Calling your shot

[pittspilot]

I often hear people talk about calling their shot. But I don't always know what they mean. So.

Question:

When you can call your shot, what do you see at that moment that you call the shot?

Answer for me:

I see the muzzle flash reflecting the front site, which is in focus, and that site's relationship to the rear site. If the front site is not dead on-it usually isn't-then I know I am off my target and which direction the bullet went-for me usually slight left. My reasoning is that if I see the muzzle flash the bullet has exited the barrel, so what I see must be the last site picture as the bullet left the barrel.

Thoughts?

 

[Shooters Plus]

My definition would be basically the same as yours but I have never looked for a muzzle flash. Not saying there is anything wrong with that, I have just never done it.

 

[akodo]

I believe calling your shots is when something extraordinary happens, causing you to know you missed the target, that you know before you even look at the target. You would also know where the bullet went (i.e. high)

This would be something like hot brass hitting you from the other lane right as you pull the trigger.

A called shot should only happen like 1% of the time, you can't have general flinches and bad habits and simply call them

 

[Slugless]

Calling your shot means knowing where it hit relative to the bullseye without having to look at the target.

 

[Harley Quinn]

In the Marine Corps we called what we saw last prior to your squeeze and recoil (what you observed) If you are right and the bullet hits where you called it, you are in tune with your rifle.

You could be still in the bullseye "10 ring" and you call a shot in the ten at 5 oclock and that is where it is at, you are in-tune...

Those who could not shoot very good where saying 6 oclock 9 ring. Bullet hit at 12 oclock 8 ring...They needed some help for sure

 

[Howard Roark]

Pittspilot,

You are correct about seeing the sight picture at the time of recoil. You must be shooting indoors or in some other poor light condition to see muzzel flash.

I learned to call my shots 20 years ago shooting IPSC. It now helps me shoot highpower. It is an automatic thought process for competition shooters.

Having a mental picture of where the front sight or scope cross hairs was when the gun recoils is a must for any type of accurate shooting. Its' the post recoil not when the trigger is squeezed that tells the true story. One can be "in front of" or "behind" the trigger and call shots incorrectly.

When I am in the "zone" I see the sight lift up off the target through the muzzel gas.

 

[rcmodel]

+1 to what Harley said.
That is exactly what it means.

A good rifleman can tell you where the sights were when the round breaks.
If he can't, he probably isn't doing so good.


rcmodel

 

[pittspilot]

I should qualify.

This is an indoor range and a handgun. I try to watch the muzzle flash because its like a flash picture of the shot. If I think about it, I can see the site rise and the brass extract. But right now I am concentrating on the moment of firing.

 

[Harley Quinn]

My reasoning is that if I see the muzzle flash the bullet has exited the barrel, so what I see must be the last site picture as the bullet left the barrel.

Ok, that is fine but what you want is to see the sights and the bullseye in relation to where your bullet will be going to hit is the idea.

Keeping your sights in line is great. One of the good things about a peep is you have a tendency to put the front sight in the proper location in relation to the circle of the peep.

Many shoot with both eyes open and if you do that you will have the one eye on the sights and one eye on the target and together they come up with you on target.

Some concentrate on the target more than the sights (Combat shooting), and others concentrate on the sights more then the target (target shooting).
They are both similar, if that makes sense, but different.

The flash of the firing is not as prominent in one scenario. If you are only concentrating on the flash you are not looking at the target IMHO...

It might help if you keep the light on at your station reducing the impact of the flash.

 

[jefnvk]

I catch myself doing it automatically when I shoot precision guns in very target shooting friendly areas. I got real good with precision airguns in the PE class, you just know where it is going to hit. As soon as I heard the crack, I could tell even before I looked in teh spotting scope.

Sure as heck can't do it plinking around with pistols, though

 

[pittspilot]

Ok, that is fine but what you want is to see the sights and the bullseye in relation to where your bullet will be going to hit is the idea.

Keeping your sights in line is great. One of the good things about a peep is you have a tendency to put the front sight in the proper location in relation to the circle of the peep.

Many shoot with both eyes open and if you do that you will have the one eye on the sights and one eye on the target and together they come up with you on target.

Some concentrate on the target more than the sights (Combat shooting), and others concentrate on the sights more then the target (target shooting).
They are both similar, if that makes sense, but different.

The flash of the firing is not as prominent in one scenario. If you are only concentrating on the flash you are not looking at the target IMHO...

It might help if you keep the light on at your station reducing the impact of the flash.

It's hard to explain. I am seeing the front site in sharp focus and I am seeing the rear and target out of focus. But if I see it right, I see the front site as if it were flashed into my eyeballs, and I can tell where the hit is based on where the front site is flashed in the rear.

 

[HuntAndFish]

For me, there is a little more to calling my shot than just seeing the sights at the moment the trigger breaks. It is also understanding what the physical mechanics of a perfect shot feels like. For instance with handguns, if I am getting tired I will occasionally have a tendency to mash the trigger just before it breaks. Jeff Cooper called this the Baja California shot because it always goes low left for right handed shooters (it would hit baja california if the target was a map). When I do this I instantly know that the shot is low left. So, it isn't all about seeing the sights at the break, it is also knowing that you messed up the fundamentals during the shot.

When dry firing I can sometimes call my shot because I know that I didn't get a surprise break on the trigger (I mashed it) or my impression of the trigger stacking felt a little funny that time for some reason or I just wasn't concentrating that time, etc.

 

[Harley Quinn]

It's hard to explain. I am seeing the front site in sharp focus and I am seeing the rear and target out of focus. But if I see it right, I see the front site as if it were flashed into my eyeballs, and I can tell where the hit is based on where the front site is flashed in the rear.

As long as the bullet is hitting the paper where you think it should be going, is important, if it is not hitting where you think it should be, you are out of tune.

At seven yards mine are all in the X and ten ring Bulls eye target. Hard to tell at that close of distance (one ragged hole), when it gets clearer is at the 25 Yd line.
Slow fire is all we can do at the range I go to. Some times we can slip in some "rapid" if the range is full.