trouble with sight focus

[whitetail1]

I have been shooting IDPA for 5 years. I shoot almost every weekend. I am SSP EX and ESP EX. I know i have what it takes to make Master but my accuracy seems to be killing me.

I wear glasses and am left eye dominant.

I am always in the top 3 or 4 overall but struggle to make any ground over that.

A couple weeks back i shot a match and dominated all but 1 competitor. I am talking about 25 points over my piers. When i got home i sat and thought about what it was that made me shoot so well. I had 15 pd over 6 very difficult stages. (good for me)

I realized i finally ran the stages with complete sight focus verses target focus. A blury front sight has haunted me for years and this was ground breaking for me.

I immediatly went outside, set up several targets and dry fired to see if this was indeed what happened and it was. I was, for whatever reason, seeing the sights crystal clear with a slightly blurred target.

Well, this last weekend i had another match and the sight focus only lasted a stage or two and went away.

Very disapointing.

I am now dry firing and really focusing on the sights again. When I set up an array of 6 targets doing transitions, sight focus is good until about target 3 or 4 and it returns to target focus. I cant seem to keep it turned on.

Are there any training drills to help me thru this?

Thank you in advance

Andy

[toothguy]

It goes against natural tendencies to use a front sight focus. When something explodes we blink, expectations of how well we placed a shot or movement cause us to look down range.

At the end of each live fire training session shoot some groups. Shoot at a paster on a paper plate about 15 yrds away. Force yourself to keep sharp vision on the front sight in relationship to the rear. Don't look to score your hits until you are reloading (not in between shots).

[Wild Gene]

Same thing here.

I think it might be a function of how well you can actually visualize your stage in your mind before you shoot it. Every detail. I find if I am hunting for targets, I hunt for the sights. If I have my target order in my mind and get my spots, I don't end up hunting for other stuff (ie. the sights).

As far as sights go, I still think the "snap" drill, or whatever it is called is of huge benefit to me. Two spots on the wall, and snap your eyes from on to the other, then I go one farther and do the same thing with dry fire, snapping your eyes to one spot, then the gun changing your focus to the front sight, then to the other spot, then bring the gun to the target then focus on the front sight, continuing back and forth between the two spots.

The last thought on this is to have confidence that you can make the shot. I find if I have any doubt, I will hunt the sight but focus on the target. Be able to call your shot. I like to start each practice session shooting groups (some people end their session shooting groups). You have to concentrate, plain and simple.

OK, the really last thought, don't sweat it, you only need to take a sight picture appropriate for the target and the target's distance from you. On close stuff, I might not even see the gun, let alone the sights.

I'm no master class shooter, but I don't think it is because I couldn't be, but I am a student of the game.

wg

[Jshuberg]

Load up a couple of mags to full capacity, and shoot into the backstop or berm without a target. Shoot as quickly as you can continually see your sights without losing them. Without a target to distract your attention, you'll be able to focus on and see your front sight much better than when shooting at a target.

You can also very accurately identify when you speed up to the point where you're shooting faster than you can see. Unless you're working on transitions or accuracy, a target isn't always necessary, and can in fact get in the way by drawing the mind away from your sights.

Do this periodically over a period if time and you'll find that your mind won't fight you anymore trying to hold a hard sight focus.

Hope this helps!

[M1911]

1) Lots of dry firing.

2) I found that I needed a new set of contact lenses. My eyes had gotten to the point where due to presbyopia I could not longer focus on the front sight.

3) What are you using for a front sight? I found that a green fiber optic front sight was too bright for me -- the green "bloomed" so that I couldn't see the front sight itself. All I could see was a green blob, not the actual top of the metal. So my elevation accuracy went all to heck. I replaced it with a red fiber optic rod and that helped me greatly.

[Nimitz]

So I know nothing about IDPA as I only shoot USPSA ... But I've heard the stages are shorter and the targets generally closer than you find in a typical USPSA match. That being said I don't understand why you want to shoot with a front sight focus when a target focus is much faster. Not sure what Exp translates into WRT to USPSA classification but it sounds like you should have the skill not to need a hard front sight focus for every shot ...? The trick is knowing which targets you can shoot with what kind of focus and only using the min focus necessary to shoot alphas. For me, targets inside of 15 yds I shoot with a target focus and only as they move out from there do I need to get on the front sight and be able to count the serrations to shoot accuractly.

You might look into getting a narrower front sight and widening your rear sight notch which may help you focus more on the front sight. My front sight is .095" and I've widened my rear sight to .035", making it very easy to see the front sight when I need to ...