I suck with G26

[Salamander]

The groups don't suck, I'd characterize them as more like typical G26 needs a little work but OK as a place to start from. As an RSO, I've seen much, much worse. One of the ranges I have duty at has pretty good shooters, there other one most people can barely keep a G26 on paper at 15. While they are good pistols, grouping well requires solid fundamentals. A few thoughts follow.

Benchresting isn't as easy as most people think it is. Build a solid support, re-set for each shot, and there's a lot more to it. Do a search and you'll probably find some folks who do a good job of explaining, better than I can do here.

Try a few different types of ammo, Glocks usually aren't real finicky but some of the cheap range ammo options can have spotty QA/QC. Try various weights and see what your sights are set up for. 115, 124, and 147 are usually going to have slightly different POI (point of impact). Once you get to where you're happier with group size, try a couple groups with JHP carry ammo, so you know where it hits. Expensive yeah, but five round groups will tell you what you need to know and its a good data point to have. Premium ammo also tends to be more accurate, with some exceptions.

The choice of magazine baseplate matters and it's not the same for everyone. The OEM plate can be made to work but it takes some practice. Some do OK with the Pearce +0 extensions, I'm not one of them. For me, the Gee Plate works best. It's the same length as OEM but has a thin ledge that projects off the front. For my average size hands, that locks in the fingers that are on the grip and the pinkie wraps under it. So far my best groups are with that setup but of course it varies with hand size and shape. Only way is to try various things and see what works for you.

The real game changer for me was adding grip tape to the sides of the grip. Easy on the flat sides of a Glock, I use. 3M tape but again there are various options. That plus the GeePlate really gives me a solid grip.

Finally, I've been shooting groups at 25 yards on B8 targets, not so much with the G26 but with larger pistols. At first it's humbling, but that plus a bunch of dry fire and working on grip and trigger fundamentals, and eventually the groups start to tighten up. Then shoot the G26 at 12 or 15 and it feels easier than before. 25 is tough with a subcompact with iron sights, it can be done and the pistol is (usually) more than capable, it's just a short sight radius so less margin for error.

And then, once you get the groups headed in the right direction, consider getting the slide milled for an optic. It's practically like cheating, and makes the short sight radius issue go away.

 

[rodralig]

I would offer to you that you are shooting it wrong. 1911s and the sig you mentioned are thin guns, the G26 isn't. The grip angle on the G26 is, as you know, more angled than the other pistols you mentioned. The other guns are well suited to weaver style stances. Glocks are best suited to shoot in the isosceles stance because of the grip angle. Try that!

FUDD.

1911s and Glocks can both be shot perfectly well using either Isosceles or Weaver. Stop inventing myths to fit your narrative, or self-imposed limitations.

Attached is straight from Jeff Cooper’s Gunsite. 1911? Yup. Isosceles? Yup.

 

[Boomhauer]

I would offer to you that you are shooting it wrong. 1911s and the sig you mentioned are thin guns, the G26 isn't. The grip angle on the G26 is, as you know, more angled than the other pistols you mentioned. The other guns are well suited to weaver style stances. Glocks are best suited to shoot in the isosceles stance because of the grip angle. Try that!

Shooting a short grip pistol is harder than a longer grip pistol and is why they typically shoot full size pistols is shooting matches vs compact pistols. Getting a good grip on your pistol helps in shot groupings.

Practice the isosceles triangle stance and holding your Glock. Always hold your gun up to your eye, do not drop your head down to the sights. Dropping your head to the sights will make you look thru your eyes at an angle, not the optical center of your eye sight...it matters. When shooting you should position your head to look straight and directly at your target, just like if you were talking to the target. When you don't have a good stance and your head is not straight but dipped down to your sights, you tend to look over your sights and shoot low.

