{"id":6702,"date":"2018-01-18T18:38:05","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T23:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?p=6702"},"modified":"2021-07-30T10:32:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T14:32:16","slug":"diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether it&#8217;s called the &#8220;Diagnostic Pistol Target,&#8221; the &#8220;Pistol Correction Chart,&#8221; or the &#8220;Troubleshooter Target,&#8221; there are dozens of places online where you can find slightly different versions of the same printable target. The resource is supposed to help shooters self-diagnose their bad pistol shooting habits, but I think your practice time is better spent elsewhere. I explain why in the video below, or you can scroll down for the full transcript.<\/p> <p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SVVkZmGnfP8?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p> <hr \/> <p>A few days ago, I was talking to somebody about some of the different drills and tests that I use to practice at the range and he asked me what I thought about those diagnostic pistol targets or correction charts you can print out. You\u2019ve probably seen one of these before. They\u2019re all over the internet and there are even some commercially printed ones you can buy. The idea is that you shoot at this target and based on where your misses are, the chart will tell you what you are doing wrong.<\/p> <p>Plenty of other people have done a good job of critiquing these targets, but this isn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve been asked about them, so I\u2019ll throw in my two cents. For the kind of handgun shooting most people seem to be interested in, I think these targets are a waste of time. It\u2019s my understanding that the most popular form of the diagnostic chart we see today was originally developed many years ago for one-handed slow-fire bullseye shooting at 25 yards. If you want to get better at two-handed rapid fire defensive or practical style shooting, you\u2019re not going to get much relevant advice from a bullseye correction chart.<\/p> <p>So I guess that raises the question of why we don\u2019t just create a new version of the target that is intended for modern practical shooting. I\u2019m sure someone will attempt to make something like that if it hasn\u2019t been done already, but I doubt that target would be very helpful, either. I don\u2019t know much about traditional bullseye shooting so I can\u2019t say whether the diagnostic chart is actually helpful in that context, but I do know that for practical shooting, it is almost impossible to determine what somebody is doing wrong solely by looking at their target.<\/p> <p>There is maybe one exception to that rule. For a right-handed shooter, if shots are consistently going low and to the left, that is typically an indication of some form of recoil anticipation. That\u2019s a very common problem. But even knowing that, the target doesn\u2019t tell us the whole story. Recoil anticipation can mean a lot of different things. If you\u2019ve got hits low and left, you might be dipping the muzzle as you pull the trigger, or you might be jerking the trigger at the last instant before the shot breaks, or you might even be closing your eyes. All of that is going to be masked by the recoil and you aren\u2019t going to know exactly what you did wrong by looking at the target. And that\u2019s a best-case scenario for target reading &#8212; that\u2019s assuming your misses are all grouped in one area. What if your target looks more like a shotgun pattern and you\u2019ve got holes all over the place? That\u2019s usually the result of several overlapping problems. If you\u2019re anticipating recoil and you\u2019ve got issues with your grip and bad trigger control, a chart is not going to help you figure out why one shot went high and the next one went to the left.<\/p> <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-graphic.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6704\" src=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-graphic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"894\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-graphic.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-graphic-600x447.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-graphic-1024x763.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-graphic-768x572.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-graphic-350x261.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/p> <p>So what\u2019s the alternative? Well, I know it\u2019s not the answer a lot of people want to hear, but the absolute best way to improve is to get help from a qualified shooting instructor who can actually watch you shoot and give you feedback. Looking at the target doesn\u2019t always tell us what we need to know, but a good shooting coach can watch the shooter &#8212; usually just their hands &#8212; and determine a lot about what they need to work on. I know it\u2019s not as easy as printing out a target, but there\u2019s really no substitute for a good shooting instructor.<\/p> <p>The good news is that eventually, you can develop the skill of coaching yourself a little bit, and, in my experience, that can sometimes involve finding clues based on where your misses are on the target. But instead of consulting some universal chart, you have to refer to your own previous experience and coaching feedback you may have received in the past. So for example, I shoot a 6-round Bill Drill and\u00a0afterwards, I think maybe I didn\u2019t have such a great sight picture on some of those shots. Then I look at my target to confirm that suspicion and I see that a few of my hits are high. So that would tell me I\u2019m probably letting my trigger finger get ahead of my sights. I need to be more patient and let my sights dictate when I fire. That could still be a misdiagnosis of the issue, but over time, I\u2019ve learned that is an error I\u2019m prone to making during a string of rapid fire at close range.<\/p> <p>But if I back up and shoot a drill at 20 yards and I\u2019ve got hits that are high, it probably means something different. If I\u2019m pretty confident I had good trigger control, high misses are evidence that I may be letting my focus drift onto the target and away from the front sight. The location of the misses can tell me something, but it\u2019s really dependent on the context and on the individual shooter. Someone else could shoot the same drills and have a target that looks exactly like mine, but they could be struggling with totally different issues.<\/p> <p>So before you can expect a specific pattern of missed shots on your target to be a useful part of your troubleshooting process, you just have to do the time and put in some hours on the range. And for less skilled shooters in particular, you need an actual qualified teacher. There is no magic target that\u2019s going to make you a better shooter.