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How to improve your accuracy with the FNX

54K views 117 replies 65 participants last post by  Ratvader 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
And any handgun actually.

Bottom line, the FNX is usually a better shot than you are. If you are having some problems hitting the target, or having a decent sized group, follow these simple steps first. Then and only then will you know for sure if it is you or your gun that is the problem.

Watch this video first.



If you are having difficulty seeing your target as you shoot, You're using your sights wrong. In fact, I bet that most people who are new to shooting are.

The 3 dots are not for target shooting. they are for rapid target acquisition in a close range combat scenario. You line them up, and the center dot is point of aim.

When you are shooting for accuracy, forget the dots. You don't need them. Line up the top edge of the front and back sights so they are on the same plane. Then ensure the front sight has equal space on the left and right between the rear sights. The top center edge of the front blade is now your aim point. You should be able to see the top half of whatever you're aiming at.

A few other important shooting fundamentals should also be practiced as well. The first one is trigger pull. Most people who shoot poorly will do one of two things wrong, and the first is usually trigger pull. You hear on the movies to squeeze the trigger rather than pull it. but that is over simplifying things. The idea is to pull the trigger in such a smooth and continuous motion that you the shooter are surprised by the timing of the shot. use the tip of your finger, and not the knuckle, so that you cannot change the orientation of the muzzle if you jerk the trigger back a little. Try to pull fast and smooth, not quick and jerky. You should not know the exact moment the round will fire, that way you do not flinch before the round leaves the barrel.

The other problem new shooters have is the actual flinching. You get nervous when you feel the round is about to go off and you try to counter the muzzle flip by pushing down and forward. This causes you to shoot way low. You can train yourself to not do it but first realizing what you're doing. Have a friend put a few dummy rounds randomly into your magazine, and when you get to that shot, either you will not move at all, or your gun will drop forward, and you will see what you're doing.

Trigger pull: Place your finger tip, the pad of your pointing finger, on the trigger. Pull the trigger straight back at an even consistent rate. Do not jerk the trigger. As mentioned before, the moment the weapon fires should be something of a surprise to you.

Proper and consistent grip: Every time you pick the gun up, you should be holding it the exact same way as the last time you held it. put the webbing of your dominant hand as far up the grip as comfortably possible. then gently wrap your fingers around so they are in a secure position where they won't slip. Support that hand with your off hand wrapping the off hand fingers over the others fingers. Your off hand finger tips should be right about where your main hand's knuckles are. your off hand thumb should be aligned with the frame. Do not touch the slide and do not cross your thumbs, or wrap your off hand thumb behind the gun (that's where the slide is supposed to go).

Off hand tension: If you tighten your off hand grip, and press the gun forward holding the sights on target, the front sight blade will become more steady. It will also help to reduce the effects of a hasty or sloppy trigger pull.

Removing the Slack: Many standard triggers on weapons designed for on-duty carry will have something known as slack. This is the trigger travel that does absolutely nothing in terms of preparing the gun to fire, or actually firing the gun. it is built in as a safety feature for those of us that don't know hoe to keep our finger out of the trigger guard prior to firing. Guns such as the FNX, Glocks, XDs, and M&Ps have this slack. a 1911 might not have this slack depending on the builder and the quality. It is a good idea to remove the slack from the trigger prior to your final trigger pull. You can do this while dry firing at home. Ensure the weapon is unloaded, and point it in a safe direction. pull the trigger back until you feel a sharp increase in resistance. The slack is now removed. You may now aim, and continue firing. This helps reduce the amount of time you must hold your pistol on target before it fires while still surprising you.

Stance: Square your shoulders to the target. Do not stand cockeyed with one arm bent and the other straight. They should both be extended equally. Lean forward, put your leading foot forward and your other foot off to one side. This will line your body up with the target naturally.

#1 most important thing. Focus: Once you know what you're shooting at, you don't need to focus on it anymore. Focus instead on the front sight. This will improve your accuracy considerably. If you're about to get into a shooting, and you have any time whatsoever to mentally prepare yourself, the first thing you should tell yourself is "Focus on the front sight". Keep repeating it to yourself over and over.

Elbows vs. Limp wristing: instead of absorbing the recoil with your wrists, bend your elbows slightly and rotate them out a bit, and absorb the recoil with your elbows. It is a steadier shooting platform, plus it makes recoil more comfortable. It will also reduce malfunction probability due to limp-wristing.

Bullet drop: In most situations, you won't need to worry about this, but when shooting smaller things at varying distances, you should account for bullet drop. Close in, the round will hit below your sights. At around 15-25 yards, they should hit right on to slightly above the sights. After 30 yards, the bullet drops at an increasing rate, so you must aim higher.

Practice: And when I say practice, I mean a lot. Dry fire at home, look up some dry firing drills. Practice each fundamental on this page and recap it over and over. When you go out shooting, do not rush yourself. Take the time to focus on accuracy at first. Then slowly speed yourself up over time. The more you practice doing it perfectly, the speed will come automatically. It's just like any other task, do it right every time, and you'll eventually be fast at it too.

