Watching the front sight.

[EVP]

I have a question about watching the front sight. It may be a novice type topic but I have searched on google and elsewhere to find some more in depth explanation as to why we want to watch the front sight. Most of the info I see says just to focus on the front sight and does not explain anything else. What I am wondering is when a target is further away or smaller and my focus goes on the front sight, it is sometimes hard to see the target or area that I am trying to impact. If it is closer or a bigger target then I can see the silhouette and place the shot were it needs to go. Also it is easier on the smaller targets to sometimes focus on the target and see the outline of the sights and place them on the target. It seems like I can get a more precise hold.

Any tips, advice, and info?

Thanks

[gtmtnbiker98]

Concentrate on the front sight and the target should be blurry but you are still able to focus to the point where you can align the front sight on target. Hard to explain, but you should be watching the front sight to the point where you can track the sight and watch the sight lift and then come back down on to the target (referred to as follow through). I'm sure many on this forum can explain it a lot better than I can. You "should" follow the sight through the arc of movement as it travels during recoil. If not, then you are blinking and not following through.

[beltjones]

Saul Kirsch answers your question:

[TCinVA]

What I am wondering is when a target is further away or smaller and my focus goes on the front sight, it is sometimes hard to see the target or area that I am trying to impact.

That's always going to be the case. Your eyeball is, for all intents and purposes, a lot like a camera lens. It can only be truly focused on one thing at a time. If something else is close enough to that focal point then you can see it pretty well, too. Move that object far away, and suddenly you aren't able to see the object as well.

To give you an example, take Todd's 2" circle target:



At close range, say 5 yards or so, I can get a hard front sight focus and still see the 2" circle I am aiming at, meaning I can see the fuzzy circle, my front sight post very clearly, and my rear sight clearly as well. At 25 yards if I focus on the front sight I only see a white blob, my front sight very clearly, and my rear sight clearly. I can no longer make out the circles on the paper. I still know roughly where they are at on the paper so if I do my part on the sights and the trigger even on the white blob of the paper I can still get pretty close:

If it is closer or a bigger target then I can see the silhouette and place the shot were it needs to go. Also it is easier on the smaller targets to sometimes focus on the target and see the outline of the sights and place them on the target.

What you are referring to is a "threat focused" or "target focused" sighting technique where your target is the focus and you are sort of looking "through" the sights to get a sighting reference. That technique can work very well in certain circumstances, especially on big targets at close range. As the level of precision or distance for the shot increases, however, the minor flaws in your sight picture that you might not be able to detect with a target focused sighting technique become ever more critical.

Believe it or not, it's not critical to have a sharp focus on your target at longer ranges to hit it. If you consider the average bullseye target, with a hard front sight focus (necessary for maximum precision) you are probably going to see an amorphous black blob on the other end of the range. That's fine. All you have to do is keep your front sight in perfect relation to the rear sight (perfectly centered, perfectly aligned with the top edge of the rear sight) and have that perfect sight picture somewhere on that black blob, and you'll make a good hit inside the black.

[xdm]

Thanks for the info I was having a problem of over looking my front site at the range yesterday. The ranger office told me what I was doing wrong, but I did not understand what he was telling me till now.

[EVP]

Thanks guys for yalls feedback.

Thanks TCinVA for taking the time to post the pictures and explain it in detail. That really helps and lets me know that I am going down the right path. Thanks it is much appreciated.

P.S I have a good amount of those targets printed out, looking forward to the next trip to the range.

[lairdb]

That's always going to be the case. Your eyeball is, for all intents and purposes, a lot like a camera lens. It can only be truly focused on one thing at a time. If something else is close enough to that focal point then you can see it pretty well, too. Move that object far away, and suddenly you aren't able to see the object as well.

[...]

Believe it or not, it's not critical to have a sharp focus on your target at longer ranges to hit it. If you consider the average bullseye target, with a hard front sight focus (necessary for maximum precision) you are probably going to see an amorphous black blob on the other end of the range. That's fine. All you have to do is keep your front sight in perfect relation to the rear sight (perfectly centered, perfectly aligned with the top edge of the rear sight) and have that perfect sight picture somewhere on that black blob, and you'll make a good hit inside the black.

TC nailed it. For what it's worth, here's a photo I have used to illustrate the "front sight in sharp focus" idea.

I still need to take a picture that more clearly illustrates the concept of TC's "black blob", but perhaps you can see that the wall texture is also out of focus -- the sharp focus is on the front sight.

[Pistol Shooter]

TC nailed it. For what it's worth, here's a photo I have used to illustrate the "front sight in sharp focus" idea.

I still need to take a picture that more clearly illustrates the concept of TC's "black blob", but perhaps you can see that the wall texture is also out of focus -- the sharp focus is on the front sight.

TC certainly did nail it. He writes clearly, concisely and is a very fine communicator.
I've enjoyed his posts for many years.

Thanks to you for providing that excellent sight picture photo.

[dravz]

Thanks to you for providing that excellent sight picture photo.

Here's a related question (for TC or anyone else), what is the rationale behind the new types of sights with the whole front sight post being colored and the rear notch being all black?

I understand why you want a high-visibility front sight (mine are painted already), but why nothing on the rears like dots or |_| or whatever?

[peterb]

Many shooter find dots, white lines, etc. on the rear sight to be a distraction. IMO, the rear sight is like a window -- you look THROUGH the rear and look AT the front. You don't want to be looking at the rear sight.