front sight picture

[dmc11]

Does anyone have any good drills to practice front sight focus and still know where your aiming. I'm starting to get the hang of it(focusing mainly on the front sight) but find my groups starting to spread once I try to force myself to focus any tips.

[scott.ballard]

Are you familiar with the Wall Drill?

It is a dry fire practice drill that will help with trigger control while focusing on the front sight.  DRY FIRE precautions first, then stand in front of a blank wall with the muzzle about 1/2" away and press the trigger while focusing on the front sight.  With the blank wall, all you will see is your front sight since your eye has nothing else to focus on.  If your front sight is moving you will see it.

This drill advances to coming from the holster or from low ready.  Just bring it up to the wall and press the DRY FIRE shot while focusing on the front sight.

The other one I would recommend is the One Hole Drill.

5-10 shots from 5-15 feet with all shots placed in the same hole.  It helps train trigger control while focusing on the front sight.

It will not come easy, but if you practice these drills you will get better.  Especially if you do the dry fire practice every day.

Stay Safe,

[fightingquaker13]

I am no expert. I would however suggest a variant of the "wall dril", called the "corner drill". I ran into it first for shotgun practice, but its the same deal. Focus on a corner, floor or ceiling doesn't matter. Draw, dry fire (snap cap and quadruple checking etc. in place). Then, without moveing, look through the sights. See where your probable POI vs POA is. You can use a flower pot, your TV etc for this. Draw, focus on front sight and freeze and look. I am an inch away from putting Big Dots on my Glocks and this seems a useful starting point. God knows its helped with trap and quail. I'm not so sure about SD, just throwing it out there. It does seem like a good way to measure rapid deployment on a fixed point and then evaluate immediately after. If I should save it for the birds please tell me, as I don't want to steer anyone wrong.
FQ13

[scott.ballard]

FQ: 

Good variation and will serve well.  My suggestions were for a very basic starting point since I don't know the skill level of the shooter involved.  Sort of a walk before you run mentality on my part.  Another variation is to do the wall drill using an outside corner but that comes after the basic skill is developed.

I switched over to Big Dots more than a year ago (Old Eye Syndrome coming on) and could not be happier.  Much clearer and much faster front sight picture.  I also took a file to the rear notch to open it up a bit.  That was a big help also.

If it gets too bad I may just have to put a RMR on my sidearm.

[dmc11]

thanks for the tips i'll give them a try. i shoot a fnp40 wich has a fairly big front dot and wide rear. i'm fairly new to pistol shooting. everything i read talks about front sight focus as opposed to the target in yall's expeirence has this served well or just something that helps somewhat.

[Sponsor]

[scott.ballard]

thanks for the tips i'll give them a try. i shoot a fnp40 wich has a fairly big front dot and wide rear. i'm fairly new to pistol shooting. everything i read talks about front sight focus as opposed to the target in yall's expeirence has this served well or just something that helps somewhat.

Front sight focus is the name of the game.  You need to have a clear image of your front sight imposed over the target.  The target will most likely be a bit blurry.

Just float the dot of your front sight on the spot you want the bullet to impact and press the trigger without moving the muzzle.

The two key factors to this are front sight focus and trigger control.  Do both well and you will place your shots well.  Most accuracy problems are in the trigger finger so learn trigger control without permitting the front sight to move.  That is the purpose of the wall drill.

No dumb questions so ask if you need clarification.

Stay safe,

[m25operator]

That's some good advice and drills to practice. If you have been studying, you have probably learned what I have to say. Maybe even seen pictures.

The front sight when shooting iron sights, is the most important step in sighting. Stance, grip and trigger press are just as important. Trigger press without the sights moving off your point of aim is just as important, stance and grip can be more lax, but it depends on what you want.

1) Target accuracy.

2) Self defense accuracy, you don't have to be an X ring driven shooter to protect yourself.

