Decreasing sight radius - initial impressions.

[Mike M.]

Initial after-action report.

Switched to the Steyr. I understand Rover's argument that people can't spend their way to a medal, but the P44 was partly an experiment anyway. I'd shot the LP10 for several years prior. I agree that the recoil compensator seems a bit better.

Moved the front sight as far to the rear as it would go, the rear sight as far forward as possible. This cut about 2 inches off the sight radius, from ~11 inches to ~9 inches. I though it made a significant difference in keeping the rear sight sharp enough for good alignment. This was the crux of my original question...a longer sight radius may be better for detecting small angular errors, but it's more of a PITA from a focus perspective. Moving the sights closer together brings them into the same optical plane. It would be interesting to try a gun with the rear sight mounted ahead of the breech, or a Morini CM80 - you could move the front and rear sight way forward.

Anyway, results were encouraging. Of 25 shots, only one 7, a handful of 8s. I may wind up opening the rear sight slightly.

I will say that these guns are not as "forgiving" as a good percussion revolver. Getting a pure straight-back press without sideforces is tricky.

[GaryN]

I think you need to get custom shooting glasses.
Only the front sight should be "in focus."
The rear sight should not be "in focus." All you need is enough contrast to see the notch reasonably well.
I had to get a custom glasses made to do that.

As for your trigger finger.
Sounds like a few things.
1 - Placement of the finger on the trigger. I put the pad of the finger on the trigger.
2 - Is the trigger too close or too far to have the finger in contact with the trigger at right angle to the trigger?
3 - How you are pulling the trigger? I pivot my finger on the 2nd joint, and go straight back.
DRY FIRE to work on your trigger.

[BobGee]

When you squeeze the trigger, try to imagine that you are pulling the front sight straight back through the rear notch. I also say " come to Daddy" to myself, but that part is your choice!

Bob

[zanemoseley]

FRONT SIGHT, FRONT SIGHT, FRONT SIGHT. You should always focus on the FRONT SIGHT. If you're trying to get the rear sight focused you're in for trouble.

[nglitz]

I tried similar adjustments on my Walther. Moving the front sight rearward gave the illusion of less wobble. Meh. After a lot of fooling around with it, I went back to the farthest forward position. Happy there.

I moved the rear sight slightly forward with the idea of having the blade centered on the joints of my wrist. If behind the wrist joints, the rear sight would move left when the front sight moved to the right and vice versa. That seemed to bother me by accentuating the wobble. Moving the rear sight farther forward gave me no apparent affect on the sight picture. I went with centered on the wrist. Now, the apparent wobble is all on the front sight, with the rear pretty stable. If only I could hold the front as stable. :)

[gwsb]

Mike it is true that you can't spend your way to a win but you can certainly save your way to a loss.

[Chia]

Tried it, didn't work. Wondered why. Figured out that the front sight wasn't the size of the target. Then realized that I was looking at the target instead of the front sight. Oops. Started staring at the front sight and put things back the way they were before. Accuracy immediately improved.

Conclusion: just get that FRONT SIGHT IN FOCUS. Its size is totally irrelevant at my point in training.