I lose sight of the red dot when I raise my pistol.

Hi,
   Newbie here. I'm only dry firing at home now because I'm on a waiting list at the local club. My biggest problem is losing the dot when I raise my pistol. Before I raise my pistol, I center the red dot in the the sight. However, when I raise the gun to its highest point I've lost the dot and then have to waste precious time twisting my wrist until I reacquire the dot before I can lower the pistol into my aiming area. Is this a grip problem? The only way I can avoid losing the dot is to first center the dot before I raise the gun, and then slowly raise my arm all while looking into the sight so as not to lose sight of the dot. However, that doesn't seem correct.
   I apologize if this topic has been discussed before. I couldn't find it using the search function.

Thanks,
Lloyd

Sounds like a grip issue to me. Adjust the gun in your hand before trying to adjust your wrist position.

Is it a reflex sight or a tube type?

I have never been able to find a reflex type dot...

Micro red dot type I can almost find.

With an Ultradot tube type, the dot is centered every time as soon as I raise the gun.

It shouldn't really be that way, but that's how it is for me.

It's a tube type. So you think it's a grip problem? I'll try to change my grip then.

Check this out! It may help you.

http://www.bullseyepistol.com/chapter1.htm

Thanks for your responses. I'll look at that site.

lognom wrote:It's a tube type. So you think it's a grip problem? I'll try to change my grip then.

You are going at it from the wrong end.  Get the gun up on target in a good firing position.   That gets you a good grip and arm/body position.  You'll have to to work on that for a while.  Then hold everything still and rotate your arm down from the shoulder.  Then lift it back up to the target.  You probably can't see the dot while your arm is lowered.

I pay no attention to the dot with the pistol down. I have a death stare on the X ring and when I raise the gun the scope appears between me and the X ring and the dot is centered. That's what I look for and what matters to me.

Ok. I'll ignore the dot when the pistol's down. Thanks for what you both said.

Lloyd

I am a real newbie also.  I can't see the iron sights very well anymore so have been trying to adapt to a red dot.  I call it follow the bouncing ball. lol  I started with a cheap tube type red dot.  With it I try to sight thru the tube making the circles (front and back lens) as concentric as I can.  The dot usually shows up when a get the scope tube lined up correctly.  If the pistol is tipped up down, left right you won't see the dot. 

I just changed to a micro dot and spent a week looking for the dot.  It was terrible.  Watched some Brian Zins videos again and changed my body position from close to 90 degrees  to much closer to 45 degrees to the target.  When dry firing i can see the dot almost every time when I raise my pistol.  The times I can't is usually because my wrist is dipped.

Mr Zins has a good video on grip position which is very close to what I have been using.  My grip is pretty consistent but I tend to "limp?" wrist occasionally and the dot disappears.

Don't worry about time right now.  Practice slow fire you have 10 minutes for 10 shots.  Practice raising the pistol so that each time it comes on target naturally and you see the dot.

Keep your eye on the target and raise the gun. Birders learn this with binoculars, too.

That's all helpful advice.

lognom wrote:........ My biggest problem is losing the dot when I raise my pistol...........

Lots of people here with better advice than me, but I'll ask anyway - over the past week or two, on average, how many times a day do you go through this motion (live fire and dry-fire combined)?

As my new tutor George told me to do, 100 per day would be a good starting point.  Average.  Every day.  ....and doing it for real, not just going through the motions.  Turn on TV, get comfortable, and do it, over, and over, and over, and over.....   if you start to hurt, take a break, then continue.

Mike,

If you train with the TV on, you are very likely just going through the motions and the TV has your attention. "Doing it for real" means that your undivided attention is on the training task at hand. Especially, if you are working on establishing a proper grip and lifting your arm correctly.  Unless, of course, your training goal is to work through external distractions. Then, the TV, blaring in the room, is your friend.
Just my two cents...

Regards,
Oleg.

Oleg, I realize that, so for me, I only watch old movies, that I've seen so many times that I already know what is happening.  But my goal is specifically trigger control, which has nothing to do with what 'lognom' is asking.  I agree with what you wrote - if I was standing up, dry-firing as if I was at the range, the only function of my TV would be to create background "noise".

I shouldn't have mentioned the TV in my last sentence when I posted my response to this thread.

What I tried to say, is dry-firing five, or ten, or even 20 times isn't enough.  Maybe 50 or 100 times a day, every day, would get to the point that he's so used to doing this, that not only the dot, but also the target, would automatically be lined up with his eye as he raised the gun.  (Which is something I also need to work on.)  Brian said this in one of his videos.  When he raises his gun, everything is already in a "shooting position".  Seems to me that the more you practice, the better you'll be able to do it without thinking about it - it will just "happen".