Focus on the front site

Originally Posted by Quantrill
The "in focus" front sight is one of the basics or marksmanship.
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This is the TRUTH. Front sight tells you everything about your shot. Even shooting combat sights, the front sight dot is the one you need to see clearly.
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Yeah, I know I know, that but at 50, tell it to my eyes! I can raise my head and use the bifocal, but at arms length it's fuzzy, or I can lower my head and use the distance part, but my eyes have trouble focusing in that close. Or I can take off my glasses entirely and not be able to see if I'm even holding a gun!:eek: It really sucks to get old :(-- even if the alternative is worse;).

Oh, I can still put 50 rounds into a 6" circle at 30ish ft, but it's a struggle. Too bad the price of ammo is so high, because practice does help.
 
cougar gt-e said:
Yeah, I know I know, that but at 50, tell it to my eyes! I can raise my head and use the bifocal,...
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Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fundamentals of marksmanship -- trigger control and sight alignment. Excellent trigger control can really help, and dry fire practice is very helpful for that.

In any case, I'm 62 and find that progressive lenses are very helpful and more useful, in both my regular glasses and shooting glasses, than bifocals.
 
Bulls-eye and Tactical Accuracy are 2 different things ....

I went thru a pretty interesting 3 day ( how to shoot ) professional school recently. The gist of what he was saying - is we all need to develop the ability to shoot a 6 shot, 1" group ( covered by a quarter..) ...in slow fire ...and taking the time to prep the trigger, smooth trigger pull, follow-thru, good grip fundamentals, etc ... Make yourself do that / maybe once to warm up when you go to the range / and once as you finish your range time - at 10 yards. Some days I can do it / somedays I can't ...but at 60 yrs old / I have some eye issues too ...

Have some fun with it / shoot the 1" group with your buddies ....anyone that shoots the 1" group covered by a quarter ....gets the other guys quarters...

Tactical accuracy - is basically the A zone on an IPSC target. I don't have "master class" goals ....but for me, say a "C" class shooter goals are pretty good --- and a C class shooter ought to be able to - from the draw put 1 round into A zone in 2 sec / and then with split times of 0.5 sec --- put a 2nd round in it in 2.5 sec / 3 in 3.0 / 4 in 3.5 / 5 in 4.0 / 6th shot in 4.5 sec. But they all have to be A zone hits. The point he was stressing with me - don't rush your draw and get a poor grip, don't rush or yank that 2nd shot ...stay smooth ... and get all 6 shots in the A zone. Now he wanted a 1" group / but an A zone hit, is an A zone hit ...

Practice the draw and grip on the gun / getting everything just right. Then draw and 1 shot on target ( and get it around 1.8 - 2.0 sec ) / then move on to the 2 shots on target ( say 2.3 - 2.5 ) .....and work your way up to that 6 shot drill in under 4.5 sec ...

Somedays I'm on my game / somedays I'm not ... but I force myself to run that drill at least 3 times until I get it down to "standards" that are acceptable. I force myself to leave the target at 30 feet / because moving it into 21 feet or 15 feet --- seems to let me get lazy / I can shoot it almost 100% under time at 15 and 21 feet without really watching my front sight. To do it at 30 feet / I need to really watch the front sight ...and if I'm sloppy / its a shotgun blast pattern downrange. Faster - comes after accuracy .... if you can't do it at 30 feet ...don't be messing around at 40 or 50 feet, in my opinion !!
 
It all depends on the target, how far, and how fast. I shoot IDPA and USPSA competition every week, and the best iron-sight shooters are looking at the target under almost all conditions, unless it's a tight shot at 15+ yards. My buddy calls it a "nose index"; where his nose is pointing is where the bullets go. Some other locals are developing (selling) a training aid using different colored lasers, to see the difference between where the gun is apparently pointed and where a bullet would have struck, and it relies on looking exclusively at the target. I tend to go from straight point-shooting at targets up to ten-fifteen feet away, to a sort of gun index, with the gun in my line of sight but no hard focus on the gun or sights, to a squinty hard focus on the front sight if the target is beyond fifteen yards.
 
It all depends on the target, how far, and how fast. I shoot IDPA and USPSA competition every week, and the best iron-sight shooters are looking at the target under almost all conditions, unless it's a tight shot at 15+ yards.
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I agree with RickB, but with a caveat: when shooting IDPA/USPSA, I'm now looking at the target, through my sights. Much different than looking at the target and being oblivious to and unaware of the sights.

