question about sight acquisition

1506 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Galileo, Apr 15, 2001

Galileo

Discussion Starter · Apr 15, 2001

So -- I'm shooting and trying to do it with a little pace and my eye picks-up the front sight, trying to align as quickly ads possible with the rear sight and also seeing the small bit of daylight that frames the sight picture. If i do this and align it correctly i'm in good shape except for one thing. At this point, the gun is only aimed generally at the target...to get a real specific aim, say to the 'X', I must slow everything down to incorporate that aspect to the aiming process.

How do i see all of these components quickly, and at one time, to get a quick and accurate shot off? Yeah I know...practice, practice, practice

Any other hints?

Thanks and Regards,
Galileo

See less See more

Save

1 - 5 of 5 Posts

SteveW

· #2 · Apr 15, 2001

Practice is the key word. if you learn to shoot at the same spot every time, it becomes a matter of muscle memory. One way to help with this is to shoot at a blank piece of notebook paper. If you have problems maintaining an eight inch group with that, try a 3x5 inch note card, stapled to a target, and work up from there. If you are shooting at IDPA, or IPSC targets, the "A" or "0" zome are roughly in the same place. With that in mind, look at where the "shoulders" of the target are, and align your sights accordingly.
The biggest thing is, start out slowly, and then worry about the speed. Speed comes with smoothness.

Respectfully,
Steve

Save

Mikey

· #3 · Apr 15, 2001

You can catch a little sight acquisition speed by altering your draw stroke so that the gun is brought up out of the holster, centered close to the body about the sternum where the weak hand joins the grip and thrust forward toward the target. By doing this you can acquire the sights before your arms are fully extended and already be aligning them on the target as you extend. At full extension you should be ready to break the shot.

A change in draw stroke can take many hours to accomplish and initial results may be slower than you are used to. Re-setting muscle memory is a daunting task but the rewards can be worth it.

With this draw stroke my time to first shot on target eventually reduced by half. On days when I'm "on" (darn few day to be sure) I actually feel like I have to wait on the full arm extension because I've already got the sight picture. It's nice to get that "slow motion" feeling during a match because the times are usually outstanding.

Good luck

Mikey

Save

shane45-1911

· #4 · Apr 15, 2001

Here's a drill that has worked well for me.

Take your UNLOADED pistol, and draw it from your holster (or bring the gun up from hip level - for this drill it doesn't matter if you are wearing leather or not).

If you are inside the house, pick a spot on the other side of the room (light switch, electrical outlet, etc). Bring the gun up on target as fast as you can, ONLY focusing on the front site. Don't even try to line up the front sight in the rear notch. The object here is to simply get used to putting the front sight on target quickly. Do this several times a day. Just get that front sight on target FAST, nothing else matters at this point. It doesn't matter if the gun is canted up/down/left/right. Just make sure your front bead is on target.

Once you have practiced doing this for a few days or week, hold your sight picture that you are seeing now, when you place the front sight on target. How far off is you rear sight from lining up to the front? Practice this a few more times until you can consistently determine which direction you need to move the gun to fine tune your total sight picture (centering front sight in rear notch).

If you have practiced with just the front sight for a week or so as I suggested, you should be able to determine exactly what you need to do to get the front sight centered in the rear.

You should now start the drill all over again, this time making the subtle correction to the angle of the gun as you are bringing it up from waist level.

Sorry for the long-winded explaination to a relatively simple drill. Good luck.

PS - good advice from Mikey and Steve, as well.

[This message has been edited by shane45-1911 (edited 04-15-2001).]

See less See more

Save

Galileo

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 15, 2001

Yes indeed...very good advice from all of you. Now at least I have a workable framework to use for practice guidelines. I'm looking forward to improving.

Thanks again fellas,
Robert-
Galileo

Save

1 - 5 of 5 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month