17 Sep 5 Tips to Improve Your Handgun Handling and Accuracy
Are you looking at the HK extended magazine releases or Glock compensators on our website and wondering if these can assist you in your handling and accuracy at the range or in competition? Or perhaps they’re just some bling for your favorite handgun?
Guess what – they’re both. Our gun parts can add personality to your favorite platforms while still encouraging you to drop bad habits and develop proficiency at the range.
And for you handgun shooters, here are some of our best tips.
1. Learn to stop flinching with dry-fire practice
You can install the most expensive, highest-tech red dot sight on your handgun and shoot consistent, precise hand loads, but guess what, if you don’t unlearn the habit of flinching, you won’t be able to shoot a tight group even at 25 yards.
You may not even know you’re flinching – but if your groups just seem to wander, there’s a chance that’s what’s causing it.
Here’s a quick dry-fire training test you can perform to see if you are flinching – which can also help you stop.
The next time you’re at the range, load your pistol with snap caps. Then line up your shot and squeeze the trigger. If your wrists or hands move at all, or you break your stance, guess what: you’re flinching.
Continue the dry-fire training with snap caps until you no longer flinch. Dry-fire training is also a great way to practice safe, consistent handling and stance.
2. Install a compensator
Once you unlearn the habit of flinching, muzzle flip is the next challenge you should tackle.
We recently published a blog, “Five Ways to Fight Muzzle Flip.” You can get some more detailed advice in there, but here’s the gist of what you should know about installing a Glock, CZ, or HK compensator on your handgun.
Our compensators are easy to install and can reduce felt recoil by as much as 50% without adversely affecting shot power.
There are several big advantages to this. One is that you’ll experience less shooter fatigue due to a lighter-kicking pistol.
More importantly, getting recoil under control can make your muzzle jump less between shots, which will keep your sights trained on target, where they should be. Keeping muzzle flip to a minimum will help you make follow-up shots that are not only faster but are more accurate as well.
3. Get a (good) grip
Two good principles of properly gripping a handgun: you want to grip it as high on the frame as possible and cover as much surface area as possible.
Your dominant hand should grip the handgun as high as possible with the crook of your thumb and index finger coming right up to the base of the slide along the top of the frame at the rear of the gun.
Your non-dominant hand should cover as much of the remaining surface area along the frame and grip as possible. The more surface area you cover, the more contact you will have to control recoil.
Place your non-dominant thumb along the frame at the base of the slide, then wrap your other four fingers around and over your dominant hand, establishing firm coverage that comes up to the bottom of the trigger guard. (This is very similar to what you can see in the picture above.)
Master this grip technique, ensuring that neither of your wrists are exerting any force that torques your handgun off to the left or right – this will skew accuracy.
4. Master the mag drop
While your mag drop technique won’t necessarily directly affect accuracy, it will affect handling and bad habits can shift your sights off the target or skew your sight picture.
Moreover, how long it takes you to drop a magazine has a direct impact on speed – and speed counts on scoring.
Consider installing a Glock or HK extended magazine release on your handgun (we carry a wide range of extended mag releases for Glock and HK pistols, among other firearms platforms).
Not only do our Glock and HK extended magazine releases add color to your handgun, but they also create a greater purchase on the mag release, enabling smoother, faster mag drops and reloads, while helping to eliminate fumbling during mag changes.
5. Slow down but keep at it
Another thing to keep in mind is that, while you will be scored on speed in competition, it behooves you to slow down while you’re practicing.
Range time is time for you to develop and ingrain good habits so you can translate them to competition.
While you’re at the range, slow down and pay conscious attention to your stance, grip, and habits. Pay equally close attention to your trigger pull, and avoid flinching, jerking, or twisting the gun with each shot.
Getting familiar with your gun and adopting good habits at the range by taking your time to observe your form, stance, technique, and habits will help you slowly, but effectively, improve your proficiency, handling, and ultimately, your accuracy.
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