How long do you look at your sights?

[TexasGunbie]

So strictly handgun shooting, how long do you look at your sights each time you take a shot?

When I shoot, I usually confirm target, lift my arm up, look down the sight to align and fire! Align the sight maybe take a split second then I pull the trigger.

What are some drills that you do at the range to improve your target acquisition?

 

[otcconan]

I adhere to the school of point-shooting (smirk).

No, really, my main pistol has non-adjustable sights, and I find that if I place the front sight in the center, about 1 mm below the rear ones, it will shoot perfectly straight at 25 yards. Raise and lower for elevation. Takes me about a half second to acquire the target between shots.

Oh, but I shoot at the farm, not the range.

 

[9mmepiphany]

What are some drills that you do at the range to improve your target acquisition?

I don't do any drills at the range to improve either my seeing the targets faster (target acquisition) or seeing my aligned sights on target faster (sight acquisition)...they are two separate skills.

(A) You learn to see you targets faster by practicing shifting your eyes between targets...you can do this at home or anywhere.

(B) You learn to see your aligned sights faster, by dry firing at home with your eyes closed.
1. You visualize your aligned sights on a target.
2. When the sight picture is perfect
3. You press the trigger

You're training your sub-conscious to recognize the image of your aligned sights on target to cue your trigger press.

Once you've made the conscious decision to shoot, you combine the two skills by looking at the target and pressing the trigger as the aligned sights appear on it. You can fire multiple accurate shots as quickly as you can see your sights on target...4 shots per second is pretty reasonable to get into an "A" zone on a IDPA/USPSA target at 7-15 yards

 

[MrBorland]

So strictly handgun shooting, how long do you look at your sights each time you take a shot?

What form of shooting? When target shooting, or shooting for groups, I take my time, and get a well-aimed shot off. I may look at my front sight for a few seconds (1-3 I'd guess) while things are settling down.

When shooting IDPA, etc, I don't look at my front sight. I look through my sights to see where I will hit. This isn't point shooting: My peripheral vision picks up the sight alignment, and the shot gets off quickly (though occasionally my eye will quickly transition to the front sight just before I get the shot off). I don't know how much time elapses until the trigger is pulled, but my (clean) splits and transitions are around 0.32 - 0.36.

What are some drills that you do at the range to improve your target acquisition?

I do a lot of this via dry fire at home, but at the range, 3 of my staples include:

El Prez
Draw to first shot on target
Rimfire steel. Usually 3 plates

A Texas Star is great for target acquisition, and hope to be adding that to the list, too.

 

[thorazine]

So strictly handgun shooting, how long do you look at your sights each time you take a shot?

I hardly use the sights.

Slows me down too much. =/

 

[M-Cameron]

when doing any sort of precision shooting.......i try not to wait more that 5 seconds before i pull the trigger.........after about 10 seconds i find i use up too much oxygen and start to wander......

 

[Owen]

so thorazine, what kind of groups are you shooting at 50 yards?

 

[Deaf Smith]

So strictly handgun shooting, how long do you look at your sights each time you take a shot?

When I shoot, I usually confirm target, lift my arm up, look down the sight to align and fire! Align the sight maybe take a split second then I pull the trigger.

What are some drills that you do at the range to improve your target acquisition?

When bringing the weapon up to line-of-sight it depends on how fine a shot I need and how fast it is needed.

Great precision I might take a second or two, less precision I might take a fraction of a second or I'll use instantaneous use of sights (that is, flash sight picture, no adjustment of the sights just verification.)

And when firing from the hip... what sights?

The key is seeing what you need to see, as Brian Eno's said.

Deaf

 

[Rexster]

Lately, when I actually use the sights, I am looking for quite a while, trying to determine what part of the fuzzball out on the muzzle end corresponds to the top of what should be a front sight.

Yes, admittedly, my effective combat range has been reduced, if using a handgun. It is h311 to get old.

I am glad I learned point-shooting when I was younger! To be clear, this point-shooting includes bringing the gun to eye level, so the sights are visible, but the actual focus being on the threat. "Hip" shooting is a specialized sub-variant of point-shooting. I do indeed practice "hip" shooting because it is part of my annual qual, 12 shots of the 60.

Once upon a time, when the front sight came unstaked from my Colt Commandder duty pistol, early during a qual, I finished with a quite good score, out to 25 yards, without the front sight. Had the B-27 been an actual person, every shot would have been in the important bits. (This was the late 1980's to 1991 time period, when I carried a Colt Commander as a duty pistol, a time before widespread use of dovetailed front sights; 1911 front sights coming unstaked was not an unusual occurrence.)

 

[TexasGunbie]

Don't worry Rexster, I am getting old too! Few years from now I will be 30!

 

[Iam2taz]

As I think about this... I can the instructor in my ear saying Front Sight, Front Sight, Front Sight... for quick shooting, a split second... maybe .5... For finer accuracy maybe two or three if I am concentrating on pulling the trigger even and smooth. I practice sighting at the big screen TV, plants, window crosses, etc. YES.. The weapon is unloaded!!! - Couldn't stand a explaining the TV to the insurance company. Since I work for them it would really be bad! I would never live it down.

 

[Hk Dan]

You know, I don't think there is a magic number. When I use the "according to Hoyle" sight picture (maybe 40% of the time), I'm on the sight until I know I have the hit. Big, close target? Not long. Little, distant target? A bit longer.

