Front sight drifting to the right

[higginsdj]

Hi All,

I'm spending lots of time on the Rika and now learning to analyse my 'form'. One thing I have noted is that the longer I hold the more the front sight pin drifts to the right and it take a real concious effort to centre it again. My holds vary from 6 to nearly 20 seconds.

A 'good' Rika Trace of my holds (second image) show periods of good hold then I lose it then I get it back. On many traces, however, it looks like a heart monitor and the first image shows the drifting off.

Any ideas or suggestions? My first thought is the trigger position. I have the right hand edge of the trigger located in the first (top) joint of the trigger finger as this provides me with avery nice feel for repeating the trigger finger position BUT the trigger may be a little too far forward thus trigger finger pressure may be pushing it to the right.

I imagine that it could also be a number of other things - grip, stance, head position (as a novice none of these are 'locked in' so there are constant variations, albeit small variations)

You don't have to be gentle or kind - I'm here to learn.

Cheers

David

[Shootist]

20 seconds? that a long holding time - unless you breathe your eyes will start to loose focus due to lack of oxygen, and then all sort of things happen to your sight picture Id say unless you have released your shot in 5-7 seconds - start over.

Grip may play a role - wrist movement to align the sights is a big no-no, sights and grip have to be the same - everytime. If you have to correct alignment of sights when you lift the gun, you will have to start doing some woodwork -:) - I did post some stuff about grip fitting earlier

[RobStubbs]

Grip and trigger could both account for it but echo the above, 20s is way, way too long to hold. Try between 3 and 5 secs, maximum of 8.

Another point is it sounds like you have the trigger in the wrong place on your finger as well - by your description. It should be in the middle of the pad on the trigger finger - where most people have a circular pattern in their fingerprint. At point of let off your finger should be perpendicular to the barrel so all the movement is directly backwards. You need to look at the finger nail to determine that as the finger itself is soft and fleshy.

Rob.

[Rover]

I'm with shootist....you need a little grip work so you don't have to hold the sights to the left. They will then drift to the right as you relax, and it takes time to reallign them.

I'm speaking of alignment in the rear notch, not on the target.

[Philadelphia]

One thing I have noted is that the longer I hold the more the front sight pin drifts to the right and it take a real concious effort to centre it again.

Do you mean that the aligned sights drift to the right as a unit or that the sight alignment drifts right?

Are you applying any pressure on the trigger as this happens?

If the aligned sights drift right as a unit, my guess is that your shoulder is getting tired (which might point to an issue with your stance).

If the sight alignment drifts and it takes a hard effort to get it back, I'd have to see what you're doing but my initial guess is your thumb may be involved more than you are presently aware of (my assumption being that you do lock your wrist but this still happens anyway).

So . . . can you provide more clues? :) (and why are you holding so long? Just as a practice exercise?)

[higginsdj]

Actually the front pin is drifting to the left in the sight picture (compared to the back sight). What a novice - can't even tell my left from my right :)

Have been doing much better the past week. I'm treating the target as basically a second thought. All my concentration is on the sight picture. The 'aim' isn't perfect but the triggering is now coming back to the hold area (and the hold area is somewhat larger). My scores in live fire have also improved. 515 average is now 535 and it's improved my .22 precision and duelling as well.

Cheers

David

[Steve Swartz as Guest]

David:

Mifght seem like a "distinction without a difference" to you now, but the following is actual.ly critically imprtant:

Sight Picture: The totality of alignment between rear sight, front sight, and the target . . . what you see in yoiur visual field

Aim: Pointing the gun (verb) or where the the gun is pointed (noun); your "aim" is hte result of your responses to the "sight picture."

Alignment: the relative position (as perceived by the shooter) between the front and rear sight.

O.K., so why does this matter?

Sight Picture: the primary reason why newer shooters never "get it" and fail to break out of the medicrity 9and futility) of trying to line up three different objects simultaneously (rear sight, front sight, and target). Focusing on Sght Picture prevents you from focusing on Alignment.

Aim: The act of trying to establish the "proper" sight picture; guranteeing that yoiu will be releasing all of your shots *after* the optimal conditions are achieved (principle of "we are all seeing intot he past")

Alignment: what you *should* be concentrating on with 100% of your conscious bandwidth.*

Other than that, guarded congratulations on your (incremental) progress toward "Enlightenment!"

=8^)

Steve

*The "good old boy" who finally got me to the "AHA" moment of staring at the front sight and focusing like a laser beam on alignment put it this way once: "The Devil hisself put that black dot out there just to separate the righteous from the wicked!"

[Steve Swartz as Guest]

Oh, sorry- the other great saying is:

"There ain't no useful information whatsover beyond that front sight!"

Steve

[higginsdj]

Thanks Steve. I'm not all there yet. When I think I have it right, the best way I can explain it is like a vision change. I am aware of the target but only as a 'floating' blob bouncing around behind and above the sight picture. More practise needed :)