I've been a target shooter for most of my life. Since I've gotten into pistol action shooting (IPSC & IDPA), I've been frustrated by my lack of speed and I think it's due to my thought process. That is to say, I'm employing a thought process and thinking takes too long
I used to follow the old target shooting process:
1) guesstimate range to the target
2) choose proper holdoff for the range
3) look at desired impact point
4) look at a point x inches below desired impact point
5) transition to sights
6) fire
That was very accurate, but also very slow. I started short-circuiting the process by simply using a generic holdoff for all ranges, and that worked out faster but less accurately because the difference between the generic holdoff and proper holdoff varies widely at relatively short ranges.
But the thought process became:
1) look at desired impact point
2) look at a point 3 1/2" below desired impact point
3) transition to sights
4) fire
So I got to thinking about it and decided that the less active thought I put into it, the faster I can get on target. After doing some test groups and crunching numbers, I discovered that I could both increase accuracy and spend less time aiming if I choose a generic holdoff based on the sight picture itself rather than the target.
See, while my impact points climb steadily over the first 30 yards *in terms of inches at the target*, they remain fairly steady in terms of MoA.
So I'm going to experiment with a new approach:
1) look at desired impact point
2) transition to sights
3) align sigh picture so that desired impact point forms the peak of an isocoles triangle with rear night sight dots (symmetry is easy to recognize subconsciously)
4) fire
How do you folks do it? Am I on the right track?
I used to follow the old target shooting process:
1) guesstimate range to the target
2) choose proper holdoff for the range
3) look at desired impact point
4) look at a point x inches below desired impact point
5) transition to sights
6) fire
That was very accurate, but also very slow. I started short-circuiting the process by simply using a generic holdoff for all ranges, and that worked out faster but less accurately because the difference between the generic holdoff and proper holdoff varies widely at relatively short ranges.
But the thought process became:
1) look at desired impact point
2) look at a point 3 1/2" below desired impact point
3) transition to sights
4) fire
So I got to thinking about it and decided that the less active thought I put into it, the faster I can get on target. After doing some test groups and crunching numbers, I discovered that I could both increase accuracy and spend less time aiming if I choose a generic holdoff based on the sight picture itself rather than the target.
See, while my impact points climb steadily over the first 30 yards *in terms of inches at the target*, they remain fairly steady in terms of MoA.
So I'm going to experiment with a new approach:
1) look at desired impact point
2) transition to sights
3) align sigh picture so that desired impact point forms the peak of an isocoles triangle with rear night sight dots (symmetry is easy to recognize subconsciously)
4) fire
How do you folks do it? Am I on the right track?