Basic Question: Where Do I Look?

[Misny]

In pistol shooting, we always focus on the front sight. I think I know the answer to this, but when shooting air rifle, do I focus on the target's bullseye or the front sight? I use a front sight that has a circle. If the front sight has a post, where do I look?

[corning]

You still have to focus on that front sight. 50 feet, or 1000 yards and everywhere in between, pistol or rifle, you have to focus on the front sight. If you can't see the front sight, you pretty much can't shoot.

John

[Freepistol]

I don't recommend even trying a post front sight. You should stick to the aperature front sight and should use the acrylic ones vs the black metal ones. When I was learning smallbore prone I went from sharpshooter to expert as soon as I switched to the acrylic front sight insert.
A heavy leather jacket bumped me to Master.
ben

[Misny]

OK, so no matter what type of sight I use, I should focus on the front sight? For the circle aperature on the air rifle, I've been focusing on the target bull in the center of the circle.

[Matt]

In pistol shooting, we always focus on the front sight. I think I know the answer to this, but when shooting air rifle, do I focus on the target's bullseye or the front sight? I use a front sight that has a circle. If the front sight has a post, where do I look?

Misny,

It is imperative that both the front sight and the target are absolutely sharp for rifle shooting.

Rifle shooting incorporates both the front sight aperture and the target whereas pistol shooting involves focusing on the front sight.

I trust that this will help you.

Matt

[shadow]

I am a pistol shooter. I just bought an old Anschutz 64 because I want to start working with our juniors. My "old" Anschutz came with a post in place in the front sight. Should I put in one of the acrylic inserts?

[Freepistol]

I am a pistol shooter. I just bought an old Anschutz 64 because I want to start working with our juniors. My "old" Anschutz came with a post in place in the front sight. Should I put in one of the acrylic inserts?

Yes, definitely!

[Freepistol]

I haven't tried this, but it may be helpful to clubs with junior shooters on a budget:

http://mechanicalphilosopher.blogspot.c ... sight.html

Ben

[pwh]

Well thats all well and good if you have access to a milling machine and know how to use one! Acrylic inserts are not all that expensive and you might be able to swing a deal if you purchase quite a few of them from the dealer. It's worth a try.

~Phil

[Tenz]

with rifle shooting, focus on the front sight is important. A mistake a lot of people make is not paying enough attention to centering the front sight within the rear. Making sure the sight is alignment is correct(the front sight being perfectly centered within the view from the rear sight), may seem like a fairly simple concept, but it is one many people over look...

[2016oly]

My coach always tells us to watch the front sight, if you get your npa right you dont need to look at the target.

[2016oly]

I am a pistol shooter. I just bought an old Anschutz 64 because I want to start working with our juniors. My "old" Anschutz came with a post in place in the front sight. Should I put in one of the acrylic inserts?

Yes, definitely!

I personally don't see a difference btwn Acrylic or metal inserts

[pwh]

My coach always tells us to watch the front sight, if you get your npa right you dont need to look at the target.

I don’t mean to sound flippant or perhaps sarcastic here although I’m sure it will be conceived that way and it’s not my intention but, just what do you look at if not the target? The person next to you, the lights, the clock on the wall….? Seems a tad hard to hit a target if one is not looking at the target!

In pistol shooting, we always focus on the front sight. I think I know the answer to this, but when shooting air rifle, do I focus on the target's bullseye or the front sight? I use a front sight that has a circle. If the front sight has a post, where do I look?

I personally don't see a difference btwn Acrylic or metal inserts

Nope, there actually is no difference between an Acrylic or a metal insert sight but I believe he was originally referring to a metal post sight. Now that is a indeed a big difference!

~Phil

[Freepistol]

[quote="pwh"

I personally don't see a difference btwn Acrylic or metal inserts

Nope, there actually is no difference between an Acrylic or a metal insert sight but I believe he was originally referring to a metal post sight. Now that is a indeed a big difference!

~Phil

You're right Phil, I was referring to the post, however, I can also shoot the acrylic sight much better than the metal aperature.

It was back in the eighties that I switched and I was only a sharpshooter in outdoor prone. I attributed the improvement to the light entering the front sight evenly all around the insert. The metal insert blocks the light at 3 & 9 o'clock. There was nothing else I did to improve except the aperature change. Wind conditions were not a factor as I shot much better than my peers.

Back to original question of "where to look". It is not as obvious, to me at least, that it is necessary to consciously see the front sight when shooting a rifle. {My eyes were much younger back then}. Depth of field is increased by the rear sight aperature. Additionally the rifle front sight is farther away from the eye than a pistol sight, although the free pistol front sight is out there, too.

I really think I shot best when my eye was relaxed in focus and I just paid strict attention to centering everything, keeping the white band even all the way around the bull, and not shooting in the switches!
Ben

[Hemmers]

My coach always tells us to watch the front sight, if you get your npa right you dont need to look at the target.

I don’t mean to sound flippant or perhaps sarcastic here although I’m sure it will be conceived that way and it’s not my intention but, just what do you look at if not the target? The person next to you, the lights, the clock on the wall….? Seems a tad hard to hit a target if one is not looking at the target!

Certainly in prone rifle, if you are lined up correctly on the target and not forcing the rifle over with your hand, then you should be coming up on target every time you breathe out. You focus on the foresight becaue it gives you the clearest sight picture, but done properly, you shouldn't need to do even that.

An exercise I've been trying recently is to line up on the diagram as I usually would, breathe in, close my eyes, breathe out and shoot. Then open your eyes reload, check your alignment and do it again. I found if you have a consistent breathing regime and a stable position, you should be able to group pretty well, even with your eyes closed.
Now I just need to make sure I'm lined up on the centre. I get some lovely groups in the 9-ring, which shows vividly how it's possible to subconsciously push the rifle across when you're lining up.