I have taught a lot of handgun classes, and this is my explanation of sight picture. 1st the reason the front sight is the most important.  The human eye can only focus on one object at a time, since the front sight is closest to the area the bullet will exit, it has the most influence on where the bullet will strike downrange. If you focus on the target, you might as well not have sights as you not using them anyway.

Lets suppose your sitting at the breakfast table and looking out the window which is open, and see a squirrel on the trunk of the tree, the squirrel is your main interest so your eye focus is sharp on the squirrel, at that point your not aware of the window anymore, and human nature when it comes to looking a things through portal, like a window is to center the object in that portal, that explains rear sight, ( window ) front sight ( squirrel )  now to the target, the tree, if you shift your focus from the squirrel to the tree, your aware of the squirrel, but do not know absolutely where he is.

So FWIW, look through the window ( rear sight ) at the squirrel ( front sight ) and place that crystal clear squirrel on the tree, ( the target ) where you want him to be. Then press the trigger without the squirrel moving to another spot. X ring.

But a couple of questions, how is your eyesight? Do you wear corrective lenses? The lesson shifts if you cannot focus on the front sight like me now, up until I was 40 my eyesight was exceptional, as it deteriorated, I could not focus with my glasses on but could without my correctives on, so I just wore, shooting glasses, through the years, it has deteriorated more and I can still the front sight clear, but the target is very blurry, so I have to do a shift, front sight close to where I want to hit, shift to target for a reference, shift back to front sight and press. For self defense distances, this is not a problem. For competition I now shoot a red dot, and on my iron sight gun, fibre optic front sight and a wide 1/8" notch in the rear sight, it works and I can still hit, I just miss the picture I used to see.

Hope these explanations and previously mentioned drills have helped.
Good luck.

[scott.ballard]

Hey M25,

I really like that analogy about the window and the squirrel!

I don't really see stance as an issue in defensive shooting.  Anyone standing still in a defensive situation is either clueless, not involved (see clueless) or is, if they are part of the fight, a target.

I tend to worry less about stance and more about movement.
 

Grip is the same way for me.  If the shooter's front sight is on the target and the trigger is manipulated, (touch-press, press, squeezed, etc.) properly, does it matter if the perfect grip is achieved?  I tend to lean more towards the idea of getting hits under stress in diverse conditions and I really only need a clear sight picture (or laser picture) and a proper press of the trigger.

I view the trigger manipulation as a press for a few reasons.  The most important is that when I think of a, "squeeze,"  I do not think of an individual finger movement.  A whole hand, or several fingers squeeze.  A single finger presses.  The other reason being that if I am going to press the trigger why would I need to add a step?  The word, "press," implies that I am going to touch something so why add a step? No need to "touch-press," just press. 

I feel it is important to send a clear message to the students that they can take home with them and the terminology has a major factor in their actions.

A sniper doesn't walk or crawl through the woods, he stalks and creeps.

A trigger isn't squeezed, it is pressed.

Your thoughts?

Respectfully,

[m25operator]

I agree with that, one of the other recent threads, I commented on this, I think the terms squeeze and pull, give a subliminal command to the muscles which to me, leans toward squeezing with the whole hand when operating the trigger a sympathetic nerve reaction if you will, jerking the trigger using the word pull. Press is more direct, I tell my students, press the trigger back, straight into your hand. And contrary to a lot of teachers, I do not teach the trigger reset, come completely off the trigger and press again, the reset is good for accuracy and games, but using that technique, you will have some failures to fire, because you thought it reset but did not, it also allows people like me that carry different types of pistols, revolvers and self cockers, SA or DA, coming off the trigger, works every time for all action types.

[dmc11]

hey guys a drill that ive started doing that i just thought do the other night that i think is helping and is very simple is i will find an object in the house and will focus on it, draw, see the front sight in focus,dry fire,and then focus back on target to see were my aim is. and ive been trying the others a little but ive been on night shift so sleep usually comes first but thanks for the help