Target: Whatever you are trying to hit with the gun.
Sights: Tools that you use in the aiming process to visually confirm that you are on target.
Aiming: The process of using the sights to visually confirm your gun is on target. It is a two part process comprised of Sight Alignment and Sight PIcture
Sight Alignment: In the use of iron sights, it is the proper relation of the front and rear sight to each other. The front sight should be in the center of the rear sight notch and the tops of both sights level with each other.
Sight Picture: Sights, once aligned, are in proper relation to your target. In center hold, put your sights where you want the bullet to go.
Like Elvis Costello said, "my aim is true". Good aim, a good visual confirmation that your gun is pointed at what you intend to shoot, you target. Sight alignment is correct with front sight centered in notch of rear sight and tops of both are level. Sight picture is correct for a shot to be placed in center of red bullseye; the bullet goes where the sights go. Correct focus is on front sight, because it is the last visual confirmation that you are on target and your eyes can only focus on one thing at a time.
Your eye is a lens and can only physically focus on one focal plane at a time. You are generally going to deal with three focal planes: the rear sight, the front sight and the target. To focus on the target means you aren't using the sights, the visual confirmation that you are on target. Focusing on the target only works if your are in contact or close proximity to target. The bullet will go wherever the muzzle of the gun was last pointed. The front sight sits atop the end of the slide or muzzle for a reason; it is the last visual confirmation that you are on target. If you can only focus on one thing, it needs to be the last visual confirmation that you are on target.
Two things are essential and non-negotiable in being able to hit target: Aiming and being able to move the trigger without moving the gun. Your must aim properly to visually confirm you are on target. You must move the trigger without moving the gun, otherwise you will move your sights. The bullet impacts on the target are simply the confirmation of everything the shooter is doing correctly or incorrectly in the shooting process. When people miss the target, it is usually because they move the gun before the bullet has left the barrel. However, moving the gun is a natural reaction to the startle stimulus of the gun going off.
Trigger control/press/squeeze/pull: the trigger must move without moving the rest of the gun. If your hand moves, the gun moves. If the gun moves, the sights move. If the sights move, your shot moves. You can tailor your technique to the gun, i.e. how much or how little of your trigger finger to engage the trigger or the speed with which you move the trigger.
Flinch/Anticipation: Movement of the gun prior to bullet leaving the barrel, in reaction to something (recoil, muzzle blast) over which you have no control that has yet to happen.
There is nothing natural about shooting a gun, it is a learned action. You may have better hand-eye coordination than some, but no one is born a natural shooter. Isolating one part of your hand, the index finger, to move independently of the rest of your hand to move the trigger is not natural; it is learned. Having a small explosion go off in your hand when you move the trigger without blinking, flinching, moving, is not natural. The process, if followed and executed correctly produces consistent results. If you miss your target, it is because you executed incorrectly. The process allows you to diagnose your mistakes and correct them.
Supporting elements: Breathing, stance and grip allow us to become a more stable platform for the gun. You will never be completely free from movement even at rest, but you can minimize and control your errors to get a consistent result.
Stance: Stand as you normally would, be relaxed. For what we are trying to accomplish, simple marksmanship/hitting the target there is no need for a complicated or elaborate stance.
Breathing: When you hold your breath or lock up and forget to breathe, you deprive body of oxygen and you heart pumps faster to move oxygen through your system. Simple solution, breathe or rather, take a deep breath. In breathing, you are forcing you heart rate to slow down. The heart pumping faster induces movement to the chest, which moves your arms, which moves your hands, etc.
Grip: Grip as high as you possibly can on the gun. The rule here is: the more of your hands you can get on the gun, the more control you will be able to exert over the gun. The grip is asymmetric; the gun hand's pressure will be from front to back. The supporting hand which will wrap around the gun hand will exert pressure from side to side. The amount of pressure you exert in gripping the gun should be something along the lines of a firm handshake. Your hands have two jobs: 1) to provide a firm surface for the gun to recoil against so that it can reliably operate and 2) to hold onto the gun so that when it fires, it will not leave our hands. Your arms are relatively relaxed and simply holding the gun out in front of you so that you can aim properly and move the trigger properly.
Dominant Eye: Simply put, it is the stronger of your two eyes and the one which will naturally want to focus on the sights. The importance of this becomes apparent if you are cross dominant: right handed but left eye dominant or vice versa or if you are attempting to shoot with your non-dominant hand. Without knowing how to correct for cross dominance, a right handed shooter’s group will tend to cluster left and vice versa. The reason for this is, your dominant eye is telling your brain it needs to see the sights and your brain then tells your hand to move the gun so that you can see the sights.
The process of aiming and trigger control doesn't have a discrete beginning and end, but is a feedback loop. Experienced shooters are able to move through the process faster once they gain experience and knowledge in the correct way to execute. To counteract flinch/anticipation it is helpful to actively be in the moment in executing steps in the process as then there is less time for intrusive thoughts.
Demonstrations and exercises for competency:
Demo#1: Have students walk through aiming process. Demonstrate correct aiming and then demonstrate errors in sight picture and sight alignment.
Demo #2: Show marker as trigger moving straight back.
Demo #3 Have students take two shots and actively go through/walk through the process and then demonstrate correct execution vs. a mistake.
Exercise for competency #1: Have students shoot at blank piece of paper with one shot, stop. If there is a hit, cut target in two at the bullet hole. If missed, remediate by moving trigger without moving gun at waist height, 4x. If the gun moves, start over. If the gun doesn't move, bring the gun to sightline and move the trigger without moving the sights, 4x. If that is accomplished, continue with one shot on target then remediate as necessary or until target is down to size of a 3"x5" card. Once down to appropriate size, pull target. The sights tell us where the shot will go unless the gun is moved.
Exercise for competency #2: Cut center out of B27 silhouette. Have students load five rounds and proceed to deliver rounds through cut out center of target. Praise the hits, verify they understand why they missed. Remediate/correct as necessary. Whatever the hit ratio was on the cutout center they should be able to put at least the same amount on the center.
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