TargetTalk

For 10M AR shooting, is it recommened to check with your eyes closed or without? Also, when do you check the inner position - after you mount the rifle and before verifying the sight alignement or during the sight alignment verification and beore aiming?

Heres a good way to try. Mount the rifle and get yourself on the target. When you are on the bull that you are going to shoot at, close your eyes for about 5 seconds and then open them and if you position is off it will not be on that same bull. If your position is good it should be right on that bull. Try that, it should help you get your natural point of aim set with your position.

It was not long ago that I ask about the inner position as the term was new to me answers on this forum helped imensly as it led me to a new book called air rifle shooting. The answer in the post above this one was very good , but I would like to add another thought to it. Most discussioin about balance only talks abour the mechanism in the ears. I would like to add that the eyes ,viewing a visible horizion or any horizontal line aids in mantaining a steady upright posture. Notice that the above post suggested closing the eyes for only about five seconds. You may need to shorten the time the eyes are closed if you become unstable using the loonger time. Good Shooting Bill Horton

I coach shooters to check position by looking off to the side, or looking down, not necessarily by closing their eyes.

The reason is that closing the eyes for five seconds and then opening them causes the pupils to have to readjust from darkness to light.

Lots of shooters struggle with eye-strain by the end of a 60-shot 10m match, so I do anything I can to reduce eye-strain for my shooters.

Roy Hill

I believe Mr Roy Hill has the right idea. Relax the eyes completely , look to the side and settle the position, Relax into stillness then look to see where the sights are alligned. Make small corrections by moving your feet [ toes only] and large corrections by moving the foot [The one furtherest away from the target] until you have your zero point [Natural point of aim]Continue to check your position on each shot because as fatique sets in the natural position may change slightly.Correct as necessary and shoot tens. Good shooting Bill Horton

Dear Bill/Roy/Laxtrand:

Thank you for all your valuable suggestions! I tried checking the inner position both with eyes closed and open but looking down. Here are my findings:

With eyes closed for a couple of seconds - I get a better sense of the tension in the supporting forearm, left supporting feet, neck and the back and pressure on the cheekpiece. However, I do find it takes me a couple of seconds for my aiming eye to get readjusted to the sight alignment (the target looks bright and then normal) - the aiming eye readjustment takes longer when shooting at night rather than with daylight and further along the shooting string.

With the eyes open the above seses are no as evident but the advantage is that I can feel the breathing and stress better. There is no issue of the eyes getting readjusted but I do tend to change the pressure on the cheekpiece ever so slightly - which leads to a perfect sight alignment and a sight picture but does not score 10 or high 10 since it is almost like a forced shot.

I am working on the cheekpiece pressure but my scores are improving. At 43, the eyes seems to be the biggest challenge - not to mention the patience - "let me just squeeze the trigger and get it over with".

Thanks again for all the suggestions!

Guest in Florida