I wish I could come to the range with you and shoot. We could have you hitting silhouette size chicken targets at 50 meters in no time. I am NOT a good standing off hand shooter. I shoot a lot of 40 round silhouette matches and my scores were usually around 11,12, or 13 out of 40 until about two years ago. I shot 13 out of 60 and was embarrassed to the max. My next standing gun was my .22lr and I promised myself I was NOT going to miss 47 out of 60 targets. I didn't. I hit about 30. I changed the way I was standing. I changed the way I gripped the Contender. I SQUEEEEEEEEEZED the trigger.
Here are some things that also helped me:
The Contender does not recoil or hold like a Glock 21. You have 10" of barrel out there wobbling in front of you. Rather than a standard overhand grip, I use what is called a push-pull grip. My elbows are slightly bent and my main hand is pushing the gun away as the other hand is wrapped around the first hand and pulling it back. Your two hands are basically applying pressure from each side of your grip equally forcing the gun to center itself in front of you. The forward pressure is keeping the gun aimed and the pulling pressure is keeping the barrel up. .
As the gun fires the only movement should be in your elbow or shoulders. DO NOT move your wrists. Keep them straight. With the glock you may have your wrists roll a little with recoil. As the slide goes forward you come back down to your target. The bullet has long ago left the barrel. With the Contender, you have to follow thru. You have to hold that gun in place until the bullet leaves the barrel. With the 44 mag, the Contender will push you back first, then will move upward. This should be a smooth and even bend in your elbows. Don't let your thumb hit you in the forehead as both your hands come back and then up with the recoil.
How heavy is your trigger. If you are straining to pull the trigger, you are pulling yourself off the target. You want to have a light, but crisp trigger that you can SQUEEEEEZE as you hold your sights on the target. You can relieve some of the trigger pull by adjusting the sear engagement on the trigger. You can also adjust your trigger travel by adjusting the screw in your trigger guard.
How fast is your load. With a 44 mag, I would start off with a 240 grain bullet and about 8 grains of Unique or similar light load. (or even lighter) Get used to shooting the light loads. Hold them on target. 20-30 shots every Saturday or sunday. NO MORE. If you shoot more than that, you will eventually start flinching or forcing yourself to finish your shots. Get 50% or more of those shots to be on your target before you work up to a heavier load. When you work up to stouter loads, stop when you can no longer keep 50% of your shots within the center of your target. On an 8.5"x11" piece of paper this is about a 6" circle. At 25 yards, you should be able to keep 50% within a 6" circle.
More hints...... If you shooting high, you are not following thru and are relaxing your grip. If you shoot right or left, it is usually due to hand strength or trigger pull. If you shoot OK for a few shots then start getting lower, you are trying to force the recoil down before the shot occurs. 90+% of the time, your sight settings for standing are different than shooting off a bench. (with most of my contenders this is several clicks of elevation AND several clicks of windage.) If you are missing your target all together, get a bigger target so you can see where your shots are grouping. Adjust your sights so the group centers over your target center.
Remember:
Comfortable grip (same grip every time)
Level sights
move sights to 6 o'clock hold
take small breath in as you start your trigger squeeze.
Hold breath as you get to trigger break.
squeeze stops as shot fires.
Try to see your shot hit the target OVER your sights. (don't look up)
Managing the recoil will become second nature.
Good luck!
Steve
