Most of the articles on different areas of aiming say a sub-six hold or a centre hold are most common, but why not a exact 6-7 ring hold. I have shot 6-7 ring hold for the last 8 months and find it to be easier than the sub-six hold, in the sub-six hold I "feel" that my aiming point is'nt exactly the same as the last shot. Recently our the Indian coach too told me to change form 6 to sub six hold, Mako too told me that in a 6-7 hold you spend too much time trying to get your aiming point right, but I find this much easier than a sub six hold where I do not have the confidence in taking the shot. What should I do?
Also, what is the ideal rear sight width? I have a very narrow rear sight and thinking back to my last competition, I could'nt see my sights properly, I did'nt realise this during the competition. When I open my rear sight my groups open up too.
In practise my average is 555. But during my first national competition due to nervousness I shot a 531.
Thanks,
AD
akshaydashrath-at-yahoo.co.in.47721.0
6-7 ring hold, rear sight width
Moderators: rexifelis, pilkguns
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Mako
Re: 6-7 ring hold, rear sight width
U.S. Champs Daryl S. and Michael Douglass both use very narrow rear sights. Daryl says that if he sees any white ... he know's he's not aligned ...
Michael says a narrow rear sight, presumable one where you can still see a bit of white, FORCES one to align very carefully. U.S. Pistol Coach Eric Buljung advocates narrow rear sights.
The general "problem" with using a six o'clock hold is that one ends up spending too much effort finessing ones hold ... UNNECESSARILY. The Ten ring plus the width of a pellet ... is so relatively large ... that one doesn't need that type of accurate aiming. Sight ALIGNMENT is MORE important.
Since one is not capable of concentrating on Front Sight, Alignment and aiming point on trarget ALL at the same time ... it's the aiming point that we should sacrifice ... by area aiming in the Sub-Six area. With a Six o'clock hold ... one feels COMPELLED to keep working on getting the front sight "perfectly" aligned with the black ... distracting from the job of sight alignment.
However ... having watched a number of elite shooters ... perhaps they have the facilities to be able to do things that we mere mortals can't ... and perhaps you will be one of them. (Young Akshay has not been shooting very long ... and has already shot in the 560's.)
Most of us follow the rule that one should get the shot off in say 6, 7 seconds after coming to a rest. But a lot of these elite shooters can take much longer to get a shot off. Obviously they are finessing the shot. Perhaps their conditioning, through either exercise, years of extensive shooting itself and age ... or any combination of these factors ... allows them to do what most of us can't do. Some of them probably have very acute vision that allows them to differentiate sight alignment and aiming better then the average shooter.
I had a race car driver friend whose vision was so good that he could watch the tiny throttle linkage working on the (formula) car ahead of him so that he could tell when the other fellow was coming off of the throttle.
Michael Douglass used a Center Hold ... with a black front sight ... exactly because it was difficult to see ... forcing him to concentrate on the front sight.
The general suggestions on aiming area, rear sight width, front sight width, etc. is what works for most people. I believe that a lot of elite shooters have the extra facitilites that allow them to use techniques that won't work for others. And they usually have the fortitude and discipline to spend years training ... making whatever technique they've adopted ... work for them. Whatever technique they are using ... they make work by concentrated practice. There are exceptional talents like russia's Mikhail Nestruev who claim that shooting is easy ... and try to practice their various disciplines At Least ONCE a Month! :-) Others, like Bill Demarest, shot around 44,000 rounds of free and air during 2000 ... when he set his Free Pistol record and went to the Sydney Olympics.
The thing is ... most of them adopt a technique ... BELIEVE in it ... and then get on with training.
It is O.K. to make changes depending on range conditions. You might have to open up your rear sight a bit ... just realize that on some pistols, opening up the rear sight will also reguire a sight adjustment ... so do this during sighters.
Some techniques also are age dependent. As you get older, it gets difficult to see a small front sight or a narrow rear gap.
makofoto-at-earthlink.net.47729.47721
Michael says a narrow rear sight, presumable one where you can still see a bit of white, FORCES one to align very carefully. U.S. Pistol Coach Eric Buljung advocates narrow rear sights.
The general "problem" with using a six o'clock hold is that one ends up spending too much effort finessing ones hold ... UNNECESSARILY. The Ten ring plus the width of a pellet ... is so relatively large ... that one doesn't need that type of accurate aiming. Sight ALIGNMENT is MORE important.
Since one is not capable of concentrating on Front Sight, Alignment and aiming point on trarget ALL at the same time ... it's the aiming point that we should sacrifice ... by area aiming in the Sub-Six area. With a Six o'clock hold ... one feels COMPELLED to keep working on getting the front sight "perfectly" aligned with the black ... distracting from the job of sight alignment.
However ... having watched a number of elite shooters ... perhaps they have the facilities to be able to do things that we mere mortals can't ... and perhaps you will be one of them. (Young Akshay has not been shooting very long ... and has already shot in the 560's.)
Most of us follow the rule that one should get the shot off in say 6, 7 seconds after coming to a rest. But a lot of these elite shooters can take much longer to get a shot off. Obviously they are finessing the shot. Perhaps their conditioning, through either exercise, years of extensive shooting itself and age ... or any combination of these factors ... allows them to do what most of us can't do. Some of them probably have very acute vision that allows them to differentiate sight alignment and aiming better then the average shooter.
