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Looking at the "A"


Jman

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This is difficult to explain and prob'ly more difficult to understand, but...

My competitive shooting involves mostly bowling pins and plates. Once I am ready my eyes are locked on the first pin/plate. As the gun comes up and the sights center, I make no real conscious effort to "focus" on the sights. There is an instant where the sights focus, maybe 1/1000 sec before the shot goes off. I refer to this as the "confirmation". As the shot breaks, my eyes are already moving to the next target. Once locked on, again the gun comes to my line of sight and there is a "confirmation" just before the shot breaks. And so on. IF I the "confirmation" shows the sights off target I will adjust. But I find that very rare these days.

I have said before that the 1911 indexes very well for me. Because of that I have been very hesitant to shoot other guns very much. There-in lies the trick, for me. I have become accustomed to the feel of my 1911s to the point that they are as natural as pointing my finger and maybe more so. When I first started shooting I was very conscious of my grip and sight picture. but after somewhere approaching 50K rounds it was just a natural thing. Kinda like driving a manual transmission. I don't think about how much to push in th clutch, how much to let off the gas, where the shifter is going, it just does.

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I took a black sharpie and outlined the A zone,I hang this target in my garage for dry fire. I am trying to focus more on shooting A's instead of just hitting the target. I am hoping this will help me subconsciously center the front sight on the A instead of having to "think" about putting the sight in the A zone.

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I took a black sharpie and outlined the A zone,I hang this target in my garage for dry fire. I am trying to focus more on shooting A's instead of just hitting the target. I am hoping this will help me subconsciously center the front sight on the A instead of having to "think" about putting the sight in the A zone.

I'm always conflicted about doing anything to highlight the A zone, simply because when I'm shooting a match the A zone isnt highlighted. I guess the trick is to not do it so often that you get used to the highlight

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I can't remember if B Enos talked about this in his book because it has been a while since i have read it, but I know a couple of the other big names go in depth about looking at your target and over time your pistol will follow especially during transitions. I am not a firearms instructor, so I am not sure if this coming out right. But pick up your target with your eyes first and pistol will follow.
JJ

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

everyone is different but i only use a front sight focus past 15 yds, inside of that i only need a target focus to hit alphas. only YOU can figure out what is the appropriate type of focus that YOU need to shoot alphas. in the beginning front sight focus for everything, but as you gain experience you should be able to switch to a target focus for some types of targets. target focus enables you to shoot faster, but only if you can retain your accuracy ...

the same goe for sight picture. are you always waiting for the post to be centered in the notch and level before you pull the trigger? while that certainly works you should experiment to see whats the min sight picture necessary for the target in question. try it next time you are at the range and you should be surprised at what sight picture is necessary to hit alphas depending on target distance ....

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I'm not sure I am understanding this concept. I thought one was supposed to have front sight focus not target focus.

The key is to "keep your eyes moving." After the shot breaks, immediately focus to the next traget, or A. As the gun is moving to the target, bring your focus back to your front sight, so that my the time the sights stop on the target, you have a perfect front sight focus. Watch the sight lift, and follow it back down into the rear notch, and watch it lift out of the notch for the second shot... Then immediately move your focus to the next target... And repeat...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had never thought of just focusing before on the A box before the timer goes off. I had kept my head down as well.

A friend brought up an interesting theory, he would visualize just that first target with sight picture, and his classifier scores went up noticeably. He also noticed, if he started well, the stage typically went better for him.

All fun new things to try.

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Your gun willl always look for the next target, so make sure your eyes can keep up. It's just faster if your eyes are already looking in that direction. The only time you look down at the gun is if it is on a table to start.

Edited by 9x45
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I've been reluctant to actually mark the A on my targets largely because I want to do better at visualizing where it is without any help. But, I do know that if I aim at A I hit A, and if I aim at brown, I get terrible points.

If I'm in a neutralization game, I aim at the whole target, whether it's a 50 yard plate or a 5 yard paper. If I'm in a points game, I aim at the A.

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No matter the size of the target or its distance - aim to shoot each one dead center. Shoot every target the same way.

I likely misspoke. I do try for the center but my standards on a neutralization-based system will be "did I hit brown or not." It's like brown steel -- if I call 2 delta, it's all good. Obviously in hit factor/IDPA scoring that is not going to be a good result.

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  • 1 year later...

This is something I need to work on as well.. Putting my eyes where they need to be at the buzzer. Another one is to start transitions with my eyes after I break shots to the next target so I can speed that part of my shooting up.

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Metronome?

You mean that you are pushing the pace with a steady beat, in a "find the next target" drill?

yes it was explained to me one day and I tried it.

I was having issues with very wide transitions and I was 'overshooting' the transition (like going beyond the target in my movement) so another shooter gave me their idea of training w/ the metronome. I let it run slow and when I get into the rhythm I turn it up faster, and faster, and then faster. Its just something I've had help me out. The metronome beat represents your last shot on target and the next beat represents your first shot on the next target.

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My problem is focusing too wide. I don't want to just aim for the A zone. I want to try and center the bullet in the A zone. I draw a 2 inch circle in the center of the A zone of my dry fire targets and try to focus on that. Any smaller and I may have a hard time seeing it at a distance. Any larger and I find that my focus widens too much.

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  • 6 months later...

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