<\/p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether it&#8217;s called the &#8220;Diagnostic Pistol Target,&#8221; the &#8220;Pistol Correction Chart,&#8221; or the &#8220;Troubleshooter Target,&#8221; there are dozens of places &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[47,231,21,296,58],"class_list":["post-6702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-toolbox","tag-concealed-carry","tag-drills","tag-handguns","tag-practice","tag-training"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time - Lucky Gunner Lounge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A look at the diagnostic pistol target and why it&#039;s not a great way to determine what&#039;s wrong with your shooting or grip.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time - Lucky Gunner Lounge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A look at the diagnostic pistol target and why it&#039;s not a great way to determine what&#039;s wrong with your shooting or grip.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lucky Gunner Lounge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lucky.gunner.chris\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-18T23:38:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-30T14:32:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-featured-lounge-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"944\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Baker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Baker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/\",\"name\":\"Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time - Lucky Gunner Lounge\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-featured-lounge-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-18T23:38:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-30T14:32:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/e5f16064c8ef9168e878956da3123dc7\"},\"description\":\"A look at the diagnostic pistol target and why it's not a great way to determine what's wrong with your shooting or grip.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-featured-lounge-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-featured-lounge-1.jpg\",\"width\":2160,\"height\":944},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/\",\"name\":\"Lucky Gunner Lounge\",\"description\":\"Reliable shooting advice for regular people.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/e5f16064c8ef9168e878956da3123dc7\",\"name\":\"Chris Baker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/chris-profile-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/chris-profile-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chris Baker\"},\"description\":\"Chris Baker joined the Lucky Gunner team in 2011 and, among other roles, serves as the editor of Lucky Gunner Lounge. Chris has a broad interest in all types of\u00a0shooting activities, but he's most passionate about firearms as tools for personal protection. Prior to working for Lucky Gunner full time, Chris taught basic handgun skills and concealed carry permit classes to a diverse range of clients in his home state of North Carolina. He is a Rangemaster-certified Shotgun and Advanced Handgun Instructor and NRA Handgun Instructor. His ongoing pursuit of knowledge in the shooting world has included over 500 hours of professional firearms and self-defense training from instructors like Ken Hackathorn, Tom Givens, Ernest Langdon, Craig Douglas, Gabe White, Darryl Bolke, Wayne Dobbs, Chuck Haggard, Claude Werner, John Hearne, Jim Higginbotham, Kyle DeFoor, and Randy Cain,\u00a0among others.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lucky.gunner.chris\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/author\/chris\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time - Lucky Gunner Lounge","description":"A look at the diagnostic pistol target and why it's not a great way to determine what's wrong with your shooting or grip.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time - Lucky Gunner Lounge","og_description":"A look at the diagnostic pistol target and why it's not a great way to determine what's wrong with your shooting or grip.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/","og_site_name":"Lucky Gunner Lounge","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lucky.gunner.chris","article_published_time":"2018-01-18T23:38:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-30T14:32:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2160,"height":944,"url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-featured-lounge-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Chris Baker","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Baker","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/","url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/","name":"Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time - Lucky Gunner Lounge","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-featured-lounge-1.jpg","datePublished":"2018-01-18T23:38:05+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-30T14:32:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/e5f16064c8ef9168e878956da3123dc7"},"description":"A look at the diagnostic pistol target and why it's not a great way to determine what's wrong with your shooting or grip.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-featured-lounge-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/diagnostic-target-featured-lounge-1.jpg","width":2160,"height":944},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/diagnostic-pistol-target-waste-time\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/","name":"Lucky Gunner Lounge","description":"Reliable shooting advice for regular people.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/e5f16064c8ef9168e878956da3123dc7","name":"Chris Baker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/chris-profile-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/chris-profile-96x96.jpg","caption":"Chris Baker"},"description":"Chris Baker joined the Lucky Gunner team in 2011 and, among other roles, serves as the editor of Lucky Gunner Lounge. Chris has a broad interest in all types of\u00a0shooting activities, but he's most passionate about firearms as tools for personal protection. Prior to working for Lucky Gunner full time, Chris taught basic handgun skills and concealed carry permit classes to a diverse range of clients in his home state of North Carolina. He is a Rangemaster-certified Shotgun and Advanced Handgun Instructor and NRA Handgun Instructor. His ongoing pursuit of knowledge in the shooting world has included over 500 hours of professional firearms and self-defense training from instructors like Ken Hackathorn, Tom Givens, Ernest Langdon, Craig Douglas, Gabe White, Darryl Bolke, Wayne Dobbs, Chuck Haggard, Claude Werner, John Hearne, Jim Higginbotham, Kyle DeFoor, and Randy Cain,\u00a0among others.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lucky.gunner.chris"],"url":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/author\/chris\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6702"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6714,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6702\/revisions\/6714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}