sight picture.

[LESS THAN FORTUITOUS KENNETH]

Just got a nice pistol for doing some 10m or 6yd stuff.

What is the most favoured sight picture used? Centre, six o clock or sub six o clock?

[nige346]

Sub six

[Turnup]

For target shooting, centre is a Bad Thing (tm). It is impossible to clearly see the black foresight against the black target centre, and centralise it in the rearsight notch.

There are similar problems with the 6o/c hold. You get an optical distortion which flattens out the black (it ovals widthwise) so this combines both uncertainty on elevation (is the foresight touching the black or a little into it?) and lateral uncertainty from the ovaling effect.

Below 6o/c (AKA "balloon hold") is definitely the way to do it. You should have a distinct white gap between the tip of the foresight and the bottom of the black. The exact amount of white is a matter of personal preference and it does not take much practice to repeat your chosen gap with great precision. I favour quite a large gap (about half way between the bottom of the black and the bottom of the target), which means that the lower part of the rearsight notch is in fact below the bottom of the target - works for me provided the target backing is also white. If it is a dark backing then I find it difficult to properly align the tip of the foresight with the top of the rearsight.

For experimentation, try different aiming points. Do not adjust your sights - at this stage you are experimenting to find which aiming point gives you the smallest group, not the best score. You can adjust your sights to put the group in the desired position after you have decided what aiming point gives the smallest group.

Also strongly suggest that, initially at least, you do not spot each shot. There is a strong unconscious desire to correct for the placement of the last shot and this will definitely not give the best group. Remember that you are shooting into an area on the target and not at a point on the target.

[LESS THAN FORTUITOUS KENNETH]

Thanks chaps. I shall take your advice and concentrate on the ballon sight picture, possibly trying different gaps from bottom of target to blade.

[Gerard]

While it is certainly the prevailing thing to shoot sub-6 in 10 metre, it is hardly universal among the best shooters. One of the best in our club here in Canada, among the top 10 shooters in the country, shoots centre hold. He's scored in the low 580's a few times, consistently 560+ even on bad days. He's also an action, 25 metre, and other firearm shooter so that may have something to do with it.

For my part I played around with various elevations for the first couple of years and found sub-6 to be very inconsistent for me. Some days it worked well enough, sure. But my personal best scores have always been found shooting centre aim. Of course I'm not among the best, only shot a few at 553/600 so far and for the past year I've been nursing an elbow injury so not shooting much at all. Aging, dammit. But I've settled on centre aim and won't be trying anything else again. I just find anything else too vague. Of course it's easy to over-focus on the bull, a great danger in 10 metre AP. So a central element in my training is to un-focus on that, keep the eye on the front sight or actually somewhere just ahead of it so I don't worry about it too much, then just squeeze...

[sarge4318]

Of course it's easy to over-focus on the bull, a great danger in 10 metre AP. So a central element in my training is to un-focus on that, keep the eye on the front sight or actually somewhere just ahead of it so I don't worry about it too much, then just squeeze...

This is the biggest problem I have found when coaching, admittedly in longer range target shooting but I guess it is transferable.
Shooters often tend to focus on the target, or sometime try to get the fore sight and target in focus by actually focusing somewhere in between target and sight (easier with youth on your side - damn it). Focus on the foresight. I've even had an AMU coach put a pencil mark on the rear of the front post so we had to be able to see that.

[LESS THAN FORTUITOUS KENNETH]

Being new to this game, I've decided to concentrate on 6 yd before I try 10 metre.

I tried to do a bit inbetween the rain today. I tried all the different sight pictures and the sub six o clock seems to work best for me. It's early days yet, but I think I'm going to enjoy this!

[45ACP223]

I like sub six hold. I hold the same distance below the black as the width of the gaps between the front and rear sights.

[Dogbert]

Definitely sub six.

However, don't worry too much about the target. Set position up so that you pistol stays on the target centre line - aim, close your eyes, if you've moved adjust your feet until you stay on aim.

Bring the gun up, get the sights in the right position with respect to the target, then focus on the front sight, if you get this right you should be able to see the dust on the front sight and the target will be an indistinct grey blur. Now work on the sight alignment - that is getting the top of the front and back sight at the same level and the gaps between the front sight edges and the back sight equal.

Start applying pressure to the trigger as you are working on sight alignment. Don't try to get the sight picture right and then pull the trigger. You should be increasing pressure on the trigger steadily and smoothly until it fires, what is termed the surprise break.

95% of an accurate pistol shot is sight alignment (front sight to back sight) and trigger control.