There are a lot of other fundamentals one should learn as they advance as a shooter, but those are the first ones you should practice as you start learning to shoot your pistol.

Here's a view of several sight pictures.



Some old school shooters will tell you to use #1, but most pistols aren't sighted that way. The idea is that the bullets rise above the sight and are thrown into the target. This leaves too much room for error for me though.

#2 is actually the proper way to shoot targets with. The center edge of the front sight is the aim point.

#3 is a combat dot sight picture, which is perfectly fine as long as the target is bigger than the sights. The front dot is the aim point.

Bottom line with these sight pictures, If you choose to use #2 and #3, as I suspect most people will, you should practice with both of them as often as you can. They both have their place both in target shooting, and in a real life gun fight.

Another thing you should also practice is point shooting. I read somewhere that around 80% of people having been in a gun fight never remember even seeing their sights. This little tutorial is just on the basics though, so I won't go over point shooting with you here. But good luck to everyone.

Here's me demonstrating these techniques in a video.
 
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#87 ·
These pistols are sighted for combat sight picture (#3) @ 20 yards as per the manual. It will vary slightly depending on the load you use, which is easy verifiable by just looking at the load data. It is easier to just change POI instead of trying to line up the top of the sight post.
 
#96 · (Edited)
Neck Abdomen Chest Trunk Flesh
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Nose Lip Flesh Neck Art


Thought I would shoot a little this afternoon. So I went and knocked down 95 rounds doing a rapid shoot mozambique drill. Not too special of a shooter but had fun with the home made targets.
Instant street cred t the range when you pop out your own targets at the check in.:wink:

Pic 1 25ft Mozambique Drill , Pic 2 25 ft Mozambique Drill, Pic 3 15ft Mozambique.

I love reading this thread, and thought I too would share what I can do with my FNX 9 now as a result.
 
#99 ·
OK....I think I'm improving. Art Visual arts Sport venue
Same old 25'ft rapid fire drill.
 
#102 ·
accuracy

Edit: I have become a forum sponsor, so check me out in the sponsor section on the forum.

And any handgun actually.

Bottom line, the FNX is usually a better shot than you are. If you are having some problems hitting the target, or having a decent sized group, follow these simple steps first. Then and only then will you know for sure if it is you or your gun that is the problem.

Watch this video first.



If you are having difficulty seeing your target as you shoot, You're using your sights wrong. In fact, I bet that most people who are new to shooting are.

The 3 dots are not for target shooting. they are for rapid target acquisition in a close range combat scenario. You line them up, and the center dot is point of aim.

When you are shooting for accuracy, forget the dots. You don't need them. Line up the top edge of the front and back sights so they are on the same plane. Then ensure the front sight has equal space on the left and right between the rear sights. The top center edge of the front blade is now your aim point. You should be able to see the top half of whatever you're aiming at.

A few other important shooting fundamentals should also be practiced as well. The first one is trigger pull. Most people who shoot poorly will do one of two things wrong, and the first is usually trigger pull. You hear on the movies to squeeze the trigger rather than pull it. but that is over simplifying things. The idea is to pull the trigger in such a smooth and continuous motion that you the shooter are surprised by the timing of the shot. use the tip of your finger, and not the knuckle, so that you cannot change the orientation of the muzzle if you jerk the trigger back a little. Try to pull fast and smooth, not quick and jerky. You should not know the exact moment the round will fire, that way you do not flinch before the round leaves the barrel.

The other problem new shooters have is the actual flinching. You get nervous when you feel the round is about to go off and you try to counter the muzzle flip by pushing down and forward. This causes you to shoot way low. You can train yourself to not do it but first realizing what you're doing. Have a friend put a few dummy rounds randomly into your magazine, and when you get to that shot, either you will not move at all, or your gun will drop forward, and you will see what you're doing.

Trigger pull: Place your finger tip, the pad of your pointing finger, on the trigger. Pull the trigger straight back at an even consistent rate. Do not jerk the trigger. As mentioned before, the moment the weapon fires should be something of a surprise to you.

Proper and consistent grip: Every time you pick the gun up, you should be holding it the exact same way as the last time you held it. put the webbing of your dominant hand as far up the grip as comfortably possible. then gently wrap your fingers around so they are in a secure position where they won't slip. Support that hand with your off hand wrapping the off hand fingers over the others fingers. Your off hand finger tips should be right about where your main hand's knuckles are. your off hand thumb should be aligned with the frame. Do not touch the slide and do not cross your thumbs, or wrap your off hand thumb behind the gun (that's where the slide is supposed to go).

Off hand tension: If you tighten your off hand grip, and press the gun forward holding the sights on target, the front sight blade will become more steady. It will also help to reduce the effects of a hasty or sloppy trigger pull.

