Vertical strings on targets

[ELPRESADOR]

Hi all,

Over the past 6 months or so I think I am beginning to get a grasp of pistol shooting... In my back yard with my FAS 604 at nearly 10m (9.3m) I can pretty much say I will score a 9 with 90% of shots... which from where I was when I started I am very happy with.

Lately I've been averaging 46 points out of 50 on each card I have shot, however I have noticed rather than the pellets being scattered they all seem centre ish, but they line up vertically from the top of the 9 ring to the bottom.

What could be the cause of this? Obviously its a mistake in my technique but what area must I be looking at and how do I train my way out of it.

Thanks :)

[Neon21]

If you have vertical scattering in one line, you should work on your breathing technique.

Do you do one or two stops at breathing? (inhale going up, exhale going down to aim point OR inhale going up, exhale going down to top of the target, inhale second time and exhale while going down to the aiming spot)

[pgmlml]

Sight alignment, I would say!

[conradin]

Breathing.

[David Levene]

Where are you aiming?

Vertical stringing is common when people have their aiming area too close to the bottom of the black.

[pgmlml]

Where are you aiming?

Vertical stringing is common when people have their aiming area too close to the bottom of the black.

thats exacly what is happening to me, but I like my sights really closed and in a good day a can make a 97 series ... ( thought my official scores are around 550).

[Rover]

I agree with David Levene, but in addition you may be allowing your focus to go to the target, at least part of the time.

[pgmlml]

It's really hard to keep focus on the front sight with the rear blade so closed and pointing just a hair line below the black... but each time I try to "give it some space" I feel lost, and it's real hard to keep the sight alignment! :/

[David M]

Try shooting 15-20 shots on a blank target
and check the group for vertical stringing.
It may prove if the aiming area is the problem.

[ShootingSight]

Answer is simply that you are old and your eyes need reading glasses.

Seriously, what is happening is eye fatigue. The relaxed eye will focus at infinity, you need to exert the eye muscle (the ciliary muscle) to bring your focus in close. After about 35 or 40 years old, the lens in the eye starts getting rubbery, and the eye muscle has to strain to bring focus in close. Aiming a pistol is the same thing: you strain your eye muscle, and try to get it to hold still in the strained position while you aim. Through the course of fire it fatigues and your focus drifts. I won't get all into the optics, but the net result is that you cannot judge height as your focus drifts, so you string vertically.

Good news is that there is an easy solution. You need a mild positive lens to shift your eye's focal point, so your eye muscle does not have to do all the work. The optical answer is that you most likely need +0.75 diopters added to any distance vision you have.

Email me, and we can discuss details, but there is an easy fix that will show you a front sight that you have never seen before.

Art Neergaard
ShootingSight llc
513-702-4879

[Spencer]

...The relaxed eye will focus at infinity...

including those with myopia?

[shaky hands]

Clearly not, a myopic person's near point is much closer. But if you have simple myopia, chances are that in your driving glasses your eye focuses at infinity. What he is saying is that you need to add +0.75 to those far distance glasses.