focussing on the front sight

[Dev]

I have now arrived at a surprising conclusion...i don't understand what focusing on the front sight means. Even when I think about it during practice I keep looking at the alignment of the back and the front sight till I get the sleeping E. Do you mean that once this has been acquired then one concentrates only on the front sight?

Please do explain.

Warm Regards,

Dev

[David Levene]

There are different schools of thought.

Some say that you should focus on the front sight. Others say that you should focus on the sight alignment.

I favour the latter.

[Spencer]

There are different schools of thought.

Some say that you should focus on the front sight. Others say that you should focus on the sight alignment.

I favour the latter.

Interesting - I favour and teach the former
...on the basis that if a shooter focuses at, and on, the front sight all the shooter's hand/eye coordination skills will 'do the rest'

(David and I have disagreed before - without rancour)

[Dev]

There are different schools of thought.

Some say that you should focus on the front sight. Others say that you should focus on the sight alignment.

I favour the latter.

Interesting - I favour and teach the former
...on the basis that if a shooter focuses at, and on, the front sight all the shooter's hand/eye coordination skills will 'do the rest'

(David and I have disagreed before - without rancour)

So do you mean forget the rear sight and just focus on the front sight being aligned to the sub six area? It is really nice to have inputs from such senior people. I applaud your cordial disagreement.
Dev

[Jack Milchanowski]

Dev,

I am assuming that you are looking for a very specific/definitive explanation of “focusing on the front sight”. Many people focus on and see the front sight in sharp focus. If they can do this the target face will not be in as sharp a focus as the front sight is. With my shooting glasses the target face is a slight blur and not in focus while my front sight is clear and sharp. My rear sight is not as clear or sharp in my vision as is my front sight. My rear sight is not a blur and is discernable. Another way to say it is my rear sight is in “apparent” sharpness. Spencer is suggesting that you have the front sight in focus and your mind will try and keep the alignment of the rear sight and front sight in a proper alignment in the aiming area that you select to use on the target. The front sight should remain sharp/clear/in focus throughout the entire shot process which includes the follow through. Dave, I believe, is suggesting that you see clearly and focus on the complete sight alignment picture (front sight and rear sight), maintain it through the shot and follow through. You do not want your eye changing its focus from the sights to the target during the entire process. All of the people who have helped me with my shooting as well as everything that I have read tell me that maintaining correct “sight alignment” is one of the most important things to accomplish a perfect shot. The second important action is activating the trigger. It is such a simple sport. Focus on the front sight (sight alignment) and squeeze the trigger without upsetting the sight alignment. I offer apologies in advance to Spencer and David for interpreting their thoughts and words.

Come see us in the woods.
Jack

[Spencer]

...So do you mean forget the rear sight and just focus on the front sight being aligned to the sub six area?

it is not the only part of the technique of firing a good shot, but a method that works for the 'sight picture' segment of the overall stance, grip, breathing, trigger, follow-through.

In the context of pistol and precision targets, too few shooters accept (and make use of) their inherent hand eye coordination

Focussing on the sight alignment can be another way of achieving the same outcome, but with the comparatively narrow rearsight gap that many shooters use, can distract from focussing at the front sight.

[David Levene]

Focussing on the sight alignment can be another way of achieving the same outcome, but with the comparatively narrow rearsight gap that many shooters use, can distract from focussing at the front sight.

That can indeed be a problem; probably indicative of using too narrow a gap, but trying to define "too narrow" is a whole new topic in itself.

One of the reasons I prefer focussing on the sight alignment is that I find it easier to detect any tendancy for the focus to shift towards the target; the rear sight quickly becomes less sharp.

[madmull]

Here is a picture and some explaining about focussing on the front sight

http://www.christiangunowner.com/handgu ... nment.html

[BEA]

When focusing on the front sight, the gap on each side appear to be on the same plain, so you can focus on both at once. Having a correctly fitting grip and proper stance is very important in sight alignment. When you hold the pistol up, the sights should be naturally aligned, perhaps not perfectly, but very close. If not, your shots may tend to fade in the direction that the muzzle wants to go to reach natural point of aim. As someone stated prior, having the proper width front/rear sight is important. This relationship is an individual thing, which is why many pistols come with an adjustable rear blade or a selection of blades. Somewhere online a saw some good pictures of various sight pictures but can not remember where it was. Perhaps someone else will know.

[luftskytter-]

Good stance, natural point of aim, sight alignment, followthrough are all important.
But people tend to mix "focus" and "concentration".
Focus is an optical thing, and I tend to agree front sight focus is fine.
Concentration is about the direction of your gaze, where you fix your attention. This may be heresy, but recently I've found that fixing my attention on the target rather than the front sight helps. Remember, this is not optical focus, only attention and the direction of your gaze. Good thing about the target is that it doesn't move!
Good followthrough for me then becomes keep staring at the middle of the target. The sights should stay aligned and stay still in relation to this.
Glasses make it easier to sort out the focus thing so that you can concentrate on pointing your eyes where you want to hit without straining to focus at the sights. A slightly blurry target doesn't matter unless you have split vision or something else that needs correction.

