Target focused shooting with irons

[MickAK]

I think it comes down to understanding whether you are using iron sights as an angle measurement device or an angle reference device.

Under ideal circumstances you can do good work either way, with practice. Under less than ideal circumstances (lighting, heart rate, hand fatigue, speed required) you need to know which one to use and when.

[ER_STL]

For those of you who shoot with a target focus and iron sights, do you look over the sights or through them while relying on the imposition of the sights from your dominant eye onto the target seen by your non-dominant eye? I must be very dominant to one eye because I’m finding it difficult to see the target when my sights are aligned at eye level (same for a dot - it’s hard to see the target and I instead see the window despite not focusing on it). Wondering if anyone else has this problem…


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[Clusterfrack]

For those of you who shoot with a target focus and iron sights, do you look over the sights or through them while relying on the imposition of the sights from your dominant eye onto the target seen by your non-dominant eye? I must be very dominant to one eye because I’m finding it difficult to see the target when my sights are aligned at eye level (same for a dot - it’s hard to see the target and I instead see the window despite not focusing on it). Wondering if anyone else has this problem…

If I understand your question, the answer is through the sights. My alignment is exactly as for a front-sight focus. Sights aligned, with POA at the top edge of the front sight.

Target focus can take time to get used to. Using a target with some detailed features may help. A blank brown target is harder to focus on at first.

[frozentundra]

For those of you who shoot with a target focus and iron sights, do you look over the sights or through them while relying on the imposition of the sights from your dominant eye onto the target seen by your non-dominant eye? I must be very dominant to one eye because I’m finding it difficult to see the target when my sights are aligned at eye level (same for a dot - it’s hard to see the target and I instead see the window despite not focusing on it). Wondering if anyone else has this problem…


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For me (and I suspect this is true for most others) nothing changes about sight position or alignment with regard to my dominant eye. It's only what distance my eyes are focused. Nothing else moves.


The only way I can force an experience that sounds anything like you describe is if I:

1) Aim with my non-dominant (left) eye while squinting my dominant (right) eye to force a perceptual change in eye dominance

2) Slowly open my normally dominant (right) eye while concentrating hard to keep my new (left) inverted perceptual dominance.

3) Change my focus from sights to target and back

This can induce some really funky visual phenomena that my brain doesn't process well. I'm not sure if it's the same as you're describing, but it's as close as I can get. I feel like it strains my eyes.

I doubt that will be of any help to you!




One thing you could try: stand in a relatively dark area and aim out into a brighter target area. This may help your vision lock onto target focus while looking through the very dimly illuminated sights. It may take a while before your brain learns to process visual information in a new way.