Teaching "sight picture?"

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Prof Young

New member
Grandson Rhys is six and getting more interested in shooting. We have a BB gun range in the basement and I've taken him to the range to shoot the Cricket and the SA six gun, both 22 cal. At the range he and I both hold the gun and he pulls the trigger. Shooting the BB gun I've tried to get him to understand how the sight picture should look but so far he isn't getting it. I've drawn him pictures and done a lot of explaining. He isn't getting it as easily as first grandson did, which is fine. Every one learns at their own pace.

I'm just wondering if anyone has some tips or tricks or learning aides in this arena.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
There are lots of pictures on the internet showing proper sight alignment with the target.

Here's a video--the first part is pretty good and he might get something from it, but I would stop it before it gets into the discussion of sight adjustment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxxUPqEjkTk

But before showing him any of that, you need to get the answers to some questions. You can't get the answers by simply asking because if he's having vision troubles, he has no proper reference to work from. So you're going to have to devise some tests to get accurate answers.

Can he see the sights on the gun ok while he's in the shooting position?

Is he keeping the proper eye open while sighting?

Can he clearly see the pictures you're drawing for him?

Can he see the target he's supposed to be aiming at?

If he can see all of those things and still can't understand how to align the sights, even after looking at pictures, I don't really know where to go from there.
 
Back in the days when "typing" referred to using a typewriter, there were teachers who felt that in some instances constant attempts to force a student to do it "right" only reinforced the error. The theory was that these students should intentionally type the error, and each time they did so they should say "Nope, that's not right."

My suggestion for the grandson would be to use a variant of that theory. Start with the BB gun. Does it have open sights (I hope)? Have him begin with whatever he feels is a correct, or normal sight picture. Then have him lower the rear sight so the front sight ball or tip is well and obviously above the top of the rear sight, THEN pull the trigger. Repeat ten times.

Then do the same thing but power the barrel so the front sight disappears from view and fire ten shots like that. Go get the targets and show him what the gross changes in sight picture did to his point of impact.

In the end, though, everyone learns at their own pace, and nobody learns before they are ready to learn. Perhaps this grandson simply isn't ready to grasp the concept.
 
At six years old, I wouldn't even worry about it. Just let him shoot and have fun. Obviously, it's more fun if he's hitting the cans or water bottles you've set up but taking him out and letting him yank on the trigger is plenty good. You've planted the seeds already and eventually, he'll ask you what you meant.

--Wag--
 
At six years old, I wouldn't even worry about it. Just let him shoot and have fun.
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Having fun is top priority, but letting it go too long will instill bad habits that will be much harder to break in just a few years. Teach the basic fundamentals of marksmanship (sight alignment, Trigger press, breathing, follow through, and of course safety) at an early age.
 
Mike38 said:
Having fun is top priority, but letting it go too long will instill bad habits that will be much harder to break in just a few years. Teach the basic fundamentals of marksmanship (sight alignment, Trigger press, breathing, follow through, and of course safety) at an early age.
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100% agree. It's never age dependent, though. Just keep an eye on him and introduce it when he's ready. Some kids 'get it' at a later age than others.

--Wag--
 
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