trying to run before I can sit up

[jimmythegeek]

It might have been just a bad day or something, but I am starting to get into bullseye and I've done all right in the past. This weekend though, I couldn't hit the black at 25 yards. I couldn't even tell what I was doing wrong. I was all over, so it wasn't a consistent problem.

I conclude I should work on tight groups at 25 feet (the closest available target line at my range) and then move back once I have them. I think I should use the slow fire target - aim small, miss small - and just do slow fire until I start grouping. Even once I start timed fire, keep that smaller target. I'm not going for a score, and the smaller aim point might actually be easier to work with than a big blob.

What do you folks think?

I've been working on my basics, dry firing and so on. I don't see a lot of movement with a trigger pull, so I have that going for me.

Maybe I should accept that my eyes are older than 46 and get an optic. Sigh.

 

[Scharfschuetzer]

Jimmy,

Nothing like bullseyshooting to reinforce the fundamentals of marksmanship and thus increase your ability with defensive shooting.

In highschool I belonged to a shooting club that shot bullseye pistol matches every Monday evening. This was long before action shooting became the norm. There were a couple of retired navy and army shooting team members in the club and they had more tips than Carter had liver pills to keep those one handed groups small and in the bull. I wish that I could remember them all, but that slavish attention to fundamentals at an early age has stood me in good stead a good while now, both in the army and as a LEO.

Sounds like age is creeping up on you and presbyopia (hardening of the eye's lense) has probably set in and your ability to focus on that front sight might be impared.

Before giving up, do a google for the "Merit Disk" to attach to your glasses. With its adjustable aperture or iris, it acts like the F-stop on a an old camera lense and will increase your depth of focus, thus allowing you see that front sight as in your youth.

A second option is to tell your optometrist that you want to focus on a front sight at so many inches from your eye. He can give you a perscription for shooting glasses that will help tremendously. My employer issues me such glasses that clip into my issue eye armor and also as a set of glasses.

I'm sure you've seen the 8 steady hold factors before, but if the issue isn't with your eyes, then consider:

1. Stance: good balance with head erect
2. grip: Handshake firm, without sympathetic responce in your trigger finger
3. Breathing: Take a good breath between each shot, even in the rapid fire stage
4. Sight Allignment
5. Sight Picture
6. Trigger pull: independent from your grip of the weapon
7. Call the shot: final point on the target where the front sight was at ignition
8. Follow Through: Let the gun move itself under recoil. Don't disrupt this natural movement until the gun stops it's upward and rearward movement

I had those drummed into me as a member of both police and military shooting teams and if you apply each fundamental to each and every shot, you should see those groups shrink.

By the way, I see that you are up in Seattle. I'm down next to Fort Lewis where I've spent a good part of my military career. My son and I are off to the Paul Bunyon range south of Puyallup in just a few minutes for some practice.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Good advice...

Jimmy the Geek--Was going to make an extended comment, but Scharfschuetzer already said what I was going to say. I can only add +1 to that. His advice is good--I shoot bullseye pistol too, so I know.

Would add that the black bullseye in the NRA 25 yd. timed/rapid fire target
is the same size as the one on the slow-fire target. It's the scoring rings that change size. You might want to consider using the timed/rapid target, on its larger paper, if only to be able to more easily see where your errant shots go.

Bullseye has been described as "Zen with a loud bang." Concentrate, but not too hard. Relax, but only just so much. Don't force it, but make yourself be still. See only the sights/target, but be mindful of the RO's commands. Self-mastery at its finest!

 

[Jeremiah/Az]

You might try shooting your gun off of sandbags, benchrest, to see if it might be the gun or ammo causing the problem.

 

[jimmythegeek]

thanks for the tips

Especially centering the lens of my glasses. I am right handed, left eye dominant but right eye much better.

I've thought about shooting off a rest, but I know it's mostly me. Really, it comes down to not *really* knowing POA on a target that far away. I focus on front sight, which dwarfs the target, and sometimes mess up the sight alignment.

I think an optic would help a lot.

There's a 50' range I go to sometimes, with helpful folks running it. That's a little closer than 75', and I found I was still all around the compass, but maybe a little closer in.

I will see what I can do at 25'.

 

[Scharfschuetzer]

Weak eye (left in your case) dominant? That's a tough one. When I teach marksmanship to my troopers at the base, I generally have one that is cross dominant and that always presents problems, although more so with rifles than with the pistol.

While it's best to shoot with both eyes open, that generally is not an option for cross dominance. If you wear glasses, then place some opaque tape over your non-shooting eye. That will help you use the eye behind the sight much better. If you don't wear glasses, then a set of shooting glasses will work as well as hold a Merit Disk if you use one.

Hope that helps. Cross dominance is a challenge.

 

[rodfac]

Scharfschuetzer...I was going to reply on this topic, but your excellent posts have done it for me...well thought out, lot of experience evident...nice work...and BTW, thank you for your service. With Respect. Rodfac