How low is your sub-six?

[JamesH]

Area aim somewhere in the white, say the middle of my foresight in the middle of the white.

If you're looking at the top edge of the foresight and the bottom edge of the black then you're not really looking at the foresight.

[luftskytter]

As mentioned before, I'm in the process of reestablishing sub six area aim. Seems "half bull" is to low; I lose "contact" between sights and bull, and find it hard to establish a stable aiming picture.
Seems to be the cause of vertical spread. So after tonights match I adjusted my sights and tried to aim higher. Got a reasonably good group after some test shots at a target, but it turned out to be centered below target centre ;-)

Which indicates that my low sub six was better established in my subconscious than I believed. It's hard to fool the "system"!
I'll just keep on testing to let my mind/body tell me where it should be.

[jackh]

I think if you are somehow "measuring" the white between the bull and the sight, you are not really truely looking at the front sight.

[dschaller]

I recomend to my new shooters that they start by using a spacing below the black that is equal to the amount of white on each side of the front sight. This is easy for them to understand, and in the beginning, gives them a reference to use that is "symmetric" so the eye naturally accepts it. I also use rear sights that are wide enough that there is a good amount of white on each side. To be honest, I have not ever tried to quantify how far that is relative to the width of the black. I also personally tend to use a slightly deeper sub-six hold, somewhere between there and less than 1/2 of the bull.

[deadeyedick]

but seeing the sights move around against the black tends to make me less confident in my hold. If all I see it white behind them, my eye is not drawn to the target and stays on the front sight where it belongs.

This is another reason to use area aim, as having sights aligned on such a small area as the centre of the black promotes conciously pulling on the trigger as our natural movement passes over the centre, resulting in the " I'll get it the next time my sights pass over the ten " mentality, conciously tugging on the trigger...and all of us know the ending to that story.

[luftskytter]

In the grip pressure thread we got an "unofficialentry" for the poll:

http://www.pilkguns.com/intyw.shtml

Yifu Wang says: "the trhee or four ring".

Gives me peace of mind: you can aim very low and far away from the "reference" at the bottom of the black and still shoot world champion scores under world champion competitive pressure. So I'll let my body and mind find their own way and trust that precision will come, hopefully before old age overtakes me........

[deragoku]

Now I know that is my goal as long as I adjust my scores improved 10 points or more in every game for the dead center.

[Beevo]

Wow, 18% shoot with their eyes closed : )

Or 18% admit to it..

[conradin]

I have yet to finish adjusting my Steyr after three months, so my aiming frequently changes. The latest changes saw me double my scoring average and more. While I admit that I am new to the sport and is a poor shooter, it also reflects how unsuitable the set up I had with my previous pistol which is a Walther. I also find out that no matter how I adjust the Walther, it simply does not fit my style.
I expect to shoot poorly again as I continue to adjust the sights, blades, rear sight width, radius, cant and other stuff such as trigger weight distribution. I will not be surprised that I will totally miss the target while only standing 10 ft in front of it and aiming dead center. Been there done that.
Until the final piece of accessory arrives, I will have no clue. Sight radius will change, front blade may change, rear sights width may change; the only thing that I am very happy about and will keep is the trigger weight and works perfectly for me (460/40). I will be able to answer this question when the adjustment is finished. I am hoping that my final aim will be between the bottom of the 6 and the dead center. But I think it really does not matter as long as you find a set up that suit your style.

[Richard H]

I cannot answer your poll; you do not give the option "No idea, it's just a comfortable position for me".

Most of your answers seem to indicate a fixed aiming position rather than area aiming.

Me too.

All of these answers basically defeat the whole purpose of the sub six technique.

[deadeyedick]

I have been told that the distance between the bottom of the bull and the bottom of the scoring ring is the same size as the bull. Just as your eye tends to want to "center" things in the middle of the bull, if you are using a sub six, chances are your eye is also centering your sights in the middle of the area below the bull. Therefore, most people are, consciously or not, holding below the target at about one half the distance of the diameter of the bull, maybe slightly lower ( if you can't see the rings) as your eye is naturally aligning your sights between the bottom of the target and the bottom of the bull.
I can shoot the back side of a target with my sights set for a sub six hold and still end up with all my shots either in the ten ring or close to it if I don't screw up the triggering. This tells me that area aiming works.

I believe this to be the best answer. Forget trying to analyse distances, and let your eyes natural centreing ability take control so you can concentrate on sight alignment, and trigger release.

[Spencer]

I cannot answer your poll; you do not give the option "No idea, it's just a comfortable position for me".

Most of your answers seem to indicate a fixed aiming position rather than area aiming.

Me too.

All of these answers basically defeat the whole purpose of the sub six technique.

Me too - on a good day (few and far between these days) one of the other shooters asked me where I had been aiming. Had me thinking for about a day when I realised that I didn't know the answer.

Re "defeat the whole purpose of the sub six technique", sub-6 does not necessarily include 'area aim' - many shooters will try to aim at a particular part of the white, but sub-6 seems to work well when combined with area aim.