See what you need to see

[jetfire]

I have a few shooters that I work with locally that are IDPA Sharpshooter/Expert level guys who want to make a breakthrough, and for a lot of them I'm having trouble explaining the concept of "see what you need to see". I know and understand it to mean that your focus is on what it needs to be, whether that's the front sight for a tight shot, the magwell during a reload (or the target depending on how you feel about looking at the gun), as well as knowing when you don't need to use the front sight or can afford to take a far more rough sight picture. But it's kind of a zen concept, and I'll admit I didn't really understand it myself until recently.

So how can I de-zenify the concept of "see what you need to see" so intermediate level shooters can really grok it?

[beltjones]

I have a few shooters that I work with locally that are IDPA Sharpshooter/Expert level guys who want to make a breakthrough, and for a lot of them I'm having trouble explaining the concept of "see what you need to see". I know and understand it to mean that your focus is on what it needs to be, whether that's the front sight for a tight shot, the magwell during a reload (or the target depending on how you feel about looking at the gun), as well as knowing when you don't need to use the front sight or can afford to take a far more rough sight picture. But it's kind of a zen concept, and I'll admit I didn't really understand it myself until recently.

So how can I de-zenify the concept of "see what you need to see" so intermediate level shooters can really grok it?

I think part of the point is making them elevate their performance to the level where they just "get it." I don't think changing the semantics or the verbiage will short cut the process.

One of the things that helped me was taking a class with Manny Bragg. He would stand next to me while I ran a drill, and after every rep he would ask me, "What did you see?" It really made me pay attention to what I could possibly see, and with each subsequent run I would try to see more and more. When I tried to slow down to make it easier to "see" everything, he made sure I knew I was doing so. Then he would hit me with questions like, "Did you slow down because you needed to in order to make that shot, or could you have still made that shot by seeing less?"

That kind of requires the shooter to step up his "attention" game. The result is a big "aha" moment where one just "gets" the whole zen aspect of seeing what you need to see.

[grimel]

I hate see what you need to see. It is an irksome phrase. It demands a zen answer. How about go as fast as you can while seeing an adequate sight picture to achieve the hits required?

Have them shoot the box. Don't know what everyone else calls it, but, it usually works to open the eyes. Have them SIT and use a bagged rest at 5-7 yds. Start with a perfect sight picture shot. Then take shots with the front sight to the extreme left top of the rear, extreme top right, extreme bottom left, and extreme bottom right. Repeat at 3yds. The resulting boxes SHOULD give them a visual of just how course their sight picture can be and get solid hits. Obviously, the closer the less refined the picture needs to be.

[Mr_White]

The part I find hardest is to be mentally disciplined enough to only shoot when I actually have seen what I need to see, and not before. I think that is referred to as visual patience. It's one thing to understand the seeing what you need to see concept, but another to actually do it, especially on every shot.

[m91196]

I have a few shooters that I work with locally that are IDPA Sharpshooter/Expert level guys who want to make a breakthrough, and for a lot of them I'm having trouble explaining the concept of "see what you need to see". I know and understand it to mean that your focus is on what it needs to be, whether that's the front sight for a tight shot, the magwell during a reload (or the target depending on how you feel about looking at the gun), as well as knowing when you don't need to use the front sight or can afford to take a far more rough sight picture. But it's kind of a zen concept, and I'll admit I didn't really understand it myself until recently.

So how can I de-zenify the concept of "see what you need to see" so intermediate level shooters can really grok it?

Tell me how to make sure I "see it" every time.

Some days the front site is there and I can drive it like I stole it.

Other days not so much.

[JHC]

As long as the shooter has their trigger press fairly decent, I have illustrated this phrase; (one that I think is absolutely superb but then I'm a long time big fan of Zen philosophy in general) is to let them see for themselves that at 5-7 yards, they only need to see the front sight in the center of a high prob target to get hits in it. Then next, to get hit that way fast. Pushing them to do this faster than they think they are ready to go yet seems to drive it home well.

Move that same target out to 10 yards and they quickly see they need more alignment care already at that modest increase in distance.

My $0.02

[jetfire]

Tell me how to make sure I "see it" every time.

Some days the front site is there and I can drive it like I stole it.

Other days not so much.

If I could tell you that, I'd have beaten Dave Sevigny this weekend at the ProAm. I did not beat Dave.

[ford.304]

One thing I have read and practiced is to make sure that people are paying attention to what they are seeing. You can't try to change what you are doing without *noticing* what you're doing. So ask after a string - what did you see? What were you looking at? At each step, did you need to see it?

[ToddG]

The concept isn't that complicated: don't press the trigger unless you have an adequate visual reference. That may be "I see the target is in front of me" for very close range point shooting or "the top edge of my front sight is perfectly in line with the top edge of my rear sight; there is exactly the same amount of light on either side of my front blade; and, the top edge of my front sight is bisecting the point on the target where I want the bullet to go." Or it could be anywhere in between. That's the point.

The best way to learn it, in my experience, is to work on different size/distance targets at speed. Learn to call shots (see the front sight lift every time) and push yourself to get the fastest hits possible on each target. If you're doing it right, pretty quickly you realize that it takes more time to get guaranteed hits on a 3x5 at 10yd than it does an A-zone at 5yd.

The biggest impediment is that many people don't really pay as much attention to the front sight as they think they do. Folks who can "shoot great out to 7yd then beyond that everything gets horrible" are almost always point shooting and just don't realize it.

[TCinVA]

My understanding of "need to see" changed significantly in the first AFHF class I attended when I started making shots with a sight picture that was imperfect and started making hits. Learning that there can be some slop in the sight picture while still hitting the target you're assigned is one thing...actually integrating that into your mental calculation when lining up a shot, however, takes practice. I knew about the concept long before I ever stepped into AFHF, but it wasn't until I was actually doing one of the drills on day 2 of AFHF that I realized I was still looking for the "perfect" sight picture. In other words, I was making no practical use of that knowledge. Once I figured that out and started putting the front sight post somewhere on the target zone and largely ignoring the rear sight I started improving considerably.

I spend time in range sessions working on how much slop I can have in my sights and still hit targets ranging from an 8.5x11 sheet of paper to a 1" square at various distances. My goal with that is to try and give my brain enough of a catalog of visual input to be able to judge quickly what I need to do on the sights to make a hit on a particular target when I'm placed under some level of stress like a timer or another shooter to beat. Since beginning that process I've increased the speed at which I can judge a sight picture to be good enough to make the hit.

When I miss it's generally because I'm either ignoring my sights (still tend to do that a lot once the buzzer goes off) or because I screw up the trigger control bit, either through anticipation or by getting on the trigger too fast as the gun recoils and pushing a shot high.