As the title suggests, I recently purchased my first handgun, a Springfield xd 40. I have put 150 rounds through it at the range with horrible results. My first 50 rounds found the paper only 20 times. Not the target, mind you, just the paper. I went back to the range the next day and shot 100 rounds with ever worse results, only having 30 rounds hit paper. It's hard to get an idea of a spread when only 30% of the time you see where your shot went. Having said that, however, I did start to change my point of aim from the center of the target to get an idea of where I was off. I noticed that when I would aim at the top/right of the target, I would, more often than not, hit low/left on an 18" sq. paper. I am an experienced shooter with rifles and shotguns, and am quite accurate, having been an avid hunter for nearly 20 years, but I've never shot a handgun before this weekend. I would love to blame the sights, but my father-in-law was with me the first day and was able to shoot on target without problem. I have watched several videos on proper stance, grip, etc. and am fairly confident that those are not issues (however trigger pull may be, it's the only thing I can come up with). Next time I go, probably this weekend, I will buy a larger target, like a human silhouette, so that I can get a better idea of my spread pattern, but I would love some tips that I can take with me to the range.