So now you have good head position and a good stance. Now you need to make sure your finger placement is exactly the same every time you grab the gun. Looking at the target, it appears you are sweeping from left to right or vise versa. This tells me your finger is landing on the trigger at different points when shooting. Do you fully release your trigger and basically point your finger between shots? A lot of people "slap" the trigger. I tend to push the middle insert (safety) of the trigger in and sand it down to just above the trigger surface. This makes it much more comfortable when shooting for a while.

Since I can't watch you shoot, I suspect your finger and trigger interaction is the issue. Use the isosceles stance so your hand is positioned to better hold the Glock. Raise the gun to your eyes while your head looks squarely at the target so you can use the optical center of your eyes. While gripping the pistol, make sure your finger is placed on the trigger with the middle of the first pad on your finger. Your trigger finger should be able to pull the trigger without moving the barrel. Practice this in an empty gun to see if you're causing movement when pulling the trigger. Too much finger pulls the gun, not enough trigger finger pushes the gun. Go slow so you don't slap the trigger and move the barrel. With a two handed grip, your strong hand should have a weaker, lighter grip than your weak hand. Your weak hand should be squeezing your strong hand. I know it sounds backwards but it works. I can rapid fire my G27 at 15 yards as fast as I can pull the trigger and hit black every time using these techniques... And practice of course.

My other technique for keeping the barrel flat, reduced muzzle flip, is to use my weak hand at about a 45* angle pointed downward to grip my strong hand and place my weak hand thumb on the frame just below the slide. I feel this gives me great control over the G27 with very quick follow up shots hitting the target.

I hope this helps and your Glock experience turns from less than thrilling to the envy of your friends.

I’d rather shoot a little worse than be caught in an isosceles stance . Queue the internet stance battle.

 

[Eatdirt]

Never could get comfortable with the one I had ...

Maybe hands too big.
I'm fine with my 19. Really like my 21 !

 

[Appropriate_Sky_8043]

So…I too sucked with my G26. And I found it so unpleasant to shoot, I just decided it needed a new home that appreciated it more. Life is too short and there are too many other, better fits to keep investing time into a gun that is not for me. I still have my G19, but have shifted to more S&W platforms and those have been good for me - from the M&P 2.0 to the BG 2.0.

 

[rodralig]

Okay... just throwing this out there - except for grip tape and optics, an OEM/stock Glock 26, no pinky extension, running a USPSA match.

 

[miles888]

Disagree. The shooter is the limitation, not the G26. That gun is more capable than most shooters.




Without seeing you shoot, it’s hard to say. The short slide means even a tiny movement can show up in the group, even from a rest.

If your tightest group was the first one - and it was pretty good, I’d suspect fatigue, muscle tension, or shaking started creeping in after that. Relax a bit, reset, stretch, and give yourself a chance to decompress between groups.

Yeah to be fair I haven’t really given this gun a fair shake idk why

This day I zeroed a 10mm M&p, then a p365, then got to this G26 at the end of the session.

I was mentally tapped out because I had convinced myself the sights were off from factory, and I don’t have a sight pusher. Which is not really fair I guess

Will try again next week

 

[miles888]

I would offer to you that you are shooting it wrong. 1911s and the sig you mentioned are thin guns, the G26 isn't. The grip angle on the G26 is, as you know, more angled than the other pistols you mentioned. The other guns are well suited to weaver style stances. Glocks are best suited to shoot in the isosceles stance because of the grip angle. Try that!

Shooting a short grip pistol is harder than a longer grip pistol and is why they typically shoot full size pistols is shooting matches vs compact pistols. Getting a good grip on your pistol helps in shot groupings.

Practice the isosceles triangle stance and holding your Glock. Always hold your gun up to your eye, do not drop your head down to the sights. Dropping your head to the sights will make you look thru your eyes at an angle, not the optical center of your eye sight...it matters. When shooting you should position your head to look straight and directly at your target, just like if you were talking to the target. When you don't have a good stance and your head is not straight but dipped down to your sights, you tend to look over your sights and shoot low.

