Tried a new"system."

[leadslinger62]

   Well, for me anyhow?? While shooting Paper Targets, i usually try and hold the front sight steady on the Ten Ring...I usually miss!! So, at the shoot Yesterday I tried the method of coming up on the Target and touching it off when the sights hit the Bullseye. First time in Years I got all five Balls in the Black scoring Rings!!! Seems like I am more relaxed when using this method? Seems also to take my Mind off the Flinch Factor? Just wondering if any other Targets shooters shoot this way and if there are a few helpful suggestions that are used???

[Bull Shannon]

Maybe this is what is referred to as "snap shooting"?  Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I an going to give this a try next time I'm at the range and see what happens.

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

   Well, for me anyhow?? While shooting Paper Targets, i usually try and hold the front sight steady on the Ten Ring...I usually miss!! So, at the shoot Yesterday I tried the method of coming up on the Target and touching it off when the sights hit the Bullseye. First time in Years I got all five Balls in the Black scoring Rings!!! Seems like I am more relaxed when using this method? Seems also to take my Mind off the Flinch Factor? Just wondering if any other Targets shooters shoot this way and if there are a few helpful suggestions that are used???

I am not the best shot so I may be the wrong guy to give advice. But I can never just hold steady on a target when shooting offhand, there is always some movement. The idea is to make the movement small but predictable. To control movement, some move in a figure 8, some move up and down. If you can get a rythm that is consistant from shot to shot you'll do better. The other thing that is very important is try to keep your aiming within a 4 count. Like one-two-three-fo-shoot. The longer you hold the worse you'll be. Remember to follow through, don't drop the muzzle till well after the boom. I find my best shots are when I see flames coming out of the muzzle. Hope some of this helps.

My biggest shooting problem is old eyes, there ain't much to fix that.

[Maven]

Micah, Have you seen or tried this?  http://www.gunblast.com/MeritOptical.htm  It's available from a number of sources and it really works.

[smallpatch]

Most ML clubs will not allow "optical devices".  I have one of these, and they work great, just haven't found a club that will allow them.

[smokinbuck]

Smallpatch,
That question has been thrown around for at least as long as I have been shooting, and that's a looong time, and it has been determined that the Merit disk is not opyical, it is mechanical. There is no optical lens in the disk. Friendship allows them and most clubs go by the NMLRA rules and regs.
Mark

[SCLoyalist]

My biggest shooting problem is old eyes, there ain't much to fix that.

An increasing tendency towards farsightedness is common with aging eyes.  My solution presently is to wear a pair of low strength (.50 diopter) reading glasses that I found online as 'computer glasses.'   Cost was about $25, and they look about like my regular lenses/frames.  You can get such glasses online in strengths from .25 to .75 diopters, whereas in Wally World or the local drugstore the strengths usually start at 1.00 and go up.     Anyway, for me, .50 diopter gives me a pretty sharp rear & front sight picture without blurring the target too badly.   Everybody's eyeballs being different, your mileage may vary, but it's an option to explore or ask your eye doctor about.

[Daryl]

With quick ignition firearms, coming into or up into the bulleye works well. With flinters with somewhat variable ignition times, attempting to hold might work better. I use the approach method and fire when the sights are right method when shooting modern guns or caplocks - usually with good results.

[leadslinger62]

  I was shooting a Lyman Percussion. I guess it would be a different Animal when shooting a Flinter......

[patch]

Leadslinger, that has always worked well for me when shooting a CF pistol, no reason it can't work well with a rifle.

[Paul Griffith]

It sounds like you're just figuring out a way to sidestep "target panic" Not that we all haven't in some way or another. The problem is that a set of sights can be held steady as a rock when pointed at most any thing with the exception of a target. And it gets worse, when the sights are finally talked into holding steady on a target, the brain won't tell the stupid finger to pull the trigger.  And, ever notice that an empty gun is easier to hold steady than a loaded one. You wouldn't think that a 180 gr ball & 80 grs of powder added to the weight of an 8 lb gun would make a difference.LOL

