Shooting well at night?

[atek3]

Are there any special techniques or recommendations for shooting night matches well?

We had a 10 stage match last weekend and I picked up one hard cover/mike on a danger target. Last night we had a 3 stage club match starting at 6:30pm and I picked up 2 mikes, 2 no-shoots, and a mess of charlies. I wasn't going faster than sat./sun. I just have a harder time tracking the front sight when it gets dark out. My theory is that the darkness dilates my pupil, reducing depth of field, which in turn makes it harder to see a quality sight picture. Any idea what to do? Last week I waited until I had a good sight picture on every shot, but I was so slow my hit factor was lower than when I 'run and gun' but shoot bad hits.

Perhaps I should try more dry practice drills in a dark environment to better acclimate my brain to lower-light shooting.

Any other ideas?

thanks,

atek3

[busyhawk]

atek3,

Your theory of the reduced depth of field and such is correct. Practice and exposure is a great tool also. Are you using an artificial light of any sort? When ever I am in doubt I will use a light because I must ID the target first and can't afford a hostage/NS. There are numerous ways to use a light from a hand held along the gun or neck, weapon mounted light or just a head lamp. Get some exposure and see what works for you. You will of course have to slow down with the limited vision as you are saying. If you are just trying to shoot as fast as the day then good luck...I know I can't, and I can't afford to either.

Tracking the front sight is very difficult since the flash should be a distraction for sure, but a artificial light will help with that too. Again, something to get use to and got out there and practice.

RLTW,

Scott

[atek3]

atek3,

Your theory of the reduced depth of field and such is correct. Practice and exposure is a great tool also. Are you using an artificial light of any sort? When ever I am in doubt I will use a light because I must ID the target first and can't afford a hostage/NS. There are numerous ways to use a light from a hand held along the gun or neck, weapon mounted light or just a head lamp. Get some exposure and see what works for you. You will of course have to slow down with the limited vision as you are saying. If you are just trying to shoot as fast as the day then good luck...I know I can't, and I can't afford to either.

Tracking the front sight is very difficult since the flash should be a distraction for sure, but a artificial light will help with that too. Again, something to get use to and got out there and practice.

RLTW,

Scott

Interesting idea. The field is lit by about 30 flood lights, so target ID isn't a problem. I haven't ruled out muzzle flash as a factor. I have a head mounted light, my first thought is that it would illuminate my sights but not so much the target...hmmm

atek3