Shooting An Open Gun

[mcoliver]

Yesterday I had the chance to handle an Open gun. What struck me while in that very limited time was how easy it was to see targets and know where your shot is gonna be. I also noticed how the dot got blurred the more I tried to pull in my focus to it but got clearer when I looked at the target instead. I remembered reading in the old board (Matt's DVD's also mentioned this briefly) how one can improve iron sight shooting after spending time with an optic-sighted gun.

My question is, basically, how can one improve when with in an optics your vision is basically focused on the targets? And yet iron-sight shooting is having focus on the sights or somewhere between sights and target w/c is still relatively closer pulled in than optics alone?

Thanks.

[Steve Anderson]

The dot teaches you how to see the entire recoil arc.

Most newer shooters see: Sight picture, boom, reacquire, sight picture, boom.

The open gun teaches you to see a continuous cycle of recoil.

It works. If nothing else, put one on a .22 and shoot that for fun regularly. You will speed your vision up immensely.

SA

[shred]

A dot sight will also tell you what you're doing to the gun, especially in dry-fire.

I've got a Glock with a dot that I let aspiring Glocksters dry-fire-- they learn worlds about grip and trigger-control by watching what that dot does.

[Ron Ankeny]

I agree that the dot makes it very easy to call your shots and you not only see the arc, you can see any side to side motion. Still, I am from the opposite school of thought. To me, mastering an iron sighted pistol makes it easier to go to a dot. Having shot a dot for about a year, I can't see where it has improved my iron sighted shooting. Maybe it has and the improvement is so subtle that I haven't identified it. However, I wouldn't argue the point with Matt because he has a lot more experience in both shooting and working with shooters than I do. He ought to know.

[benos]

A significant way shooting a scope sighted pistol would improve your iron sighted pistol may be because it is so much easier to always stay focused on the target. Because finding the next target is your eyes only job (besides calling the shot, which is done with a target focus), they become more proficient.

Less experienced Stock gun shooters are often unaware of the need to keep your eyes moving in order to acquire targets quickly. They may not ever remember seeing the upcoming target until they're gun is pointing at it.

A drill to improve transition speed.

be

[mcoliver]

Thanks for the responses guys. Partly the reason I'm asking is because of this undeniable urge to get an open gun (if resources permits though). Hopefully it will be whole new shooting experience for me once I get it.

[David Olhasso]

Shooting a dot sighted gun takes out one of the variables of shooting: the sights. By removing the sights from the variable list, it allows the brain to more easily concentrate on other aspects of your shooting. When you take out the sight variable, it allows you to more easily diagnose how you can improve. For example:

It is much easier to learn strong/weak hand trigger and recoil control.

It allows you to learn to call your shots easier. Exactly where was the dot when you pulled the trigger?

It allows you to analyze faults in your gun presentation from the draw, after movement, and after a reload. Where does the dot initially go when presenting the gun?

When shooting on the move, where does the dot go during recoil? For dry firing, can you keep the dot on a paster at 3 yards, 7 yards, 15 yards while moving around your basement?

[MattBurkett]

For me the dot showed me what I was missing. Eyespeed and also that I don't nec. need to see the sights, I can actually watch the target most of the time with iron sights now and my brain takes care of the rest. Dependant on target difficulty, I use a target focus a lot more than I used to.

Using a dot can train your eyes to follow the front sight better. it shows you what is happening when the gun is being presented through the firing sequence.

You are learning to follow a small fast moving object with your eyes. IE the front sight.

I think the problem most people have when learning to shoot a dot gun is that they don't know what an acceptable sight picture looks like. The trick is learning to use the the whole A zone or aiming zone and when the dot is anywhere in that area, break the shot.

A dot can open up your vision and teaches you to use your peripheral vision better.

Take care,

[bountyhunter]

Yesterday I had the chance to handle an Open gun. What struck me while in that very limited time was how easy it was to see targets and know where your shot is gonna be. I also noticed how the dot got blurred the more I tried to pull in my focus to it but got clearer when I looked at the target instead. I remembered reading in the old board (Matt's DVD's also mentioned this briefly) how one can improve iron sight shooting after spending time with an optic-sighted gun.

My question is, basically, how can one improve when with in an optics your vision is basically focused on the targets? And yet iron-sight shooting is having focus on the sights or somewhere between sights and target w/c is still relatively closer pulled in than optics alone?

Thanks.

Red dot sighters are designed to have the "focus point" of the dot out at about 20 yards I think. You definitely do shoot them with both eyes open and focused on the target. That's why they make shooting so easy.

Personally, I find target focused shooting to be much easier than sight-focused shooting. I think the two skills are separate, so I practice both. I have a Ruger Comp Target that has a scope mount which allows retaining the iron sights. In bullseye league, I shoot the first two targets Open (scope on) then take it off and shoot the second set of targets with the iron sights. I'm getting better: I shot a 300/299 (open) and 300/298 (sights) tonight. You can definitely master both skills and flip between them with a little practice.