Target focus, a paradigm shift

[willie]

LSP552, I had not heard the term wobble zone but think that it's the same concept as area aiming, which I'll briefly comment on. Because only a dead man can hold his hand(or gun)perfectly still, the rest of us will have some movement. However, the precision shooters movement's must avoid canting the weapon as if it were on a swivel. That is, the barrel and butt should remain in line. Now, movement might be up and down or side to side or somewhere in between, but the weapon's front and rear must remain aligned. Hence the sight picture of this "perfectly aligned" handgun moves around that area in the center of the bullseye. I've taught many persons to shoot. After I explained this concept to them, they then practiced the basics with this idea in mind.

I taught school at various levels for 30 years and had good success because I could figure out why a kid could not learn math or writing or whatever I was trying to teach. For me teaching shooting was easy when I started with the above model and observed and advised and adjusted--things a coach does. Occasionally I would have a shooting student who was a fool and refused to follow instructions. I did not waste my time with these folks and would dismiss them. I never charged a fee to teach others. My biggest concern was safety. Marksmanship was next. I've helped some police officers who could not shoot learn the basics of trigger control and sight picture but never went past this step with them. I have zero qualifications for teaching tactical shooting and am ignorant of 90% of the tenets taught in this area. So kept my mouth shut .

[critter]

Lots of good discussion here, sometimes confusing because of the way we use words to describe trigger and sighting, that have multiple meanings to different people.

Yeah, the ambiguity of both descriptions with words and the mental images conveyed may lead to a bit of confusion for sure. Whether "target focus", or 'non transferred focus'
or 'non focused sight attention/awareness' or others, whatever it is, it works. My sight picture is not really all that different from the sight picture when using a red dot. The fuzzy sights kinda float over the target and pop pop pop, the target has holes in it.

[DallasBronco]

This whole discussion has really intrigued me. I hope it can help with a few areas I've struggled with for years with regards to my accuracy. I've been practicing this in dry fire and hope to be able to hit the range tomorrow and put it to the test.

[DallasBronco]

I just wanted to follow up after practicing this technique. This has been a real game changer for me. I've never really been able to practice multiple shot strings or do any form of speed work since I started wearing glasses nearly 10 years ago. Shooting with a front sight focus and progressive bifocals, the muzzle would come up in recoil and go out of focus, I then had to bring it down, reacquire the front sight, try to align sights to target, refocus, and fire. My "splits" could've been measured with an egg timer. Using the target focus shooting my 92A1, I was actually running drills and multiple shot strings. Thanks to all who provided insight into this technique.

[JHC]

Last Sunday I shot this way out of necessity as I was wearing my prescription multi-focal glasses instead of contacts with monovision prescription that dials in my front sight in focus.

I found the 25 yard shooting, slow fire up to a moderately fast clip considering the distance to come easier than shooting transitions to multiple targets at 7 yards where I was really trying to move out. Takes some practice I'm sure.

Attachment 21812

I also found the faster shooting at closer range to feel easier and more intuitive with Trijicon HDs vs black sights. Probably a Captain Obvious observation. But it felt more like shooting a RDS. Just "aware" the fuzzy bright blob was superimposed on the 4x6 card.

[NH Shooter]

I was diagnosed as severely near-sighted (myopia) at seven years old (I'm now 64). I've obviously worn prescription lenses all my life for that.

When I began pistol shooting 35 years ago, my prescription for near sightedness did not prevent me from getting good focus on the front sight, though I had to converge my focus on the front sight. I simply closed my non-dominant eye.

Around 10 to 15 years ago, my near vision began to decline as well (Presbyopia) so I would wear reading glasses over contacts. One day I realized that if I removed all corrective lenses, my focus was razor-sharp at about 16 inches away from my uncorrected eyes. It was at that point I went back to wearing glasses for distance, but taking them off for close work. However, no combination gave me a sharp front sight that would not render the target an absolute blur. It was around this time my pistol shooting activities went into decline.

Fast forward and now that I'm 64, my ever-changing eyesight have morphed into something much more usable: my distance vision has improved quite remarkably and my prescription has been dialed way back. With my glasses on I still cannot get a sharp front sight, but it's not terrible either. With my glasses off, the target is somewhat blurry (not that bad, though) and the front sight is almost sharp. I seem to shoot about the same with or without glasses at this point, and as always with convergence (both eyes focused) on the front sight with the non-dominant eye closed.

Which brings me to Gabe's vision article (which I read for the first time today) - while it's a struggle to accommodate sight focus with convergence on the target with my glasses on (especially in low light), I discovered it's quite easy with them off. With no corrective lenses, I can simply use target-focus (though it's somewhat blurry) with both eyes open and accommodate reasonably-sharp sight focus with little-to-no effort. Here's the kicker - the focus of the target does not change when I "accommodate" the sight picture, even in low light. So the net result is a target that is consistently sharp enough to establish/maintain POA and a sight picture that is sharp enough to allow high precision, all without wrenching eyeball muscles. I'll take it!

I know my eyesight situation is probably unique, but the "target focus" and "accommodation" concepts were not something I had previously tried or considered. Discovering I can now simply focus on the target and quickly accommodate the sight picture with both eyes open has had me snapping the PPQ into my line of sight and admiring the results all morning.

I will be trying this live-fire with non-prescription safety glasses soon. Thank you, Gabe!