All patterns
Vertical Stringing: Why Your Shots Spread Up and Down
What’s happening
When a group is noticeably narrower left-to-right than it is top-to-bottom, the horizontal consistency tells you the sight alignment and grip are fine — the spread is coming from something that changes shot to shot in the vertical plane.
Why it happens
- Breaking the shot at a different point in the breathing cycle each time (inhaled vs. exhaled changes muzzle position slightly)
- Inconsistent follow-through — relaxing the trigger press or grip the instant the shot breaks instead of holding through it
- Trigger finger placement creeping between the pad and the first joint from shot to shot
Drill: Follow-through hold drill
Live or dry fire, hold your sight picture for a full two-count after the shot breaks before you do anything else — don't reset the trigger, don't lower the gun, don't check the target. Pair it with a consistent respiratory pause (exhale halfway, hold, press) so the only variable left is the one you're actually training.
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.