Why Does This Happen?

S

Single Six

New member
This has been mystifying me for years. Every time my LE agency holds qualifications at our outdoor range, I've noticed that lots of shooters [me included] post much higher scores at night time. Not only that, but my group sizes tighten up considerably as well. A typical range day for me has me scoring a 99.4% in the daytime, and 100% at night. Our pistols do have night sights, but are not equipped with on-board lights....So HOW is it that we shoot better in the dark than in broad daylight? :confused: Thanks, all.
 
Maybe there's something to be said for something akin to tunnel vision when everything surrounding your target is blacked-out or dark. Or like looking through a ghost ring sight, with less visible clutter in the surrounding area you more quickly and acurately focus on the picture straight ahead.

Just a complete guess, a shot in the dark you might say. (Can I get banned for terrible puns?)
 
Hard to guess without being there to see the various shooters.

One possible influence might involve if you're basically shooting from "behind the wall of light", meaning your sights are darkly silhouetted against an illuminate threat target being illuminated by some light source, making it easier to see your sights in relation to the intended target.

This even works better for some folks when night sights are being used, as the tritium capsules show up even better in the darkened sights against the intended target being illuminated by whatever light source is present.

Seeing night sights as regular sights is sometimes harder during bright light/day light conditions, depending on the make of night sights, too.
 
It's been longer since the morning coffee. Drinking caffeine will result in lower scores, it makes you twitchy.

You won't see a serious competitive shooter with a cup of bean juice in their hand at any time of day for this reason.
 
One possible influence might involve if you're basically shooting from "behind the wall of light", meaning your sights are darkly silhouetted against an illuminate threat target being illuminated by some light source, making it easier to see your sights in relation to the intended target.
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I think this might be it. I can never shoot as well when its sunny and there's glare on my sights.
 
B. Lahey: I can only speak for myself on this one, but I don't drink coffee..I am given to the occasional soft drink, but never in the morning. In fact, by the time we hit the range for the night shoot, I might well have had one just a few minutes prior to that. Still, your point is a valid one...most of my colleagues do drink coffee in the morning.
 
Humm… caffeine, an interesting concept.
I thought night shooting scores might be higher because of various factors effected by the different lighting conditions.
 
Single Six

This has to with a basic principle of shooting. Its easier to shoot in low light conditions because your eye focuses more easily on your sights than on the target. With more light during the day, shooters tend to look at the target more than their sights.

It has nothing to do with caffein or tunnel vision and more to do with distractions around you and the glare off of your sights. Its just a trick that your eyes play on you.
 
Tim Sheehan at Goshen rails frequently against the evils of glinting sights. He goes to extreme lengths to eliminate glint, including polymer coatings over steel cores or bases.
 
Let's see, it's darker, so the eye opens up, right? Bigger lens opening gives poorer depth of field, so the eye can truly only focus on one thing at a time - the front sight.

During the day the eye is a pinpoint and the depth of field expands and you think you can see the sights and the target at the same time.

I'm just trying to remember my slr camera basics here. Depth of field explained in terms of camera lenses www.uscoles.com/depthoffield.html
 
And then you put that perfectly focused front sight on the those well lit targets and you're all set.

Or maybe folks just find the sound of crickets and the blink of lightning bugs to be relaxing. Admit it, it even sounds relaxing.
 
aim small miss small? Something maybe along the lines of you are concentrating more at night vs the daytime shooting, due to overall lack of ambient light actually resulting in slightly better scores.
 
aim small miss small
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That's the jist of it in a round about kinda way. It was esplained to me, even in morning indoors lowlight quals, that the mind has it's own tendency to center things up. If one's focal point is reduced to what is in the light or fixed point- then the mind does what it sees as natural behavior- centering up on what is available. Sights actually play a smaller part in all this in reduced light than they do in full brightness. Provided the shooter has a basic familiarity with his firearm, all he/she really needs is a outline of the front sight against the backdrop (target). Now without contrast, the dot of night sights comes into a much bigger benefit. So, with those crazy mind processes that fascinate us so much with those optical illusions we can google up, we can logically say, "See small, Aim small, and Miss small".
 
One possible influence might involve if you're basically shooting from "behind the wall of light", meaning your sights are darkly silhouetted against an illuminate threat target being illuminated by some light source, making it easier to see your sights in relation to the intended target.
Click to expand...



I think this might be it. I can never shoot as well when its sunny and there's glare on my sights.
Click to expand...



Not only is there the possibility of a glare on your sights, there is a problem with the angle of the sun’s glare. So I’ve been told, by a few High Master level shooters, when the sun is at an angle (early morning or later afternoon) it makes the side of the front sight away from the sun a bit blurry or fuzzy, and that will throw off your shots. These guys and gals that are very good pistol shooters say that they prefer to shoot competitively on over cast days. Not super dark over cast, but enough cloud cover to keep the sun from glaring.
 
So far, all of these explanations sound plausible. Shooting better at night is hardly a problem; since most armed encounters happen in low light [so I'm told], I'd say this is good. Really was just wondering. As an aside, my agency's outdoor range is located adjacent to the town sewage treatment plant. :barf: Considering the fact that I've been shooting there for 20 years, I'm now afraid that if I ever get in a gunfight, my marksmanship will just suck if I can't smell raw sewage. :rolleyes:
 
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