My Instruction was Defeated by Sight Picture

[Acronym Esq]

On my way out of the range yesterday, I took 10 minutes to help a girl in her early 20's with her rented VP9. Her target was evenly covered with holes all over it. She was new, trying, and struggling.

I helped her build a firing grip and instructed her on sight picture, sight alignment, trigger pull, and dry fire. Didn't seem to matter - I couldn't stop her anticipatory flinching. Even at 3 yards, all her shots were loosely grouped about 4 inches below the target.

When I got home, I realized she wasn't flinching. I gave her the wrong instructions on the VP9 sight picture. My Glocks have a "6 O'clock hold" where the bullet hole goes a little higher than the front sight. I think that VP9 was probably sighted for a "Combat Hold" with the bullet hole under the front sight dot.

Just thought I would share, so that others may learn from my failure.

acronym 11/25/2020 11:05 AM

[Tex1961]

Thanks for sharing that information... My Ruger GP-100 is the same... Bullseye every time with a 6 o'clock hold.... And sure enough.. I let someone else shoot it. they are hitting high until I remember to let them know...

Side note as well... New, small and mostly lady shooters.. Complaining that their semi auto keeps jamming up... First make sure and work with their grip.. A large percentage of the time they are simply limp wristing.

[cmgee67]

That’s crazy. When I shoot my glocks I put the front sight where I want it and that’s where the bullet goes. I don’t use a 6 o’clock hold. Maybe it’s because my sights are after market?

[troglodyte]

I have two XD9SC. One prefers the 6:00 hold while the other prefers the combat hold. I swap them out for carry. I figure at self-defense ranges it's not going to make a lot of difference.