I had a race car driver friend whose vision was so good that he could watch the tiny throttle linkage working on the (formula) car ahead of him so that he could tell when the other fellow was coming off of the throttle.
Michael Douglass used a Center Hold ... with a black front sight ... exactly because it was difficult to see ... forcing him to concentrate on the front sight.
The general suggestions on aiming area, rear sight width, front sight width, etc. is what works for most people. I believe that a lot of elite shooters have the extra facitilites that allow them to use techniques that won't work for others. And they usually have the fortitude and discipline to spend years training ... making whatever technique they've adopted ... work for them. Whatever technique they are using ... they make work by concentrated practice. There are exceptional talents like russia's Mikhail Nestruev who claim that shooting is easy ... and try to practice their various disciplines At Least ONCE a Month! :-) Others, like Bill Demarest, shot around 44,000 rounds of free and air during 2000 ... when he set his Free Pistol record and went to the Sydney Olympics.
The thing is ... most of them adopt a technique ... BELIEVE in it ... and then get on with training.
It is O.K. to make changes depending on range conditions. You might have to open up your rear sight a bit ... just realize that on some pistols, opening up the rear sight will also reguire a sight adjustment ... so do this during sighters.
Some techniques also are age dependent. As you get older, it gets difficult to see a small front sight or a narrow rear gap.
makofoto-at-earthlink.net.47729.47721
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Larry
Re: 6-7 ring hold, rear sight width
Optical physics of strong light through a slit causes the edges of the slit to blur... it blurs with less light too but the effect is greater with more light. A second problem with the narrow rear sight is that there are fewer pixels in the eye providing information and precision drops. My guess is that very narrow widths are workable because your eye is looking for zero light transmission, and wider sights are good because of the better definition. I suspect that only a few shooters have the eyes to make the zero-light narrow sights work, while the safer recommendation of 1-1-1 or 1-2-1 ratios work well for most. You will have to try different width ratios to see what you can have faith in. Your faith is probably the most important element.
shooters have been successful with all 3 of the popular aiming points. You can peek at the target with any of them and spoil your shot. Shooters can also ignore that black thing and be successful, but they have to ignore the black and concentrate on the front sight. For you, at your level of shooting, consistency is your biggest hurdle. The coach feels that it will be easier for you to ignore the black and concentrate on taking the perfect shot using a differnet aiming point. It is worth a try, as are wider sight widths, but do not expect magic. You still have to make a perfect shot to get all of the 10's you need.
I do not like sub-6, although I have shot some good series using it. I find that the black seduces me over time and my shots migrate up the target as the sights flirt with the black. I would start the match with agroup center in the 10-ring and find that the group center had moved up to the 8-ring by mid match. I would then have to reset myself to bring the shots back down. I have much better success lowering the gun to the bottom of the black, then moving my focus back to the front sight while pulling the trigger.
: Most of the articles on different areas of aiming say a sub-six hold or a centre hold are most common, but why not a exact 6-7 ring hold. I have shot 6-7 ring hold for the last 8 months and find it to be easier than the sub-six hold, in the sub-six hold I "feel" that my aiming point is'nt exactly the same as the last shot. Recently our the Indian coach too told me to change form 6 to sub six hold, Mako too told me that in a 6-7 hold you spend too much time trying to get your aiming point right, but I find this much easier than a sub six hold where I do not have the confidence in taking the shot. What should I do?
: Also, what is the ideal rear sight width? I have a very narrow rear sight and thinking back to my last competition, I could'nt see my sights properly, I did'nt realise this during the competition. When I open my rear sight my groups open up too.
: In practise my average is 555. But during my first national competition due to nervousness I shot a 531.
:
: Thanks,
: AD
.47775.47721
shooters have been successful with all 3 of the popular aiming points. You can peek at the target with any of them and spoil your shot. Shooters can also ignore that black thing and be successful, but they have to ignore the black and concentrate on the front sight. For you, at your level of shooting, consistency is your biggest hurdle. The coach feels that it will be easier for you to ignore the black and concentrate on taking the perfect shot using a differnet aiming point. It is worth a try, as are wider sight widths, but do not expect magic. You still have to make a perfect shot to get all of the 10's you need.
I do not like sub-6, although I have shot some good series using it. I find that the black seduces me over time and my shots migrate up the target as the sights flirt with the black. I would start the match with agroup center in the 10-ring and find that the group center had moved up to the 8-ring by mid match. I would then have to reset myself to bring the shots back down. I have much better success lowering the gun to the bottom of the black, then moving my focus back to the front sight while pulling the trigger.
: Most of the articles on different areas of aiming say a sub-six hold or a centre hold are most common, but why not a exact 6-7 ring hold. I have shot 6-7 ring hold for the last 8 months and find it to be easier than the sub-six hold, in the sub-six hold I "feel" that my aiming point is'nt exactly the same as the last shot. Recently our the Indian coach too told me to change form 6 to sub six hold, Mako too told me that in a 6-7 hold you spend too much time trying to get your aiming point right, but I find this much easier than a sub six hold where I do not have the confidence in taking the shot. What should I do?
: Also, what is the ideal rear sight width? I have a very narrow rear sight and thinking back to my last competition, I could'nt see my sights properly, I did'nt realise this during the competition. When I open my rear sight my groups open up too.
: In practise my average is 555. But during my first national competition due to nervousness I shot a 531.
:
: Thanks,
: AD
.47775.47721