front sight not clear

ruwani · Post by **ruwani** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:59 am

some times my front sight not clear in a competition. this is not happening in my training sessions.Pls help me solve this..

David Levene · Post by **David Levene** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:07 am

Are your training sessions and matches on the same range with the same lighting conditions.

10m, 25m or 50m?

Richard H · Post by **Richard H** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:45 am

Another thing are your matches near the same time as your training? Ie do you train in the evening and matches are in the morning?

Do you wear any type of correction?

MDK · Post by **MDK** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:14 am

ruwani wrote:some times my front sight not clear in a competition.

I think:
if "everytime"-light conditions
if "some time"-mental conditions

David Levene · Post by **David Levene** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:53 am

MDK wrote:
ruwani wrote:some times my front sight not clear in a competition.
I think:
if "everytime"-light conditions
if "some time"-mental conditions

We do not have enough information to say that yet. What if some matches are on the training range and some matches are elsewhere.

Steve Swartz · Post by **Steve Swartz** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:39 pm

Agreed: Ruwani, we need more information!

This of course has us all very interested, as maintaining absolute crisp, intense focus on the front sight (in conjunction with alignment) is pretty much "the only thing that matters" (YMMV)

2 things to consider though; agree with previous poster:

1) Physical Focus
2) Mental Focus

YOU NEED BOTH!

Steve

Do you have "mental focus" but no "physical focus?" or
"physical focus" but no "mental focus?" or
neither?

ruwani · Post by **ruwani** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 3:36 am

I take part in international competitions.
My best performance in Air Pistol is 378 / 400.
I didn't feel this problem earlier.
but I felt this only last year in an overseal match.
I do training individually. No coach in our country.

I do training in one range but cmpetitions been held in some other ranges. but we get a chance to do few days training in those ranges when there are competitions.
Light conditions in competition ranges are little brighter I feel.

I agree this could be mental or physical problem.

Pls help me to solve this issue..

Thanks for the comments..
Ruwani

David Levene · Post by **David Levene** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:02 am

When you are training on the competition range do you still have the problem.

If you do then I would strongly suspect it is the lighting causing the problem. You could experiment with:-

Changing the width of the rearsight notch.
Changing the strength of your shooting glasses.
Using a filter to slightly reduce the amount of light reaching the eye.

Some people might recomend using an iris to increase the depth of focus and also reduce the amount of light reaching the eye. I do not like irises and would not recomend them, other than if they are fairly wide open and just used to check the head position.

JamesH · Post by **JamesH** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:30 am

This happens to me also, quite regularly.

It can be a lot of things.

Dehydration - try a bit more water - its easy to forget

Fight or flight response, blood rushes away to somewhere more useful than the eyes and brain, also your muscles tense, its harder to pump blood around -> less oxygen to the eyes - try to relax, work your arms and legs during the match.
It helps to be physically fit also. NB!
This also affects blood sugar which I think can affect your eyes, lactic acid can build up in the blood too (I think).

Lack of oxygen in the blood.When I'm stressed I notice I breathe a lot less.
In AP particularly you can be holding your breath, or at least constraining it, for a good 30 seconds in every minute - Force yourself to take regular deep breaths during a match.

Also go for a brief jog 30-60 minutes before a match, it can clear out all the CO and open up your capillaries.
(I know my blood pressure is high and my blood flow poor - for finger prick tests the doctor had to 'wring' my entire arm :) )

When stressed your pupils can become dilated - Look at a slightly brighter area for a bit. This may explain the 'competition ranges seem brighter' effect - maybe not.

I think your eye can become frozen focussed at infinity - the '1,000 yard stare' when you're really out of it - exercise your focus before a match. Look at close and distant objects, backwards and forwards - dont spend too much time with your PC! You can get computer eye!

What do I do? All of the above, plus use the biggest foresight available - 4mm minimum.
You will need to work out what works for you.

378/400 is pretty respectable BTW.
Where in the world are you?

Ruwini · Post by **Ruwini** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:27 am

Hi,
Thanks for all the comments..
I am not an irish user.
I will try some of your ideas.
I am from Srilanka..
Thanks..

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