Front Sight. (Does this make sense?)

I have switched my .22 pistol from IZH35M to a High Standard Citation 107 series. I prefer the grip angle of the Citation. I find myself having a difficult time keeping my concentration / focus on the front sight, and accordingly the targets show that. With the IZH, I concentrated on the upper edge of the front sight. It worked for me. Today while training with the Citation, I changed my "focal point" from the upper edge of the front sight to the middle of the front sight, or maybe one could say the whole front sight. Once I got my mind wrapped around this, I hung a new 50 foot target and sent 10 shots. All 10 shots in the black at a timed fire cadence. Tried again, 9 of 10 in the black. Third target, 9 of 10 in the black, this is very good for me. I ended today's training on a good note. My target scores went from high 60s to very low 70s, to low 90s that quick, just by "focusing" on the middle, or whole of the front sight. Does this make sense? Or is this a fluke? If it works for me, keep doing it, right?

Mike,

You are watching the front sight, and something in how you are doing it is assuring proper concentration/effort, and that is enough.  Go write it down in your shooting diary what you did, and the results that you obtained. Also write this down and update your shot process to include this note.  You have a shooting diary/ notebook, right?

-Ron

Ummm, a shooting diary / notebook. Yea, I have one. Started it about 30 ...... seconds ago.

Okay, so what ever I did, stay with it. Got ya. Thanks. Might have to go to the range tomorrow and see if I can repeat it.

r_zerr wrote:Mike,

You are watching the front sight, and something in how you are doing it is assuring proper concentration/effort, and that is enough.  Go write it down in your shooting diary what you did, and the results that you obtained. Also write this down and update your shot process to include this note.  You have a shooting diary/ notebook, right?

-Ron

Great post, Ron.

Mike38 wrote:Ummm, a shooting diary / notebook. Yea, I have one. Started it about 30 ...... seconds ago.

Okay, so what ever I did, stay with it. Got ya. Thanks. Might have to go to the range tomorrow and see if I can repeat it.

Repeat it. Repeat it as much as you can. And Ron's right: write as much down about it as you can, even the things that seem trivial.

Mike38,  make a very small mark on the top center edge of your front sight. I use white out. A small dot, just big enough to give you a spot to focus on.

Congratulations, you found something that works for you.  Ron and John nailed it for you.  Listen, believe and write it down.  You have made a gigantic step towards continuous improvement. I still remember years ago when I was first finding out how absolutely imperative and important consistent focus on front sight was to developing a consistent sight alignment and starting to really call the shot. It truly was a watershed event that set the stage for improvement for me. 

"With the IZH, I concentrated on the upper edge of the front sight. It worked for me. Today while training with the Citation, I changed my "focal point" from the upper edge of the front sight to the middle of the front sight, or maybe one could say the whole front sight."


You might find that what's really happening is that by changing the way we look at the front sight, we reduce our tendency to have the focus shifting between the front sight and the target, worrying about the wobble, trying to pick off the shot, etc. and are now getting it more on the front / rear sight relationship.  

Think of the target as a distraction or at most a general suggestions of where to point the pistol.  Use the new found focus on the front sight to develop the ability to keep consistent sight alignment and don't worry so much about exactly where it is pointed (sight alignment importance versus sight picture).

One of the next things to look for is to have the front sight completely in focus for the shot and then see the front sight silhouetted by the muzzle flash (this happens more indoors) and see the front sight lift from the rear sight as the recoil starts.  That's when we know we are seeing the whole shot process and are developing the tools to start calling the shots consistently and precisely.

Congratulations! 

Cecil

Cecil, now that you mention it, I do remember having a problem with focusing on the upper edge of the front sight, I found that my eyes were rapidly shifting from the sight to the target, up and down. That I know is a bad thing. By focusing on the sight as a whole (for lack of better words) my focus was staying on the sight.

Ron, thanks for the tip about a journal.  Bought one this morning at Walmart. A hard back 250 page book. Will write down everything, even sight changes.

Did some research on putting a colored mark on the front sight. Some call it a "GIP". Going to try that soon.

Thanks everyone! And if anyone has more words of wisdom, please jump in here.

I suggest keep things simple.  I am not well schooled in Pistol, but in rifle, I keep "two sets of books."  One is the diary, the other is sight settings and loads. The diary is for study and remembering training items. The other is for immediate use at the range, and it is convenient to to have that very much at the ready.  There is less moving of the sights in pistol compared to rifle, so I will beg to the pistol HM's like Cecil and John. 

I do not keep or recommend scores in the diary or the other book, because their value in training and development is virtually meaningless. Notes about the sights or what I saw, concentrated on, tried with its results and my thoughts and other details are what have meaning and should be reviewed so that you do not have to re-learn one of those great things like you did on where you concentrated on the front sight.  Groups and calls are important, not the scores.  If your shots and calls are on, and groups are on, then the scores will follow.

-ron

-Ron

The diary is more than "I did this and these were the results".  It is also a reflection on why or why not the results happened.  In this case it might be "by focusing on the middle of the front sight I found maintaining the front sight in focus through the shot process to be better."

Good.
The mere fact that you have written it down will increase your remembering it a lot. 

-Ron