Before you squeeze the trigger, do you....

[OutTrolling (ot)]

How do you sight on a target?
1. Do you focus your eye on the target and then bring the sights ( or crosshairs) inline to the point of impact keeping the front sight ( or crosshairs) in the periphral vision and slightly fuzzy or

2. Do you focus your eye on the front sight keeping the target in the periphral vision in the background down range and it then being slightly fuzzy and out of focus?

Due to the nature of the way the eye is made, actual focus can only be on one point. Which is the better of the two?

Just wondering what the "experts" do and if there is what would be considered the more acceptable method to maintain consistant and repeatable results.

Also, while on the subject of sighting. Do you close one eye or keep both eyes open? Again wondering, if when using both eyes causes a point of convergence that effects accuracy, depending on what you are focusing on.

What works best for you and why do you think so?

[D3smartie]

point and shoot. I dont see the sight or barrel when i shoot, just focus on the bird.

[Art Vandeley]

Originally Posted by D3smartie

point and shoot. I dont see the sight or barrel when i shoot, just focus on the bird.

I have heard from a lot of experienced shooters and hunters, they do not even see the barrel. This is the way I shoot and I do a lot better then when I first started hunting, and I was trying to aim at the bird. Just focus on the bird, and let your instincts do the rest!

Mitch

[Gunman]

Keep your eye focused on the front sight or the crosshairs once you've made the decision to shoot. If you can keep both eyes open but focus with the dominant eye. Remember, if you are right handed and left eye dominant you should be shooting a long gun left handed.

[ehunter]

Close my eyes and hope Are you talking off hand or on a rest. For me off hand I close one eye and I shoot from top to bottom. In other words I start at the back of the animal and drop into the target and touch off as soon as the cross hairs hit the middle of the chest area. If I try to finesse the shot I tend to waiver too much for deer hunting off hand. I am right handed.

[Quack Attack]

I've never been taught professionally how to sight with open sight rifles, but have for handguns, and the rule is always focus on your front sight. I don't see why this would be different for rifles, but I rarely shoot open sights except for peeps on my muzzleloader where you have to focus on the front sight.

For shotguns the watch the bird and shoot approach is what is taught by the pros. I only look at the sight if I am consistently missing and wonder if I am aligning the sight picture wrong.

In all cases except scopes the teaching is to shoot with both eyes open, unless you have dominance problems.

Best of luck..

[danger]

The gun I shoot....see the bird, slap the trigger. Shotgunning at its best.

The only real precision shooting that I do does include a trigger, but that trigger is attached to string.

I read an article on aiming/shooting/target panic one day in a bowhunting magazine and one specific section really made sense to me and as I have applied it, my shooting comfort and accuracy has improved.

Contrary to popular belief, our concious mind cannot do more than one thing at a time. For example, many people like to listen to music while they work. In actuality, a person cannot do both at the same time. You can switch back and forth very quickly, seemingly doing both at once, but it is not possible to concentrate on work and concentrate on the music simultaneously.

You may argue, "I can sing along to the music and do work all day, never have a problem"...I do not doubt for a minute that you can and do, BUT you are not using your CONCIOUS mind to perfom both activites. You have trained your SUBCONCIOUS mind to perform one of the activites while your concious does the other. You are either familiar enough with the music that you don't have to concentrate on it to enjoy it, or you are doing repetative work that doesn't require concious thought.

Hence the crux of the problem with aiming a rifle or bow. YOU CANNOT CONCIOUSLY aim and squeeze the trigger at the same time!!! Again you can switch back and forth very quickly, leading to slapping the trigger, target panic and in general inaccuracy. A marksman has taught his subconcious to either aim the weapon or squeeze the trigger. Thinking about one, while he allows his body to perform the other with the abscence of concious thought.

Not a tremendously difficult task, but takes consistency, paitence, practice and dilligence. As primarily a "bow hunter" I have worked on using my subconcious to aim bow, and use my concious thought to pull the trigger. This does not mean that I never think about a spot on the animal or never concentrate on aiming, but when it is time to drop the string (those critical few seconds), subconcious takes over the aim and I let the pin "float" on the spot I want to hit allowing my body to make the minor adjustments necessary while I concentrate on a consistent trigger pull.

Think about it next time you go to the range and try using the subcontious to either aim or squeeze and I think you will see an improvement in your accuracy.

[Coastalfisherman]

The most basic rule for shooting any gun....Front Sight and press the trigger. The target should be blurry as will the rear sight. Front sight/cross hairs should be very focuses. Combining sight clarity with a good trigger press will result in great shooting.

[Tony1831]

"clear tip of the front sight post, centered on target" is a quote from days on the range that I will never forget

[OutTrolling (ot)]

Originally Posted by Gunman

Keep your eye focused on the front sight or the crosshairs once you've made the decision to shoot. If you can keep both eyes open but focus with the dominant eye. Remember, if you are right handed and left eye dominant you should be shooting a long gun left handed.

Left eye/right eye dominant. How do you know? I'm left handed for most all activities, throwing, hitting, writing, etc. but my right eye is the better as far as vision. Should I switch to shooting right handed. I'm fairly ambidextrous and can shoot right handed if necessary. I'm talking rifle in this scenario.

I also meant to include one more thing in the original post but had already clicked. Where on your finger do you press on the trigger? Tip, middle or joint? I have a tendency to use the middle. Don't know if that is the correct way or not. I do know that a lot of subtle techniques can make a difference.

[Gunman]

Originally Posted by OutTrolling (ot)

Left eye/right eye dominant. How do you know? I'm left handed for most all activities, throwing, hitting, writing, etc. but my right eye is the better as far as vision. Should I switch to shooting right handed. I'm fairly ambidextrous and can shoot right handed if necessary. I'm talking rifle in this scenario.

I also meant to include one more thing in the original post but had already clicked. Where on your finger do you press on the trigger? Tip, middle or joint? I have a tendency to use the middle. Don't know if that is the correct way or not. I do know that a lot of subtle techniques can make a difference.

With any long gun you need to use the same hand as your dominant eye. As for the trigger finger, contact should be somewhere between the first joint of your index finger and the center of the pad. Avoid using the tip of your finger as this adds unwanted side leverage.

[Quack Attack]

To find which eye is dominant hold a finger up at arms length. With both eyes open point it at an object. Without moving close your left eye. Does the direction you are pointing change? If not you are right eye dominant, and visa versa. Your dominant eye will align your finger when both eyes are open.

[FromTheWoods]

Hold breath. Both eyes open. Concentrate on a very small spot on the target. Let the front sight do the work. Rifle will talk at the proper time. Good shot! Breathe.

Shoot with as light a trigger pull as is safe. Accuracy is quite different from light triggers to the heavy ones.

If possible, employ a tang peep sight or receiver peep. Accuracy will be better than using rear/barrel sight.

Nothing against those people who can do it, but be careful with the from the top to the bottom type methods. I've heard many stories of misses and poor hits from folks using these methods--who are not concentrating on a definite part of the animal. I recommend settling the sight where you want to hit--don't dilly-dally--SHOOT!

[Flatfish]

Shotgun-Target only
handgun-Front sight
Rifle.....Target with crosshair overlay. You should be able to call the shot before the gun goes bang...after the sear breaks.