Best target shape for shooting smallest groups

[Citadel99]

So I was watching a video the other day about shrinking your group size and the guy had what I thought was a really good point. He said that he doesn't understand why people shoot at circle targets because you have no way of knowing if you are truly in the center. He recommended a square or triangle in which you can sight in on the corner and know you are aiming for the exact aim point each time. Seemed to make a lot of sense.

I'm a guy who has always shot at circles. Curious on your thoughts.

Mark

 

[Armored farmer]

I participated in a big black powder match a few years back.
The triangle bullseye was very popular, and very effective .

 

[FL-NC]

It doesn't matter to me, but I usually shoot at squares because that is what I have.

 

[Walkalong]

The Benchrest crowd shoot at circles, but they are using high power scopes with fine reticles. Easy to aim fine that way.

 

[Walkalong]

no way of knowing if you are truly in the center.

I suppose some people have trouble with this, but my eyes have never had trouble with it.

 

[Varminterror]

It’s largely about training and familiarity. Most targets are circles, so guys get used to centering in circles. The guys shooting the smallest groups in the world are doing so on Circle targets.

I’ve never found a triangular target which made any sense at all. The centroid is completely out of whack for intuitive visual cues. If I could pick a target for my opponent to shoot, it would always be a triangle, and I’ll shoot ANYTHING but a triangle.

With crosshairs, a gridded square works very well, but a level hung diamond with orthogonal gridding and a center aiming point gives the best feedback for centering with a crosshair. Dial off center to retain your POA, confirm the hairs are in line with the vertical and horizontal grids, and breaking the corners of the diamond - tons of feedback.

Now - all of that is predicated upon a straight up hold with zero wind. If you’re holding off your desired POI for windage or elevation, target feedback is far less critical, and too much feedback can be detrimental - your brain will want to lock the crosshair to the target, but doing so would pull your optic away from the correct calls.

 

[bearcreek]

I'm a guy who has always shot at circles. Curious on your thoughts.

For me, getting small groups is something that is done to zero the weapon so that it can be used accurately for training, hunting or fighting. It's not the end goal. Doesn't really matter though for what you're asking. Whether you're trying to get small groups as a means to an end or as the end in itself, use whatever works for you to get those groups.

 

[bearcreek]

I suppose some people have trouble with this, but my eyes have never had trouble with it.

Yeah, seems pretty intuitive to me. That's the idea behind peep sights, the ability of the human eye to center something in a circle.

 

[Varminterror]

Yeah, seems pretty intuitive to me. That's the idea behind peep sights, the ability of the human eye to center something in a circle.

To center a Circle within a Circle, that is.

 

[sparkyv]

I usually shoot at diamonds as they help me line up my crosshairs. For open sighted pistols, I also like diamonds, but this weekend I tried rectangles at 15yds; they seemed to help me lineup the sight picture a little better than diamonds. More testing still needed on the rectangles. These are 1" squares in the background:

 

[bearcreek]

To center a Circle within a Circle, that is.

Never heard that before. Are the sights on an AR not peep sights? That's a post within a circle.

 

[Varminterror]

Are combat sights designed for shooting small groups?

Check out what guys change to when the rules allow - and see how their scores improve. Aperture rear, globe front, circle target - groups don’t get much smaller than that for irons.

 

[rpenmanparker]

You can always stick on a small colored circle in the center of s bullseye itself in the center of a circular target. Such “repair” dots come with most of the adhesive backed, reactive targets.

Also I find that my groups expand as I increase the shot total on the same target. That isn’t surprising. Part of it is statistical probability. The more rounds you shoot at a target, the higher the probability some will be “flyers”. Even without flyer the more chance you will hit a spot st the further edge of your total range. But it also comes from the target center becoming obliterated by the previous shots. So for the next groups, limit the shots on a specific target to five. Even so, the better shot you are, the harder it will be to see the center for successive shots. You will have already shot it out.

Ideally you would shoot at a fresh target with every round without losing a running record of all the shots on one target. That really isn’t very easy to accomplish. You could paste a fresh stick-on target on top of the previous one before every shot. Then turn the whole thing over to see all the holes at once and measure the group width. That would be awfully slow.

 

[Legionnaire]

I like to shoot one-inch squares. Here's the target (.pdf) I use most frequently (the .jpg below is smaller than actual size).

 

[Olon]

I like the square targets for sighting stuff in but I find circular targets work just as well with my eyes. I like the grid on most square ones because I don't have to guess how far to adjust my scope.

I'm not a pro, though. Beer can, paper plate, deer, SR-1, I mostly just shoot to shoot and the only time I worry much about groups is when I'm making ammo. In those situations I make sure I have a very specific point to aim at. The way I figure, groups take care of themselves with practice one way or another. It would be different if tight groups were your sole objective though.

 

[BigSteve57]

I use a 6 O'clock hold for service rifle matches. I find I can locate the proper point of aim quite accurately on a circular target.

 

[imashooter]

I normally shoot in circles when I'm shooting at squares.

 

[Olon]

I normally shoot in circles when I'm shooting at squares.

...and hope to God I don't have to put a few circles in some square one day

 

[Walkalong]

I like to shoot one-inch squares.

I used to print squares to shoot at myself. Easy to split with the crosshairs.

I use this one a lot these days for rifle at 100 yards.

 

[Walkalong]

I shoot at these up close with handguns. Both are cheap since they don't use much ink.

 

[jmr40]

Square and aim for a corner. When using circles I let the cross hair just touch the top or bottom arc of the circle.

 

[kenboyles72]

I have started to use diamond shaped bullseyes, works really well with scopes.

 

[George P]

I prefer taking those 1" squares and making them into diamond shapes so I can align the crosshairs with the points of the diamond.

 

[jmorris]

Some of my smallest groups have been shot using hole punch reinforcements on a larger sheet of paper as an aim point.

 

[taliv]

When using circles I let the cross hair just touch the top or bottom arc of the circle.

exactly what i do. smallest circle i can find, usually teh 5/8" shoot n see dots

that said, if you're shooting tight, it's likely you will jack up your POA by shooting it. so you'll want to offset your POA POI some so you can keep the same POA for all shots