And of course it's a physical fact that good sight alignment is absolutely necessary for precision. But I think most shooters do this automatically and very accurately after a while. See the multitasking thread nearby about us being unable to consciously handle more than a couple of variables simultaneously. We really need to keep it simple!

[2650 Plus]

Unlike many of you ,I use a center hold for setting up my aiming area on the target. The steadiness usually improves and stablises in two seconds and remains in good control for about three or four seconds. To achieve a shot break within this time frame I must start the trigger finger moving two seconds before the hold is established and as I lower the pistol into the aiming area. My eye focus comes back to the front sight as the pistol settles and the target appears as a fuzzy grey blob floating in space. I refine the focus and concentrate on the top of the front sight. My eye focus moves rapidly back and forth cross the top of the front sight and each time that movement occurs I insure that the sight is level with the top of the rear and centered in the rear sight notch..When the pistol fires the front sight momentarily moves out of allignment and almost instantly reappears back in allignment. This happens so quickly that it seems to be part of follow through. I am not recommending anyone use this method because each of us may be so different that my time frames for delivering the shot probably won't work foy you. I use center hold because I am convinced that the eye can find the exact center of any round object more perfectly than it can deal with a blank area of the target. Also if the target turns black and sharply defined I can recognise the signal and abort the shot.Good Shooting Bill Horton

[Philadelphia]

Interesting - I favour and teach the former
...on the basis that if a shooter focuses at, and on, the front sight all the shooter's hand/eye coordination skills will 'do the rest'

Same here. If I focus my eye and mind on anything other than just the front sight I end up unconsciously trying to "aim" which almost always causes undesired or excessive movement. If I focus solely on the front sight and nothing else, my body knows what to do and does it.

[superstring]

Here are a couple of .pdf files about pistol sighting (with pics) that might be useful. They came from: http://www.targetshooting.ca/

[Jack Milchanowski]

The PDF files by Patrick Haynes that Superstring attached are terrific and should help not only Dev but all.

Come see us in the woods.
Jack

[indonesianAP]

i am type AP shooter multitasking LOL

before I shoot I raise my hand i will see alignment between front sight and rear sight . When on aiming area I will see my hand gripping pistol, my rear sight my bull eye target than my front sight. If my F sight movement match on 10 area than my thinking on my trigger. Because i am type of hunting. when i feel it will 10 will my brain command my Trigger finger for push straight back for flawless triggering. That is on second count not as much my word LOL. just like you drive a car, when flash you see you will hit something than i flash your brain will command you foot for push brake. For me the most important is triggering. That's the final for execution. If you done best on sighting but worse in triggering, you will ruin your shoot. If you best your triggering that worse of your shooting maybe in 9

Yes it not that simple, i have special training for that.
personally i believe there isn't wrong way for shooting, Its all depend on personal. If your train your way it will become right way shooting for you. I don't have coach so i just read kind people share knowledge of pistol shooting and take which best for me and rest develop suit method for me. i shoot AP 2 years starting when i was 30 my scoring practice was 574 and my tournament was 562. based on how i shooting described before.

[lastman]

I am a big believer in focus on the front and rear sights.

I find that when I focus on front sight only I tend to put shots just to the left or right of the 10 ring because I am not completely concentrating on the alignment of the sights.

By focusing on the relationship between the front and rear sights I am more able to shoot an accurate shot because my concentration is on keeping the front sight in the middle of the rear sight notch. Once my hold slows down I am able to release a more accurate shot.

Good luck

[Dev]

I was looking for a very specific answer to this question. Strangely, at the air rifle range that I practice very few talk about focusing on the front sight. Whereas a shooter friend(in another state) of mine would keep repeating these words like a mantra. My last weekend shooting was very average, but I did find some solutions. My main problem right now seems to be the ball bearing trigger of my pistol. The most famous shooter and coach at the range asked me to let it be and do more holding practice. When I quizzed him further he replied that I had to spend at least one and a half hours a day doing anything from dry firing, to live firing whatever. He said that since dry firing or just holding may get boring , I should vary the routine and have fun. I was getting groups to the right of the ten and the left of the ten. The shots just danced all around the ten with one or two in twenty landing in the ten. The rest would be happy to cluster around the nine, eight and a few sevens. Right now I am not scoring, just working on shot release and understanding how a good shot feels. I am just paring away at the variables, since I had done some experiments that really chewed up my morale. I am already looking forward to dry firing today evening after work, largely due to the great support and encouragement that I have received from all of you. Thank you so much and may God bless you all.

Dev

[vin]

I appreciate detailed explanations of process.
Thank you very much,
Vin