Question re visual acuity and spotting in prone position

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ABoyd57946
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:27 am

Question re visual acuity and spotting in prone position

Post by ABoyd57946 »

Hello all, a question for the forum. I am a left handed men's prone shooter and I am legally blind in my non-shooting eye, and have 20/50 corrected vision in my aiming eye. I am trying to improve my scores to the next level (a weaker shooter in prone in the 560's - 570's range on the ISU target under ISU rules) and want to improve my inner position. A major problem is reading wind through my spotting scope and spotting shots when not using electronic targets without shifting position slightly. Since I spot and shoot with my aiming eye, I have to roll slightly currently to spot shots on paper targets (ex: Camp Perry, OH USA) or check mirage. Currently I set up my spotting scope low on my right hand side and rock right to get down on the scope to see. This obviously causes me to shift a little. My technique thus far to remedy this is to fire, follow through, rock right to spot/check wind, rock back left to load, settle, check NPA, then run my standard pre-shot mental process until I fire. Question: anyone have any ideas on how to improve this process so I don't break position when I spot shots? Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide. I am trying to approach this in an analytical manner and your feedback can assist. Respectfully submitted, ABoyd57946.
tenring
Posts: 359
Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:08 pm

Post by tenring »

Hi ABoyd,

It's my opinion that the slight rocking/lean to your right to get the left eye in the spotting scope is not a deal breaker. You gotta do what you gotta do and it sounds like you have tried them. It's very hard for anyone to get that perfect setup every single time where the spotting scope, shooter never move. Look at he good shooters that take the rifle out of their shoulder every time. I shoot with several of them and they are master level shooters.

A recent and somewhat similar issue I have been having is being able to see the windflags. I've been using a blinder over my non aiming eye and it totally blocks all vision downrange. I just started shooting without a blinder and have found a big improvement in my wind reading. Another thing I did as suggested by a Top World shooter is to move the sights back as to get your eye as close to the rear sight as possible so you can read windflags through your sights. I really like that as It has been working well.

One other thing that helped me get into the same spot every time was using a spirit bubble. If your elbow is not in the same spot every single time the bubble will tell you.

Some things to try. Hope I could help some.

Tenring
ABoyd57946
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:27 am

Post by ABoyd57946 »

Thank yiu tenring. Will try your suggestions and take your advice on the spirit level. Thanks again. ABoyd
tenring
Posts: 359
Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:08 pm

Post by tenring »

There was an 18mm Centra spirit level on buy, sell, trade section. Not sure what size you use, but that brings up another possibility of front sight size. One advantage of the larger front sight is you might can get more visibility.

tenring
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