Using Iron sights accurately???

C

chadflys

New member
I'm new to this target shooting and would like to be competitive someday...Got my MKII 512 target a month ago. Some advice that I had received a while back was to get to where I could hold the 5.5 ring at 75ft., at which point I'd be good enough for a trigger modification. I hold the 5.5 at 75ft about 60% of time.

Is that reasonable? I've gone through about 800 rnds now and its hard to say I've improved. I'd say I could consistantly hit a dime at 10 and 15ft....at 20ft about a 1.5in group....at 30ft I start having trouble keeping it inside 3in....consistantly.

With a 2x scope my groups were inside 3in at 75ft. Just sold it.. :(

What should I expect from myself as a fairly novice shooter?
Should I go ahead and upgrade my trigger now?
Are there better iron sights than the standard target sights that come on it? (that I can see better?)

Any tips or advise for that matter would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks,

Chad
 
accuracy

The guys I shoot against in bullseye put 10 shots inside 3 inches at 50 feet consistently. They are very good. I don't do as well, but they have decades more experience than my three years.

3 inches at 30 feet will approximately equate to 5 inches at 50 feet. That is better than I do most of the time. If you think you are limited by your equipment, upgrade. If that is not the case, practice. In my case for now my equipment is more capable than I am and I probably shoot 4000 rounds a year through my Rugers and Brownings. I shoot equally well(or badly)with iron sights and a red dot, go figure.

Get some coaching. Read the Army Marksmanship Manual several times. There's a lot in there.

Good luck and keep shooting.
 
You are doing good, definitely on the right track.

Trigger:
It would be good if you could weigh the trigger now, to get an idea. But let's say its between 4 and 6 lbs.

I hold the 5.5 at 75ft about 60% of time
Click to expand...

Progress:
If I were coach, then I would move you back to 50 feet. I would not have you shooting at 25 yards until with a factory MKIII you could keep all shots in the black, i.e. the 9 on a b8.

When you can consistently hold the 8 at 25 yards, then I'd say its worth it to get the trigger upgrade. If you don't have patience to get to that level with the factory trigger, you won't stick with bullseye anyway. I'm not saying that to be negative, just my opinion and believe me many people quit once they reach the point where they can't buy tighter groups.

I won't comment on what the others consider good or bad. Look up the NRA classifications, that will tell you where you stand. Not uncommon for someone to make Sharpshooter in a year. Not uncommon for a Sharpshooter to clean a 25 yard target, in timed and/or rapid. Master might take a few years, and some never do.

For your first 800 rounds, a 5.5 at 25 yards means you are doing fine. About average for what I see in new shooters.

Iron Sights:
First, your focus should be on the front sight. The bull and rear sight are blurry. Get Gil Hebard's "A Pistol Shooter's Treasury" for more on this.

Second, you must experiment with different sight pictures. The 3 most common (in no particular order) are 1) center-mass, 2) 6'oclock, 3) sub six. I think most BE shooters find that 6 and sub-six are best, but some great shooters use center-mass. Actually, in the order I listed them, each shows less "wobble" to the shooter than the one before. A CM some shooters will constantly chase the center, a 6'oclock the shooter might chase the perfect loli-pop, wheras sub-six shows a stable hold. The Hebard book goes into this more.

Misc:
100% of the MarkIII's I have seen (dozens) the front sight will come loose at some point and need to be tightened with red loctite. I have seen new shooters drive themselves nuts adjusting the rear sight only to realize that the front sight was loose and twisting with each shot in different directions. The rear sight has been known to occasionally walk inside the dove-tail because of the shipping grease.
 
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