Sight Picture

Ganderite

Ganderite

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I like to see shots printing about 2 inches above my front sight, so I can clearly see what I am shooting at. Most of my new pistols print the bullets under the front sight.

When you guys shoot action matches, what sight picture do you use?
 
I know, I know you're talking about competition, and while I'm not a competitive shooter, I like to have my bullets strike point of aim. Frankly I think watching your group is pulling your focus away from where it needs to be, which is on the front sight, and might even tempt you to start chasing your zero. Having said that, I feel somewhat unqualified giving someone with your experience an opinion on marksmanship, particularly in a genre I don't participate in.
 
For action shooting,on paper targets where you have to make 'hits for points', a 6 o'clock as opposed to bullseye, is more effective.
It avoids the problem of having to depress the front of the gun to see your bullet impacts...therefore quicker. On steel, you either hear the impact or see it fall if designed that way, so it doesn't matter as much.
On a 'two way range', a bullseye hold is preferable, as you generally determine if your 'fire for effect' is successful by it's influence on the 'target'.
 
You shouldn't be looking at the target for hits. What do you do when the target is too far to see hits? If you're unsure as to whether or not you're making hits you need to focus on the fundamentals some more or slow down.

Tdc
 
If you're shooting a bullseye target, the width of the bull against the width of the front sight, assures that you are always on center. A 6:00 hold either the flat tire hold or light under the bull hold, changes with changing light conditions. The center of the bull is always the center (read widest), regardless of the light conditions you're shooting in.
 
I've done a fair bit, well, I think I could safely say a considerable bit, of one handed bullseye competetive shooting. This was 100 % holding on the bottom of the black aiming circle, be it 20 or 50 yards. This was by far, the most accurate method. The hold may vary a bit from one individual to another, depending on how tight to the black his front post was, but once a person found their hold, it was accurate.
On the slow fire targets, touching the black hit the 7 point ring. On timed and rapid fire touching the same size black got you 9 points.
 
For action shooting or casual plinking where you are shooting at various size targets and various ranges you MUST use a "combat" sight picture if you want your bullets to go where they are supposed to go.

The 6 o'clock or "lollipop" sight picture only works for a given size black bullseye at a set distance. Alter either one to change the ratio of bullseye diameter to distance and you will no longer be shooting at the center of the bullseye. The thing with the 6o'clock hold is that you are shooting with a triangle geometry. You are aiming at a point below where you want to hit to allow for a clear sight picture that is easier to hold accurately and depending on the bullet to hit above your POA by a set distance. That's fine for formal bullseye shooting with the same size target always shot at the same distance.

But for action shooting or casual plinking we don't shoot at the same distance or same target. So we want to set the gun up so we are sighting along the bullet path as well as possible so what we see is what we hit. Of course the bullet starts to drop immediately. But for a distance of from 5 to 25 yards this drop is minimal and if we are centered to hit right at the point of aim on the middle of the front blade's upper line at 12 to 15 yards the difference at 5 or 25 is going to be minimal.

Ganderite, by insisting that your hits occur at 2 inches above the front blade you then need to consider at what distance this is occuring. If you set it so you're 2 inches high at 5 yards then you'll be 10 to 12 inches high at 25 yards. If you set it to be 2 inches high at 15 yards then you'll be around 3 inches high at 25 and an inch or more low at 8 to 10 yards.

On the other hand if you're shooting formal bullseye on regular and constant targets at a range where the distance is always the same then it makes sense to go with a proper 6'oclock hold where the bottom center of the black circle just perches on the middle of the front blade. It's an easy and automatic visual relationship for your eyes to pick up and hold well. In fact with that sight picture the mind and eye tends to do that automatically. But for action shooting you want to go with a straight on "split the center with the front blade" sort of sight picture and not waffle at all.
 
ampegor said:
I like my rounds to hit right at the top of the front sight at about 15 yards
Best all around set up for action shooting IMHO
Click to expand...


Think this is the "textbook" technique.

In my case, I have always put my front site covering what I want to hit. Not sure why, but it seems to work for me......

On Edit: I have been shooting more combat style shooting where center of mass hits are more critical. So I believe the dead on accuracy hasn't been paid that much attention to. I did step back to 50 yards with a Glock 17 and Winchester whitebox stuff. Shot at a 5" diameter target. My results were VERY humbling to the ego. :redface:
 
I will try some pistols with putting the top of the front sight on what i want to hit. I can see that logic. Might take awhile to break 60 years of lollypopping.

EDIT: OK, I tried it. I was shooting quickly at two separate targets, putting the front sight where I wanted to hit. The bullets hit at the top of the sight or just below. Worked well.
 
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