For action-type shooting, though, I "only" need to hit an area roughly equivalent to an 8". Hardly target accuracy. But I need to do it fast and after transitioning to & from targets and positions. The sights aren't irrelevant, but I don't need crisp resolution to get 8" accuracy, either. What I do need to do is "see" what's out there. So I look at the target through the sights. IOW, I see a specific point on the target I want to hit (just "seeing" a big tan piece of cardboard is much too vague), while being acutely aware of the sights.

For precision work, such as target and group shooting, though, it's all about perfectly-aligned sights, in which case it's imperative get a good crisp focus on the front sight. And in IDPA/USPSA, the longer and tighter the shot has to be, then, the more I come back to the front sight.

I recently started shooting IDPA (& even more recently, USPSA), and, ironically, struggle with accuracy issues. A top shooter recently pointed out this "look at the target through the sights" approach". I'm finding it tough to let go of a front sight focus when action shooting, but I've been practicing it a bunch lately, and it's becoming easier, and hits are getting better. I can still shoot a very respectable 15 yard group, though, and I do it by laser focus on the front sight.
 
In any case, I'm 62 and find that progressive lenses are very helpful and more useful, in both my regular glasses and shooting glasses, than bifocals
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Well, you're lucky. I tried the progressive lenses. I couldn't see clearly at any distance with either eye. I couldn't read a paper, see the speedometer well enough to determine speed, couldn't make out anything smaller than a bill board. Had every tech in the office adjust them because they all were sure it was just a little adjustment. Yeah right. But as a bonus, they gave me a splitting headache in less than 15 minutes.
 
What an Air Force small arms instructor told me,,,

Everyone always says "Focus on the front sight."

But not everyone who says that phrase,,,
Actually knows what that means.

How he explained it to me just makes good sense.

When you say "focus on it" you really mean "pay attention to it".

In a way you actually ignore trying to place it in alignment with the rear sight,,,
All of your attention is placed on aligning the front sight with the target,,,
As you do this you will automatically begin to align the rear sights,,,
Simply concentrate on that front sight and all else will happen.

I know how silly that may sound,,,
But this man took me from shooting all over the target,,,
To qualifying expert with the Model 15 S&W in just one month's time.

He said it was asking your brain to think about too many things at once,,,
To think about aligning the front & rear sights together,,,
Then think about putting them on target.

I have coached several new shooters to be much better than I am,,,
They all say that when explained in this fashion,,,
The statement makes sense to them.

Once the statement makes sense to the shooter,,,
It works to help their shooting.

.
 
When target practice everyone is right about the front site, But if your in a combat situation or self defence. both the same for hand gun. My dad and grandpaw who I feel knew what they were talking about ,because of there experiences taught me to point the pistol like pointing my finger at the target, keeping my eyes on the target and my surroundings. Now this is close quarter fighting of course.
 
Accuracy

Accuracy is accuracy, no matter what. Standards are different for different disciplines. Bullseye shooting, both conventional and International forms, places a premium of very precise shooting. Indeed, the slow fire stage is often called the precision stage. And you have plenty of time to do that...ten minutes for ten rounds slowfire. Even the sustained fire stages in Bullseye are slow compared to practical pistol shooting (5 shots in 20 seconds, 5 shots in ten seconds). Much of the emphasis in practical venues has to do with speed and adaptability of position; those are big differences and reasons that a different standard of accuracy is the norm.
None of it is easy. Bottom line: ya still have to point the gun straight at the target and pull or squeeze the trigger without moving the muzzle too mjuch
Pete
 
Hex

The Hex sight is basically an aperture sight. Its large aperture works the same way that any tube sight works increasing the depth of field as the eye looks through. It works. It is, though, as described, more of a combat sight than a precision sight but it might well work for both.
Pete
 
The Hexsite recipe involves two changes from most "aperture" sights:

* The hex is the obvious one - and yes, it makes a difference.

* Not as obvious: a The Hex sight is basically an aperture sight. Its large aperture works the same way that any tube sight works increasing the depth of field as the eye looks through. It works. It is, though, as described, more of a combat sight than a precision sight but it might well work for both. lot of work went into making it glare-free and dead-black. Colors of any sort (on the front or rear sights) distract your eyes from the target-focused nature of it. Glare doesn't help either. The current-gen Hexsites fight glare with high-tech polymer coatings over a steel core or base. The current-gen rear Hexsite piece is all-polymer except for a steel mounting point. When I knocked one against my tooth, it felt as hard as metal. Neither the front nor rear will ever do a "holster wear corner glint" like most metal sights will - esp. the front.
 
hex

Jim: I can imagine one of those on my Glock. Installation is pretty straightforward. The front sight appears to superimpose very crisply on the target.
Pete
 
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