Removing the Slack: Many standard triggers on weapons designed for on-duty carry will have something known as slack. This is the trigger travel that does absolutely nothing in terms of preparing the gun to fire, or actually firing the gun. it is built in as a safety feature for those of us that don't know hoe to keep our finger out of the trigger guard prior to firing. Guns such as the FNX, Glocks, XDs, and M&Ps have this slack. a 1911 might not have this slack depending on the builder and the quality. It is a good idea to remove the slack from the trigger prior to your final trigger pull. You can do this while dry firing at home. Ensure the weapon is unloaded, and point it in a safe direction. pull the trigger back until you feel a sharp increase in resistance. The slack is now removed. You may now aim, and continue firing. This helps reduce the amount of time you must hold your pistol on target before it fires while still surprising you.

Stance: Square your shoulders to the target. Do not stand cockeyed with one arm bent and the other straight. They should both be extended equally. Lean forward, put your leading foot forward and your other foot off to one side. This will line your body up with the target naturally.

#1 most important thing. Focus: Once you know what you're shooting at, you don't need to focus on it anymore. Focus instead on the front sight. This will improve your accuracy considerably. If you're about to get into a shooting, and you have any time whatsoever to mentally prepare yourself, the first thing you should tell yourself is "Focus on the front sight". Keep repeating it to yourself over and over.

Elbows vs. Limp wristing: instead of absorbing the recoil with your wrists, bend your elbows slightly and rotate them out a bit, and absorb the recoil with your elbows. It is a steadier shooting platform, plus it makes recoil more comfortable. It will also reduce malfunction probability due to limp-wristing.

Bullet drop: In most situations, you won't need to worry about this, but when shooting smaller things at varying distances, you should account for bullet drop. Close in, the round will hit below your sights. At around 15-25 yards, they should hit right on to slightly above the sights. After 30 yards, the bullet drops at an increasing rate, so you must aim higher.

Practice: And when I say practice, I mean a lot. Dry fire at home, look up some dry firing drills. Practice each fundamental on this page and recap it over and over. When you go out shooting, do not rush yourself. Take the time to focus on accuracy at first. Then slowly speed yourself up over time. The more you practice doing it perfectly, the speed will come automatically. It's just like any other task, do it right every time, and you'll eventually be fast at it too.

There are a lot of other fundamentals one should learn as they advance as a shooter, but those are the first ones you should practice as you start learning to shoot your pistol.

Here's a view of several sight pictures.



Some old school shooters will tell you to use #1, but most pistols aren't sighted that way. The idea is that the bullets rise above the sight and are thrown into the target. This leaves too much room for error for me though.

#2 is actually the proper way to shoot targets with. The center edge of the front sight is the aim point.

#3 is a combat dot sight picture, which is perfectly fine as long as the target is bigger than the sights. The front dot is the aim point.

Bottom line with these sight pictures, If you choose to use #2 and #3, as I suspect most people will, you should practice with both of them as often as you can. They both have their place both in target shooting, and in a real life gun fight.

Another thing you should also practice is point shooting. I read somewhere that around 80% of people having been in a gun fight never remember even seeing their sights. This little tutorial is just on the basics though, so I won't go over point shooting with you here. But good luck to everyone.

Here's me demonstrating these techniques in a video.
Thanks for the great info.
 
#106 ·
I've recently purchased the FNS-9 and I was shooting low and to the left...the tips on this page helped me tremendously. The gun has no manual stating that its a combat hold, but it is. I will say that trigger pull was my biggest problem, and several times I pulled the trigger and ended up pulling the slack off and not firing. I need more range time without a doubt but reading these tips helped me get in the right mind set to become a better shooter. Thanks
 
#107 ·
Welcome to the forum!
Dry practice is really important.
Bonus, it's free.
After a while, you'll automatically take out the slack every time your finger goes onto the trigger.
Just as important as taking out the slack is to make sure that after the trigger breaks, you're only letting it back out enough to hear and feel the click (trigger reset).
This ensures a faster follow-up shot (you don't have to go through taking up the slack each time).

After the initial trigger break, trap the trigger to the rear, then rack the slide. Ease the trigger until you feel the click. That's the reset point.
 
#113 ·
There is a few comments talking about reset helping you get faster followup shots. I personally am not convinced that the method of holding the trigger down after the shot, and releasing only to reset is a time saver. Personally, this seems like it would take more time to find the reset, than it would to just let the recoil do the reset and take up the slack every time. There are some studies that suggest this is the case. That is why I did not mention reset much in my op. It's really more of a personal thing. If you find you shoot better finding the reset each shot, then by all means.

One thing a short reset can help with is rapid fire. This is why I don't necessarily like them. I want my gun to slow me down a bit so I am more likely to aim my shots and not use so much ammo. I have fired a cz 75 competition model that had such a short reset and no takeup at all, I was able to shoot it almost like an automatic. 20 rounds in 2 seconds. Accurate too since it was a 9 mm and all metal frame.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
 
#117 · (Edited)
Great thread! Just got my fnx .45 tactical and this is my first post but can't wait to get involved. Here is a 10 yard target from my second trip to the range. I was having an issue with grouping low but after resting the gun on my range bag the groups were on target. This just proves that the issue was in my shooting. I am using sight picture #2 by the way. I think it's just a matter of practice.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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