All patterns
Horizontal Stringing: Why Your Shots Spread Side to Side
What’s happening
The mirror image of vertical stringing: consistent vertical placement means your stance and follow-through are solid, but something is pushing the muzzle left or right by a different amount on each shot.
Why it happens
- Uneven or inconsistent grip pressure between the support and shooting hands from shot to shot
- Trigger finger contacting the frame or pressing at an angle instead of straight back, camming the muzzle sideways
- Canting the gun a different amount each time, which translates a straight trigger pull into sideways muzzle movement
Drill: Dime-and-washer drill
Balance a coin (or washer) flat on top of the front sight or slide and dry fire. Any sideways muzzle movement at the break knocks it off — that's the grip or trigger-finger contact point moving. Adjust finger placement until you can break the shot with the coin still balanced.
See if this drill is actually working
Log a session after you drill and Range Tracer measures whether your group actually tightened up — not just whether it felt better.