Dumbest question of the new year...

[OnaginOffagin]

I used to shoot high power rifle with the Washington Army National Guard.....one of the worst sins you could commit was to not focus on the front sight post..... to "bull gaze," and lose your front sight focus.... "Front sight! Front sight! Front sight! They'd scream, walking up and down the line kicking our boot soles!

So.. the dumb question... when you break your shot, are you focusing on the animal or on the reticle in your scope? Does the reticle take the place of the front sight post?

[lone ringer]

The only dumb question is the one you do not ask. This is actually a very good question and since I shoot both with iron sights and scopes at silhouettes I do focus on the front sight when I am shooting iron sights. On the other hand when shooting with a scope we are supposed to focus on the target or part of the target if you have high enough magnification and try to hit that spot or as center to the target as possible. It is possible to will yourself to slow down your movement when you are holding the rifle and the smaller your aiming point the smaller your hold will be. I will give you an example of some thing I have done in the past. I was shooting reduced targets at 100 meters and I was having trouble holding and was mostly using the whole target and not getting as many hits as I wanted so I put a one inch red dot at the same distance and proceed to hit it 3 out 5 times and the two misses where not that far off. Any of those 5 shots would have hit my silhouette targets pretty well centered. What made the difference with me was the size of my aiming point, some times when I have trouble holding center on the silhouettes I hold the dot on the leg and give the scope 2.5 min of elevation to try to hit somewhere near center. Hope this works for you.

[boats]

Iron sight on Silhouettes I have to have a sharp front post and bead front, let it get fuzzy will miss over the back, eye finds the solid dark part makes the shot go high. However like Lone Ringer said Silhouette targets you have to pick your spot. Scope I hardly know the dot is there all focus in were on the critter I want to hit.

2nd on the dot on target too. We shoot a club swinger single shot rifle match, 10 shots on a ram. Get a few shots into the target few paint chips same place rest of my shots will find the paint chips, becomes aiming point makes for tighter groups

Boats

[GregG]

What I have read and heard is from some good shooters and an old eye doctor friend is:
IRONS
First when you are young you can keep rear sight, front sight and target in focus. This is optically impossible, but when you are young you can change focal distances quick enough that all stay clear. As we age this becomes impossible. Reading David Tubb's book, you need to keep the front sight clear, the target will get blurry. He says this is OK. I am still struggling with this.

Scopes
Focus on the target where you want to shoot. Shoot when the cross hairs are settle in this spot. Years of shooting red dot scopes make this impossible for me.

[Jerry G]

If you watch the dot you will follow the wobble which keeps getting worse. You should watch the target and bring the dot to where you are focusing. I do find it hard to not watch the dot.

[boats]

Tubbs method is correct for a bulls eye targets with iron sights. In fact you don't have to see the bulls eye very well long as it's centered up in the arpeture, flat top front sight like bulls eye pistol but the bulls eye on top of the flat. Sharp focus on the front is essential. Iron sights Silhouette or Game shooting you want all focus on the spot the bullet is supposed to hit. It's the correct way to shoot indistinct targets. If not the tendency is to shoot at the whole animal, great way to miss.

Silhouette is more like wing shooting that paper target bulls eye. Shotgun sure way to miss is look at the front bead. All sort of new shotgun set up's have Fiber optic fronts, Great for selling guns makes for misses cause you don't pay attention to the target.

Boats

[OnaginOffagin]

Silhouette is more like wing shooting that paper target bulls eye. Shotgun sure way to miss is look at the front bead. All sort of new shotgun set up's have Fiber optic fronts, Great for selling guns makes for misses cause you don't pay attention to the target.

Boats

This strikes home.... I've always been a "settle and squeeze" type shooter, probably because of my iron sight experiences. But, several years ago, being older than dirt, my hold began deteriorating ......seriously so. I would try and "settle and squeeze," but it no longer settles! I now have to shoot on the move, trying to anticipate when the cross=hairs will approach somewhere close to what I want to hit! Tubb talks about this in his earlier book, how he had learned to "drive the post" into the center of the target, firing the rifle instantly when the spot was reached. It was more of a conscious, willful act. a I'm trying to teach this to myself, but it ain't easy, brother!

[boats]

It's really hard to break away from Settle and Squeeze, but when you get it scores will go up. I don't think I was fully able to take advantage of pull in and break like Tubb outlines until I started cross training in other Disciplines. Action pistols like IDPA will make you much more decisive on the trigger. It's amazing how precise some pistol shooters are with amazing speed. They don't think about it at all see the picture pull the trigger. Eyes go to the next target before the plate falls. I was never able to get good at fast pistol shooting but it sure helped me break when I see a good Silhouette Shot.

Boats