TargetTalk

Before bring my pistol off the bench, I straighten and lock my arm… I come up under the target. I have found that it is easier for me to focus on the front sight if I bring the front sight up first, lock my focus on it, and then the bring the rear sight into shooting position.

My mentor at the local range says my wrist should be locked in shooting position and this last minute adjustment is detrimental to my shooting. At 63, I have enough problems with my eyes. This method seems to work. Or should I find another way?

You are obviously deep in the throes of senile dementia at your advanced age.

You are lucky to be able to raise the pistol at all and they want you to do it "their way".

Tell them to bugger off, get a teenage girlfriend to pour your pints and do it your way!

A tip for what it is worth. Try to adjust your wrist lock on the bench until when you raise the pistol to your aiming area the sight appear alligned. and only refinement is required. Rover has some good ideas and they may be well worth looking into. Good Shooting Bill Horton

Thanks Rover! It’s amazing that when I was in my 20’s everything worked. Now I need to be more careful.

Anyway, why is a fine adjustment in a wrist lock any different than say shoulder / arm movements? All I am doing is allowing myself to see the more of the front sight blade to lock my focus, without the distraction of the rear sight, until I bring the rear sight into proper position. Surely the movement of my wrist is barely perceptible while doing this.

I believe there's too much talk about this frontsight focus thing.
It's in all the books, and I believe the original reason had a lot to do with psychology, i.e. the importance of sight alignment and attention "focus". I think the most common problem is lack of attention rather than lack of focus. Your attention tends to follow your eyes.

Are you using glasses? The correct strength may make this focus thing a nonissue. My eyes are getting older, and in a few years time I expect that'll be the solution for me.......

And yes obviously, front/back sight alignment is all about wrist movement, or rather LOCKING the wrist in the correct position, while the alignment of the sight in relation to the target is done by the whole arm.
The latter is hard to control because there's a lot of moving mass, and you'll have to axept there will always be some visible movement. The sight alignment is more important and should be rock steady. I guess that's the reason they're worried when you play around with this.

Gatorpan, I think you have the right idea. You will see the front sight first due to the angle of your arm to your eye when the gun is down.

What you may want to look at is the fit of your grip. The wrist should be locked, with no tweaking (there is always a bit) when you come to firing position.

I find I have to work on this myself. What John Zurek is telling me is that he comes DOWN on the target with the shot going off as he reaches the proper point of aim (when executed perfectly). This is the same procedure as when recovering from recoil.

But John has given up caffeine and alcohol, taken up yoga, and has ceased groping his groupies. So what the hell does HE know!

gatorpan wrote:Anyway, why is a fine adjustment in a wrist lock any different than say shoulder / arm movements?

I can speak only from experience, not as a top level shooter, but I have found that what worked when I was 50 does not work now that I am 70. Things I didn't even think about earlier now require thought and training, and foremost of these is the wrist. The articles by the Russian coach on the Pilkguns site are the best explanation of why the wrist is so important.

The wrist cannot be "locked", and it's misleading to even talk about "locking" it. The best you can do is use your muscles to hold it as rigid as possible. I suspect what your mentor is getting at is that using the wrist to make fine adjustments while you are in or near the aim area, is an invitation to have a floppy wrist. Once you are near the aim area, the wrist should remain as rigid as possible.

Just MHO,
FredB

Rover & Fred: I think I am getting some fresh ideas on what is really going on… I’m going to read what the Russian coach has to say now.

BTW: I don’t come down on the target since I also do combat shooting. I never like to cover my target. I’m shooting a new LP-10 E… no recoil problems at all. In fact dry firing and releasing a real shot is all the same.

Fred, you are right. My final fine adjustments come when the front sight is between the rear notch and level … I would say my shot release is 1 – 3 seconds after that moment. The wrist is already rigid.

I guess us old guys need to re-write some rules.