So now you have good head position and a good stance. Now you need to make sure your finger placement is exactly the same every time you grab the gun. Looking at the target, it appears you are sweeping from left to right or vise versa. This tells me your finger is landing on the trigger at different points when shooting. Do you fully release your trigger and basically point your finger between shots? A lot of people "slap" the trigger. I tend to push the middle insert (safety) of the trigger in and sand it down to just above the trigger surface. This makes it much more comfortable when shooting for a while.

Since I can't watch you shoot, I suspect your finger and trigger interaction is the issue. Use the isosceles stance so your hand is positioned to better hold the Glock. Raise the gun to your eyes while your head looks squarely at the target so you can use the optical center of your eyes. While gripping the pistol, make sure your finger is placed on the trigger with the middle of the first pad on your finger. Your trigger finger should be able to pull the trigger without moving the barrel. Practice this in an empty gun to see if you're causing movement when pulling the trigger. Too much finger pulls the gun, not enough trigger finger pushes the gun. Go slow so you don't slap the trigger and move the barrel. With a two handed grip, your strong hand should have a weaker, lighter grip than your weak hand. Your weak hand should be squeezing your strong hand. I know it sounds backwards but it works. I can rapid fire my G27 at 15 yards as fast as I can pull the trigger and hit black every time using these techniques... And practice of course.

My other technique for keeping the barrel flat, reduced muzzle flip, is to use my weak hand at about a 45* angle pointed downward to grip my strong hand and place my weak hand thumb on the frame just below the slide. I feel this gives me great control over the G27 with very quick follow up shots hitting the target.

I hope this helps and your Glock experience turns from less than thrilling to the envy of your friends.

I will give this a try. When I shoot I start a group resting at the wall of the break, fire, stay holding and just barely get back to the rest before firing again.

I took about 1-2 seconds per shot here. I wasn’t trying to be super careful with aiming tbh.

I’ve never heard of a weaver stance I will look into that

 

[miles888]

Okay... just throwing this out there - except for grip tape and optics, an OEM/stock Glock 26, no pinky extension, running a USPSA match.

Yes bro I am trying to get to this but confused about what I’m probably doing wrong. I may post a video but the range I went to doesn’t allow filming

 

[miles888]

Looking at your targets is that the groups you've got clusters that are actually pretty tight but they wander around the target between strings, so fundamentals are there but maybe something in the grip is shifting on you.

What made a real difference for me on the 26 specifically was letting my left hand do most of the work. For myself I clamp in w my left hand from the side and keep my wrists locked forward. My right hand would stay almost relaxed by comparison and as others said pull the trigger to the wall prior to firing. On other guns esp M&P (I prefer the ergos and trigger of the 2.0 Compact) the grip shape does that for you naturally but the 26 is chunky and it doesn’t give you that same help so your right hand ends up squeezing too hard and when you press the trigger it pulls the whole gun with it.

Once I made that switch the groups tightened up pretty quickly. I also prefer having no extensions as for some reason not heeling with the shortened grip allows me to shoot better (I aim the best w the 26 and I don't know why ha). Curious what technique here ends up helping.

I recently started clamping in with the left hand. This set was the first I tried that with. It’s just a lot more effective with the sigs I have.

I’m doing something wrong for sure. I’ll post a video next time a go

 

[10RoundLimit]

I use a Glock 19 mag with this mag extension on my 26 and it shoots great. Obviously trigger press and grip also matter.

 

[Markbsae]

Welcome to the glock-sucks-for-me-club. Same for me. I can shoot my 1911 in 45 and 9 pretty pretty good, but my glock 19? I feel embrassed to shoot it when range is packed.

What are you aiming at?

Everythang.

I have a G19 and never liked it until I put a haley skimmer trigger in it. Still not a huge fan. The grip angle is a huge issue for me.

 

[M_N04H]

A Kiral back strap and undercut fixed all grip angle issues for me.

 

[stockb0y]

Those are pretty good groups imo.. everyone has occasional flyers but most of your shots are well grouped

 

[NationMostWanted]

Very nice shots imo

 

[DrewN]

This is why the 26X form factor exists.