aiming area

[ronpistolero]

Hi again,

My normal aiming area is the 5 ring, but there are some days where I have great difficulty maintaining this and instead, I unintentionally (subconsciously?) tend to go down to the 2-3 ring area and I produce a 2 inch 7-shot group (out of 20 shots per paper target) within the 7 and 8 ring. The 10 ring would be hit once or twice only. the rest are "scattered" as what one might imagine for a 510-520 free pistol shooter to be doing.

I also experience this in the air pistol too, where the general group would be somewhere 7 0'clock, 9 and 8 rings area.

My question is would the better option be to click, or continue the struggle to maintain the 5-ring area?

Regards,

Ron

[dflast]

I think the gurus will say stop struggling with the exact location of the bull in your sight picture, let the subconscious pick an aim point, and click away to center your groups. The entire notion of area aim is to accept your wobble for the moment and focus on maintaining sight alignment through shot release.

[Chris]

I would have to say if you have an aiming area that large and you are shooting 510-520 you are doing something correct. If you can get your aiming area into the black you will be capable of some really good scores. If I were you I would work on getting my aiming area smaller.

[2650 Plus]

With your aiming area wandering around you might want to try center hold for a while. Remember the US BE record is held by a center hold shooter and Eric Buldjong used center hold , It is an old technique but has been enormously sucessful for many years for many shooters. Just remember that the target never moves, and you do not need to look at it.The things that are moving are at the end of your shooting arm and the front sight moves the most. Convince your self that the front sight and sight allignment is by far the most critical and place both mental concentration and the focus of your shooting eye on the front sight and work at perfecting sight allignment until after the pistol has fired , recovered and sight allignment has been reistablished. Spend about a month training with this technique and then compare these targets to the ones you are shootin now. Good Shooting Bill Horton

[Tom Amlie]

I think he means that he holds at the 5-ring (i.e., a sub-6 hold), not that his wobble is the size of the 5 ring.

I would have to say if you have an aiming area that large and you are shooting 510-520 you are doing something correct. If you can get your aiming area into the black you will be capable of some really good scores. If I were you I would work on getting my aiming area smaller.

[Chris]

I missed that one....

now that I have read it again...I would try a center hold like Bill recommends. I tried it and it did not work for me. I think if i were to try it again I would use a front sight that was wider than the black. You need to try and figure out what works best for you.

A person on the US team at some point in his career had a very sub six hold. his aim point was below the scoring rings. not sure what he uses today.

You need to find what works for you and you can repeat day after day. Try many things one at a time and give it a few months of several days of shooting to make sure you can tell if it is not working for you. It will take time to adjust to your change.

[ronpistolero]

Thanks for your replies.

But I don't think I ws able to convey my concern well enough. My usual aimiing area is about the area of the 5 ring at 6 o'clock. However, there are days when it seems that my "natural" aiming area (albeit temporarily as my usual is the 5 ring) that becomes most comfortable goes down to the 2 ring area. I am not a good shooter but somehow, I am able to produce a 2 inch group at the 7-8 ring, 7 o'clock. I generally am able to call those shots, which affirms that I was paying attention to the sight alignment, though it's just that the whole gun seems to be comfortably settling in at that 2 ring. The question now is, do I force the issue by forcing myself to go back to the 5 ring or do I make myself comfortable and just click instead?

Thanks

Ron

BTW, as an aside, I was able to have a compensator machined for my octagonal barreled Haamerli 107 made of mahineable plastic. I wanted it lightweight purely because I find the gun not well balanced and quite heavy at 1,337 grams. I think the muzzle rise was reduced by 25% but I still will add some vents on top to add more upstream jet.

[Freepistol]

Ron,
You did well describing your concerns. I understood what you were saying probably because I went through the same thing but in the opposite direction. I kept wanting to crowd the black. I decided to shoot watching the front sight and sight in where I naturally fired the shot. I am in the five ring now, but was attempting the 3 or 4 before.
Ben

[Steve Swartz]

There's a good thread awhile back on the trade-offs between various sight pictures.

The theory is that if you believe alignment and depth of concentration is the top priority (an "area aimer"), sub-six gives you the edge there . . . if you do not believe that, center hold allows to to juggle aim and point better.

I'm not certain about the statement above- but the problems *I personally* had with center hold was that I kept getting distracted by the position of the front sight vs. the aiming bull. It just seemed harder- for me- to concentrate (mentally and physically focus) on the improtant stuff when my brain was distracted by trying to line up three things at once (vs. two).

[Patrick Haynes]

The question now is, do I force the issue by forcing myself to go back to the 5 ring or do I make myself comfortable and just click instead?

Hi Ron.

Whatever sight picture you adopt, you must maintain it. Fatigue, injury, even posture, can affect where you settle. These factors can vary on a daily or weekly basis. If you keep changing your sights (radically) because you've changed your area of aim, your shot consistency will suffer. You need to enforce the discipline of maintaining your area of aim. Remember: its called 'hold' for a reason.

I've known a few shooters who progressively slipped lower and lower until they were aiming at the bottom edge of the target and were unable to adjust their sights more. At that point, they were forced to hold on that point. No more clicking.

I think that you would be well served to look at the reasons why you are settling lower, as opposed to trying to treat the symptom.

Take care.
Patrick

[ronpistolero]

May thanks for your various replies. It really helps to have heard your opinions and experiences

[2650 Plus]

Remembering another method of achieving uniform hold in your aiming area was used by many of the top shooters. Place a picture of the perfectly alligned sights combined with your prefered hold in your gun box or where you can see it just before you raise your pistol to fire the shot. With enough repititions you may burn in to your subconcious such a clear concept of what you are trying to acheive that tha problem you identified may simply dissapear. Good Shooting Bill Horton