Sight alignment animation

[mountaincoulee]

Here is a link to an animation on the relationship between sight picture and POI.

Have any of you guys methodically determined where the bullet goes for a partial sight picture, at different ranges?

This is something that I want to learn for myself so that I know what's good enough for an A hit.

I plan to run a test sequence by shooting off a sandbag.

Edited June 25, 2009 by mountaincoulee

[kevin c]

...Have any of you guys methodically determined where the bullet goes for a partial sight picture, at different ranges?...

It's part of "seeing what you need to see" to hit the target (not that I've mastered it yet).

...I plan to run a test sequence by shooting off a sandbag...

Supported will give you the best group, but that group may not be exactly at the same POI as when shooting free style. You might want to compare the rested position to your normal unsupported shooting position.

[mountaincoulee]

I'll get some data from the bag and freestyle, shooting rested and un-rested groups on 2 different sets of IPSC targets at common ranges, out to maybe 15 yards.

Guessing that at 20yds and beyond the sight picture needs to be perfect to get an A hit.

Thx.

[mountaincoulee]

Hey Kevin, thanks for your 'seeing what you need to see' answer.

Thought you might be interested in the findings -I shot at 3, 5, 7, and 10 yards tonight- esp. since I gained some insights.

Each shot was taken while aiming at a 1" orange sticky in the middle of the A zone - my POA (aim).

I rested my wrists on a sandbag, so the recoil was relatively undisturbed. Some shots I took with the front sight visually 'touching' either side of the rear notch, others with the front sight fully hidden to one side and then the other. Others with the front sight higher or lower than the rear.

I took notes and as you'd expect, the induced POI (impact) shift was inconsequential at 3yds (1" of shift), and it increased with distance.

Surprise finding: Even at 3yds, the POI shift tended to be greater to the left than the right. Hmmm - wonder why. At 5yds, a poor sight picture would still reliably score within the limits of the A zone. But at 7yds the POI would shift by 5" or more, i.e. the bullet would often hit into the C zone.

Another phenomena probably related to operator error (poor or inconsistent grip on my part) is that with increased distance the POI shift is greatest to the left side. When the meaty part of my left palm (weak side) is not in full firm contact with the grip, the POI error is 8" to the left, and 4" to the right at 10 yards! I think this might also be partly induced by the torsional forces imparted to the gun frame by the bullet travelling through the rifling. These forces likely twist the gun in a counterclockwise direction -down and to the left- which shifts the POI down and left. Add to that the common tendency to not pull the trigger straight back, and that might explain a lot of those A-C hits where the Charlie is down and left.

I need to work my fundamentals.

[Jack Suber]

thanks for the post! I was getting ready to create something similar for my CWP classes. This saved me the trouble.