can set it up anywhere in the house using the tripod and my phone.
Agreeing with what @45IPAC said… also it looks like there’s a little geometry difference in the grip to barrel angle of your two guns. If your grip and sighting is well adapted to the kimber, the same mechanics would have your Springfield be just a little nose-down. That could result in consistently low shots if you dont correct your sight alignment to compensate. the smaller grip could result in having a little further reach into the trigger and cause you to push the trigger a little left at the end of the stroke. Where does the trigger contact your trigger finger? Pad? First crease? You might try adjusting that for more or less finger on the trigger and see if it matters. With the laser trainer on that gun you might get specific details of how/if changing that position changes your shot.
One more thing you might try, I have a pachmeyr grip sleeve for one of my guns… it flattens up the grip just enough to make it work for me.
I have noticed with the smaller grip my trigger finger tends to land further in at first crease. I have to be conscious of it and make sure I adjust and bring it out so that I make contact at center pad of finger. I played around with that at this most recent range trip. You can see why I was frustrated after focusing on trigger finger contact, pull and grip position and still getting the same results…
I think I will have someone check my sights just to make sure I don’t have an issue there. Hopefully with that and using the laser at home, I can narrow it down and determine what I need to do to either correct the issue.
Thanks again everyone for the comments and suggestions!
Have you tried shooting with it on the crease deliberately? If you reposition to the pad, and the stroke distance is too short, you will push the trigger to the left at the last part of the stroke.
My hubby, who shoots everything accurately - huge to tiny grips - shoots on the crease on small guns and on the pad on larger ones. Granted, he’s got a zillion rounds to his credit, but with his big hands he has to adapt trigger positions to fit the gun or he’d have to sell half of what’s in his safe.
You might try that and see if deliberately on the crease improves the left offset.
Yep, I’d be frustrated too.
I think getting your sights checked is a good idea, if that needs to be fixed, you want that out of your way.
Life FINALLY stopped getting in the way. I got to an actual range with a buddy and his dad (both Marine Vets, buddy is a reserve officer for the local PD, his Dad a retired corrections officer. Both into competition shooting). Got my Romeo 4H and Juliet Magnifier on my Saint and got it close to zero (forgot my lube and they weren’t running ARs so they didn’t have any) before it was too dry to keep going.
Handgun time! 200 rounds later…Oops I should have been taking pics after each mag. My target was the big green one for my blind butt.
So center target is after 4 mags (stock 15 rounders). I had 1 flyer each mag.
2 or 3 more mags aiming at the face.
My buddies Dad pipes up after I’ve shot and loaded all these mags by hand and says lets see how accurate you can be now that your fingers are sore. Shoot the “8” on the right. He called out a few other numbers and I tried to be as accurate as I could be. Afterwards he pointed out that I have a tendency to lean back when my arms get tired, usung my back to raise my arms. He had some other great pointers too. It’s going to take me a couple days to digest everything we went over.
I just noticed this wasn’t the pic I thought I had. This was only midway through. The other didn’t take. Bummer.
The numbers on the right and left, “7 & 8” on both sides were shot out completely at the end. I wish my phone had actually taken that pic.
hmmm… 
@Sheepdog556 @Shepherd @45IPAC @James ? Anyone else?