The amount of deviation control that you need to use is dependant on the target, your confidence level in making the shot, and the perceived consequence of a miss.

Does that make sense?

 

[Tilos]

Until the shot breaks, while continuously correcting the sight picture and adding pressure to the trigger.

 

[Ben86]

If I'm shooting long range I may take a few seconds to get a perfect sight alignment. If I'm practicing close range defensive style I just get a split second flash of the front sight.

 

[GLOOB]

Until the shot breaks, while continuously correcting the sight picture and adding pressure to the trigger.

This! The speed I can get the shot off is largely determined by 3 things: how well I can see the sights, how well I know the trigger, and how important it is that I not miss. An unfamiliar trigger can take what feels like years to break.

 

[M2 Carbine]

Until the shot breaks, while continuously correcting the sight picture and adding pressure to the trigger.

This.

Point shooting or shooting with a laser is a different ballgame.

 

[AirForceShooter]

No more than 2 seconds.
After that you risk "shake".

AFS

 

[MrBorland]

The key is seeing what you need to see, as Brian Eno's said.

This.

You've probably hear it before - "drive the gun". While it refers to physically steering the gun to & from target(s), it also refers to how you're seeing, and this latter part was a big revelation to me.

Consider the car analogy further: When you're doing precision driving, such as getting into a very tight parking space, your eyes are glued to the front fender. But you can't drive down a busy road like that faster than a crawl. Yet you do safely drive down this road at a reasonable speed because you're actually looking beyond the front fender while also being aware of where your front fender. You probably couldn't tell whether you're 20" or 23" from the double yellow, but you don't need to either. You're staying safely in your lane, so you're seeing what you need to see. But those extra 3" may matter a lot in that tight parking space, so when closely monitoring your front fender, you're seeing what you need to see in that situation.

The FrontSightFrontSightFrontSight mantra has been ingrained in my brain, that it took a while to realize and accept that one can concentrate on the front sight too much in some situations. Once it clicked and my brain finally accepted it, though, my raw times got faster, while time lost to "points down" dropped dramatically.

 

[Sauer Grapes]

Last weekend I watched a bullseye 2700 match for the first time. The best shooter there, took 5 or 6 seconds before he fired his first shoot. This was even during the timed portion of the match? Everybody else had fired atleast one shot by the time he took his first shot.
I guess he had a system , his score was 2648

I'm not a bullseye shooter. One handed I can only hold for about 3 seconds before the shakes start creepng in. Of course I always drink too much coffee before shooting...lol. My eyes aint what they used to be either.

 

[yeti]

Look at the sights? As long as I can as fast as possible.

 

[Lakedaemonian]

I really focus on the draw... the split second that matters most. Then the reload.. then tap rack bang drills. The time between aim and fire is FAST if my grip is secured. Sometimes its not good enough, then everything is jacked up. That's why I focus on the draw, repetition breeds a consistent grip. Remember the handgun is your backup weapon, make dang sure your fundamentals will allow it to back you up... & save your life... or win matches, whichever it is being employed for.

 

[orionengnr]

Depends on what I am trying to do.

Most (95%) of my range time is done at 25 feet. I use a 3x5 index card with a 1" orange dot in the center.

That is with everything from Ruger MkII to 1911s to S&W revolvers in .41 Mag and .45 LC.

If I am trying to put five bullets into one (ragged) hole, I will spend ~5 seconds per shot.

If I am trying to get five rounds on that index card in minimum time, about 1 second betweeen shots.

I also practice point shooting, from a low ready, eyes pointed down 45 degrees, and then eyes up, pistol up, fire one shot without sights... repeat.

I do this at 15 feet. On a good day I can put five rounds in a 3-4" circle. On a bad day it is 7" or so. I can do the same with a MkII, a revolver or a 1911.

 

[benzy2]

(B) You learn to see your aligned sights faster, by dry firing at home with your eyes closed.
1. You visualize your aligned sights on a target.
2. When the sight picture is perfect
3. You press the trigger

What does closing your eyes benefit you? Why wouldn't you either dry fire at a blank wall or dry fire at a target on the wall? Wouldn't that practice sight picture and trigger press as well? I have heard of basketball players visualizing foul shots at night in bed, but I always thought that was because they couldn't shoot a basket while in bed. If you are going to dry fire, what is the reasoning behind doing so with your eyes shut picturing what is going on rather than seeing what is going on? I'm just a little confused.

 

[9mmepiphany]

It is an advanced technique, but it is also the only way to make accurate shots as speeds of about 5-6 shots per second.

Closing your eyes has to do with training your subconscious to see the sights so you don't have to look at them to verify that they are aligned on the target. You can only shoot as fast as you can see your aligned sights on the target...assuming that you are shooting SA rather than DA. (DA requires a different technique, which is almost the opposite of this)

If you practice your trigger press while trying to align the actual sights, you're training yourself to accept a less than optimal sight alignment to cue your trigger press. You're becoming invested in the result instead of staying in the process of shooting.

It is in fact the same as basketball players visualizing foul shots...it is much more than just imagining what it looks like

 

[FriedRice]

+1 9mm on blind sporting. I've been working on the blind dry fire and tonight, blind bowling. My teammates laughed but I had one of my best games ever. Even when I screwed up, I could tell I did because I could see my arm in my head releasing the ball off to the right. Sure enough, there it goes, off to the right. It's muscle memory and being 100% present in the actions your muscles are taking right at that moment.