I always felt that the eyes & finger bypassed the head when I was doing my best offhand shootin. It was almost like I was a spectator watching the target being shot. Also it's common among moderners to sight the rifle in so you hold on the bottom of the black & hit the center. Not a good system to hunt or shoot woods walk type targets but a good set up for round black stuff. Problem is that the mind sooner or later says it doesn't like the look of this either & starts messing with you.
I remember making up a sight for modern bow when I shot leagues. I had it so the front sight would rotate with a post so I shot 5 shots with the sight touching the bull at 6 o:clock & then change it so I was touching it at 3 o:clock & so on around the bull.  Can't do this sort of thing with a rifle but it broke the mind game good with a bow & gave me something different to think about from shot to shot. Something you can add to the brain game you're playing is to bring the sight in from the sides or the top to give the mind something different to look at. Ultimately you should hope that things get somewhat steady as you settle in the center but as has been stated you can get away with much more with a cap gun than a flinter.

 

[Roger Fisher]

It sounds like you're just figuring out a way to sidestep "target panic" Not that we all haven't in some way or another. The problem is that a set of sights can be held steady as a rock when pointed at most any thing with the exception of a target. And it gets worse, when the sights are finally talked into holding steady on a target, the brain won't tell the stupid finger to pull the trigger.  And, ever notice that an empty gun is easier to hold steady than a loaded one. You wouldn't think that a 180 gr ball & 80 grs of powder added to the weight of an 8 lb gun would make a difference.LOL

I always felt that the eyes & finger bypassed the head when I was doing my best offhand shootin. It was almost like I was a spectator watching the target being shot. Also it's common among moderners to sight the rifle in so you hold on the bottom of the black & hit the center. Not a good system to hunt or shoot woods walk type targets but a good set up for round black stuff. Problem is that the mind sooner or later says it doesn't like the look of this either & starts messing with you.
I remember making up a sight for modern bow when I shot leagues. I had it so the front sight would rotate with a post so I shot 5 shots with the sight touching the bull at 6 o:clock & then change it so I was touching it at 3 o:clock & so on around the bull.  Can't do this sort of thing with a rifle but it broke the mind game good with a bow & gave me something different to think about from shot to shot. Something you can add to the brain game you're playing is to bring the sight in from the sides or the top to give the mind something different to look at. Ultimately you should hope that things get somewhat steady as you settle in the center but as has been stated you can get away with much more with a cap gun than a flinter.

 

When shooting the various types of animal paper targets and you find you 'lose' the frt sight on the black of the target it does help drifting in from 3 O'clock to the 10 ring/strip since you have the vertical already lined up.  I refer here to x stix, log, bench, or staff matches....maybe even offhand if you can hold long enough.

[LH]

I'm a right handed shooter and I like to try to "rock" the sights onto the aiming point as I load the trigger coming onto the target from right to left.  When the sights align, then stop momentarily, I continue loading the trigger til the sear trips and make my best attempt at follow through.  Its not a big or fast movement, but rather a low frequency wobble with some control.  Align the front and rear sight, move onto the target, relax to the right, slide up and left onto the target while loading the trigger, relax to the right again, move up and left while loading,  pause, finish loading the trigger, follow through looking for the target to dissappear in the smoke.  Something like that.  I take a deep breath as I'm aquiring the sight alignment , let part of it out and then stop breathing as I move onto the target,  if I dont get the shot off by the third "rock"  I've overcooked it and need to let the gun down and start again.  On the very best days I'll let it go on the second "rock" every time.    About every two years I actually shoot up to my expectations in a match, but when that happens, It scares me so bad I go back to jerking and snatching the next day.  But that one day every two years is magic.   

[Paul Griffith]

  About every two years I actually shoot up to my expectations in a match, but when that happens, It scares me so bad I go back to jerking and snatching the next day.  But that one day every two years is magic.   

Ain't that the truth? You watch somebody win a match & they're liable to puke out at the next one. Very difficult to go out day after day & tear it up. It's like getting a birdy in golf, chances are the next hole will be an 8.

[dagner]

most of paper shooter i know use 6 oclock hold   .they do this because the get lost in the black  their a wholle lot that touch hair tigger bringing cap lock up to bottom.  the greast shooters can hold the position . all the guys i know who tried   faster shooting with a flinter came to grief  .that darn follow thew with the longer barrels .they either learned to hold  and aim or went back to cap. i screwed them both up  off hand so expert on  how not to do it
dag