One thing has made the biggest difference in my shooting this year and I want to share it here and discuss.
Some definitions so we are all on the same page:
- Aiming: Aligning the front and rear sights (or dot) with the target, and maintaining that alignment until the gun has fired.
- Looking: visual perception of where you want the bullet to go.
- Target focus: looking with eyes focused on the target, while at the same time seeing the sights (or dot).
- Front sight focus: looking with eyes focused on the front sight, while at the same time seeing the target.
On
PSTG and elsewhere, there has been a lot of discussion about how and why to use target focus with iron sights (also obviously with RDS). Front sight focus requires looking at and focusing on the target, shifting the focal plane back to the front sight, and then breaking the shot. This is slower than target focus because there is no focal plane shift.
I have been shooting target focus with irons for the past year, and it's taken a while to trust it --especially at distance.
My biggest recent improvement in shooting has come from
improving my precision of looking at the intended POI. It's just like "aim small / miss small" in rifle shooting. For me it requires a ton of mental focus to create an appropriately small "sub-target" on a much larger target (e.g. image below).
My focus has shifted (so to speak) from primarily confirming the alignment of the sights, to primarily looking
precisely at where I want the bullets to go. I'm looking forward to discussing this. Maybe it's something you've been doing for a long time?
Red dot added to represent where I am looking. Hits: 2A, AC to the upper A zone at match pace.