Distance Tells The Tale

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Wanna’ know the easiest way to analyze your shooting form? Simply back away from your target. The farther away, the more magnified your shooting faults are displayed. From zero to seven yards, a good shooter will chew out the center of the target using proper trigger-press, combined with picking up the front sight. Many call this combat-style shooting. Shooting fast is the name of the game, for obvious reasons. It’s where the mantra, “front sight, press” comes from.

Good trigger control is paramount. If you snap/jerk the trigger, you’ll pull your shots. It won’t show nearly as much at these closer distances. Moving back to the 25-yard line, you’ll really see how much trigger-press influences impact. What was 1″ to 2″ at 3 yards is now a foot or more, at 25 yards, impact usually being low left.
The same observation is made by milking the grip. This is caused while subconsciously squeezing the grip during your trigger press, like “milking a cow” making shots go to the left for right-handed shooters. Consistency is the key to accuracy. Distance exaggerates any inconsistencies. Bullet impact tells the “hole” story.

Precision Shooting

Precision shooting differs from combat shooting by utilizing sight picture during trigger press. Examples include hunting situations or shooting at longer distances during competitions. Again, distance tells the tale. Backing out to 50, or even 100 yards, you’ll really see what’s happening with your trigger press and sight picture.

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Follow Through

With practice, you’ll see groups shrink, as consistency is obtained. After trigger break, follow through is vital at these extended distances. Follow through is one’s movement/action after the shot. Maintaining sight picture as best you can after recoil is what you want to strive for. Don’t raise your head trying to see bullet impact! Concentrate on your shot. Follow Through …

Making Sight Sense

When shooting, your front sight is your primary focus. Sight alignment is centering your front sight with your rear sight, having the top of both sights level with each other. Transitioning to sight picture is maintaining sight alignment and placing your front sight onto the target you want to hit.

Trigger vs. Sights?

There’s a great debate about the importance of trigger control, or maintaining sight picture, during the shot for accuracy. I look at it this way, the closer you are to the target, the less important sight picture is.
Conversely, the farther away you are, the more important maintaining sight picture is during trigger press. While pressing the trigger, maintaining sight picture is paramount for those long shots.

Lastly, shooting a handgun is a diminishing skill without practice. You’ll never master a handgun, but you’ll become more competent with practice. Shoot, handle and dry fire your guns to maintain your skills.

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