Dot Amplitude -- how to pick the best spot over a barrel to locate a red dot sight.

First topic message reminder :

Maybe I just have too much free time.  Maybe I ought to stop thinking about things, and do something useful.

Anyway I noticed while dry-firing (one handed) that the dot always moves around more than if I have two hands clamping the gun in place. Presumably, what the dot is doing, is mirrored by the end of the barrel which would be doing the same thing.  If that movement (wobble) were reduced, the group size ought to also be reduced.  (There are probably lots of explanations for this, but they're all pretty much irrelevant - if I want to shoot Bullseye, my left hand has to be parked in my pocket, rather than doing something useful.)

I've gotten into the habit of mounting my red dot sighs as close to the rear of the gun as possible because it makes my gun "seem" lighter.  It doesn't change the actual weight of the gun, but because the added weight is so close to my hand, the "leverage" minimizes the additional force that my hand(s) is/are supporting.  I got to wondering what the effect would be were I to move the red dot sight further away from me.  Specifically, would the added weight towards the front of the barrel "dampen" the movements of my barrel?

When looking through the optics while dry-firing, the "movement" of the dot in front of my bullseye target does seem reduced. 
Maybe that's real, or maybe it's just wishful thinking.
I thought I'd ask it as a question here, because there may well be other things I'm not yet considering. 



When a bullseye shooter mounts a red dot sight to a gun, what reasoning might he (YOU) use to decide where to locate the sight?

(There are other factors to consider, such as whether the image in the sight is better closer to your eye or further away.  I'm sure there are others I haven't yet thought of.)


To be specific, as a test, I moved my Aimpoint H-2 from the rear-most position to the front-most position on my rail.  
What changes is this likely to create, if different from what I described up above?
How does one determine the optimum location for a red dot sight?

I haven't read it yet, so I can't comment.

Osmosis didn't work?      :-)

I know I'll start to read it.  I'll move it to the front on my reading list.
(I suspect The Pistol Shooter's Treasury is at the very top of my "reading list"; every time I re-re-re-read it, I learn new things that I must have missed.)

Until a year or so, I was totally unable to do so.  Thanks to some people here not giving up on me, I kept at it, an while I'm not very good yet, I "know" when a shot was or was not good, and I have a rough idea of where every shot went.  This is with a 22.

More specifically, I immediately see the difference between a "good" shot, and one where I saw the dot move as I fired.  That (along with lots of dry-fire) is how I've been improving.  

Bottom line, I believe my current problem is one shot out of ten, I unintentionally move the gun as I fire.  Therefore, the culprit is my trigger operation.  In dry-fire, this NEVER happens, EVER, so it has something to do with being at the range, firing a LIVE ROUND.  Currently, it is one round out of every 40 rounds that "something" goes wrong.


Using the "scientific method", I suspect that if I'm not concentrating on NOT doing so, I start applying more pressure with my grip.  When I notice this, and force myself to relax, that helps.

I love that YouTube video by Rob Letham, Why Bother to Aim?  Ain't no point in doing everything right up to the time you fire, if in firing you destroy all that hard work.    :-)