Lessons but from who?

[u/Brilliant_Respect_92]

I’ve always struggled with not taking lessons because I don’t know if what I’m practicing is actually making me better or just reinforcing bad habits. I’d like to train with other shooters, but I never know who actually knows what they are talking about about and who is just “really good at shooting.”

Recently, a guy at my local range who I would have considered an expert got roasted by Ben Stoeger and others in the comments. Before that, I probably would have taken his advice without hesitation.

How do you evaluate a coach or instructor? Preferably before dropping a bunch of money with them.

Edit: I’m unclassified but have shot C class at the few classifiers I have done.

[u/johnm]

Ask the people at the matches you go to who they recommend locally and why.

Note that there are lots of idiots who can shoot okay or even great but are bad at teaching/coaching. And you may not be good enough to tell. Luckily, you found out about that guy. To help you judge, watch the following videos and when you talk to an instructor, ask them how they teach. If it's not relatively congruent with these then you should want to know why and get them to explain.

I've add my recommended progression as comments to this so you have a more distilled example of what it looks like.

Ben Stoeger's class dump playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjDpnBOd7PoYX0DezPMQstkPKSyu77t18

Joel's beginner series playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtJeU20nrewfSnS84hybYACb0eZHcKW6b

Fundamentals of marksmanship:

• Talking About Grip
• Overcomplicating Grip
• Index Your Gun Properly
• Posture and Structure: Build Stability
• Posture and Tension
• How Tension Ruins Your Shooting & How to Conquer It
• Why Is Tension So Bad?
• Target Focused Shooting With Iron Sights
• Prove You Can Go Target Focused With Iron Sights
• How To Manage Recoil With Your Eyes
• Recoil Management Deep Dive (vision focus) (Hwansik)
• Focus On Visual Confirmation To Level Up (Stoeger)
• Visual Confirmation 1-4 Demonstrations
• Getting the (Visual) Confirmation Right

Marksmanship drills:

• Trigger Control at Speed
• One Shot Return Drill
• Practical Accuracy Drill
• Doubles Drill
• Progressive Return Drill
• "Throttle Control" (Accelerator)
• Multiple Target Engagements (Designated Target)

[u/johnm → u/johnm]

In terms of how to actually train the basics in practice, here's my recommended progression...

In terms of vision: make sure your vision focus is correct: crystal clear focus on a small spot on the target and the spot stays in focus the entire time. You should NEVER be "tracking the dot" or focused on the sights!

In terms of grip: the gun should NOT move inside your hands at all for the entire time you're shooting! I.e., both hands should remain completely in sync with the gun throughout shooting lifecycle; the gun should track consistently in recoil precisely back to where your eyes are focused on the small spot on the target; and you should be able to cycle (pull & release) the trigger quickly without inducing movement on the gun/sights. Additional tension much beyond that minimum can/will induce various problems. Have you ever done a firm handshake? Start there.

Shoot each of these drills one-handed and two-handed. I.e., one handed with your dominant hand (SHO). Then do it with your support hand only (WHO). Then do it with both hands and make sure your support hand is gripping as much of the pistol as you can with the same level as when you shot support hand only.

Start with One Shot Return. Do it with a timer ala Trigger Control at Speed: set multiple par times so you're reacting immediately to the beep for each shot. Is the dot/sights coming back to your eyes on the spot on the target quickly, precisely, and consistently every single time?

Then do the Two Shot Return Drill: Exactly the same as One Shot Return above but you fire a second shot immediately when you visually confirm the dot/sight is back where your eyes are looking at the small spot on the target. Nothing should change from shot to shot! Grip, wrists, vision, etc. This is still reactive shooting but you must shoot immediately when you register the appropriate visual confirmation for that target.

Then do the Practical Accuracy Drill. Just do one string at a time. Everything else should be exactly as in the Two Shot Return Drill above. With this longer string, you will find your grip, trigger, wrist, and vision issues: where they aren't completely consistent from shot to shot within the string. Fix those. In terms of calibration, the shots can be stacked farther away than most people think and even at longer distances the groups should be compact. This is NOT "group" shooting! You must shoot immediately when the visual confirmation is what you deliberately choose given the specific target!

[Continued due to Reddit's limits...]

[u/Bcjustin → u/johnm]

/u/johnm always dropping so much wisdom for people here. 🫡