For handgun instructors- transition from point shooting to sights..or not

[Rob Morse]

I noticed that I was changing how I use the sights when I shoot IDPA. We have a mix of close and distant targets. I’d use a hard focus on the front sight for the first shot on each target. For the second and third shots on close targets, I was looking over the top of the slide as if I were shooting a shotgun. I didn’t think anything of it. My focus remained on the sights, but I was using a looser sight alignment. I was taking my queues from the alignment of the top of the slide to the target as the gun recovered from recoil. This seemed to let me shoot faster. I shifted back to a hard focus on the front sight for distant shots.

In hind sight, it felt like I was switching between shooting a rifle and a shotgun based on the precision required. My background is small bore target pistol competition, so that is my standard for precise sight alignment.

Will this adaptation help me shoot faster in the long run, or is it a bad habit and I need to get a precision sight picture for every shot? It would be great to see the sights quickly after recoil, but I pick up the general alignment of the slide to the target first.

Is this point shooting, or is point shooting done with body kinematics alone?

Thanks,
Rob

[Pat McCoy]

It's called a "Flash sight picture", and is a good way to pick up speed for targets too far away to engage properly using the "point shoulder" technique.

Keep it up; you'll get better and faster.

[BikerRN]

Try lifting the front of the gun to where the front sight rest on top of the rear sight.

That usually works out to about 7 Yards or so. After that the need for a finer sight picture, and correct sight alignment, increases as the distance increases.

[Loosedhorse]

Will this adaptation help me shoot faster in the long run, or is it a bad habit and I need to get a precision sight picture for every shot?

Were you getting shots on target--was it working?

I don't argue with what works.

[Selena]

I have to go with Loosedhorse on this one. There's an old saying- if it's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid!

[Combat Diver]

Concur with Pat, its called "Flash Sight Picture techinque" I've being doing it a long time.


CD

[gregj]

For competition, personally I think it's a bad habit to get into. Ideally, you always want to focus on the front sight, see it lift, and call your shots. Do some searches on benos.com, and you'll see what I mean.

I started out shooting IDPA, and now just shoot USPSA, and feel my shooting has improved doing the above. Farther targets a slower cadence to allow better sight pic, the closer the targets are, the shorter the cadence, but still dont pull the trigger until I see the front sight on the target.

What will allow you to shoot faster is seeing your front sight, being able to call your shots, and making quicker transitions. Practice, and lots of it.